Fall Boot Trends & Transforming Awkward Spaces | The Good Stuff | Full Episode | November 5, 2026

Today, on an all-new episode of The Good Stuff, Mary's serving up the ultimate bowl of fall comfort. And it's just what cooler days are calling for. Then, boot season is back. Corey Yang breaks down the must-have styles before you hit the store. Plus, we all have them. Awkward spaces. We're tackling tricky areas with smart design fixes that turn problem spots into standout features. The Good Stuff starts right now. into a matching shirt basically to my skirt, so that's what I'm very excited about today. Listen, first up, I am in the kitchen making a super simple dinner for those nights of the week when you just don't have a ton of time or energy to make dinner. Now, if you've got carrots, if you've got lentils, if you've got spices in your pantry, you're going to be able to make this delicious soup. We're making a spiced carrot lentil soup. How does that sound? Peace out. Good. Listen, I know people think that I probably go home and every night I'm like spinning like the sound of music in the kitchen ready to make dinner. But every once in a while. So I love doing soup. On those nights, super easy to throw together, add some crunchy, cook it down, beautiful and tasty. So the first thing we need to do is get to work on our aromatics. So I've got an onion here, just one yellow onion. You could do a white onion here if that's what you keep on hand. A red onion would also work. It might change the color of the soup just a titch, but not too much. It'll still be delish. So we're going to dice this up. Now we are going to make this into a pureed soup, so you do not have to be fancy with your dicing. I was watching the Great British Baking Show the other day and there was a lady and she And she used one of those like, you know, those like. Ka-chunk. Dicers. It's like, that's the smartest thing in the world. It just dices everything. So if you've got one of those, feel free to use it. Perfect for a soup. Really, really easy. So I'm just going to dice that right on up. If you had shallots, your fancy, feel free to use those. Leeks would also be beautiful in here. Basically any sort of allium. Even if you don't have like a hearty onion, if you just had a bunch of green onions, chop them up, throw them in. It'll be absolutely delicious. All right. Give that a nice dice. Mary Berg, you've been saying that for eight years. Let's do it. Okay. I've got my pot here, it's over about medium heat. I'm gonna go in with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Any sort of cooking oil you like to use, feel free to do that. Gonna go in with my onion. And I only wanna cook the onion at this point for maybe a minute or two. We're just looking to get a little bit of that crunch off, but we're gonna add in more vegetables. And again, it's a soup, so it's gonna cook with that broth once we add it in. Season that up with salt and pepper. The pepper here is for flavor. The salt is more to like pull moisture out of those onions so they cook down faster and concentrate their flavor nicer. Perfect. Give that a stir, break them all up. This is one of the things I do anytime I get home and I don't want to make dinner. If I chop up an onion and put it in a pan, it smells delicious and I know everything's going to be okay. So this is a good inspiration for me for sure. All right, now while that's doing its thing, we're going to chop up our carrots. Now again, I'm using carrots for this. You could do this with sweet potatoes. You could do this with squash. Any sort of orange vegetable is perfect in here. I'm just going to dice these up. Again, you don't have to be fancy here because we are going to puree it. Obviously, the smaller you dice it, the quicker. It's all going to cook up. I've got two carrots here. I've already got two diced up in my bowl. Now, if you're somebody, again, like my mom, who mainly buys baby carrots. She likes a big carrot, but she doesn't like dealing with big carrots. Chuck some baby carrots in here. Super tasty. All right. I was so adamant I wanted to cut two carrots, and now I regret every decision. That's my vision. I was like, this is going to take no time. It's funny. When you're cooking on TV, things at home that take 30 seconds feel like they take 87 years. It's a good thing. All right. Nice and chopped up. Perfect. Now this is going to go into my pot along with those other two carrots I've got. Pop those right on in. And here we're just cooking those down. The carrots, carrots are one of those vegetables, actually vegetables in general, I love them because they're delicious raw and they've got a really beautiful flavor. When you cook them, their flavor totally changes. It gets more intense, a little bit more earthy tasting. Carrots are so, so tasty and definitely something I always have on hand. So give that a nice stir. Season that again with some salt and pepper. Again, that salt is to help this cook down. And you want to cook that down for, I would say, five or six minutes, just to get a little bit of color on those carrots. Help them get a little bit of tenderness. But again, we're going to cook it more once that broth goes in. So while