Just a really good Bolognese recipe (+ a weeknight red sauce!)

For the past several years, Kiyana and I have been making the pinwheel lasagna from Don Angie to celebrate various holidays. (Our tradition is to have it on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and Valentine’s Day.) It’s a time-intensive but very special recipe that is totally worth the effort.

To make it, you have to make three separate sauces, one of which is a Bolognese. And because you end up with a lot more of this than you need, we’d freeze the extra portion to eat with pasta a month or two later…and that’s how we realized it’s totally worth making on its own, separate from the lasagna entirely!

This Bolognese is really rich and hearty, and kind of a showstopper—Kiyana’s been making it whenever we have friends over for dinner (with the Via Carota house salad as a side) and it’s been a huge hit. It feels fancy but it’s not overly fussy, which is ideal for guests.

The recipe is available for free on Cherry Bombe, and it’s in the Don Angie cookbook (which is great and I also recommend!).

Some additional notes if you’re thinking of making it:

• We use beef instead of veal because it’s easier to find

• We don’t prepare the Bolognese in a single day anymore—Kiyana usually combines the meat and makes the mirepoix a day or two in advance, just to break things up a bit

• If you have a tea ball, put the star anise in that when the sauce is simmering so it’ll be easier to fish out at the end

• This recipe makes a ton of Bolognese; we’ve been sending friends home with a portion and we still have plenty left over for ourselves. It also freezes/reheats very well!

Also! While you’re getting the Bolognese recipe, it’s also worth grabbing the one for red sauce that’s also prepared as part of the pinwheel lasagna. This has become our go-to weeknight pasta sauce; it’s ridiculously fast and easy to make and really upgrades a bowl of plain spaghetti! 🍝

Valentine’s Day gifts to self

I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day, thanks to its indomitable color palette, embrace of kitsch, and overall message: Let someone know you care about them! While it might be a a little late to buy something for your Valentine (though I do have a list of last-minute Valentine's Day gift ideas for the discerning but procrastinating drugstore shopper if that’s where you are this year), it’s absolutely not too late to buy a little treat for yourself.

Here are some recs, based on things I’ve bought/loved recently.

Until We’re All Free sweatshirt

This is part of a fundraiser for Trans Lifeline, and proceeds “go directly toward life-saving commissary & bail funds for trans people in prison.” Available in four shirt styles and four colors, sizes S–4XL, ranging from $25–$35. Get it from Bonfire.

Leuchtturm1917 Smooth Colours notebook

Leuchtturm is finally — FINALLY — making my beloved dot grid notebook in beautiful pastels. Available in four colors, four page styles, and either hard or softcover. Get it for $21 from Leuchtturm or Amazon.

Cardinal patch

I received this cardinal as part of the bird patch monthly subscription, but you can buy it — and several other cute bird patches — individually. Get it from Bird Collective for $8.

Tussie Mussie

This game, which was designed by Wingspan designer Elizabeth Hargrave, is based on the Victorian tradition of giving flowers to friends and romantic loves. There are only 18 cards, so it’s super portable (and easy to learn), and the cards themselves are so cute IRL. While it’s currently sold out (there’s a waiting list though!), it’s absolutely worth poking around Button Shy, which has a lot more of these extremely cute “wallet games.” (I also have Insurmountable, which is a one-player game — always nice to come across those.)

Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey

I am so excited that the author of my beloved Nature Fix is back with a new book! You can read an excerpt, and get a copy from Bookshop ($27.60) or Amazon ($21.05).

Knitter’s Hand Balm

This was actually one of my girlfriend’s Valentine’s gifts to me and I love it! The tube is just a little bigger than a tube of chapstick (perfect for a knitting bag or fanny pack) and the product itself is really good — non-greasy, with a no-fragrance version (along with several scented options). Get it from The Knitting Hole for $11. 💝

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Just a bunch of good Thanksgiving shit

U.S. Thanksgiving is right around the corner (as are a bunch of other cooking + family holidays), so I thought it would be a good time to share a bunch of resources and tips that might be helpful as you think about how you’ll spend your holiday!

Education

• How to Support Indigenous People on Thanksgiving

• Decolonizing Thanksgiving Toolkit Part II: Indigenous Peoples Today

• All My Relations is a podcast hosted by Matika Wilbur and Adrienne Keene. (Dr. Keene’s blog has taught me so much over the years; I really recommend it!) “ThanksTaking or ThanksGiving?” is a good episode to start with.

• You can also look into local-to-you organizations that need support; for example, I’m making a monthly donation to NYC’s American Indian Community House. You might also want to contribute to a voluntary land tax if that’s an option in your area, or go the broader route and give time/money Indigenous Environmental Network.

