And everything nice

Sugar and spice and... admitting it's fall now

Sure, I guess it’s fall. For whatever reason, I have had very little interest in pumpkin anything lately. Don’t come at me with cinnamon spice, I’ve cared not for an apple pie. I made a butternut squash pasta recently in a futile effort to jumpstart those warm & fuzzy autumnal feelings. It didn’t work. I see all the Brussels sprouts and persimmons at the store, I’m getting the emails with make-ahead Thanksgiving recipes. But I’ve felt nothing. I’d accepted that I was living in an emotional, seasonal no-man’s-land. Until…

Every year, I make a huge pot of chicken, turkey, or vegetable stock ahead of all the holiday cooking. I sincerely hope that that makes me sound like some kind of modern Betty Crocker, an LA-based pioneer woman. “She makes her own stock! What’s next, milling her own flour? What can’t she do?” (That’s what you’re saying to yourselves.) Before you get too impressed: Among my claims to lazy fame is the phone call I made to my mother freshman year of college asking just how important the soap is when washing your clothes. I’d forgotten detergent. Plainly, if I can make my own stock, then you can, too.

I’ll tell you why we all should be making our own stock. First, the ease. Second, the flavor. Third, the bragging rights.

Here’s how I do it: About 50% of the time that I’m chopping vegetables, I’ll scoop the scraps into a big freezer bag and stick in the freezer door. I’ll add to it, say, once a month or as I remember to. When it gets full, I dump it all into a big pot and cover with water. Then, I just let it boil down while I bum around the house doing other impressive stuff (napping) and in about 4 hours, it’s homemade stock. I’ll usually take the lid off and let it cook down to concentrate the flavors for about an hour longer. Then, strain it into whatever tupperware you’d like. It keeps for a couple of weeks in the fridge or months in the freezer. I portion it out into small soup containers.

So, over the weekend on a warm and sunny but technically-fall Sunday, I opened my freezer to find that, indeed, my bag of scraps was full. Full to bursting. I had a shorn corn cob, a handful of fennel fronds, some celery stalks, and half of a chicken carcass awaiting that pot of hot water. On my counter, I saw an onion just starting to lose its will to live and I found a few leftover sprigs of rosemary in the fridge. Into the pot it all went, along with water to cover and healthy pinches each of salt and black pepper. It made my house smell like chicken soup, all comforting and homey and it became, very literally, the start of the season for me. Here we are a full week into November and I’m okay with sweaters now. I appreciate your patience.

I highly recommend, no matter which side of the fall line you’ve found yourself, making stock. I’ll use it for stuffing, I’ll use it for a Christmas-y risotto, I’ll use it for chicken noodle and butternut squash soup. I’ll use the smallest portions when I need to deglaze a pan. Plus, now my freezer looks like I’m Julia Child.

Should you want a more specific recipe to follow, here’s one from NYT. I got mine at the end of an excellent cookbook, Midnight Chicken a few years back and have riffed on it ever since.

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What else is up?

Currently booking: Vienna’s iconic Hotel Sacher, the gorgeous Four Seasons Papagayo in Costa Rica, and Jaipur’s opulent Raj Palace… And I’m taking on new clients!

Costa Rica for Christmas, anyone?

I helped plan a super fun Mexico City itinerary for a very dear friend of mine and she wrote about it! Check it outttttt.

From The Cut: “Childhood independence is a mental health issue.” I am so curious to know how ye parents feel about this. I’m generally inclined to agree with so much of this excellent piece and yet find myself at a loss for how to ‘fix’ it from within a busy, bustling, at-times-dangerous city like Los Angeles. I want to discuss!

Dream Scenario looks fucking cool.

The United States of Guns (Kottke, via Cup of Jo)

Which do you think, for an Angeleno, is a bigger milestone… Turning 8 or eating at The Apple Pan for the first time?

As a somewhat voracious reader, I have a confession to make: I didn’t read Lessons in Chemistry. I am, however, watching the show and it’s very cute, light, easy watchin’. (Ahem, also, hellooooo Lewis Pullman…..!!)

I am currently reading Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and am into it. Next up, excitingly, is Ali Rosen’s fun, fabulous, food-filled, Italian-countryside rom-com Recipe for Second Chances!

What to do with all of that Halloween candy? Cookie bars, duh.

I think maybe even I could do this!? If you see me with my hair looking done, just know it’s because I attempted this.

Ready to start collecting art but without the Collecting Art™ price tag, which led me to this piece sold by the very cool Tacit Collective.

And finally, whatever your politics, “deathbed losers” is a wonderful turn of phrase:

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Signing off to micro-dose a pear, which seems like the right amount of fall for me…

xoxo,

Nicole