Weekend Recs #35: Feel the love (and the chocolate cake)

A special guest edit by writer, editor, and podcast host Aliza Abarbanel.

There’s a fresh thread in the subscriber chat for February recommendations. Share your current obsessions and/or ask for recs. Paid subs can see it on the web here or in the Substack app.

Happy Friday and happy Lunar New Year to all who celebrate! 🐉 We’re heading to a friend’s place this weekend to make dumplings and usher in a year of good fortune.

We have a special guest curator of the newsletter today. Long-time readers may know Aliza Abarbanel, who edited Downtime while I was on hiatus. Aliza is a writer, editor, and podcast host living in Brooklyn. She's also the co-founder of the (super cool) Cake Zine and is a regular at the farmers' market, where she's “already counting the days until strawberry season.” Take it away, Aliza!

Today’s post has…

• A new must-watch romance

• The perfect recipe for your Super Bowl Usher concert gathering

• A delicious peanut butter you’ve never heard of

• The best reader comments on phrases that keep you grounded

• February book club meetup info for 19 cities and on Zoom (so far!)

—Alisha

Hi! It’s Aliza here, so happy to be back in your inbox with some recs for your weekend…

• 📺 Mr. and Mrs. Smith

  • I haven’t been able to stop talking about how much I love this new comedy-drama TV series about spies falling in love, starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine (in a complete 180 from her beloved PEN15 cringe). It’s a riff on the iconic 2005 Brangelina movie, but this time, The Smiths are two lonely and lethal strangers who are assigned to work together as a fake married couple by an agency and begin to fall in love. (Check out the trailer here.) It’s genuinely funny and thrilling, plus their chemistry is so believable and fun. [Editor’s note: I’m watching this too and loving it. Here’s a fun profile on Erskine in Vulture.]

• 🎵 Valentine’s Day playlist

  • I made you a Valentine’s Day playlist. 💗 It’s packed with love songs for listening anywhere…in the car, getting ready to go out, or cooking a cozy dinner at home (my favorite). Dim the lights, light a candle, and feel the love.

• 📚 Happy by Celina Baljeet Basra

  • I’ve never read anything quite like this singular debut novel from Celina Baljeet Basra. It’s the hopeful and heartrending story of Happy Singh Soni, a young Punjabi cabbage farmer who comes to Europe dreaming of movie stardom. It’s written in a variety of formats (Happy’s C.V., a passage from the perspective of a tree) that coalesce in fun and unexpected, sometimes trippy ways. Plus the book cover is just so fun.

•  🧀 Recipes to cook right now:

  • An oozy, gooey Sticky Chocolate Cake with a soft center and crackly brownie-like exterior. Might cause declarations of love, Valentine’s Day or otherwise. 

  • French Onion Baked Lentils and Farro gives French onion soup vibes in a supremely comforting, higher protein riff on a pasta bake. Peak February weeknight cooking, in my book.

  • Crispy Sour Cream and Onion Wings, in case you are Superbowling this Sunday. Like your favorite chip, in wing form!

  • This Big Fat Halloumi Salad is the perfect example of what I like to call an “opulent salad.”—fully loaded with goodies like charred cheese, sweet dates, hearty roast veg, and a slurpably tangy dressing.

  • Chinese Almond Cookies, an iconic, buttery-crisp Lunar New Year treat that would be great with afternoon tea any day of the week.

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