All about food

Life lately

We are recording this the day after the time change, so Sarah is crossing her fingers that E will adjust quickly so they don’t have to see too much of the four o’clock hour. Her family is also preparing for a trip trip to Missouri where lots of cousin chaos is sure to ensue.

Abby and Plum had the honor of meeting Obama (!). Can’t top that.

Reading lately

Sarah just finished Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Unlike Abby, she had never read it before or seen the movie. She was immediately taken in with the story but had a lot of questions about how race was (or wasn’t) addressed. At Abby’s suggestion, she may read Scarlett, a sequel by Alexandra Ripley.

Abby heard Glennon Doyle Melton (founder of Momastery and Together Rising) speak in Nashville and received a copy of her newest book Love Warrior. Love Warrior chronicles the story of her marriage–from how it started, to what happened after her husband’s infidelity came to light. If you want to hear more in podcast form, check out this episode of Magic Lessons with Elizabeth Gilbert.

Food, food, food!

We love to eat, we love to talk, so it is no surprise that we love to talk about eating. In this segment we hash out what types of food we eat, how we approach food with our kids, family meals, eating out, meal planning, and the many uses of the Instant Pot.* We end with a lightning round of both our usual and ideal foods in various categories.

*Not sponsored. Just obsessed.

Eating lately, Thanksgiving edition

Abby can’t wait to eat her mother-in-law’s mashed potatoes, which include massive amounts of cream and butter and have yet to be replicated in Abby’s kitchen.

Sarah’s going to be enjoying bubble salad–a fruit salad made with cut grapes, mandarin oranges, pineapple, marshmallows, and a whipped cream + custard dressing. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without it.

We would love to hear from you! Please contact us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com or on instagram @friendlierpodcast.

College Stories

In our pilot episode, we introduce ourselves and our podcast. You can learn more about us on our personal blogs: Inviting Joy (Abby) and Affirmaison (Sarah).

Reading lately:

Abby is reading This is Where You Belong: the Art and Science of Loving the Place You Live by Melody Warnick. Reading it has made her reflect on how place-attached she is to her current home and how hard it will be if they have to leave down the road.

Sarah just finished Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West. We both listened to a recent This American Life episode—Tell Me I’m Fat—that featured West and her book. Both the podcast and the book challenged her to examine her biases and see the world in a different way.

College:

sarahandabbs

We met at Hendrix College in the early aughts and have a lot to say about our time there. We were feeling especially reflective as we will be attending our ten year reunion next spring. We chat about what we studied, what we did outside of academics (lots and lots of ultimate), what we loved most, and what we liked least. Photo above shows us one month into college, hanging out in the dorms.

Eating lately:

Sarah’s been using her Instant Pot to make red lentil curry with a fried egg on top. The curry is similar to this one, though she uses curry powder instead of curry paste. The concept is forgiving by nature and can handle all sorts of veggie and spice substitutions.

Abby’s also been putting her Instant Pot to use making black beans to serve on Mexican Rice—an economical dish the whole family loves. She uses brown rice instead of white, which increases the cooking time, and adds frozen corn.

Corrections:

We’re going to release Friendlier every other Tuesday, not every other Thursday.

Abby called her favorite podcast the Girls Next Door Podcast, when it’s actually called The Girl Next Door Podcast. Sarah said it correctly.