2 Suggestions for a Better Thanksgiving

I have a couple of hot takes to share with you in prep for Thanksgiving:

1. Must-Try Pumpkin Pie Recipe

   This is an incredible pumpkin pie recipe. I don’t know about you, but at times when a recipe turns out too well, I basically vow never to make it again. I know that sounds crazy but the last thing I need is too much of a good thing, tempting me to binge eat. However, on occasions where others may partake in the helpful processes of consumption, such things can come out of retirement! Case in point? This pumpkin pie recipe from Fork Knife Swoon. It really is the best! And the secret weapon? A gingersnap crust! The only adjustment I made was using a fresh sugar pumpkin instead of the canned stuff. Do whatever you want; canned or fresh, but prepare yourself for the knowing that is the deliciousness of this pie. You’ll face some hard choices around the number of slices to hoard but that’s why I encourage you to consume with friends and family. There is safety in numbers!

2. A Song for the Season

   Speaking of friends and family… below is song by The Highwomen for your holiday playlist. Growing-up my family was not one to sit around the table and enjoy a meal together. Neither of my parents cooked much which is probably why both my brother and I cook now. We craved more than food. We craved that sense of community and the adult version of me is making up for lost time. This song gives me all the feels, idealizing the holidays with the importance of “gathering”. I covet a good gather. That’s why I like cooking on ships! Everyone comes together to eat and break bread, reminding us that a community is what you make of it regardless of how we are related. So have a listen and add this song to your holiday mix.

No matter where you find yourself this Thanksgiving, whether at home or at sea, at a Friendsgiving or with family, I hope there is a crowded table awaiting you, loaded high with gingersnap pumpkin pie and other seasonal delights!

Get prepping and good luck, and of course, let me know what you’ll be putting out on your table.

Simply Soft Sandwich Bread

Hey bakers!

I have a little something different this month. The original idea for the Full Moon Baking Club was to bake and share the delights monthly with those in your community. Covid put the kabash on that dream but not before turning folks into banana bread bakers, sourdough caregivers, virtual class junkies, and all things Zoom. So, it was really only a matter of time until I got in on the action. I’ve been hesitant to embrace digital living but a friend from across the web held my hand for my first ever Zoom baking class!

Rebecca from A Sweeter Course, whom also happens to run The Night Bakery was kind enough to give me a taste of all the things I’ve been missing. We recently “got together” to test this month’s Full Moon Baking Club recipe while participating in a bit of an interview exchange. I gave her all the details on my becoming a full-time family caregiver and how all things Food and Craft became my coping mechanisms. You can read all about it here as well as find the recipe for this month’s Simply Soft Sandwich Bread.

It’s also worth noting that anyone that runs something called The Night Bakery was destined to be a friend. Those of you lucky enough to live around New York City you should check of all the sweet treats Rebecca has available! There are cakes and cookies and subscription boxes to fill your fancy so be sure to browse her offerings and get in on what’s baking!

Happy full moon friends! See you next month!

Holding Space For The Nothingness

What's truly depressing about a the lack-luster life is that so many are living it.  Days like a run-on sentence, leading us to believe whatever we choose because we lack the human connections that help challenge our mental dialogue.  I keep questioning why?  What ill-fated sharp turn was taken onto the path of nothingness?  Or was it even a turn at all?  Maybe arriving at nowhere was just a course that was set; a sail hoisted by someone or something without much communication of how or why? And yet here we are, together at nowhere, living isolated in the village of suffering.  An army of nothings void of our something...  

In the wake of all that's depressing I find myself annoyed at the self-help community. I'm hung-up on Anthony Bourdain, the Parkland School shooting, Nia Wilson's murder, my mom's death...  I'm emotionally coping with my father's dementia, my unemployment, and knowing that soon, our dog will have to be put down.  I can keep going with sob stories but that's not my point. We all have hardships and it's a disservice to the human condition to line them up in comparison.  Everyone is hurting.  Our friends are hurting.  And more than anything, our relationships are hurting. This pain has never been more visible than in convenient statements like "thinking of you".   Our lifelines have been reduced to lip-service as if sending "thoughts and prays with love and light" was somehow enough? 

Surely we recognize these statements do not suffice but more than anything it's telling how we lack emotional capacity for others.  What's worse, is that we have given-up on the cause.  We've stopped trying to effectively connect and diminish our discomforts by mindless scrolling.  We occasionally pause for words of convenience leaving benign messages like "sending love", content with ourselves and our broadcast of care.  But the truth is, those voices and those prays; they are just noise. It's just clutter in the ether for that desperate person to sift through.  

Adding to the volume doesn't help the person searching for ears that listen.  These drive-by comments perpetuate more hardship.  If you don't have time, then yeah, just scroll.  And if you don't know what to say, just say that! Treating discomfort as something to push past as quickly as possible steals space from recovery and robs us of connection and knowing ourselves through others.  We need to stop treating depression as a problem to hurry  past and rather dig-in some and explore the roots of where the nothingness lives.  We need to explore the bottom and understand how pain is stabilized and get familiar with the things that hold it in place.  Ignoring this only compounds the emotional debt.

Making spaces... Something from nothing.

Not everyone can move on and not everyone wants to; at least, not yet...  That voice of pain has fallen on deft ears and the whirl of society races leaving many chasing recovery which is not recovery.  Chasing anything is not rest and this systemic push to move-on is eroding the fibers that connect us in the human experience. The rush to move past sadness is falsely conditioning cultural attitudes by implying that "evolving" is somehow more important than being... 

My own wanderings through the nothingness have me bound to believe that everyone craves someone that understands.  The soul of humanity is tethered to personal connections and therefore we have a responsibility to foster opportunities that bring us together. And as much as we likely don't hold the answers for others but we can still hold space for them.  Space to grieve, space for despair, space to explore pain without judgement... Sometimes you just need space in order to connect; a moment of quiet so your something can be heard.

I'll be holding space for some spoon carving therapy at The Guild this Saturday.  The class is an introduction to carving but my hope is that it evolves into an introduction to community.  I  have big dreams for starting a carving club and what that could mean for communities everywhere.  It's mostly just a dream but I hear, life is but one anyway so, why not?  It's just a matter of time...

Make some to take some.