let's cozy up one more time

wintering volume 9

Oh hey friends.

The ground is going to be warming soon and we are wrapping up this season of wintering. It’s been a joy to go through these last few months together and I’m truly looking forward to doing this again next year!

If you want to keep the wintering vibes going, I put to together a wintering magazine to get you through the rest of February and March. It’s free for paid subscribers (you’ve already been sent your code!) and you can purchase it for $5 below.

Let’s wrap this winter up.

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In this volume of wintering …

something to watch
something to eat
something to do
something to read
winter where you are

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a little happiness hack sheet —

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something to watch :

for the grownups :

The Time Travelers Wife
Dan in Real Life

for the kids:
The Greatest Showman
Anastasia

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something to eat :

via half baked harvest

Parmesan Popovers from Half Baked Harvest

Ingredients :

• 2 tablespoons, +6 tsp salted butter

• ▢1-2 cloves garlic, lightly smashed

• ▢8 fresh sage leaves

• ▢1 1/2 cups whole milk, at room temperature

• ▢3 large eggs, at room temperature

• ▢1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• ▢2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese

• ▢1 teaspoon kosher salt

• ▢1/2 teaspoon black pepper (optional)

• ▢4 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature

Instructions :

1. Heat 2 tablespoons butter, the garlic, and sage in a small skillet over medium heat and cook the butter until it begins to brown and the sage is crisp, about 3-4 minutes. Remove the garlic and sage from the skillet and reserve for making the sage garlic butter.

2. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. 

3. Place 1 teaspoon of butter in each cup of a 6 cup standard popover pan. Alternately, you can use a 12-cup muffin pans and make 10 mini popovers. Transfer the popover pan to the oven.

4. In medium bowl, vigorously whisk together the milk and eggs until frothy, about 1 minute. Add the browned butter, flour, parmesan, salt, and pepper - if using, and whisk to combine. It's OK if there are small lumps. 

5. Carefully remove the popover pan from the oven and carefully swirl the butter around the cups to grease the pan. Evenly divide the batter between the popover cups, filling them about 3/4 of the way full. Transfer to the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Bake another 15-20 minutes, until puffed, golden and crisp. 

6. Meanwhile, make the sage butter. Mash the reserved garlic with a fork. Chop the crispy sage. Stir both the mashed garlic and sage together with 4 tablespoons butter.

7. Serve the warm popovers immediately, with sage butter

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Something to do

Last week we talked about making cozy spots in our home and I think things like this are so simple, but really do add that extra little touch of cozy. Try making something like this and hanging it somewhere in your home and see how it makes you feel!

Felt Flower Garland via A Subtle Revelry

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something to read :

for the grownups -

Where’d You Go, Bernadette?

For the little kids :

The Snowy Day

for the bigger kids :

Magic Tree House
The Wild Robot

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Do you remember the show Little Bear? I feel like part of what I do all winter is curate things that make me feel the way Little Bear made me feel as a kid. Art like this (Lore Pemberton + Robin Pieterse) is right in that cozy, Little Bear space for me.

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winter where you are :
this portion of the wintering letter is user-submitted. thanks for showing us how you winter!

Wintering in the Shenandoah Valley | Rachel Fletcher,  Harrisonburg, Virginia

There’s no faster way to ruin a good thing than to ask it to be something other than what it is. That goes for low-brow fiction, our personalities when we’re twelve, our kids, and yes, even winter.

I’ll never forget the winter I spent with a recumbent bike next to my bed and a SAD light propped up next to it, trying to get some vitamin D and a few miles in before the sun rose. It was terrible. 

My least favorite winters have been the ones I tried to treat just like any other time of year. The best ones have been when I just let winter be what it is. 

My whole wintering ethos is just that– let it be what it is. Don’t force a time meant for mammalian hibernation to also be the season you get a six pack. Just don’t. That’s spring’s problem. Eat the stewed meats and root vegetables. Lounge luxuriously in front of the fire. Pick up a hobby meant to get you from dusk to dark, and for God’s sake, resist the temptation to monotize that hobby. 

I always admire how creation is attuned to obey its created purpose. In winter, more than other times, I try to remember what it would be like to do the same. It’s a work in progress. 

Here are practical ways we try to let winter be what it is: 

1. Get cozy. To aid in this venture, I give everyone in my family “cozy season” clothes the first day of Thanksgiving break. They are not Christmas themed and they’re typically not even PJs, just matching loungewear sets in a winter color palette. 

2. Go outside. Cosplay as someone brave. I want to feel like Jo March a’wassailing with her sisters or Laura Ingalls venturing into the blizzard to find Pa. This year, we started attending a church that meets outside in a three-sided barn. Each week we bundle up and worship in the cold and even with three young kids, it is my favorite thing about life right now. Being out in the winter reminds me what it’s for.

3. Eat foods that feel like winter. For us, that means things that are warm and often heavier. Soups over salads. Warm breakfast hashes over smoothies. Cookies and warming beverages over all. I have a signature hot cocoa I make only in the winter months. The first hot cocoa of the season is always an event and how terrible can winter be, really, when you get to drink creamy chocolate with homemade whipped cream all season? 

Follow Rachel on instagram here » @rachelfletcherwrites

Social: @rachelfletcherwrites on Instagram

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On to brighter seasons, friends! The worst of the winter is behind us. I hope this season has been warm and light and that you’ve had more good days than bad.

The Wintering emails are over, but we’re not done here yet! I’ll have new words and new series ready to share with you soon!

But first - I have to go release a book or something. ;)

See ya soon!