Heart Eyes, Vol. 58: The Favourite, Holiday Cards, and The Best Lentil Soup
Heyyyy, friends! Goodness: I skip a week for Thanksgiving, and then another because I just didn't get there, and suddenly there's a big, lighted tree sitting in my living room, and Hanukkah is almost over, and I'm already running my holiday-break countdown (ten days down, ten to go!). Not that I'm complaining: I know this time is difficult for many people, but I have to tell you, I love the confluence of darkness and light, the opportunities for quiet reflection and sparkly merriment, the chance to choose rituals of celebration and closure.
As I said last year: I personally celebrate Christmas and will be reflecting that here over the next few weeks. I hope that, whatever winter holidays you celebrate, they are full of warmth and light! I wish an especially happy Hanukkah to those celebrating right this minute. Here are some things bringing me joy this week:
What To See in the Theater: The Favourite
What to say about The Favourite, the first probable Oscar nominee of my personal awards-season viewing? It's a weird one, another from Yorgos Lanthimos, who also made The Lobster, the poster child for Strange Semi-Mainstream Movies of the Twenty-Teens. It will definitely not be for everybody! But it may be for you, if you enjoy spiky, funny, cynical period pieces—Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone play two royal hangers-on jockeying for the affections of Queen Anne—in which men are incidental at best. I do like all those things, and I thought it was a fun shot of acid in the heavy winter movie season, though I'll warn you that the ending may be...controversial. Also: Weisz and Stone might get you in the door (unsurprisingly, they're both very good), but the movie really belongs to Olivia Colman as Queen Anne. She's perfect, hilarious and heartbreaking and the possessor of the only real feelings in the whole movie; it's almost like she's in a different film from everybody else, and we will for sure see her at the Oscars because of it. (She's also taking over for Claire Foy in the next few seasons of The Crown, which is fun.) Note that this movie isn't particularly graphic, but it's definitely for adults.
What To Do With These Long Winter Evenings: In Praise of Holiday Cards
So, I know that it's not in everybody's life plan, or finances, or schedule, to go out and buy pleasing stationery and then spend several evenings writing and addressing cards and mailing them all out—but I personally love sending and receiving holiday cards. All of it is my favorite: I love buying pretty paper and am fortunate enough to be able to afford to do so, within reason. I love sitting by my lighted tree, writing cards and watching White Christmas over and over again, like an obsessed toddler. I love thinking about my friends, and what I know about their years, and writing them happy little notes accordingly. And I don't expect cards back, but I do love it when they come—I tape them all along the edge of the TV cabinet, and over time they become the prettiest and most joyful decoration in my home. I even leave them up for a while after the tree is gone, to soften the blow of January. (The first of the season arrived yesterday, and I knew who it was from before I even looked at the envelope; you know who you are, my most On Top Of Things friend!) All this to say, don't kill yourself over holiday cards, but if you're thinking about it, I find them a sweet way to share some love and care in a dark season. You might, too. I bought mine at Target, which had many adorable choices, including a Minted line that is far less expensive than any other Minted product, ever.
What To Cook: Lentil Soup with Sausage, Chard, and Garlic
I cannot tell you how impressed I am with myself right now: we're well over a year into this newsletter, and I have not yet shared this Lentil Soup with Sausage, Chard, and Garlic with you. See? I'm saying to myself, I still have tricks up my sleeve. I've been hoarding this recipe for the right moment—an occasion—but I think the right moment is now and the occasion is that it's winter, and it's cold outside.
To be fair, I suspect a LOT of you are already familiar with this soup. It's a pretty famous soup. But if that's the case, you already know how good it is. I hope you don't mind.
Anyway, this soup is perfect; it's probably the best soup I know how to make, and as such, I make it constantly. It's my when-all-else-fails soup; even when I don't know what I want, I want this. I like that it has veggies and lentils and greens, but with the added kick of sausage; I find that extra spice and flavor motivating in a way plain lentil soup usually isn't. This soup is easy, it's hearty, it's absurdly healthy, it doesn't take forever, and I can go a whole soup season without getting tired of it. I tend to use chicken or turkey Italian sausage, and bagged kale instead of chard—I think kale is less likely to turn slimy than chard, and I enjoy not having to strip and chop the whole leaves. Deb is emphatic about the garlic oil she adds at the end, but I leave it out and have never once missed it. (I do, however, recommend a sprinkle of Parmesan, if you can manage it.)