Tomatoes and pumpkins and fighting the patriarchy, just a few of my favorite things
Happy September! As someone who has always loved back to school season, I love September -- it has all of those fresh new beginnings feelings, without the cold, depressing, darkness of January. I also love that it's the shoulder season in the farmers markets -- at least here in California, we still have great tomatoes for at least another month, but we've also got pumpkins coming in. And fall is SUCH a great time for books: there are so so many coming out in the next few months that I'm super excited about, a few of which I'm in the middle of reading right now. And I can't believe I also have another book out this fall! Royal Holiday is coming in just weeks now, on October 1st, and I'll have a whole bundle of events and other fun stuff to tell you all about soon -- I'll be going to a few places I've never been on book tour before, and I can't wait to share! But I can tell you that in late October/early November I'll be at the Boston Book Festival (on October 20th), the Texas Book Festival (on October 26th), and the Portland Book Festival (on November 9th), and I'm so looking forward to all three! And speaking of Royal Holiday, my publisher is doing a giveaway on Goodreads for advance copies; there are just two more days to enter, so go enter now! Also, this is a good time to say that if you've read and enjoyed any of my books, I'd appreciate it so much if you leave a Goodreads or Amazon review for them; it helps so much!
September is also a sort of shoulder season for skincare -- depending on where you live, it's cooled down enough so that your summer products aren't quite enough anymore, but it's not cold enough for the hefty stuff for winter. Lucky for you, I live in California, so that's basically how it is six months out of the year for me (especially September, which is always the warmest month in the Bay Area and the best time to visit). So I'm here to tell you I can't recommend the Huxley Good Night Sleep Mask enough. Lots of companies are branding their night creams as sleep masks these days, which is very bad for my wallet because I keep buying them all, but I love this one a lot. It feels very light and almost serum like, which is great on a warm night, or when you're not ready for your winter night cream but need something moisturizing. And I always wake up with my skin feeling great. Also, a little bit goes a long way -- I just started a new tube after having my last one for well over six months.
I have a very fun book recommendation for you this week for a book that just came out and I enjoyed the hell out of: Bringing Down the Duke, by Evie Dunmore. I stayed up too late to finish this book last night and it was totally worth it. It's about strong women battling the patriarchy, and as a romance novel, which is my most favorite kind of book. This one pulled me in, made me sympathize with all of the characters, and surprised me over and over again, and I can't wait to read more of her books. It's out now, so order it or stop into your favorite indie bookstore and ask for it!
My recipe this week is for one of my favorite ways to use the bounty of tomatoes and cucumbers we have these days: fattoush! It's excellent as a light meal on its own, or as a side dish for roast chicken or steak or salmon. This started out as Nigella's fattoush recipe, but I've made it a bunch and tinkered with it:
Fattoush
2 pita rounds, whole
1 can garbanzo beans, drained, rinsed, and dried
3-4 scallions, white and green parts, sliced
1-2 cucumbers, quartered lengthwise and diced (keep or remove the seeds/skin depending on preference)
3-5 tomatoes, diced
1 bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 bunch mint, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
juice of one lemon
6 or so tablespoons of olive oil, plus more for frying
1/2 teaspoon sumac
salt to taste
Toast the pita rounds in a toaster, toaster oven, or in the oven at 450 degrees, until golden brown and let cool. While the pita is toasting, heat up a few tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan on medium high, and fry the garbanzo beans until they're golden brown and crunchy, about 10 minutes. Drain the beans on paper towels, and salt them. (I added the beans to this recipe to give it more heft, but if you don't like them, just leave them out). In a small bowl, combine the garlic, the lemon juice, and a pinch of salt, and let sit for a few minutes. In a medium size bowl, combine the scallions, cucumber, tomatoes, parsley, mint, sumac, and salt, and stir. Add the garbanzo beans, then with scissors, cut up the toasted pita into bite size pieces right over the bowl (you can use a knife for this, sure, but scissors are faster and easier and if you do it right over the bowl all of the crumbs go right into the bowl). Add olive oil to the bowl with the lemon juice and garlic and whisk, then pour the mixture over everything else and toss. Taste, add more salt if necessary, and enjoy!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Jasmine
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