Everything in this post is very dark

This week I successfully followed two recipes without incident and I am here to relate them to you as follows:

Asiago Cauliflower and Quinoa Chowder

Creamy Shells with Tuna and Spinach

I can't tell you how much time it takes to put together a "silly outfit" for Silly Outfit Day with a child who insists that literally any two items of clothing actually can go together, thematically.

"But this one also has a little bit of pink."
"But stars go together."
"But this has a stripe too."
"But cats like butterflies."
"...and flowers."

Ivy lives in a world without mismatch

For the past couple of weeks I have been assiduously avoiding real world news and Twitter in particular throwing myself into spooky podcasts in order to make the most of my October and also gain some perspective re: the fact that humans have literally always been unhappy and afraid. It's kind of our whole deal! Sometimes it's nice to feel unsettled as opposed to genuinely horrified and depressed. Here's are some I've tried out if you are in the market for similar:

• Lore. This one is not Halloween-specific, I have been listening to it for a while. It's history-based, for the most part, and a lot of the stories are interesting, although Aaron Mahnke has some narrative tics that drive me absolutely bonkers. The madness is part of the experience! Recommended for: people who like some historical research with their thrills and chills; people who are maybe open to doing a shot every time Mahnke pauses and says "they say" or "you see."
• Snap Judgment Presents: Spooked. These are mostly stories submitted by listeners about their "true" experiences, but obviously there is a pretty broad range of plausibility in play. Some are kind of sweet and sad, some are nuts. At the end of the zombie clown story the narrator does a thing that made me roll my eyes and think "I see what you did there" but damned if I haven't thought about that zombie clown a couple of times since. Recommended for: people who can convince themselves that because it's on NPR it's probably real.
• Within the Wires. I actually only listened to a couple of episodes of this because it ended up not being the flavor of "unsettled" I was going for. But I really like the setup: it's a series of guided meditation-type recordings where you gradually gets hints about how messed up the surrounding world is. It's from the Welcome to Night Vale people, but I found it more serious and more stressful to me personally on a "kids taken away from their parents" level. Recommended for: people looking for a mysterious dystopian puzzle.
• The Lost Cat Podcast. This one is actually the Night Vale style I was after--the narrator encounters many strange and spooky things (and loses a couple of body parts) while searching for his lost cat, but does not seem overly concerned about them. It's dryly funny and not particularly scary although the last episode of Season 1 did make me...nervous. There is original music in every episode. There is a lot of wine-drinking. I've only finished the first season and that cat is still missing. I'm worried about the cat, guys! Recommended for: people who can relate to being willing to face off with eldritch abominations in order to find their cat.
• Knifepoint Horror. I had this on my list for a long time before finding the courage to actually listen to any of it because both the name and the thumbnail picture imply actual horror when my goal is subtly creepy shivers. But I was pleasantly surprised! A lot of these stories are really engaging and intense in a way that I liked. Some are more predictable than others ("oh I get it, that guy is a werewolf") but they are mostly fleshed out nicely. I started with the story called "attic" which is great if you're interested in a "WHAT'S IN THE BOX" situation. I will say, all of the more recent stories are read by the same guy, so if you listen to too many in a row it kind of switches over from "oh no what's going to happen to him" to "man, this guy can't catch a break." Recommended for: people who want straight up spooky campfire stories.
• The Ghostlands Podcast. I love this one. Maybe all I really want is a Canadian voice in my ears, eh? Each episode focuses on a different historical monster and ends with a scary story that is old enough to be in the public domain (think Lord Dunsany, Ambrose Bierce, H.G. Wells, Edgar Allen Poe, etc., including a real banger from Charles Dickens). Recommended for: people who see that the latest episode is about goblins and think "oh sweet, we're getting some Christina Rossetti today!" i.e. English majors.
• You Must Remember This: Karina Longworth's always-consistent Hollywood history podcast is focusing on Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff this month. Technically this topic is significantly less chilling than, say, her Charles Manson series, but it is terrifically researched told and fun to think about as Halloween draws near. Recommended for: people interested in early-to-mid 20th century Hollywood; anyone amused by a display of absolute disgust at the lack of acting ability in Lon Cheney, Jr.