that does its thing, we're going to chop up our garlic. Now, for this soup, I want like a... A gentle garlic flavor. If you want a really punchy garlic flavor, I would mince it, whether it's in a press or using a rasp or by hand. But since I want a gentle garlic flavor, I'm just gonna thinly slice it. I've said it before, but garlic is a funny thing that when you cut it bigger and then cook it, I find it has a gentler flavor. So if you think about like roasted garlic in the oven, you put that in the oven whole. You roast it nice and low and slow, and you end up with the sweetest, most tender garlic flavor ever. But if you were to mince it into like butter or something, a little bit punchier. So, super tasty. If you want really punchy garlic flavor, again, mince it up, but I'm slicing. Perfect. Now, we're going to pretend five minutes has gone by. This is going to go straight on into that pan. And now we're going to add in our spices. I like to add the garlic and spices around the same time because they take less time to bloom and you do not want them burning. A burnt onion, a burnt carrot, kind of tasty. Sounds a little fancy. Let's see. But burnt garlic, you're never seeing that on a menu. It's not what you want. So we're going to go in with our spices now. And this is one of the things I love doing. I love toasting my spices in a pan because... Everyone always says, oh, if you've had your spices for three months, throw them out. I don't do that. I'm sure you don't do that. My mom had a container of mustard powder that I think moved the last four times she's moved. I think she's had it since the 70s. And guess what? You just use more of it to get that flavor. It's all good. So into here, I'm gonna go in with a little bit of curry powder, about two teaspoons of curry powder. This has really nice warm flavoring in it. Any sort of brand you like, spicy or mild, is perfect. Then I'm gonna go in with a teaspoon of chili powder. This brings a little bit more heat. It's not spicy like cayenne, though. Really tasty, though. Then for that beautiful color to really enhance the color of those carrots, going in with a teaspoon of turmeric. It kind of has almost a gingery lemon flavor too, so if you go in with a good amount, you actually taste it, it's not just for that color, so we're going to get that flavor through. Then I'm going to go in with half a teaspoon of, yep, that's cumin, perfect. This gives like a smokiness, which is beautiful. And then last but not least, we're going in with some coriander. These are spices I pretty much always have in my pantry. They're kind of my go-to when I want something really kind of warming and super tasty. It's also a great way to make a vegetarian meal taste kind of meaty. I find these spices really give it a meaty flavor. So in goes the coriander. That's the seeds of cilantro. If you don't like cilantro, you still might like coriander, so give it a go. Give that a stir and you just want to toast that off for... I would say about 30 seconds to a minute. By toasting it, that's going to reawaken those spices. So if you do have those spices that have been in your pantry since like 1982, give them a toast. It'll be fine. They might be a little dusty, but this will make them taste better. All right. Beautiful. Now we're going to crank the heat up, and I'm going to go in with my lentils. Lentils are one of my favorite things. I love beans. I love pulses. I'm using red lentils today. Red lentils cook the quickest, which is fantastic. They also break down really nicely, so they make a really nice creamy soup. So I've got one and a half cups of those red lentils here. Add that right on in. Give that a stir. Lentils, similar to spices, sit on the shelf for a good while. So anything that kind of is like dusty tasting maybe, give it a toast and it's going to come together. But already this looks beautiful. That orange color, I feel healthy. It's a good thing. All right, now into there we're going to go in with our broth. So I've got four cups of broth here. You can use vegetable. You can use chicken. If you're getting store-bought, I always buy the low-sodium variety. Not the no-sodium. I find it doesn't have great flavor, but the low-sodium is perfect because then we can control that salt. So go straight on in with that. Give that a stir, just to get everything nice and covered. Then you wanna bring that up to a boil over high heat. Cook that for about, I would say 15 to 20 minutes, just until those lentils are tender and the carrots are nice and tender. Once that's done, we got something that looks like this. Let's take a gander. Beautiful, we've got it half pureed already, stunning. Do you see? So much of those lentils have cooked down, they've broken down, they're almost a little bit fluffy and super soft, perfect for pureeing. So I've got a stick blender here, if you have just a regular stand blender, feel free to use that. I'm going to go in with this, don't wear white or a nice skirt, I've made a mistake, and I'm going to give it a bit of a blitz. Now for a bit more moisture and movement, I'm going in with a whole can of coconut milk, that's going to bring some sweetness as well, which is beautiful, and just give