November Roundup

I know, I know — this month’s roundup is late. In my defense, we are currently in the thick of holiday madness, and this November was the most underwater I’ve felt all year (since holiday last year, I suppose).

2023 was my first holiday season doing Abel full-time, and I was not prepared for how completely overwhelming it would be. I couldn’t believe this was what small businesses and retailers have to contend with every holiday — my whole life I had been blissfully unaware of how hard they were working during the coziest time of year!

I vowed this time around I would be prepared and have a more strategic plan going into holiday this year but of course — aspirations like this are always easier said than done and I still find myself completely swamped. But alas, everything is a lesson to be learned, and all I can do is take those learnings forward with me and hope I can continue to improve each year.

Anyways — on to the roundup. I can’t believe there’s only one month left in 2024!

A whole roast chicken is the patron dish of cold weather months, in my humble opinion. It’s also a somewhat easy way to feel like a very accomplished adult — I count roasting chickens among my few self-appointed “I’m an adult” accolades (another such one includes knowing how to fold fitted sheets). Maybe I’m too easily impressed, but I was pretty proud of myself the first time I successfully roasted a whole bird.

Roasting an entire chicken is great because not only do you end up with meat you can eat throughout the week (as is or incorporated into other dishes) and you can save the bones to make a stock, but it also has an optimal effort-to-effect ratio — i.e., it appears more impressive than the actual effort it takes to make it. A tip: making it in a cast iron skillet really puts the icing on the cake in terms of visual appeal.

My go-to recipe, which has never failed me, is by none other than Ina Garten aka Barefoot Contessa. If I’m feeling extra ambitious (and have planned with enough time in advance), I brine the chicken overnight in buttermilk and salt as per Samin Nosrat’s recommendation in ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.’ Samin also has an extremely specific oven-placement-and-rotation schedule, but I usually end up being lazy and just give the bird a single spin halfway through roasting.

I’ve successfully used each of these recipes enough times that I feel like I can pretty confidently say it’s foolproof. So if you’ve previously felt intimidated to tackle roasting a chicken — this is your sign to go for it!

If you need further reassurance that my ability to roast a chicken means that you too can do it, let me direct you to my Into the Fridge feature with Katie Stone. Although Katie’s Substack is called Plant Based, she graciously allowed me to divulge all my carnivorous eating habits to her readers and gush about my half wheel of 30-month aged Parmigiano Reggiano. Yes, I have (or I guess had — there’s not much left now) a half wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano in my fridge.

If this is not your first time reading one of my monthly roundups, you know that food is pretty important to me (an understatement). It hasn’t always been this way, however, and I’ve had a pretty interesting diet progression over the course of my life. I didn’t really eat vegetables until my sophomore year of college, and my love of cooking started in 2020. I think my first roast chicken came a year or two after that.

Anyways, if you’re interested in delving deeper into my food journey and current eating habits, give my ITF feature a read. And thanks Katie for having me!

While it felt like everyone and their mom published a gift guide this year (no judgment — I love a good gift guide), one in particular really stood out to me. Heather Hurst published a guide that’s less of a roundup of Things, and more of a guide to gifting itself — i.e. how to think of gifting in a less materialistic and more personal way. It recenters the focus back to what a genuinely good gift is all about: making someone feel seen, cared for, and loved.

Another notable aspect of Heather’s guide is that it is timeless. While many gift guides tend to showcase all the bright and shiny new products that came out over the past year, Heather’s ideas are more akin to prompts that can serve you year after year, and for far more occasions than just holiday gifting. Each suggestion is incredibly thoughtful (if I received any of the items on this list I would probably cry), and it’s simply a delightful and wholesome read.

I have it bookmarked and plan to return to it often.

This past weekend we saw another Small Business Saturday come and go. While shopping “holidays” like Black Friday and Cyber Monday always feel a bit icky, I will always be vocal about the value of supporting small biz. Obviously I’m biased, but independently-owned businesses stimulate local economic growth, contribute unique offerings to consumers in an increasingly homogenized market, and often prioritize more sustainable practices. They also humanize an otherwise basic transaction.

This past year we saw the closure of countless beloved independent brands (Mara Hoffman, Ilana Kohn, Selva Negra, to name just a few) — brands I honestly assumed were doing well. Especially in the age of social media, it’s easy to look like business is booming; too often the outpouring of support for a company comes too late. Now more than ever it’s important to support the small businesses you love — not only during the holidays, but always.

The cost of operating a small business can sometimes mean that our price points are higher, which I know is a bummer. That’s why I decided to compile four simple ways you can support small businesses without buying products:

Sometimes people don’t realize I’m the only one who works on Abel full-time, but it’s true — this business is about as small as it gets. So from my very small business to you, since you’re reading this (and have, in fact, made it all the way to the end!), thank you for your support 🫶🏻