Hello and welcome to another weekend. The snow is never ending in our little slice of Ontario, so everything is covered in a fluffy blanket of bright white currently. I am dipping in and out super quick today. How has January already felt like 3 months?! I hope that you’re taking care of yourselves and each other out there.
5 Things I’m Reading:
- How Veganism Got Cooked via Grub Street (non-paywalled)
- On the complex influence of AI in creative industries via The Creative Independent
- If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books? via The New Yorker (non-paywalled)
- Bricking your phone is the new Dry January via Business Insider (non-paywalled)
- On my nightstand: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
5 Things I’m Enjoying:
- Dr. Jessica Knurick on Trevor Noah’s podcast
- The Paul Stamets x Online Ceramics collaboration is tempting me.
- My partner picked up The Grateful Dead’s Warfield vinyl last week and we’ve been playing it a lot. All acoustic and super mellow. Safe trip to Bob Weir 🕊️
- Every weekend, I pit a bunch of Medjool dates, spread peanut butter in the middle and then dunk the whole date in melted chocolate and sprinkle it with flaky salt. Pop in the freezer to set and then store them in a sealed container in the fridge. The perfect little sweet treat.
- Trying this seed starting method with some cold-hardy crops. But also wondering if there’s a plastic-free solution?
5 Questions:
- Brand of tempeh you recommend? So far I have not liked it at all!
Here in Ontario, Henry’s Tempeh is top dog and the one that I buy most of the time. My number one recommendation for the tempeh-averse is to slice it super thin/crumble it real small, steam it for 10 minutes, and serve it with a ton of tasty sauce. Yes, I am recommending to mask the flavor! I personally have to be in a certain mood to enjoy it and even then I can get the ick pretty fast. I eat way more tofu/legumes than tempeh and I’ve made my peace with it!! - Thoughts on solid wood chopping board vs wood fibre board?
I really love cutting on both! Both are soft surfaces that “absorb” the knife pressure nicely. An added benefit of the wood fibre is that they double as a trivet for hot pans. Wood chopping boards are beautiful, but do require consistent oiling/sealing maintenance. - Books on your reading list for 2026?
No titles in particular, but I am reading fiction exclusively this year. No cultural commentary, self improvement, nutrition etc. There’s enough of that stuff literally everywhere else. I just want to get wrapped up in stories, characters, and elaborate setting descriptions–preferably historical fiction with strong female leads. Let me know if you have recommendations! - Is Cleo okay? Haven’t seen many photos of her recently.
Cleo is great! Mickie is just always around when I’m trying to take a photo (she’s very clingy and follows me around the house all day). Cleo is fine to do her own thing sometimes and eventually I’ll find her in a blanket nest somewhere haha. She will also put herself to bed at night sometimes! She’s turning 12 this year but still plays like a puppy all the time. - I purchased some packages of soy curls a while back, but have no idea how to incorporate them into some of my meals. Do you have any suggestions?
I have never actually cooked with these! They always seemed to close to meat for my taste, but maybe I’m missing out? My friend Timothy has an excellent, thorough post about cooking soy curls! You can find it here. I trust his recipes and palette completely.
5 Seasonal Recipes:
- One-Pot Vegan Minestrone Soup with Potatoes & Beans
- Vegan Sweet Potato Quinoa Patties with Lemony Slaw
- Sticky Ginger Tempeh with Coconut Rice
- Vegan Ranch Slaw with Baked Crunchy Buffalo Tofu
- Veggie Sausage White Bean Skillet with Kale & Sun Dried Tomatoes
Simply the best soy curl recipe….!!!! I dont use any other in any recipe anymore!!!
Thank you for sharing my soy curls recipe, Laura! I was curled up in bed catching up on your post and was tickled when I saw it. Love, t
Always, always my pleasure!!! <3
xo L
There’s an entire sub-Reddit devoted to soy curls that can provide tons of inspiration! I personally love them as a sub for chicken in any Chinese food recipe (they absorb sauce better than tofu, I feel).
This is such a great tip! Reddit is truly a goldmine of information when it comes to vegan cooking.
-L
Kristin Hannah – The Women, The Four Winds
Haven’t read her other books but these two were riveting.
I haven’t gotten to The Women yet, but also strongly recommend The Great Alone and The Nightengale by Hannah!
Hi, I love your recipes, thanks for what you do. I just finished Virginia Evans’ The Correspondent. loved it. Also recently read A Little Life- very beautiful but also heartbreaking.
Also recommend the Covenant of Water, and Ann Patchett’s first, the Patron Saint of Liars.
When I’m really upset, I reread for comfort- The Accidental Tourist is a favorite. Also, listen to H is For Hawk and Leaving Time . Enjoy!
The date treat sounds so yum! I’ve done something similar but used tahini. For books, I a really enjoying ‘This American Woman’ currently.