that a nice blitz. It brings that creamy flavor without like being all that heavy now at this point you can leave this really nice and chunky Or you can do it nice and smooth. I like a little bit of texture in there, so I'm gonna take that right on out And honestly, that's the soup. Super easy to put together. I'm going to get my ladle, serve up a nice big portion. And then this is the key. When I'm making soup, I kind of treat it like nachos. I like to top it with a bunch of stuff. That's what makes it more fun to eat. So for me, I'm going on with a little bit. You could do sour cream or yogurt is really nice right on top. I'm going to go on with a little bit of some pumpkin seeds for a bit of crunch. Some cilantro, because I love a cilantro. And then a little drizzle of some olive oil, maybe a little bit of salt right on top. And that, to me, is dinner in a flash. Absolute dream. I'm going to dig in, get nice and warm and toasty. But stick around. We've got lots of good show when we come back. Tomorrow, skip the takeout. Anna Olsen's making a creamy butter chicken and sharing one of her all-time favorite cookie recipes. Then, from fashion faux pas to beauty blunders, Alexis Haas and Nikki Strachan have easy fixes for everyday mistakes you might not know you're making. Plus, one of comedy's biggest stars is here. Bill Hader dishes with Mary about bringing the beloved Cat in the Hat to the big screen. Don't miss the good stuff tomorrow. Nutrition trend promising more protein and more fiber. Here to help us separate fact from fad, it's dietitian, Abby Sharp. Hey, Abby. Okay, I love this because there seems to be, I would say, a deluge of information. Yes, I would agree. There's so much stuff coming out about this, about maximizing fiber and protein. But I feel like a lot of it is a bit of noise. It's a little bit noisy. Yes, it's getting loud. It's getting loud in here. So you are here to help us bust some of those common myths. Amazing, let's do it. I love this. Okay, so we're talking myth one. Protein is the most important thing. It's more important than anything else. Well, I think we do have to give it some love. Protein is, of course, very important for building and maintaining muscle mass, for satiety, and therefore weight management, for blood sugar management. But we don't need to make everything a protein delivery vehicle. Like, it's protein cookies, protein ice cream, protein Pop-Tarts, protein water. Like, stop that at the border, please. Like, we don't wash it. Yeah. What ends up happening is that when we are so hyper-focused on seeing that protein on the package of that protein cookie, we think it's like a one-to-one swap now with like a chicken breast or tofu, even though it may also have like 40 grams of sugar in it. So typically when we max anything, it kind of displaces some of our other key nutrients, most notably fiber. Okay, that's a really, really good point. I love it. So you're basically, you're saying like, yes, that cookie with protein in it, cool, but it's still a cookie. It's still a cookie. Okay, I love it. All right, now let's talk myth two. Let's talk about fiber. I love fiber, but the myth is fiber is just for digestion and regularity. No, it's more than the poop nutrients. So much more. We love that it helps with regularity, obviously. But it's really important for satiety. So again, weight management, blood sugar management, lowering cholesterol, and most importantly, it feeds our gut microbes. And the health of our gut microbiome is important for the health of virtually every other system in our body, our immune system, our mental health, our hormones, you name it. So fiber is queen. Fiber, I do love fiber. I have like sneaky, I mean, earlier I made a soup, lots of fiber in it, very, very good. It's one of those things though, I think that like, It doesn't feel fancy. Protein sounds like this. Fiber's like, hi, I'm fiber. Let's make it sexy. Let's do it. Let's make it fancy. Yes, yeah. Okay, so... Both protein and fiber, very key ingredients, very key nutrient-dense things we need in our diet. So you've actually got a couple recipes that are rich in both. Yes. Okay, so what are we starting off with? All right, so this is our raspberry pistachio chia pudding. Oh, yum. Really easy to make this one ahead. Basically, I've just combined some milk, some Greek yogurt for protein, some chia seeds. Chia seeds are... Awesome when it comes to fiber plus they've got protein plus they've got healthy fats they absorb all that moisture and thicken up and we've added a little bit of smashed raspberries in there. Oh smart. I know just that little little bit of color and a little bit of flavor yeah sweetness some more raspberries on top and some pistachios. Raspberries are a superstar in the fiber department eight grams per cup. Really? Yes. See this is one of the things I'm more of a vegetable lady I love a fruit but I'm more of a vegetable lady and I just learned that A lot of fruit has more fiber than vegetables. Yeah, I would say most of the kind of fiber superstars are actually fruit. Okay. So, yeah, and raspberries are right up there at the top of the list. Well, I'm going to dig in. I do love a chia pudding. Pudding for