For this, the final newsletter of 2022, I want to leave you with the rally cry that has seen me through a lot this year. This affirmation has led me to be more honest with people. When I say this phrase, I motivate myself to go after the things I want. When friends have felt stuck or unsure at various points of the year, I have passed along this wisdom. It’s foolproof. It works for all manner of things. It is fuck it.
Didn’t get that job you wanted? Fuck it. Feeling nervous about texting that person you like? Fuck it! Don’t think you’re worthy of whatever it is you want to ask for? FUCK IT. It means both ‘go for it’ and ‘screw them’. It means that life is short, so say the thing. It means we’re on a wet and dry ball floating in infinite space, so just do whatever it is you really want to do. It means that we each have but this one life, so may as well make it count. Fuck it.
Didn’t think you’d get a newsletter five days before Christmas with this many ‘fucks’ in it? Then, welcome, you must be new here. If I can impart one thing (to myself as much as to you) as we wrap on one year and open a next, it’s to live by the ethos of fuck it as often as possible. Let me be clear, though, that the fuck it life must be lived responsibly. It’s not fuck it, let me ruin their life, let me care less about the planet or be less of a good person. It’s fuck it, I am going after the thing or person or accolade that I want because why the hell shouldn’t I? And it is my resolution.
Speaking of resolutions, my friend has a great take on them. Pick things you absolutely know you can achieve so that you feel good about yourself. We decided that our resolutions for 2023, for example, will be to not get scurvy or gout. I can already feel the satisfaction of this time next year being like, I DID IT! I stuck with it all year!
Other things I’m sticking with? Writing these newsletters to you. In full transparency, I am still figuring out what we’ve got here. What should this be? I love writing these, I love the feedback I get from you guys (see a couple recent texts below), and I’m excited to continue honing in on what it is exactly. If you have wants or needs or hopes or dreams for what you’d like to see from me in the new year, please make them known! Comment or just reply to this email.
The GP book is legit. Fight me. All of these cookbooks are ones that I turn to frequently for recipes that are great for busy weeknights as well as leisurely weekends. Here are some links to buy:
It’s All Easy, Small Victories, Keeping it Simple, Bitter Honey, Simple Pasta, Sababa.
Feed me and make me laugh
I mentioned last week that my son and I are making our newly traditional Christmas cookie boxes. Per his request we’re adding mini eclairs this year, which he doesn’t realize means more work for me. However, I made my choux pastry ahead of time (they can be baked and frozen, un-filled! Who knew!). Please, look how beautiful they are.
There are two more things I want you to make over the holidays… First, a pavlova. Specifically, my personal patron saint Odette Williams’ recipe which you could top with jam and crumbled pistachios and pomegranate arils, or raspberries if you can find them, or better yet some passionfruit. And I’d like for you to make Eden Grinshpan’s easy weeknight pasta, on December 22 or 23, when you’re absolutely not cooking up a whole production in advance of the main events.
Speaking of the main events, here’s my proposed menu and delegation as sent to my brother who is an excellent cook. (Editor’s notes: When I say “open to ideas,” I am lying. When I bold his name, it’s because I’m kind of a lot. Lastly, I might add some crab to the squid ink pasta, we’ll see.)
A few friends have asked for last min gift ideas, so here goes: obviously a To Taste gift subscription, a Tock gift card they can use toward a great restaurant or a Goldbelly gift card for fun ingredients, Bose noise-cancelling headphones or a Kindle, an Arrae gift card for a decor lover, or a gift basket from the local gourmet market (in LA, that could be Canyon Grocer, Monsieur Marcel, or Guidi Marcelo’s). For little ones, a Nintendo or Xbox gift card or a subscription to Nat Geo Kids.
Spiteful gifts for kids whose parents you want to troll, including a box of whoopie cushions, a Minions fart gun, “a video game for a system they don’t own,” and a gift card to Great Wolf Lodge for $20. The whole thread is diabolical and elite.
This video made me laugh so hard I spit out my lunch.
These affirmations are worth a listen.
Please someone do this with your family on Christmas and film it.
Expiration dates are meaningless. This is a really helpful piece on food expiration dates, including the tidbit that they’ve never been about food safety but about the manufacturer’s / producer’s best guess on quality and tastiness.
Everyone must watch Stutz over the break. It’s phenomenal.
I love you guys: “What I learned from sex cake” is my most popular newsletter of 2022.
Signing off with so much love for you guys and with excitement for wherever we can take this lil ol’ newsletter in the new year!
xoxo,
Nicole
P.S. I decided on where to take myself on holiday…can I get a drum roll please: Barcelona & Seville. Stay tuned for my debrief in January!
I’m reading a great book I’ll recommend. 1414* by Paul Bradley Carr. We’ve got a new bookstore in Palm Springs and they love this book. It’s about a reporter in Silicon Valley who uncovers so many disastrous things happening in tech startups. It’s fiction, based on reality. Also, the bookstore is called Best Bookstore in Palm Springs.
I was a tasteless plebeian before you. Please keep imparting your wisdom.