Heart Eyes, Vol. 240: Costco 2.0 and A Great Spring Stew
Friends! Hello. Happy Friday and happy week of minor holidays to all who celebrate! Pi Day, the Ides of March, St. Patrick’s Day, the spring equinox next week…it’s all happening and it’s all entirely optional. I did not have my act together for Pi Day—does a fridge-cleanout frittata count?—but if I had, I would have made the Smitten Kitchen Easy Jam Tart, a perfect and perfectly doable pie that is 1000% more than the sum of its simple parts. In any case, opportunities for small celebrations abound. Whatever you’re up to, whether it’s green beer or turning toward the spring sunshine or just thinking “ugh, maybe next year,” I hope it feels like the right party for you. I think you’re doing great.
Costco 2.0:
I knew that when I wrote about what I buy at Costco, a delightful conversation was likely to follow. People love talking about Costco (almost as much as they love talking about Trader Joe’s, but that’s a newsletter for another day)! Honestly, I’m fascinated by any grocery haul—it’s so revealing, and also, am I missing any gems? But the intersection of large volume and the promise of ~deals does seem to raise the bar. Many lovely Friends of Heart Eyes affirmed my list and sent me all kinds of additions and suggestions, and now I pass them on to you…you know, for the public good. Here’s the Heart Eyes readers’ guide to Costco:
Eggs
Milk
Greek yogurt (“the best deal in town”)
Tuna
Ground turkey (4 x 1.5lb packs; I also sometimes buy this)
Rotisserie chicken
Bacon
Giant blocks of mozzarella (to cover all your Pizza Fridays)
SkinnyPop popcorn (“a must”)
Girl Scout Thin Mint-covered pretzels (??? but also doesn’t that sound amazing?)
Oats
Brita filters
Tampons
Hangers (“their thin velvet flocked ones are great and half the price of any others”)
Kirkland-brand Sudafed (“just as good as name-brand and it’s like $2.50 for 12 pills”)
The Sudafed note brings me to another piece of intel I learned recently: the Costco pharmacy also carries pet medications! And boy, are they cheaper than at the vet.
Oh, and I forgot to mention the matching Costco linen dresses two of my friends and I got last summer, like the deeply fashionable people that we are.
And we haven’t even scratched the surface of Costco services—for example, my parents bought one of their current cars through Costco! Another Friend of Heart Eyes noted that a recent week-long vacation rental car was $750 cheaper, and was alone worth the price of their annual membership.
See? A wonderland. May you find everything you need…and everything you didn’t know you need.
What to Cook: Red Lentil Barley Stew
As I said last week, I’ve been leaning hard into the late-winter/early-spring stews to get me through to short-sleeves weather—and this week I have another winner for you, a so-called Red Lentil Barley Stew (NYT gift link) from Melissa Clark in the Times. That said: I would like a word with whoever named this recipe.
The base of this stew is, yes, red lentils and barley, which is an ingenious textural combination. But there’s so much more to celebrate here: leeks, carrots, and fennel; tomato paste, cinnamon, turmeric, and garam masala; a whole bunch of cilantro (stems and all!) and a big squeeze of lemon to finish it all off. With its nubby texture, its warm spices, its sweet carrots and fennel, and that hit of cilantro-and-lemon freshness at the end, this stew is simple to make but has so much happening. It’s delicious and unusual and perfect for these slightly brighter, yet still chilly times. Could we somehow communicate that?
Also: I trust Clark implicitly, but judging from the comments on this recipe, I’m not the only one who’s hazy on why the simmering time for this soup is listed at 60–90 minutes. Both pearled barley and red lentils should cook in 30 minutes or less; I personally gave it about a half-hour, until the lentils were thoroughly broken down, the barley was pillowy, and the veggies were tender, and called it good. I have no regrets and I hereby give you permission to consider this a weeknight recipe—I’m sure Melissa won’t mind.