Dolly Parton, good socks and other things to like right now
Here’s another of my occasional lists of 9 things I like, this one with a wintry feel.
1. Good socks: Gather round, fellow sock fetishists. You, like me, know that socks are the unsung heroes of any season, but especially of winter.
I’ve met many socks I liked, though my tastes shift. Icebreaker, Smartwool, Darn Tough. They’ve all kept me warm and happy for a while. But none of them come cheap.
For my birthday recently, my former colleague Barbara Brotman, also a sock fetishist, gave me her latest find, a six-pair bundle of Kirkland Signature Ladies’ Extra-Fine Merino Wool Crew Sock. The cost? $19.99 — for all six pairs.
I haven’t tested them in the wash yet, but they feel great. Barbara bought them at Costco but they’re also available online.
2. Katherine Anne Confections: A friend gave me a box of Katherine Anne truffles recently and each one was like a meal.
There really is a Katherine Anne and she runs a confiserie (i.e., a cafe with a lot of chocolate going on) in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. Her chocolates are sold online and at various locations around Chicagoland, including some Whole Foods. They make a good, local holiday gift.
My favorite sentence from the website: “Cream is from a 500-cow herd of Jerseys in central Illinois, and local wildflower honey is used to replace corn syrup.”
3. “December” by George Winston: There was a period of my life, back when I owned a turntable and before vinyl was considered retro, that I listened to this album of piano solos more than any record I owned. It was once No. 2 on Billboard’s holiday music chart.
I hadn’t thought of it in a while, though, until someone mentioned it recently. So I asked Alexa to play it and once again it has risen into the ranks of my favorite holiday albums. It’s melodic and serenely moody, perfect for a contemplative moment when it’s cold outside.
4. “Dolly Parton’s America” You may not think you’re interested in Dolly Parton. This nine-episode podcast will change your mind. Created by Jad Abumrad of the syndicated radio show “Radiolab,” it tells the story of the country singer whose life is about, well, everything.
My Tribune desk mates, Lolly Bowean and Stacy St. Clair, are also fans so I’ll let them testify.
Lolly: “You think you know Dolly Parton, but the podcast presents her as a new figure because you are examining her creations and history through a contemporary lens.”
Stacy: “The podcast is a fantastic exploration of feminism, class and what it means to be an outsider in America. This is a podcast anyone would enjoy, regardless of their politics or their upbringing. Host Jad Abumrad hails Dolly as ‘America’s Great Unifier’ and he’s absolutely right. Amid our country’s ugly and angry political divide, it feels good to let Dolly Parton — smart, savvy, talented, book-loving Dolly Parton — remind us that not everything in life has to be polarizing.”
5. Making those annual charitable contributions: Just do it. You’ll feel better. I did.
6. Uitwaaien: I hate the winter wind about as much as I love good socks, but learning this concept — pronounced something like out-vyin — gives me courage to go forth into bitter Chicago days. It’s a Dutch word that means “to go out in windy weather, particularly into nature or a park, as a means of refreshing oneself and clearing one’s mind.”
Something to ponder while you’re curled up on the sofa.
7. La Sardine restaurant: This French place has been one of my favorite Chicago restaurants since it opened in 1988, back when the West
Loop still seemed fringe. Its founders have died — chef Jean-Claude Poilevey, in 2016, and his wife, Susanne, in September — but their sons continue to run it.
The room is warm and cozy, vibrant but not too loud. The food, billed as “French comfort food,” feels authentic. In a city where restaurants come and go, it endures and never disappoints.
8. Shameless self-promotion: I don’t really like shameless self-promotion but I’ll mention the recent release of the expanded second edition of my column collection anyway. It’s called “Even the Terrible Things Seem Beautiful to Me Now” — something my mother said to me in her old age — and in addition to many columns from the previous edition, it includes new ones, including “When Your Father Dies,” “The Discipline of Optimism,” and “Is There a Heaven?”
I’ve written a new introduction and Tom Bachtell, the Chicago artist whose illustrations have graced The New Yorker and other publications, has done an exquisite little sketch. Agate Publishing has created a beautiful new cover.
To me, the book represents not only the 27 years I’ve written a column but all the Tribune readers who have traveled through that time with me. Without them — without you — the book wouldn’t exist. So thank you.
It’s in local bookstores and available online here: https://bit.ly/ 2QIS7Ba
9. “Ode to My Socks” by Pablo Neruda: Even the great Chilean poet had something to say about socks, in a poem that ends like this:
The moral of my ode is this: beauty is twice beauty and what is good is doubly good when it is a matter of two socks made of wool in winter.