Heart Eyes, Vol. 129: $2 Thursdays and Tangy Braised Chickpeas
Friends! Hello. You made it—not only through another harrowing week in the world, but through a whole season, and I swear that at least where I am, the first hints of fall arrived exactly on Tuesday. The skies are blue, the light is golden (and not with smoke, thank heavens and keep your fingers crossed), a few leaves in the highest reaches of my backyard plum trees are beginning to look suspiciously orange. I hope that where you are (and, frankly, in defiance of…everything), some of your favorite things are happening, and that you’re able to enjoy them. In any case: you’re doing great.
How To Help: $2 Thursday fundraisers with Caroline Moss
Looking for a cheap thrill? Something that’ll warm your heart and have an outsized impact on the world for, as they say, less than that the price of the latte you’re probably making yourself at home these days anyway? Lately, I’ve gotten really into $2 Thursdays, the ingenious philanthropic scheme created by Caroline Moss of the podcast Gee Thanks, Just Bought It (which, full disclosure, I don’t even listen to, but I do keep an eye on the Instagram). Maybe you’d like to get into them, too!
It’s simple: every Thursday, all day, Caroline collects $2 Venmo and PayPal donations for a pre-selected organization, and at the end of the day, she donates the full amount—thousands of dollars, $2 at a time, for nonprofits distributing diapers to families that need them, for example, or providing clean water in places that don’t have it. September has been all about back-to-school, funding classrooms through Donors Choose; this week, all of the chosen classrooms were in Louisville, Kentucky, in honor of Breonna Taylor. My favorite is when she chooses classrooms that were previously ignored and funds them completely, all at once—so satisfying! So gratifying! It’s just about the most uplifting and community-minded fun you can have in quarantine. I’m enjoying it immensely.
So. If you, like me, sometimes have random small amounts hanging around in your Venmo or PayPal account, or just like the idea of these tiny donations and want to spectate as good things happen, you can send $2 by Venmo (SOCAROLINESAYS) or PayPal (socarolinesays@gmail.com), and follow @geethanksjustboughtitpod on Instagram to follow the action and get yourself hyped up. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
What To Cook: Tangy Braised Chickpeas
Ugh, isn’t September just the best month for cooking? Tomatoes and eggplants and zucchini and the last of my precious peaches, but also apples and pomegranates and the first of the winter squashes? We’re so lucky. I always try to hold off diving into cozy fall cooking until October 1, to make sure I’m not missing out on the summer produce while it’s here—but I had a little slip-up this week. Just a little toe-dip into fall. And it was SPECTACULAR.
The funny thing about the new Smitten Kitchen Tangy Braised Chickpeas, also known as “brisket-braised chickpeas,” is that I flagged the recipe it’s based on—Molly Yeh’s Cozy Braised Chickpeas with Squash—last year, and never got around to making it. I hope I get to it someday, but Deb’s version, swapping squash and red wine for mushrooms and a hit of vinegar, is frankly the best thing I’ve made in ages. It’s tangy, as advertised, but more than that, this dish is deep. It’s dark. It’s beefy (and yet contains no meat!). Check out the ingredient list: mushrooms, yes, but also onions and stock and tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce and just a hint of brown sugar, all gently cooked together for a good long time. It can’t help but be rich, flavorful food for cold, dark days, the kind of dish that calls out to be served to friends under warm lighting and with a good red wine, if we were doing that kind of thing these days. In the meantime, I certainly intend to make it for myself many times (under warm lighting and with good red wine). You might do the same.