Three Things

A bright winter salad, a hearty vegetarian tart, the virtues of boredom

Greetings eaters and readers! How’s everyone doing? Would anyone like to bake a batch of peanut butter cookies with me and eat every last one of them while watching Season 5 of All Creatures Great and Small? It is cold in New York and I spent the long weekend in a state of glorious hibernation, catching up with all the New Yorkers piling up on the coffee table (loved this profile of Lorne Michaels) as well as thinking about, shopping for, and cheffing up dishes that might lend a little brightness to bitter January days. Exhibit A: The shredded carrot-beet-kale number* you’re looking at up there, which is tossed with a yogurt-curry dressing, and which ends any argument about winter vegetables lacking in the inspiration department. Speaking of which! I talked all things winter cooking on Nicki Sizemore’s Mind, Body, Spirit FOOD podcast — namely how to bust out of a vegetable rut, how to transform cooking from a chore into a source of joy (so many people ask me for advice about this, it’…