breakfast. Yes, please. Yes, please. Oh, that's delicious. So fun. Love that. Okay, moving on. Let's move on to like. We have a savory lunchy vibe. We're doing like a noodle bowl. Yes, we are. So basically, I've got some crispy tofu almond noodle bowl with lots of veggies here for fiber. We've got buckwheat noodles on the bottom there as well, which are rich in fiber, and some tofu that's going to add the protein, the edamame protein and fiber. Nice. And we'll make a little sauce here. Beautiful. If you want to whisk for me. For sure. So this is some almond butter. Oh nice. Really good. Almonds are a great source of fiber as well, plus the protein and the healthy fats. We got some soy sauce in there. Love this. A little bit of ginger. Some maple syrup. Oh, I love that for a sweetener. Yeah. Yeah, it's such a good combo. Some lime juice to brighten it up. And then if we just kind of want to Make it a little thinner. You just add some water until it's the consistency that you want it at. I was going to say, almond butter, similar to tahini, it's funny, to make it the right consistency, you actually need to add water. You do. Not oil, water. Yes, because there's already quite a lot of fat there. I think that's kind of good. And then we can just drizzle it on top of our delicious bowls here. This is something that my husband and I, something like this all the time. It's one of our go-tos at night. Look at that. Okay. And then we just garnish with some more sesame seeds and some green onions. Onions here, so nutritious. I love this, and I love the fact that we are using the sesame seeds. I feel like sometimes we think of sesame seeds as like a garnish, but they are so rich in so many nutrients. Yes, nutrient-packed. We've got lots of fiber, protein, and healthy fats, calcium, iron, zinc. Like, they are superstars. Take a spoonful if you feel inclined. Just go for it. I love it. Okay, moving on. This is like one of my favorite flavors. We're talking buffalo chicken. So we're talking buffalo chicken, black bean stuffed sweet potatoes? Yes, ma'am. Okay, cool. Let's do it. All right. So I've already just roasted up these sweet potatoes. You can also just throw them in the microwave if you're in a pinch. Mm-hmm. And sweet potatoes are a great source of fiber. All potatoes. Don't sleep on potatoes. Love a potato. Justice for the spud. I was just talking to the audience about how I'm secretly a hobbit. Yes. So this is very good. Yes. And then we've got some rotisserie chicken, some canned black beans. Really super simple. I've got the buffalo hot sauce, a little bit of Greek yogurt here, just to kind of add kind of a creamy consistency. And again, boosting up that protein. Exactly, boosting the protein. And the beans have protein and fiber. So then we're just going to kind of layer this on top, load her up. Come on. Load it. Yeah, yeah. This feels like such a good weeknight meal. Like you said, you can do the potato in the microwave and make it even faster. Exactly, exactly. Exactly. And then, of course, I like... Guacamole on everything. Yep. Extra guac. So good. Yep. And no one's going to charge me extra for that. Love that. Yeah. Yes. Ooh, a feta cheese. A little feta. Mmm. Oh my gosh. And some like lime on the side. Some cilantro. Look at that. That looks so good. So good. Okay, wait. I'm going to dig into this. I'm very excited about it. Okay. Okay, and I have to tell you, I know we all love guacamole, but avocado is such a great source of fiber. It's right up there. Really? Yes, one whole avocado, 10 grams. Oh, my gosh. Yes. That's wild. Also, that is so good, Abby. Yes. That is delicious. But I didn't think of the avocado being fiber-rich because it's so creamy. I know. It's deceiving. It's a sneaky fiber. That is so good. I'm making that this weekend. For sure. 100%. Speaking of something I want to make this weekend, last but not least. You've got like a smashed white bean toast. What are we making here? Yeah, so this is like my take on avocado toast to get some more protein in there, because I've got some avocados, more fiber, got white beans that are just smashed up, so you're getting more fiber, getting some protein in there, lots of lemon juice, some herbs. So it's like a green goddess-y vibe. Exactly. It's so flavorful. And then basically, we're just going to add all that on top. A little bit of these beautiful pine nuts and sun-dried tomatoes. Like, look at the color. So good. This is almost giving, like, Tuscan vibes, too. A hundred percent. A little chili if you want a little heat. That looks so good. Yum. Do you know what else? This would be great with a fried egg on top. Oh, it would for sure be great with a fried egg. I love it. That's a perfect breakfast. Yes. Abby, this is so good. I'm digging back into this. I'm going to have this during the commercial break. Thank you so, so much. Thank you. What a night. Coming up, boot season is back. Corey Ng breaks down the must-have styles before you hit the store. Stay tuned. This fall, it's Corey Ng. Hi, Corey, how's it going? How are you? Fantastic. Okay, so what are you showing us today? Well, for me, fall fashion is all about sweaters, coats, and boots. Honestly, my three favorite articles