It's almost October!
Earlier this week, I was having a conversation with some people about those small products that you had no idea would make a huge difference in your life, and then once you used them, it was like night and day. My example was one I talked about in a newsletter a few weeks ago, an extra long phone charger, but today I thought of another one: blush. I never used to wear blush, and then like ten or so years ago, I wandered into a Sephora to buy something else (isn't that always how it happens?) and the saleswoman helping me asked if she could try out more makeup on me, and well, I've never said no to that question. And she put some blush on me, and I had no idea what a huge change it could make to my face. It made me look more alive, happier, more relaxed, all at once. I'd recently changed jobs, and someone who saw me a few weeks later was like "Wow, you are just glowing after quitting that job!" And I was like "Actually it's my blush but thank you." That particular blush was sadly discontinued, but right now I'm a big fan of the blushes from Becca. They come in a range of colors, there are some with shimmer (but not too much shimmer) and some without, they're pigmented enough to show up on brown skin, and they last for a long time.
As an only sort of aside, this piece from Racked this week made me realize again one of the big reasons I tend to gravitate to higher end makeup brands (as opposed to drugstore brands): because as a black girl growing up who loved makeup, department stores, and later Sephora, were the only places I could find makeup that would work for my skin. And it's not just the foundation, it was and is still hard to find things like blush and bronzer and even lip gloss pigmented enough. I would love to read a great piece about why higher end beauty has always been better (though still not great) with women of color, if you've read a good one, please send it my way. And man, was it wonderful to walk into Sephora a few weekends ago and see all of the black women clustered around the -- front and center -- Fenty display.
I mentioned in a tinyletter this summer that I've been reading a lot of mysteries this year, partly because of how it's so nice to read a book where bad guys get what's coming to them in this year full of unapologetic bad guys and yep, still true. I've read a bunch of Agatha Christies lately, both new to me and familiar ones, and yes, I have recommendations. I tend to enjoy the Miss Marple books more than the Poirot ones, mostly because I like all books and other media about elderly women solving crimes and otherwise surprising society who wants them to just sit around and knit (which Miss Marple also does a lot of). My two favorite Marple books are The Body in the Library and The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side; they're both set right there in St. Mary Mead, they're very cozy and full of tea drinking, and Miss Marple soothes and delights me every time.
Despite this week's Bay Area heat wave (and I'm sure we have at least one more to come in October), it seems that fall is really upon us, if all of the pictures of people and their children apple picking on my Facebook feed tells me anything. If you were one of the ones who went apple picking, or you have an overproducing apple tree, or you just got super excited by apples at the farmers market last weekend and now you have ten apples staring you in the face, I'm here for you with the easiest applesauce recipe ever invented. I heard it on one of my favorite podcasts, Good Food, a few years ago, and once I made it, I never made applesauce another way again. You don't have to peel or cube apples! No babying a pan over a hot stove while it all simmers, careful not to let anything burn! Just cut the apples in half (no peeling), scoop out the core, and set them on a rimmed cookie sheet, and slide them in a hot oven. (Also, do yourselves a favor and buy one of these cookie sheets before the holidays, they're great). Make any additions to it once the apples are all nice and soft.
My favorite applesauce
Apples, however many you have (you get about a cup of applesauce per pound of apples)
Water, lemon juice, brown sugar, Calvados, to taste
Preheat oven to 375 F. Cut apples in half and core them. Set apples cut side down on a cookie sheet with four sides (if you only have a few apples, use a smaller baking pan so the juices don't burn before the apples are soft enough). Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for about 30-40 minutes, until apples are tender, and you can push at the top of the apple and it will cave in. Slip the skins off and leave the apples in the pan; add your lemon juice/brown sugar/etc. if you want right to the pan, and smash and stir everything until blended. Eat immediately or whenever you want.
Have a great weekend!
Jasmine
As a bonus, if you haven't already seen it, please watch this video of Prince Harry (imminently to be engaged to Meghan Markle) get his popcorn stolen by a very cute toddler.
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