Sunblock in the Winter: protection from no sun at all

Ok, it's not super timely, but I want to tell you guys about the sunblock I'm using right now. I try to wear sunscreen every day, despite the constant clouds and rain around here. Right now I am using the simplest, easiest sunscreen. It is just zinc oxide powder in water. I put in in a little spray bottle. I put a couple teaspoons of zinc oxide powder per bottle and then fill it with water. You can mess around with this formula, add essential oils for scent or use rosewater as the base instead of water. Too much oil makes it clumpy though, so be careful. I rub a little drop of almond oil or rosehip oil into my skin after the sunscreen.

Zinc

This sunscreen is white and it sort of beads up on your face. If you let it dry without blending it a little, you will have strange white sunblock spots. Rub it in well, put your moisturiser over top to help it blend. It isn't the same as commercial sunscreen that goes on totally invisible. I think this is a worthwhile tradeoff for a totally safe sunblock without any toxic or irritating ingredients. It's also incredibly cheap, especially compared to the really well made, nontoxic, natural sunblocks. They are expensive. If the whiteness of the sunscreen really bothers you, you can add a little bit of a crumbled up mineral bronzer powder to take the edge off the white tone so you aren't so washed out by the sunblock.

Note: compounding pharmacies will usually sell you zinc oxide powder cheaply. If they give you a hard time, tell them you have an allergy to commercial sunblocks. It always works.

Sucré salé: salted caramel macarons

Caramel is a tricky filling for macarons; it's a little too gushy on its own. Caramel flavoured frostings are often a little anemic and flavourless. I tried to make these strongly flavoured, deeply caramely and pointedly salty. You can reduce the salt if your sucré-salé tastes lean a little more to sucré. I like to taste the salt.

Masa harina pancakes for cosy Sundays

I love masa harina for tortillas  and tamales and lots of other things. It's a great substitute for breadcrumbs, like for coating fish to fry it up (best fish tacos!) or to thicken up chili or stew. It can be a little hard to locate, depending where you live. In Victoria, I get it at this great little Mexican grocery, which is an awesome resource for spices and ingredients that are tricky to find. Lots of regular grocery stores stock this flour now too, and if you live somewhere where they don't, it's available lots of places online.  It's worth hunting around for, homemade tortillas are so good, in a whole other tortilla realm from store bought.

 These pancakes are really fluffy and light and mildly tortilla-y and a little crunchy from the cornmeal.

 Masa harina pancakes:
adapted from Bon Appetit

3/4 cup masa harina flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tbs cornmeal
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
3 tbs butter melted, plus a little for the pan

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add egg and buttermilk and slowly add melted butter while stirring; mix until just combined with no big lumps. Drop half cups of batter into a buttered skillet over medium high heat. Cook until golden brown, 1-2 minutes per side. Serve immediately with butter and syrup. And probably some bacon. And hot milky coffee.

Lentil soup shepherd's pie

My sister made me this dish a couple weeks ago when I had dinner with her and I was surprised how much I loved it. Not that I should ever be surprised by how much I like stuff she feeds me; she is a fantastic cook and she constantly makes dishes I would never think to make and then I love them. Just like this one. I have made it a couple times since then. It has that perfect comfort food, wintery casserole heartiness but it is still really healthy and packed with vegetables. Perfect fall hibernation food.