of clothing. Right, me too. So today I'm going to talk about my five top favorite trends of the season. Okay, fantastic. And if anything catches your eye at home, just scan the QR code on your screen. So let's start off with a big one that's really trending. Yes. We're talking the sock boot. Yes, this is definitely more of a fashion statement. So the sock boot is... Very, literally looks like a sock. Okay, I thought it was like the stretchy. No, this is literally the shape. It's just something very minimal, very clean design, very low-soul. Yeah. Pretty much, like, almost very flat, right? Oh, my gosh. And a great thing is that it's super, super lightweight. Yeah. So something like this is great for someone who, like, loves wearing ballet flats in the summer. Because it's just simple. You can wear it with jeans. You can wear it with dresses. I love this pair. This one's from Zara. I love how lightweight they are. And they're just a very clean, simple design. They're not really, like, too loud. You can really pair it up with anything. I feel like this is one of the boots that if you didn't know, you wouldn't know. But if you know, you know. Exactly. Do you know what I mean? You'd see someone wearing it, and if someone's cool, it'd be, like, cool boots. But like everyone else would be like, great. You know? Exactly. Yeah. Because some people just don't like a really chunky shoe. Yeah. So this is kind of a great alternative. I love that. Now, next up, we want to talk about The color that's kind of trending this season is like a dark chocolate brown. Yeah, dark chocolate brown is all over this season. If you go into a store right now, there's actually more brown boots than black, which is like so rare. But I love a dark chocolate brown because it's very versatile. You can wear it black, you can wear it brown, you can really wear it with any color. So this pair is from Steve Madden. I love that they're coming in great leathers and a lot of suede. This heel in particular is great. It has like a bit of a cone shape, gives some extra support. This is such a classic, right? Especially with the square toe, it really elongates the leg. the leg. Yeah. Something you could wear years and years to come. Dresses, pants, anything you want. I love that. This is a great one because I sometimes I'll wear outfits that are like creamy colored and I'll put my black boot on and it looks like whoa. Exactly. Whereas the brown really softens it up. Exactly. Especially with this like a dark brown you can even pair it with black like a black handbag as well as brown. It's very versatile. I love that. Okay moving on we got to talk about I think my favorite neutral animal print. Yes. Yeah. You know what? I love it too. I love it. Especially if you already have enough black and brown. Yeah. Why not, like, get some flair to your outfit, right? Totally. And that's what animal print is for. And what I love about animal print is that most of them do art. In different shades of neutral. Yeah. So just treat it like a neutral. And if you are struggling with like how to kind of pair it and how to style it, kind of pick the colors within the print. So this pair right here from Sam Edelman. We have a little brown in there. We have a little black. We have grays. We have taupe. We have beige. Like we have so many colors to actually work with that you could easily incorporate into your wardrobe. And I love this boot. Great little heel too. Like these look like walking around boots. Exactly. This is an easy, something easy to make a fashion statement. And you're not really overthinking it. But it's going to definitely get some attention. I love that. Speaking of, this is something I haven't worn riding boots in a while. I loved a riding boot that was like exclusively what I wore, but they're back. They are back. Such as classic boots, especially during the transitional season. And what I love about them is that they really just work with anything. Work with jeans, work with dresses, and you can really wear it to fall into winter. This particular pair from a brand called Artega, I love that they're patent. So patent, just like they're just easier to maintain. You'll wipe it off. And this particular pair, they're actually waterproof. What? Oh. So they're not just water resistant. So you have to read the tags sometimes. A lot of them are water resistant. These are actually waterproof. Nice. So they're perfect for the rain, for slush, for snow. And it's just like a great boot to have. From the fall and into early winter. I love that. Especially these ones are slightly insulated, so they'll keep you warm as well. I love that. Oh, my gosh, so cute. I think I'm back on the riding boot train. Yeah. Let's get on it. Let's do it. All right, now, last but not least, we're talking about a dressy boot. Yes, an evening boot. So, like, the last few years, we've been seeing a lot of, like, bedazzled boots, like sparkly boots. This season is all about lace. Oh. Which is, like, so different, right? It's very unique. I love how, like, romantic it is, very feminine. But something about it, I just love the texture it adds to an outfit. So there's the plain black dress. a pair of lace boots. It kind of gives it