These Are a Few of My Favourite Things 11/4

1) Dumplings

How is it that there's a whole song about corn that has gone viral and nothing about hot, plump, and juicy dumplings? I've tried numerous time to imagine what it would take to make me refuse an offer of dumplings and my mind is blank. If you have any interest in making your own, like I did a few years ago, Woks of Life have great recipes. But the part they left out is how dumplings are a social activity; do not try to stuff and fold 20+ dumplings on your own. Invite family and friends, and have a dumpling making session while chatting and then eat them all yourself!

2) La Fermière French Yogurt

As a child my first impression of yogurt was formed by Yoplait's chalky and sickly sweet plastic single serve containers. So, God bless globalization and bringing La Fermière's French yogurt in it's adorable blue ceramic little pots to Adam's Fair Acre Farms at $4.99/pot (yes, that is the accurate price as of publication). Because of the price tag, I purchase these guys as a treat; which I know is how everyone else thinks of yogurt, right? But seriously, this brand is so creamy, so delicious and without that dubious artificial sugar burn that it tastes like a reward.

  

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3) Glass Jars

I can't quite explain the sheer visual pleasure I get from seeing my lentils, barley, quinoa, and other pulses displayed in glass jars. And the great news is I have a lot of glass jars because of my mild canning obsession. But now it's starting to burgeon out to keeping jars that my pepperoncini and spaghetti sauce come in; at times I find myself selecting a brand of grocery based on how interesting its glass container is. But I swear: I can quite anytime!

4) This Mushroom Walnut Pâté

Y'all... This recipe is worth scrolling through the college essay on the moral and physical superiority of vegans. I whipped up a batch for Halloween and then proceeded to eat it by the spoonful in the remaining weeks. The texture and the taste is uncanny in its closeness to real pâté minus the cat food-like smell of chicken livers (though I do love chicken liver pâté also). If you have a food processor making this takes literally minutes.

5) Literally Anything Wes Anderson

To the point that I once wrote a letter to Jason Schwartzman explaining how we would probably be BFF (no, I didn't send it). As mentioned above, I value visual details more than the average bear and Wes Anderson just gets it. Ain't nothing in his movies by accident, literally every frame is a visual composition. But more than that the story telling is off the gosh darn charts, and each time I re-watch The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, or The Darjeeling Limited I can't decide which one is my favourite; which one speaks the most to my humanity, or my soul. A running theme through Wes Anderson movies is the idea of redemption, of the hero not accomplishing what he/he wanted, but what they needed.  I understand they're not for everyone, but if anyone wants to bask in the careful choreography of Wes, give me a buzz.