Darkfall

Tricks of the light + 5 great soup/stew recipes to warm up + stress down the nights before, after, and all around your busiest holiday gatherings.

I used to do this thing as a kid when I was in the car. Riding around in the backseat, going to and from wherever with my parents, I’d wait for the sky to darken and the lights in people’s homes to come on. The houses speckled over and across the mountains and hillsides would come to life in a way that they never could during the daytime. It gave the fantastical, dreamy impression that the earthly landscape of my small town was trying to mimic the night sky. So dark and inky black all around, save for the warm glow of all the windows - windows that, when viewed from afar seemed to form a constellation of stars that somehow connected the lives of everyone just beyond their brassy glow.

I still do this, for the record. In what I hope is a very un-creepy way, I simply cannot help but wonder about all the windows, what’s going on inside all of that light. I think this is why New York City has always held my utmost attention - it’s utterly distracting to me at nighttime for this very reason. And in the Pacific Northwest where I now live, this time of year is proving to bring it out without fail. It’s the hastened darkness that does it. It’s not even nightfall, as it gets dark where I live now when it’s still fully afternoon. So, we call it darkfall and somehow the drama of the name adds a little charm to what could otherwise pose as a precariously dangerous depressant. We find ways to inject positivity and wonder to punch back against those things.

It’s a part of the wintering process, this recognition of and gentle acceptance of the circumstances we cannot control and our quiet determination to flow with them, to make the most of them … The stillness which accompanies a rain shower. The temperature of the fresh air on our faces, the falling leaves, the way the sun’s rays dance and how far their shadows stretch. How much daylight we’re given, how much nightlight.

“I recognized winter. I saw it coming (a mile off, since you ask), and I looked it in the eye. I greeted it, and let it in. I had some tricks up my sleeve, you see. I’ve learned them the hard way. When I started feeling the drag of winter. I began to treat myself like a favored child: with kindness and love.” - from Wintering, by Katherine May

I shared a little post on Threads this week that generated lots of comments and replies (admittedly, I knew it would) as I gave my chosen opinion about the oft degraded weatherly reputation of the Pacific Northwest, where I live.

It isn’t dreary, its cozy.

It isn’t depressing, it’s moody.

It doesn't drizzle, it “mists.”

It isn’t boring, it’s calming.

These opinions are my own, though not organically. I had to grow them with a little help from some tried and true tactics (some mental fertilizer, if you will) that genuinely help lift my spirit or flip a teetering attitude toward a more positive place. This simple word swap can do that. By finding the good angle - the good light - your perspective can change on its own, it just happens. At least a little bit it does. Sure you can take vitamin supplements and you can purchase faux “happy lights.” But there are also things that you can do for yourself that require no money, no faux anything.

Like tricks of the light, it’s all in how we allow things to hit us - how we choose to perceive a situation or a scene … what color glasses we decide to wear. It’s not always so easy or even possible to control one’s attitude or anxieties but sometimes these little things actually a make big difference, be it a simple word swap, the relentless acceptance of what is, or the sustained wonder of twinkling windows.

Photo taken in Seattle, WA on Oct. 27 2024 when I was in town to promote my most recent cookbook. I couldn't stop staring at the windows …

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And so it begins. It’s the weekend before Thanksgiving which likely means you’ve got less workday/school day hustle and bustle with which to contend, and maybe a little more breathing room … room with which to pack in all of the busy tasks of holiday prep. Getting ready to host or be hosted, to serve or be served. To wine and dine. To fill all the way up with your favorite traditional, nostalgic, waistline-threatening fare.

Or not.

This holiday week looks so different to everyone. From what some of my friends refer to as “their Super Bowl,” to a night out at a local dum sum house, free of any and all traces of classic or recognizable holiday tradition, there really is no perfect script for what our holidays look like or should look like - how they unfold and what shapes they take as they do. Whatever it looks like for you and yours, I hope it’s just what you want or need it to be. And seeing as how I am a person who shares recipes and words with you on the regular (that’s why we’re here, really), this is what I’m offering you again, as per our usual lovely understanding.

But I’m not sharing classic holiday fare in today’s newsletter but rather, just a whole lot of soup. I personally love to make soup the night before Thanksgiving or Christmas - just an easy breezy one-pot thing - so people can casually graze and serve themselves as they like. Nothing stuffy, nothing formal. It’s just soup. Soup is easily the coziest food group of them all, and given that it’s also a great way to minimize the number of dishes we’re washing in advance of the Big Day(s), it’s kind of a no brainer for me. One pot wonders these are, and they’re 10/10 delicious, too.

Maybe you’re into the idea of a simple soup meal before your big holiday feast too? If so, these are all absolute winners. Tried and true, tested by many readers over several years. You can make them in advance and they’ll keep for a few days in the fridge, or for a few months when well packaged in the freezer.

So, here’s to you and here’s to soup. Here’s to finding the little tricks that make potentially tough or anxiety-ridden situations feel a little lighter. A little brighter.

I make this soup more than just about any other, I think. It's just great. A couple of tricky little ingredient hacks and a quick cook time make this one a lovable little friend in the kitchen, and anything with ample Italian sausage is going to be good - we know this. Give my Best Tortellini and Sausage Soup a whirl, and let me know what you think! It’s also easy to make a vegetarian version if you prefer. Just swap in a meaty mix of wild mushrooms for that sausage, and you’re off to the races.

This is one of the first recipes I ever shared over on My Kitchen Little, and it’s consistently one that I receive complimentary and happy emails about. I get it, too. She’s a real standout, this one. This soup recipe is the kind of thing that you can almost always rely on when you need a low-maintenance dinnertime win that will feed a crowd. It proved this truth for me recently as I needed an easy meal that would stretch over a couple of days, reheat easily, and it also needed to be gluten-free. This Creamy Chicken, Sausage & Wild Rice Soup checks all of the boxes and then some.

Also pictured up above, at the tippy top of this little soup-fest of ours, is the single most popular recipe of the year on my site. Thousands of people have made and loved this version of (what I think) is one of the world’s best soups (okay, it’s more of a stew but that’s even better) and for good reason. A deeply delicious conglomerate of ingredients play together just so very well in this dish - it’s a knockout - and it’s something I made for company pretty often, as no-one doesn’t love it.

Also referred to as seco de pollo, Sudado de Pollo is bursting with bright, fresh flavors that do quick work on a simple and straightforward pot of chicken stew. I visited the Galapagos Islands last winter, and my two friendly Ecuadorean guides both ordered steaming plates of this stew when we were waiting to catch a flight at the Galapagos airport. It smelled intoxicating and they both just sat there so quietly and contentedly as they (very politely, with very good table manners I should add) savored every bite of the freshly cooked fare. I loved it, and I love the version that I’ve shared on my site as well.

Ask me to tell you what my family’s favorite meal is, and I will just show you a picture of this Buffalo Chicken Soup recipe. It’s as good as I ever need a chicken soup to be, if I’m being real with you (I’m always real with you), and it’s INCREDIBLY easy to make. That’s primarily due to the fact that we’re using a rotisserie chicken ( fave Homemade-ish trick of mine, a la my cookbook). I’m doing this for both efficiency and effectiveness, though. It’s efficient because it’s cooked for you already, so we can just skip that part entirely. It’s effective because, unlike most recipes for buffalo chicken soup, we’re using both light and dark meat – so the flavor’s on point.

Whichever soup adventure you choose, you just can’t go wrong with any of these - they’re all winners to me - and I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.