Heart Eyes, Vol. 168: A Holiday Gift Guide and Sheet-Pan Sausages with Caramelized Shallots and Apples

Friends! Hello. Happy Friday. Are we all craving some vitamin D these days, or is it just me? I don’t personally mind the time change so much, or the early evenings, but I do find myself practically plastered to the windows during the day (or, because I am extremely lucky, stretching my apartment wifi out into the yard to work when I can). The other day, I got up early and went for a walk before work! Such is the pull of the sun for me (and the power of the early sunrise waking me up). Whatever you’re up to this weekend, and however short the days are where you are, I hope you’re finding ways to get yourself out into the light we do have. I think you’re doing great.

A Heart Eyes Holiday Gift Guide

Yes, we’re still two weeks out from Thanksgiving, but last week my family unanimously agreed to send out our Christmas lists early—by all accounts, supply chain issues may come into play. (Also, if you’re shopping for Chanukah, it’s quite early this year!) So here are a few things I can say from personal experience might bring a smile to someone’s face. Enjoy.

Starry Lined Journal from TheInspiredStories, on Etsy
One practice I’ve come back to during the pandemic after many years away is journaling—on paper, in a cute little book, with a pen, ideally never to be read again. (The horror!) There are, of course, as many beautiful and varied journals in the world as there are people who feel compelled to write in them, but I recently began using one of these, and I’m obsessed. It’s so pretty. I like the size of it, and the spacing of the lines on the pages. It opens quite flat, which makes it comfortable to write in sitting up in bed. Mine is a beautiful blue, but it also comes in white, pink, and light green. I’m honestly contemplating investing in a few more, for Future Liz; I love it that much.

OXO Peeler Set
Last week as we were discussing the glory of the Winter Squash and Spinach Pasta Bake, a friend asked me how, exactly, I peel a whole butternut squash. The green peeler from this set of OXO peelers, a gift from a friend a few years back, is the answer: it’s several years old and still sharp enough to cut through thick squash skins like it’s nothing. Bonus, the green peeler is just the beginning! The orange one juliennes delicate little strips of carrot or zucchini, sans knife skills, and the red one is serrated, for peaches, tomatoes, and other thin-skinned things. I think peelers are one of those things we don’t notice needs replacing until we’re hacking away at some potato with what’s essentially a popsicle stick—and a really good one can change your life. Maybe someone you know is ready for that change?

Ficus Audrey
Earlier this year, back when I was inside a LOT, I got it in my head that I wanted a tree in my apartment—not just at the holidays, but all the time. My brother made it happen for my birthday and now I am the proud and obsessive servant of a small but rapidly growing Ficus benghalensis, or Ficus Audrey. I love it so much: it’s beautiful, it’s so grounding, I’m delighted by the idea of a tree in my house, and I get real joy out of inspecting its progress every morning (after kitty brushies, before tea service). A less-finicky cousin of the fiddle-leaf fig, it so far seems happy in my apartment with a minimum of care—with weekly watering and a spot near an east-facing window, it unfurls a big, oval leaf about once a month. Mine came about a foot tall above the soil line, but the nursery it came from also had medium (three-foot) and full-sized (five-foot, or more) ones for sale. May I recommend buying someone else a tree? For their house?

Glossier Moisturizing Moon Mask
I have to say that I think fancy skincare is such a good gift—the very definition of something many people, of all genders, would enjoy but might not think of buying for themselves. I recently defied this logic and tacked a couple of fun things onto my otherwise workaday Glossier order, including the Moisturizing Moon Mask, a little twenty-minute wash-off situation to try to force-feed some water into my chronically dry skin, and it’s been really nice as we transition into these winter days. Sometimes it’s just really nice to get out of the shower, putter around for a bit with a little goop on your face, and rinse it off to find that your skin feels good! And no, I do not know what the moon has to do with anything in this context.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, by Lori Gottlieb
OK, this one does come with the risk that the recipient may want to know what, exactly, you’re getting at. (I mean, maybe you are getting at something, I don’t know.) In any case, I loved this book so much, and I think it would make a great gift—it’s entertaining, it’s insightful, and even for people who haven’t been in therapy, I think it’s a really interesting window into the human experience. It’s a great read, everybody I know who’s read it has loved it, and I think it would make a fabulous gift.

What To Cook: Sheet-Pan Sausages with Caramelized Shallots and Apples

We talked once before, ages ago, about sausage with apples and onions—a thing my mom used to throw together, sometimes with potatoes as well, that has become a fall and winter staple in my house. I typically make it on the stovetop as a cobbled-together, last-minute thing, but recently experimented with this classy sheet-pan version from the Times, and loved it as well. Along with the basics, it incorporates a bit of rosemary and mustard, and a drizzle of apple-cider vinegar at the end to bring out the jammy notes in the apples and onions.

I made this with regular red onions and it worked well, though I suspect the thinner layers of the shallots would be delicious. I believe the assumption here is also that you’ll use fresh—uncooked—sausage, but I used precooked and it was fine. As written, this is a bit of a light meal; you’ll probably want one more thing along with it (some lentils, as suggested in the recipe? a little bit of toast?). I also think you couldn’t go wrong with making extra apples and onions per sausage; I always want more.

Sheet-Pan Sausages with Caramelized Shallots and Apples
By Lidey Heuck for The New York Times

6 shallots (or red onions), trimmed and peeled
2 crisp apples
1 TBSP. olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 pound sausages of your choice
3 sprigs rosemary
1 tsp. whole-grain mustard (NB: I used Dijon and it was fine)
1–2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
Chopped parsley, optional

Heat the oven to 425°. Cut the shallots or onions into 1/2-inch-thick wedges. Core the apples and cut those into 1/2-inch-thick wedges, too. Toss them with the olive oil and salt and pepper on a sheet pan and roast 10–15 minutes.

While the apples and onions roast, prick each sausage a few times with a fork and coat with a bit of olive oil.

Add the rosemary and mustard to the sheet pan and toss, spreading everything into one layer. If sausages are fresh, arrange evenly around the pan and roast 25–30 minutes. If sausages are precooked, you can add them then or wait 10–15 minutes, so they cook for less time and don’t dry out.

When the shallots are tender and caramelized and everything looks as brown and crispy and juicy as you want it to, pull it out of the oven, remove the rosemary sprigs, and transfer everything to a serving platter. Drizzle with apple cider vinegar and toss, incorporating any browned bits from the pan. Sprinkle with parsley, if using, and serve.