Friday Roundup #41
A pile of big orange pumpkins on pine straw at a pumpkin patch.
Late again. I’m starting to think the Friday roundup just likes Sundays better.
The Halloween stuff came home from the storage unit this week, and I filled in the gaps with a run to the dollar store and a few things from Walmart. The big decorating weekend, when the cemetery goes up, is the weekend of the 16th. If you’ve read why October through January is my happy place, you already know this is where it starts for me.
- Coming on the blog: Tuesday is chicken in Thai peanut sauce, a recipe I’ve been making since the Daring Cooks days. Thursday is a make-ahead: chopping and freezing garlic so it’s ready when you are. Next Sunday is Creek House Wildlife #3: The Ones You Sometimes See. And Monday brings a bonus: it’s been two years since the night the northern lights came all the way down to North Georgia, and I have the pictures to prove it.
- This past week: Sharon’s chili ran Tuesday, right on time for the first chilly mornings, and Thursday was a look at my kitchen on a cooking day.
- Garden Update: The purple dahlia around the side of the house has put out one last blast of blooms for the fall. The collards are starting to peek through. The saffron crocus, on the other hand, is giving me nothing yet. I’m told that’s normal. I’m choosing to believe it. And the Joro spiders have taken over the entire back property. I hate that they’re everywhere, but I’ll admit they’re beautiful spiders.
- What I’m Reading: I’m going back and forth between two this week. I’m still working my way through How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time by Sarah Longwell [Bookshop.org* | Kindle], and my library e-copy of Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America by Beth Macy [Bookshop.org* | Kindle] came in. It’s a much better version of what J.D. Vance’s book was.
- What I’m Watching: The new season of The Great British Baking Show [IMDb | Rotten Tomatoes] is here, and Nigella Lawson has taken Prue Leith’s seat at the judges’ table. I’ve been a Nigella fan for years, so I’m excited to see how she does. And our October run of scary movies has officially begun.
- What I’m Eating: Lots of leftovers and some ordering out, and I’m not apologizing for it. Next week’s different: we’re doing a meat-minimalized week. I’ve got a list of meals where the meat is either gone entirely or it’s a seasoning, not the main player. Anybody raised on Southern cooking knows that move (a ham hock in the greens, a little salt pork in the beans), and it’s Black Southern cooks who built a whole cuisine on making a little meat go a long way. I’ll report back.
- On my radar: I found these on social media and I’m smitten: the Sugar Plum ornament from 2BGlass, a glassblowing studio in California. It’s their 2026 Ornament of the Year, handblown in layers of lavender, navy, and violet, and I’m inclined to order a few as gifts this year. They’re not cheap ($68 to $84, depending on the cut), and they’re made to order with a six-to-eight-week lead time, so if you’re thinking about it too, October is the time.
What are y’all reading/watching/cooking/dealing with this week? Let me know in the comments.
P.S. Yes, I know a watched pot never boils. Apparently a watched planter doesn’t bloom, either.
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