It's fall. Let's get cozy!

Marielle Segarra (0:00)

Hey, it's Marielle Segarra. You're listening to Life Kit.

The other morning, I was wide awake at 5 a.m., which is unusual for me. I was jet lagged after a trip to Poland, and it was dark outside, so I lit some candles, and I took my time getting up. This simple act of sitting awake with the covers over my legs, surrounded by the glow of candlelight, it got me really excited for fall and for winter.

Carrie Lebowitz (0:29)

Lighting candles, it's such a cliché winter advice, right? Like, it's almost... It sounds so fluffy and meaningless, but I really think when you light candles with the intention of embracing and celebrating the darkness, it actually has a profound impact on your experience and changes the meaning of winter darkness.

Marielle Segarra (0:53)

I know that it's hard when the sun doesn't shine as much as it did all summer, and the rain can be a drag for sure. But I'm telling you, this time of year offers so many opportunities to be cozy.

On this episode of Life Kit, how to get cozy this fall. And to be clear, that doesn't mean just sitting at home waiting for spring. But it is about embracing the changes that are coming, whether we like it or not. Which brings me to take away one. Transition your space, your clothes, and your diet for the cold weather.

Now is the time to bring your velvet curtains and your flannel sheets out of storage, and to remember what you love about your cold weather wardrobe. For me, it's the brown leather jacket I got at a thrift store in London, my lace up black boots, and leg warmers, among other things. I also love a fall plaid. Carrie Lebowitz is a psychologist and the author of the book How to Winter. And she says we can also switch up our diets, leaning into the cold weather foods.

Carrie Lebowitz (1:53)

So I switch from a cold breakfast in the summer to a warm breakfast in the winter. And I switch from iced coffee to hot coffee or tea that I drink all day long. So all of these things reorient my attention from the negative things about the cold and the dark and the wet, to the things that I enjoy when the temperature drops and it's raining out all the time.

Marielle Segarra (2:21)

Speaking of, how about a soup? I, for one, cannot wait to make sausage, white bean, and kale soup with carrots and onions. It's a fave. Sola El-Waily is a chef and the author of Start Here, Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook.

We talked to her about how to make soups. And she said soup is the perfect communal dish, especially on a chilly day.

Sola El-Waily (2:43)

There's something about it that's just like cozy and comfy, and it feels so primal, like just eating out of one pot, especially because food gets so complicated these days. You know, soup isn't like glamorous, it's not pretty, but it gets the job done.

Marielle Segarra (2:58)

Some ingredients that Sola says go well in basically any soup are alliums, like onions, leeks, and garlic.

Sola El-Waily (3:05)

And something about when you cook any allium in fat, it just adds this incredible savoriness and depth. And there's like a wide range of flavors you can pull out of it. So if you keep it kind of blonde, you get more of like the sharp oniony flavor.

And then you can go as far as you want from there and take it like to deep caramel and get it very, very sweet. But it's this like really rich base to pretty much everything, but especially a soup. And it's particularly helpful to develop a base with alliums if you're not using like the best quality broth. Like, you know, if you're going with a bouillon, starting with some cooked down onions or shallots will really get you far.

Marielle Segarra (3:47)

She also suggests adding to your soup a pinch of MSG or parmesan rind because it's a natural source of MSG.

All right. Take away too, this time of year can also be an opportunity to slow down. When the clocks change in November, Carrie, the psychologist, her friends tell her, you know, I've been so tired lately. I don't know what's wrong with me.

Carrie Lebowitz (4:11)

And I'm like, there's nothing wrong with you. You're a living being on a planet with a climate, you know? And if you look at every other living thing on earth, plant or animal, they are all changing their behavior in winter in some way, right? They're either migrating or hibernating, or they're slowing down, they're shedding their leaves, they're storing up their energy for spring. And yet, I think our sort of modern societies and modern conveniences have convinced us that it's a personal or moral failure if we want to slow down in the winter, if we feel less able to maintain the same schedule 365 days a year.