a little something extra, right? Totally. And then you can even, like, pair it with a wide-leg pair of jeans to just show the lace little toe. And I love that these, in particular, pair from Steve Madden. Because they're sheer, you can kind of play with the tights. You could do with, like, a nude tight, black tight, or a little burgundy. Cute. You can play it out. You can really dress up the look. I love that. What a good little boot 101. Thank you so much, Corey. You're welcome. That was great. We'll be right back. Up next, we all have them, awkward spaces. We're tackling tricky areas with smart design fixes that turn problem spots into standout features. That's up next. You can turn those awkward, empty corners into beautiful focal points. It's Leanna Laird Perrault. I love this, because the corners, like, the hardest... I have a firm opinion on corners in the kitchen. Okay, okay, okay. Like, corners on, like, a counter are usable spaces. Like, that's a place where you put your KitchenAid mixer or your whatever... Sure, of course. ...to have it on hand. It's like, you need it, but it tucks away. Yes. Yes. Corners are great for the tuck... Yes. ...of decor, but here's the thing. I find corners can be a little persnickety in the sense that... Sometimes we don't know what to do. A kitchen is great because you can add function to that corner. But if you've just got an empty corner in your living room that's feeling maybe a little lackluster, I feel like sometimes we just stare at it and it becomes a project to fill a space. Yes. So what is your, like, number one... I'm not going to say mistake, but everyone's number one go-to with that corner. I'm going to actually, I will label it. I'm going to call this my pet peeve. Okay, yeah. I do have a pet peeve. And listen, I need to really carefully preface this. Yeah. No hate, no shade to anybody who might have what I'm about to share in their home. I'm not looking to make any enemies today. We're all BFFs. But I do have an issue with the classic vase with sticks. Stop me. Okay. Can I clarify? Again, I feel like often we'll look at the corner and go, hmm, it needs something, I don't know what. Just go buy the vase with sticks, right? And we stick that there. To which my response is, if you love it, that's the right answer. Yes. If you love it. But if you just bought it to fill a space, I think we can do better. Yeah. Because what emotional attachment do you have to a vase with sticks? That's a good question. It was funny, when we were talking about this segment, one of our producers, Tamara, who's in the control room right now, was like, I have a vase with sticks. And again, I'm not... If it has a purpose and has a moment that you really feel good about in your home, but again, if we're just filling space. I think we can do better, and that's what this segment's about. Love that. Speaking of doing better, let's start with your first kind of idea. You're talking about, like, kind of a lush corner. So I like to call this the grotto at home. Just because it sounds so fancy. Imagine, like, talking to a friend. What are you up to? Oh, just working on my grotto. Tending to my grotto. Just hanging out in my grotto. And I think the whole idea with these corners, this is kind of like a two-foot by two-foot foot. Footprint. Yeah, so very small little space and the upgrade from the faux stick would be the faux plant But I want to challenge everybody to think about introducing real plants and immediately I know some of our readers viewers are gonna say but I don't have a green thumb or I don't have natural light I have what I call a purple thumb. Okay, unless they can feed me it's gonna die Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm okay with that. I think the solution when you're adding plants, even if it's faux, faux is fine. But if we can think about real, don't just do the classic. Pot with the plant and call it a day because, again, we're just filling a corner. I love the idea of layering plants. Yeah, it's beautiful. And I also love the idea you don't have to buy a mature six-foot tree. You can just buy a planter on kind of stilts or even use a little stool or a little bench to kind of create this layered, lush look in your house. But remember I mentioned, like, introducing real plants, and people are going to say, yeah, but I don't have natural light. I want to introduce you to the Soltech Grow Light. So this is the Aspect Gen 2 light that hangs. So this one in particular is a pendant. It's not hardwired. You plug this in so you don't need an electrician for this. It has a built-in dimmer to it as well, so you can manually adjust for your plants. This will give your plants all of the nourishment that they need to grow, which is really, really great. It's full-spectrum lighting. And I think, like, it also, just the light itself looks so sculptural and beautiful Beautiful. Yeah. Feeling within your space. That creates this. And when we talk about feeling, we want to add feeling to our space. There is research that shows that real plants in our homes create an innate sense of calm and relaxation. So any opportunity to add real. Now you don't have an excuse to say, I can't do real plants because I