A viral dumpling bake, a great sweater, and the joy of The Magic Flute
Plus, my three favorite cookie recipes
We’re piled into the car, following Route 22 toward home. Outside, the sky has settled into soft bands of pale blue, pink, and grey. My mind is still back at the Metropolitan Opera’s performance of the Magic Flute, which I had never seen. The whole production (especially the set design) is exquisite and full of sophisticated details. The dancing bears, dragons, and all kinds of birds made of translucent silk created a pageantry I’m still thinking about. I felt echoes of Bread and Puppet (tell me I grew up in Vermont in the 80s!) and also Cirque du Soleil, all layered with Mozart’s music. A feast!
One of my favorite parts of going to Lincoln Center is how steadfast it is, the velvet seats, the gold ceiling, and those iconic atomic starburst chandeliers are reassuring and elegant. While live music never fails to move me, today’s true pleasure was the audience—the sudden ripples of laughter, the unprompted applause, and the collective hum of a room full of happy people.
A. Holy moly, butter dishes are having a moment! I collected a few here, but this neon one is my current favorite. As someone whose last meal would be bread and (soft) butter - I’m a fan!
B. Somehow, we go through a lot of lemons in this house - and this “The Long Bowl" fruit bowl by Werajane Design caught my eye! The original link sold out - this is updated!
C. This fortune cookie has been haunting the bottom of my cart for months.
D. I’ve long been a fan of Santa hats and party hats made by Chiarabelle. Sometimes I leave animals up with either type of hat on for months because they make me so happy.
E. I tend to be someone who “batch” cooks - meaning if I’m in cooking mode, I like to cook multiple things at once when I’m in the kitchen. And if I’m baking cookies, I like to bake a lot of cookies. I’d been longing for this sort of expandable cookie rack, and my sister was nice enough to buy it for me for Christmas.
F. I’m gearing up for a cookie bonanza this week - I love these pinwheels, this Chocolate Shortbread, and these Jam thumbprints (a recommendation from my friend Stephanie).
G. My favorite nail polish color for a winter pedicure!
H. I bought this cheery sweater on Black Friday and have been living in it. It has a nice weight, and the cotton doesn’t stretch out.
I. If you have children in your house or a TikTok account, you have no doubt seen these viral recipes for a “frozen dumpling” bake. I tried this one during Alex’s exam week, and it was good and most importantly, so easy! I adapted with various items I already had on hand - I used up some peanut sauce, some soy sauce, some peanut butter, and suspect it’s a pretty flexible recipe.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, consider clicking the ❤️ button — it really does help other like-minded readers discover my writing (oh, algorithms!).
I occasionally include affiliate links - typically to products from Etsy, Ebay, 1st Dibs, Bookshop, and yes, sometimes, Amazon. Affiliate links are bolded so you know when I’ve used one. Our most consistent political power comes from exercising our values via our wallets. I’m always thinking about cost, accessibility, and the planet. It’s a work in progress.
I include a few bonus finds here each week for paid subscribers as a small token of appreciation for making this newsletter possible.
I found this Uniqlo coat in Rome in the Men’s department while shopping with Alex and my mother-in-law. It’s a great coat - I bought it in size XS and the fit is excellent.
I ordered this as a little gift for myself (shhhh, don’t tell Santa!)
These koi stockings are adorable - and so happy!
Tim gave me a See’s Candy advent calendar this year - and these are my hands-down favorite of the bunch.
abbey the fruit stand has an incorrect link i think? it just goes to a chairish decorative bowls page. i need to know because i love it!
I've been curious about the dumpling bake but hesitant to try it without a recommendation from a "real" person. Lol. I might have to give it a go.