This is the time of year I realize just how much dark time we still have to go. Work is busy. The outside is dark and dreary. And I mostly want to just curl up with a book. Alas. While we wait for spring, here are some of the fun, interesting, and/or gorgeous things I’ve been reading on the internet lately.

• “Cultivating emotional intelligence in our ecological crisis is a process of emotional activism,” writes Brit Wray at Gen Dread and I could not agree more. Read her essay on “Why Emotionally Intelligent Climate Work Matters.”
• A couple of essays from the Paris Review capture aspects of living in this weird pandemic+++ time, “The Year of Grinding Teeth” by Madeline Watts and “We Didn’t Have a Chance to Say Goodbye” by Sabrina Orah Mark, who writes a gorgeous series on fairy tales, motherhood, and contemporary life.
• The incomparable Wesley Morris asks, “Why Do We Keep Reading The Great Gatsby?” Indeed.
• Have you heard that times are hard? Balance it out by adding to your “to read” list with this “Must Read List of Speculative Fiction by Writers of Color” and “The 30 Most Anticipated SFF Books of 2021.”

Last, I may be getting back some of my cooking creative mojo. I made apple cider donuts from the NYT (hatefully paywalled but I was gifted a subscription for Christmas). I also envisioned a samosa-themed pot pie and then pulled together a delicious, aromatic darling I’ll be dreaming about for days. I used this crust by Bryant Terry via Heidi Swanson’s 101 Cookbooks, separated into two pieces for top and bottom crust rather than hand pies. Then I cooked red onion, chopped cauliflower, chickpeas, and boiled, diced potatoes with ginger, garlic, turmeric, curry powder, salt, and fresh chopped cilantro, using a potato masher at the end to turn into a mash while leaving some chunks. Assemble the pie. Bake for 50 minutes at 375 degrees. If you can stand it, let it sit for 10 minutes to settle up before slicing in. (We could not stand it, for the record.)