don't have natural light. Because you can have a Soltech grow lamp. I love that. And also, like you said, it looks structural and pretty. It does. Because sometimes you'll see those grow areas and you're like, that looks like a science experiment. Right. It looks like you're growing something potentially illegal. If that's your vibe, again, no hate, no shame. For this, I like to keep things a little more aesthetic. Totally. Okay, moving on. What do you say we go to happy hour? Listen. Maybe. You don't do this thing. What do we got going on? So we're going to go from a feeling to adding a little bit of function. And with this, the classic bar cart always wins for me in those little empty corners because immediately we are adding function. But I want you to think about the bar cart. In alternative uses, so yes, happy hour, great, the holidays are coming, this becomes your little serving station, which I think is perfect for guests coming over, but you could also create a little coffee corner if this happens to be in your bedroom. I even love the idea, you know what this actually reminds me of, this bar cart is from Ikea, and I think it's so handsome in this beautiful bronzy gold finish. What I love, the idea of this. How about introducing this into your living room and almost creating a library book cart? I'm thinking about books! So instead of just doing a standard bookcase, which maybe you don't have the space for, having a little book cart on wheels I think is just so sweet. And you could even do the nice book stand with an open book on top. Come on! So you can really, again, curate the look of this. But we're going happy hour, right? We're going to keep... Everything's jovial here. And with this, again, in a small space, if you have the room to go vertical, you're really going to maximize the effort that you're putting into that otherwise boring, underutilized corner. For me, shelving always is great. But here's the thing. In a small space, I think we tend to default to think, oh, we just need a small shelf. Yeah. And in the sense of a picture ledge, something narrow. If you notice, I've gone with a 12-inch deep shelf, so we're really maximizing the function here. But I want to break down these shelves for you because these are actually a DIY project that are super affordable and easy to do. The brackets were from Ikea in just a stainless steel finish. I painted them, obviously. To match my bar cart, again, just to create some continuity, I picked up from Amazon the little wine glass holder that went right underneath here, which attached to just wood planks. I bought one large wood plank at my home improvement store, had them cut it for me while I was there, and just slid it into the brackets. But can we talk about my secret ingredient? Is it this? Because it's a bar, I wanted the bar rail on the front edge of the shelf. But instead of paying a lot of money for bar rails, which you can do online, I just got appliance handles. So smart! It's a 20-inch wide appliance handle. And these were, they worked out on Amazon, I think I got a set of five, and they worked out to about $4 each. Wow! And again, painted it in the same finish. And now it just, it creates that, really like leans into the bar kind of concept. It also makes it safer. You're putting glass and delicate things. It makes it a little less spilly. That's exactly it. And sticking in the vein of lighting, we had the light for our plant. I think adding a little cordless bistro lamp here is just so sweet. Again, this guy's from Ikea, and it's rechargeable. And it's adding the ambiance to that little otherwise boring corner. Lighting is so important. I love this. I love the bar cart idea. I love this library idea. Right? Coming up in an episode. We'll do it. We'll do it. Like in a tea station. It's like my dream scenario. Oh, my gosh. All right. Now, last but not least, we've got, you want us to think about displaying something we actually care about. Exactly. So feeling, function, the last one, focus. This is what I really want to create. Now, we talked lighting. I'm going to start right with the lighting in this last vignette. This is a very simplified vignette, but focus is coming from the picture light. So as soon as you add a picture light over top of some artwork, we're just drawing your attention in and, again, creating a moment, creating that feeling. If it's artwork that is important or special to you, wonderful. Also, if you have those really beautiful kind of keepsake, sentimental items, maybe an heirloom, there's nothing better than putting anything on a pedestal. Yes. Including yourself. