Acorn Squash, a Cookie, and a Comments Section
Plus November's books are goooooood
Happy Daylight Savings! If you don’t celebrate…congratulations, this adjustment always ruins me every November - but we persevere!
Now, I need to start off this newsletter with a bit of a clarification, all involving this video. I know if you’re subscribed to the newsletter, you’re most likely to be biased towards my side on this, but I still feel the need to clarify the teeny (tiny) discourse that happened in the comments section.
For background, my lovely, talented and amazing friend Becca made a soup video on TikTok, and of course…the comments section got a little rowdy. I made a video inspired by that video, saying how as a creator, I owe you a recipe because you are paying me with your attention and your time, but non-food creators or just casual creators don’t always owe viewers the same information.
I used this sentence, and I think that’s where people went off the rails: “You are entitled to this recipe, you are entitled to this information. You are paying me with your attention and your time, and I am providing the service of this recipe.”
A few people heard the word “entitled” and viewed it as the adjective (ie. He is an entitled person) instead of the verb (ie. Employees are entitled to severance pay), and it came off sounding as if I was saying I didn’t want to provide recipes, or that I wanted people to pay for my recipes, or that I was calling viewers “entitled” in general.
And because I am a delicate flower, being misunderstood in this way stressed me out.
So please know these three things:
Every recipe you see from me, you will have access to - this is what I love to do, and while I can’t promise I won’t start a paid tier in the future, my recipes are for you to have. That’s why they exist!
I do not, and will never ever, take any viewer, reader, recipe-maker, supporter or member of this community for granted. Like, I don’t know how it’s possible for any creator on the internet not to just feel so immensely grateful and indebted to their audience. You give us a job and a purpose <3
I stand by what I say in the video - we can’t have all the information we see on the internet. It is totally ok to ask for it, but just know people aren’t always “gatekeeping,” sometimes a person who makes a video just doesn’t have the time or capacity or know-how to share the details from a video they made, and that’s ok!
Ok, thank you for reading my long-winded clarification. I just wanted to have this live permanently somewhere in a way where my thoughts were clear, you know? If you just came for recipes, apologies if you had to scroll. But let’s get into it!
The weekly round-up!
Acorn Squash Rice with Nutmeg & Toasted Herbs - half soup, half a cheater’s risotto, so insanely good. Video here, recipe here.
Butterscotch Cookies - from our requests a few weeks ago! You can totally omit the rosemary if it’s not your speed, but these are so so good. Video here, recipe here.
And November’s books!
Ok to be fair I already finished both of these, but I read them in November so it still counts! If you have the time to pick either of them up, I totally recommend:
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell - this book was IT for me. It takes place in Florence in the 1550’s, following the life of the third daughter of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Casual. The book tells you the ending in literally the first paragraph, but the mind game of figuring out how Point A gets to Point B is what makes the book so intriguing. A period piece? A black sheep daughter? A twisty plot line? Sign me UP.
What’s for Dessert by Claire Saffitz - Claire Saffitz doesn’t need my help to become a NYT Bestseller again, but HERE I AM. TRYING MY BEST. The best part of this book is the educational through point Claire keeps to all of her work. Even if you don’t make a single recipe, you’ll learn a ton just by reading it. I also think it’s interesting how she omitted the “?” from the title. Because at the end of the day, dessert is statement, not a question ;)
And that’s it for this week! Next week is going to be biiiig so stay tuned!
Xoxo,
Snacks
Any chance you have a lovely Christmas mixed nut recipe up your sleeve? My kids love putting something together for their teachers as a sneaky thank you and Merry Christmas and I think nuts would be nice this year. :)
I'm cheating cause I only just signed up and now get a sneaky view on you of your earlier substacks. Hey for what it's worth - in all our creations we stand on the shoulders of those before us, build on them and even materialise them out of the wonder of the creative process. The fact you share that - well it's lovely - it's part of the symbiotic relationship of give and take we all need to survive and flourish. So Cheers! And btw I am addicted to your breaded beans and cashew dip. Can't get enough - my supermarket even asked why I am buying so many butter beans!