Edition 02: Four things, thoughtfully chosen this month.
01 Sarah’s Silks Play Kit
I try to keep a little Sarah’s Silks play kit in my purse made up of a silk playmap, a couple of tiny Maileg mice, and a few odds and ends, like a marble and some gems, tucked into a Maileg tin. It gives my seven year old something to play with when we’re waiting somewhere, and I love that it all packs away so easily.
The playmaps have rivers, woodland paths, and bridges for the mice to explore. Sometimes the silk becomes a blanket or a bed instead. I love watching my child arrange everything while listening to the little fantiful stories she makes up as she plays.
And a tiny mouse tucked into a tin is absolutely adorable and pretty hard to resist. I think I enjoy putting these kits together as much as she enjoys playing with them. And they’re one of my favorite gifts to give littles, too.
02 The Squash Pageant
If you can’t tell, I really have a thing for themed tastings. Apples, figs, oysters, and this month, squash!
This time I wanted to do something a little different and decided we should host a squash pageant.
Acquiring the Squash
We had a pumpkin from garden club and an acorn squash we’d grown, and I didn’t want either to go to waste. To round out our tasting lineup, we grabbed a spaghetti squash and a delicata from our local PCC.
You can get creative with how you gather your squash. Grow a few, invite friends and ask everyone to bring a different variety, swap with a neighbor, or pick something unfamiliar at the farmers market or coop. Maybe even look on your porch, those edible squash you’ve been using as fall decorations are good, as long as they’re still in good condition and haven’t been painted or carved. There’s no official lineup; half the fun is seeing what you can gather easily!
A Little Squash History
Before we got cooking, I went down a bit of a squash-history rabbit hole. Squash has been cultivated in the Americas for thousands of years, with evidence of domestication dating back roughly 10,000 years. Indigenous peoples developed many varieties for food long before squash started appearing on our autumn porch displays.
Squash is also one of the “Three Sisters,” alongside corn and beans, grown together by the Haudenosaunee and other Indigenous communities. The crops support one another where corn provides a structure for climbing beans, beans help make nitrogen available in the soil, and squash leaves shade the ground. Winter squash was especially valuable because it could be stored and eaten through the colder months.
The Set Up
We started by looking at the squash before cutting into them. Between the pumpkin, ridged acorn, striped delicata, and spaghetti squash, there was plenty to compare before we did the roasting.
If you want to make yours a proper pageant, arrange the whole squash on the table with handwritten name cards and a little paper crown. Set out voting slips and pencils, then let everyone cast their votes. You can get creative here and make up your own categories but these are the ones I choose:
Your Royal Ripeness
Best at Dinner
Squash Royalty
The Preparation
After admiring our lineup, I cut each squash in half, scooped out the seeds, and placed the halves on parchment-lined baking sheets with a touch of olive oil and salt. I roasted them using the oven’s convection setting until they were tender, checking each variety as it cooked since they finished at different times. At 400F, the delicata squash took about 30 minutes, acorn and pumpkin took about 45 minutes, and the spaghetti squash around 55 minutes.
I kept the seasoning simple so we could taste the squash itself. Who doesn’t love butter, brown sugar, and cheese on these delicious vegetables, but they all have their time and place. I wanted to know what we thought of each one on its own.
The Tasting
At dinner, we put a little of each squash on our plates and tasted each variety together. We talked about texture, sweetness, and any nutty flavors we noticed, then filled out our squash ballots and compared votes.
Our very very serious ballot included four categories:
Best Dressed
Most Likely to Be a Carriage
Most Mysterious
Best at Dinner
The first three were all about appearances, but Best at Dinner had to be done around the table.
If you’d like to just do a tasting and not hold a squash pageant, you could jot down a few notes and bring them up during the meal. What does each squash taste like? Is the texture creamy, fluffy, firm, or stringy? Would you want to eat it again?
I served these alongside your usual dinner, and you’ve got your entertainment and your side dish covered. The paper crowns are just a bonus.
03 A Fun PNW Watch
Peter Santenello is one of our favorite people to watch on YouTube, and he's finally made it to the Pacific Northwest! He travels all over America and talks to the people who live here. From farmers, fishermen, small-town mayors, and even guys running bait shops. Peter asks good questions and actually listens to the answers all while trying to uncover what it's really like living in each particular part of our nation. I love seeing different parts of the country, hearing how different people see the world, and how other Americans live their day-to-day lives.
We've been hoping he'd make his way to the Pacific Northwest, and now you can see this part of the country through fresh eyes. There’s something especially fun about seeing somewhere close to home through someone else’s eyes.
My in-laws retired in Port Townsend about 12 years ago, so seeing Peter walk around somewhere that familiar on video was really neat. I could have watched him spend a lot more time in town because there's so much to explore. And I wish he would have gone on a day with a festival! Peter continues on to the coast in the next PNW episode, highlighting our robust timber industry. It was so fascinating watching the timber episode, and I learned so much. We’re always driving past stacks of cut timber, so it was fun to learn more about something we see so often but rarely stop to think about.
Cameron and I love watching his videos together after putting our little one down for bed. If you haven’t watched his Pacific Northwest episodes yet, give them a try! I think he said there will be five altogether, and three are out so far. Definitely check out his YouTube.
04 A Christmas Card Worth Keeping
Back in the day, I used to love holiday cards. Then, at some point, I started thinking about all the paper, money, and effort that went into something we mostly throw away. So I stopped doing them.
But the older I get, the more I kind of miss them. I like getting something in the mail and seeing everyone’s families. I just know myself that once the season is over, the cards go straight into the recycling bin.
This year, I wanted to make ours a little more useful, so I’m making a Christmas postcard with family photos on the front and a chocolate madeleine recipe on the back. You can put it on the fridge for December and tuck it into your recipes afterward.
Few Tips
Send a test first. I mailed one to my parents before sending the whole batch to see how it held up in the mail.
Choose your paper. I printed mine on 4 × 6-inch linen cardstock. Before buying a whole pack, check that it works with your printer and meets USPS postcard requirements.
Keep the corners simple. I originally tried rounded corners, but switched to square corners to keep things straightforward for mailing.
Leave room for postage and the address. Plan that space on the back before fitting in your recipe. It fills up quickly!
Print one at actual size. Make sure the recipe is easy to read without squinting, especially the ingredient amounts and oven temperature.
Proofread before printing the batch. Double-check the ingredients, instructions, and baking time. A pretty recipe card is much more useful when the recipe works.
I’ve also been thinking about other things a holiday card could become like a bookmark, an ornament, or a little kitchen reference sheet. Or you could simply send a handwritten card with an actual personal message. I would love to open one of those too!
I’m having fun putting ours together. It gives me a reason to play with photos, colors, and little paper details and hopefully gives the person opening it something they’ll want to keep.
Wishing you an amazing November!
- Melissa
