Abby's Favorites from 2020 Pandemic Year

A long time ago, I used to send out my favorite recipes. With the advent of smartphones and pinterest every favorite recipe we could want is at the tip of fingers. I do still post some of my favorites on this blog, under the “Practical” tab (my favorite COVID recipes are up). Instead, this year (don’t count on it next year) I am posting my general favorites from 2020.

Pod Casts:
Did you know you can listen to podcasts while you have to do housework and everything is better…. so much better. And when you can’t sleep in the middle of the night b/c of the unrelenting stress you can drift off to a podcast and everything is better, so much better. At least the podcast stops the swirling thoughts. Okay, okay. You’ve known about this for years, but I just discovered this world and here are my top recommendations:

1. Bear Creek. Fabulously creepy. Two barrels. Four bodies. And the decades-long mystery that led to a serial killer. And it all happened at a place we camp! 
2. Nice White Parents. Breathtakingly brilliant and disorienting. I had to do a lot of soul searching after listening.
3. Dolly Parton’s America. What a beautiful escape. 
4. S-Town. Humans are terribly painful and beautiful, broken and whole. This story is completely off the wall and so human. 

Books:
I’ve read so many good books this year, but my top choices hands down:

1. The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd. Stop what you are doing and read this book now. It is a modern day midrash about Jesus' assumed wife named Anna. As an aside, as someone with a master’s degree in divinity whose interest was very much the historical-sociological backdrop of the Bible, Sue Monk Kidd’s research was spot on. 
2. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. Yes there is a great deal of controversy surrounding this book. I found the read eye opening and well researched and imagined.
3. The Dutch House and Commonwealth by Ann Patchett. I listened to these books, or as we say in the dyslexic world, I read them with my ears. These are by far my favorite Ann Patchett books yet. Tom Hanks narrates the Dutch House, need I say more? And I have yet to stop thinking about Commonwealth’s characters and story.

Hair: 
Yes, hair. Check out the Hairstory. I am serious. My hair is healthier and best of all it takes me only 5 minutes to brush. This is a serious improvement. 

Drinks:
Gin and Tonic. I have unabashedly embraced my WASP roots, and enjoy myself a gin and tonic when I can’t handle teenagers anymore. If it’s too early, try Hot Cinnamon Sunset Tea by Harney & Sons. 

Green Products:
Everything in Etee. Really. 

Cooking:
My best tip: cut up ten onions, 12-15 cloves of garlic, and one to two celery heads. Chop and cook all at once in a dutch oven with olive oil. Why? Because everything good starts with onions and garlic and celery (okay if you don’t like celery, leave it out). Think: red sauce, chili, shepherds pie, every soup, every casserole, every good sauce. If you have a tub of it in your fridge you don’t have to keep sweating onions every time you cook. ​