Making cooking more pleasant and less stressful

Generally speaking

• 9 things that have made me a calmer, better cook

• In Nancy Meyers’ Kitchen, my favorite cooking playlist

Recipes

This is the Thanksgiving menu I’m working with this year, all of which I made last yer and loved.

• Beef tenderloin with homemade horseradish sauce from Joy of Cooking

• House mashed potatoes (How Sweet Eats)

• Maple-roasted Brussels sprouts with toasted hazelnuts (NYT Cooking)

• Cranberry sauce (NYT Cooking)

• Apple cider spritz, pomegranate Aperol spritz, or winter Aperol spritz (How Sweet Eats)

• Spiced pumpkin pie (NYT Cooking) with stand mixer pie crust (King Arthur Flour)

Also, it is my sincerely-held belief that the most important thing you will eat on any big holiday is actually breakfast. I feel like people often overlook it because they want to get started cooking (or they don’t know what to have because they’re in someone else’s home) and think it’ll be fine because they are going to eat a big meal later…and then they are starving and extremely cranky by noon. So plan ahead! When hosting, I’m a huge fan of a make-ahead breakfast casserole. And if you’re not the one hosting…maybe offer to make a make-ahead breakfast casserole?

Food-related bonus reads

• Why Diet Coke Is the Perfect Thanksgiving Beverage (because you always need an EANAB!)

• The Cranberry Caucus Is Insanely Powerful

• Meet The Woman Who Has Been Saving Thanksgiving For The Past 33 Years.

Having people over

Generally speaking

• 8 Easy, Genius Hosting Tips that Expert Entertainer Dorinda Medley Swears By

• A Few Small Tips for Throwing a Great Party This Summer

• Just a Bunch of Easy Ways to Make Vaxxed Hangouts Safer in the Delta Era

Family stuff

• A Beginner's Guide to Hosting Family for the Holidays Without Melting Down

• How to Go Home for the Holidays When Your Family Is a Bit Much

Decorations

• Danica taper candles (review here) in rust, wine, black, honey, and/or taupe are gorgeous for fall.

• If you live in the NYC area and need dishes and/or servingware, I highly recommend going to Fishs Eddy and browsing their incredible selection of dinerware. We recently replaced our mismatched dishes with green Homer Laughlin china from Fishs Eddy and I’m so thrilled about it.

• Last Thanksgiving, I bought a Blue Rose Pottery pie plate ($48.50) to make my first-ever pie and ended up loving it way more than I expected to. The specific one I bought is currently out of stock, but there are tons of other cute options.

Pre-dinner readings

• The Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address

• “Perhaps the World Ends Here”

• “The Orange”

• Pretty much anything by Mary Oliver

Entertainment and games

• First, definitely read 22 Ways to Make Thanksgiving Into Your Own Weird, Perfect Holiday, which my friend Amy Rose wrote.

• If you’ll be celebrating on your own, check out How to Have a Very Nice Solo Holiday, which I edited last year.

• If you’re a “TV on all day” kind of family, my girlfriend and I have a tradition where we watch every Thanksgiving episode of Friends on Thanksgiving morning/day. I’m not really a Friends fan (like, I’ve seen it and don’t dislike it, I’ve just never actively watched it) but I find I really enjoy it in this context! You could also do this with any show that has a lot of seasons and always did strong Thanksgiving episodes (Gossip Girl comes to mind, and I bet The Nanny would work here too) as a nice alternative to football or whatever the hell NBC shows during the day after the parade ends.

• ICYMI, check out Terri’s list of great shows to watch when you’re hanging out with your family.

• Working on a crossword puzzle is a low-stakes activity that can be done with a another person or in a small group and is a nice way to engage with relatives/in-laws without having to make small talk about, IDK, “those Spartans” or when exactly you’re going to have kids. You could probably grab a giant book of crossword puzzles from the supermarket or just order The New York Times Greatest Hits of Monday Crossword Puzzles: 100 Easy Puzzles, The New York Times Crosswords for a Long Weekend: 200 Easy to Hard Crossword Puzzles, or any other NYT joint.

• A few board games to have in your closet: Clue (the retro version for $19.99 or the updated one for $10.99), Mexican train dominoes ($19.29), Dixit ($31.99), and Codenames ($11.49).

• A few card games worth tossing in your weekender (or bringing as a host gift): Cover Your Assets ($16.99), Sushi Go ($7.39), Strawberry Sunset ($12.95), The Bears and the Bees ($14.99), and Anomia ($15.50) (review here).

• If you have a Nintendo Switch, pick up some extra joy-cons in advance (or borrow from a friend), get any cables you need to connect it to the TV, and download Super Smash Bros., Overcooked, or a Jackbox Party Pack (which doesn’t require extra controllers BTW). 🦃

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