10 Things: Salsas and Salutes

Alright, friends, this 10 Things is EPIC. And that is because, below the paywall, I have finally weighed in on the whole Adult Braces thing. That’s right: a full five months after the fact, I have my hot take. I don’t usually write anything controversial, which is why I paywalled it.

First three are free, there are seven more under there!

1. READ: Lisa Jewell’s thrillers

This NYT list of the 50 best thrillers of the 21st century has been making the rounds, and it’s been a good conversation topic for my husband and me. (He’s recently started listening to thrillers on tape, and I am, well, thrilled.) I have read about a third of the books on the list, and there are none that I haven’t read that I want to read, so I’m in good shape.

The Lisa Jewell title on that list is None of This Is True, which falls in at number fifty, and I remember as fine just fine. But then my mother-in-law read The Night She Disappeared and loved it, and so I checked it out from the library and devoured it. And I happened to also be listening to Don’t Let Him In, which was also, actually, fabulous. Then I went ahead and read Watching You. And then I Found You. And you know what, you guys? These books were all outstanding thrillers. They’re distinctly British, pretty anti-man (you’ve gotta love that?), and a bit wry. Body counts aren’t too high, but they’re still really twisty. I will read them all. You too?

2. MAKE: Salsa out of anything

Late summer is harvest season! Something I learned last year is that you can really make salsa out of basically anything — you just need to combine a fruit, an herb, a pepper, an acid, and some salt. I always use lime juice, because it’s salsa, but I bet apple cider vinegar or lemon would also taste good.

Examples that I, personally, have tried and loved:

• cherry tomato + jalapeño + cilantro + lime

• peaches + mint + serrano + lime

• pineapple + cilantro + basil + garden pepper + lime

• plums+ tomato + Thai basil + mint + jalapeño + lime

Just cut everything up really little, stir it until it’s wet, and there you are. I also like to make my own chips (see picture) out of whatever bread-like flat thing is stale in my fridge by pan-frying slices in a neutral oil and then adding more salt.

3. APPRECIATE: It’s Appreciate Dahlias Season!

   

   I bet my mom doesn’t even remember this story, but I think of it at least once a year — at this time of the year.

   One time, my mom went on a garden tour of our neighborhood. She went to all our neighbors’ highly manicured gardens and looked at them in their full bloom. My mom is a gardener, and she said that at first, she was filled with envy. The dahlias. So many dahlias! Some, just as the name of one varietal promises, as big as dinner plates. She was not having fun. She was just thinking about how she never took on dahlias, which are known to be kind of fussy. And then something shifted, and she realized that she could stop coveting the dahlias and just appreciate them, like she was in a museum. “I decided I’m never going to grow them,” she said; “I’m just going to love them.” And really, it can be easier to love something when you have some distance from it; when you choose to appreciate without taking on.

   I have felt this way, a lot. I’ve read the most amazing short story possible, and someone younger than I am wrote it. “Short stories are a type of dahlia,” I tell myself. And then I get to just love the story.

   If you live in a place where there are dahlias, this is your invitation to notice them like you’re in the world’s museum; to worship, to allow. Dahlias are actually not a type of dahlia for me; I grow them. They’re not really that hard to grow, and they’re incredible because the little tubers multiply underground, and you can share them with your friends at the end of the season. I think the hard part is the digging up of the tubers, and storing them properly; I get that that can be a challenge. But they grow so well and are so stunningly beautiful out my window that I do, indeed, cultivate them. Still, even looking at my own dahlias, I think of this as the season of appreciation.