Thank you for the link on how to cook Soy Curls! I tried it once and it was horrible. I look forward to following the instructions on the link to try them again. Fingers crossed!
-Ophelia
I make the same date treats but I add some chopped pecan pieces on top of the pb before dipping in chocolate. Adds a nice little crunch :) they’re such a good treat!
Any historical fiction by Philippa Gregory is amazing. She’s great at setting the scene from a sensory perspective – you feel like you can smell, taste, truly be in the scene. Everyone I know who has read something by her has become a fan. :) As a fellow historical fiction lover, if you come across some amazing finds this year, would you please share them with us?
Related to the first question you answered in this post: I also do not love the taste of tempeh at all but can vouch for your recipe for the Sticky Ginger Tempeh with Coconut Rice – it is delicious! The other way I like tempeh is crumbled in a sort of stroganoff situation with lots of mushrooms and some cashew cream and of course onions and garlic and parsley and stuff. Alway, always steam first, then fry, then put in something tasty and flavor-masking. :)
Hi Laura!
Try reading The Marriage Portrait, also by Maggie O’Farrell! It’s incredible. And a shameless plug for more book recs written by women on my substack, Read, Eat, Repeat! I focus mostly on older books written by female authors. Love getting your letter on Saturday, it always brightens my day.
Happy weekend to you Laura, thanks as well for the pictures of you furry friends, Cleo and Mickie, a wonderful part of a family. I do enjoy receiving your email on the weekend with all the different information and recipes to try and enjoy and I love reading the comments from your other readers as well, with different book suggestions and recipe recommendations. I do wonder about the loss of vegan food lines, for example Yves, in the grocery stores, I have gotten used to some of their products and Guardien doesn’t quite do it for me, I do enjoy some of their products but not all as it is with a lot of things in life not everything pleases everyone. Anyways, keep doing what you are doing, it is helpful to us and enjoyed by your readers.Janice D.
The plastic jug seed staring looks completely staged. The jug opacity will prevent the bright light needed to prevent legginess; the sealed container inhibits air circulation to prevent dampening off and weak stems. I’ve been gardening for decades and open trays with full spectrum light and inch from seedlings works. Raise the lights as the little plants grow, and introduce a low blowing fan for sturdy stems. I reuse my seed starting trays for years. Wash and sanitize them after you’re done with them for the season. I’m highly conservation minded. Reusing plastics is a viable way to provide you with the plants you love and save money and waste.
I think the only plastic free outdoor sowing method would be to build cold frames out of wood. I’m not too concerned about the plastic jug method since the sun is not at its strongest this time of year and I reuse the containers.
Loved these reads, especially the rise/fall of veganism. Books! Historical fiction with strong female leads is probably my favorite genre— recent favorites include Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, there are rivers in the sky, the frozen river, the safe keep (maybe my favorite of last year), four winds, patron saint of liars, pachinko.
Have you read The Correspondent by Virginia Evans? I really liked that book!
A great and effective way to integrate tempeh is treat it like ground meat. My fave is in a vegan chili. I crumble, cook and season it generously with chili flavors then add to the tomato mixture. Enjoy with corn chips!
Hi, Laura. Just wanted to pop in to say hi and to thank you for the pic of Cleo and Mickie this morning. Down here in hell, we need all of the sweetness we can get! Much love, S.
I think you might like “The Weeds” by Katy Simpson Smith
http://katysimpsonsmith.com/the-weeds/
Stay warm!
Thank you for your thoughtful invitations of reading exploration in your Saturday Suns. I truly look forward to them on Saturday mornings. You, Laura, will never really know how far your influence goes in all your sharings.
I learned of the writer Elif Shafak through one of your commenters and have fallen down the rabbit hole of her work. The Island of Missing Trees is one of my favorites, but Forty Rules of Love and There are Rivers in the Sky are gorgeous, too. She is such a deep thinker and can express truth so beautifully through her fiction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-FcLrc4d04
Thanks for helping us get through January! For an immersive novel, I’d recommend A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, which pairs a young woman with an older one and is set in Canada. You might know her earlier novel, My Year of Meats, which is also good. If you like art, Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser is wonderful.
And her Book of Form and Emptiness! Fabulous!
Have you tried tahini in the dates? Soom + date = perfection imo! Also, I learned about Soom from you and it is life changing.
Cloud Cuckoo Land is on my reading list and fits your criteria well. Happy weekend
Just want to say when Saturday Sun pops into my inbox it’s such a nice little treat!
It’s the online content that makes you feel good. Im off IG and do miss parts of it -influencers like you, but it is better for my mental health. Especially with the state of the world. So really just wanted to say thank you!!
I highly recommend Soom chocolate with sea salt on a date. One of my favorite snacks. A great historical fiction novel is Ursula Hegi’s Stones from the River. Thank you for my Saturday morning reads and all the great recipes! I recently made your Ginger Sweet Potato Coconut Milk Stew for a family event and it was a hit!