Heart Eyes, Vol. 201: A Christmas Music Compendium and Red Lentil Soup with Lemon
Friends! Hello. Happy Friday. Happy December! I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings; I did, setting up camp at my brother’s house with my extended family and enough food to feed us all until approximately Valentine’s Day. Otherwise, the exciting news from Heart Eyes HQ is that I got a Christmas tree from Costco and it is…well, Costco-sized, a thing I kind of knew was probably going to happen, and yet still laugh about when I see it in my little apartment. Also, my cat, Sherlock, has a new best friend, and it is a cranberry. An actual cranberry. I dropped it yesterday at breakfast and now he carries it from room to room with him, alternating between batting it around furiously and napping next to it. (The first one was pretty mangled by the end of the day yesterday. I gave him a new one today. Shhh, don’t tell him.) Whatever you’re up to this weekend, I hope it brings you as much joy as he gets from his emotional support cranberry. I think you’re doing great.
This is my annual disclaimer that I know people celebrate a variety of winter holidays, or none at all, and I hope whatever you’re doing in this season is warm and lovely! I personally celebrate Christmas and will reflect that here.
What to Listen to: Christmas Music
I have to tell you, after two mostly-indoor years where I was counting down the seconds to Advent, this year I am…somewhat less mentally and emotionally prepared. Like, am I looking forward to the parties and concerts and cookies and family time to come? Absolutely. It’s just…did you say today? This weekend? A live tree in my apartment when? It’s a bit of a shock.
I did manage to cobble together my annual Advent activity calendar—a daily selection of small ways to celebrate the season, from “watch a Christmas movie” to “donate to a cause you care about”; here’s a digital copy, if you’re looking for ideas—but so far, the best way I’ve found to coax myself into the holiday spirit is with music. Maybe it would work for you, too?
First, as always, I do stand behind my Heart Eyes for the Holidays playlist; it starts off with Andy Williams singing “Do You Hear What I Hear,” which is always the first Christmas song I listen to after Thanksgiving, and contains many of my very very favorites.
But also, I recently happened upon a bunch of holiday playlists by Kendra Joyner Adachi—The Lazy Genius, a playlist-making fiend—and they’re helping me branch out a bit. Presumably Happy Christmas wouldn’t go amiss? Or a Relaxed Christmas? Maybe you’d like a gentle Lessons & Carols set? Or a sparkly collection of standards? She’s got a soundtrack for your holiday party, something to keep you going during holiday chores, and something for driving around on winter nights, looking at lights. Truly, she’s got you covered.
Need more? I like both of She & Him’s Christmas albums, but think the second one, Christmas Party, is especially strong. Sufjan Stevens’s Songs for Christmas is a gentle, plinky-plinky classic; the follow-up, Silver and Gold, is more eclectic and more uneven, but somehow I keep coming back to it. Here, I got you some Dolly Parton! And I do think everybody needs a little Nat King Cole. And finally, Handel’s Messiah is the rare Christmas music that is also excellent anytime music, but I truly do think it’s transcendent in this season.
Enjoy.
What to Cook: Red Lentil Soup with Lemon
Do you think it’s a bad sign that it’s December 2, I’m waiting with joy in my heart for various holiday festivities, and I already feel like I could really go for a salad? Holiday food is such a highlight for me—and make no mistake, the first cookies of the season will be out of the oven before my head hits the pillow tonight—but increasingly, that joy in abundance and exploration means I just want extra-simple, extra-healthy food when I’m cooking for myself.
If you’re in the same boat, may I present Melissa Clark’s Red Lentil Soup with Lemon, from the New York Times, a soup that might just get us through the end of the year? (An aside: Good news! The Times has finally extended its “gift article” function to recipes, so I can share with non-subscribers for free. Go ahead and use the link even if you don’t have a Times account!)
I like this soup so much, I’ve made it twice in the last month (and that’s with Thanksgiving and a week away for work) and it’s already on the menu for next week as well. I think it’s a perfect weeknight soup: complex in flavor, simple to make, light but filling, made of healthy and inexpensive ingredients that won’t go bad on you. It’s gluten-free, and vegan if you make it with vegetable stock. I think the real upgrade here is that it’s a partially (or fully; you’re in charge!) blended soup, which makes it creamy instead of chunky and smooths out the slightly gritty texture red lentils can sometimes have. I was out of tomato paste the second time I made it, and used harissa instead, for a spicier take; I think the resulting soup was a bit thinner, but I would do it again (or use both!).
You might like it, too.
Blockbuster Review: Mean Girls (2004)
Still a masterpiece—the jokes are so funny, and I think the arc of it is actually pretty humane and surprising? Equally thrilling to me is the massive extent to which it’s permeated our collective consciousness over the past couple of decades*. I hope, sincerely, that Tina Fey is proud of herself.
*Was it Pop Culture Happy Hour that used to theorize that if you pay attention, you’ll hear a Wizard of Oz reference every day? I don’t think that holds up, but I do think it might be true for Mean Girls currently. The language of this movie is EMBEDDED in our speech, and I love it.