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the second you put anything on a pedestal, it all of a sudden looks important and more valuable. This feels very fancy. Right? Well, you can actually flip that upside down. Okay. Because that was just a little home sense run that I got on sale. It looks like it's gallery-worthy when it sits on a pedestal. But the pedestal itself was actually another little DIY project. I've hidden some materials in the back there for you to pull out. This was super, super simple. This was a $14 sawtoe from the Home Improvement Store. You can cut this with a utility knife. The little wood biscuit top, I picked it from my local craft store. And then I picked up bamboo pole wrap, which you can cut very easily. And I wrapped that. And again, you can just roll this up and cut it on a chop saw. To whatever length you want. Just use construction adhesive to put it on the outside. A little spray of some high gloss white paint. And all of a sudden you have a gallery worthy pedestal. You know what? You can even put your vase with sticks on that pedestal. And it would be fun. Give it a real place to live. This, this picture light. Guess what? Oh, the power went on. Oh no. Now I got a flashlight. There you go. It's a transplastic. Thank you so, so much. And studio audience to help you dress up your space. You're all going home with a Dasher holiday lumbar pillow from Tonic Living. Thank you for giving. We're starting the Spark Music and Visual Media Arts program. Great job, Leanne. Hey, Vijaya Samaraju is here with two festive dishes perfect for celebrating this weekend. Hey, Vijaya, how's it going? And your family celebrating Diwali this year. So we love celebrating Diwali. It's kind of our equivalent of Christmas. So, of course, there's going to be tons of delicious food, both sweet and savory. Fireworks. Nice. And something that's really important in our household is to buy new clothes. I know! I like this holiday. Little shopping spree situation. Yeah. We always look forward to this time of year. That is so fun and I'm really pumped because you're going to make two different recipes for us today. That's right. One savory, one sweet. Just to help us get in the spirit. So what are we starting off with? For sure. So we're going to start off with my favorite chickpea curry. It's called Amritsari Chole. Oh. So different parts of India have different ways of making chickpea curry. This one comes from Punjab and it's saucy and tangy and has a whole bunch of spices in it. Really tasty. I love a chickpea curry. Do you love it? That's fine. And it's also beans, so you're like, it's healthy, I'm good for me. You're doing something good for yourself. 100%. So what are we doing? So we're first going to talk about my secret ingredient. Okay. And my secret ingredient to sort of give this chickpea curry body and a bit of dark color is steep tea. Oh! Oh! Which also happens to be my favorite breakfast drink. Yes! So yeah! Perfect. One and done. So a little bit of black tea steeped in water. And what that's going to do is going to give like almost like a floral, herbal quality. We really locked that in there. We really locked our tea in. I'm going to get... I'm going to... Not the end of the world. No. I mean, we can deal with this after. Um... We're going to pretend the tea bags are out. But it adds a sort of herbal quality to the chickpea curry, which is absolutely delicious. Something that I picked up from a family friend when I was a little kid. I was like, what's going in there? But it really... Makes it special. I love that. So as opposed to just putting water in, you're putting that tea, so it's got that smoky note. Exactly. Oh, I love that. You got it. You got it. So now we're going to build out the base of our curry. So a little bit of canola or vegetable oil into a pot, and we're going to bloom some spices. So we're going to be doing a combination of whole and ground spices for this curry. It'll give it a lot of depth of flavor. So we have some cinnamon, some bay leaf, some black cardamom. So big and beefy compared to green. Which is different from green cardamom. Yeah. We also have green cardamom and some cloves. Beautiful. So I'm going to go into the hot oil and And this is a fresh bay leaf. It likes to crackle. She gon' pop. Yeah. Yeah. This is where the fireworks start. Exactly. And do you see those cloves? Do you see that? Yeah. Do you see how those cloves puffed up? Yeah. That's how you know that those spices are at peak flavor potential. Okay, fantastic. Love that. So we're going to add in some onions. And again, we're going in with the classics, onions, garlic, a bit of ginger, and we're going to cut them off until they're nice and translucent. Beautiful. And already you can smell those whole spices filling up the room. It's already aromatic. This already smells so good. It's wild. Okay. So you want to cook those off until they're nice and soft, and then we're going to add in my favorite ingredient. Passata. Yeah. Yeah. How did you know, Mary? Yeah. You're a passata girl through and through. Yeah. I love passata. Yeah. Yeah. Tomatoes that are picked at the peak of their season, Yeah. pureed and strained. Beautiful. So those go in. If you want to be a curry master, you need to learn how to cook down your tomatoes. Yeah. Cook them down until the fats in the pan start to sizzle along the edges of the tomatoes and the tomatoes become almost... Tastes like sticking to the bottom of the pan. Yeah, and around there's almost that like orange bubbly fat situation. Absolutely. It's so good. Yeah, kind of like caramelizing the tomatoes a bit, right? So that's smelling lovely and looking good. So again, you want to go through that process of cooking those tomatoes down. And now we're going to talk spices. We have like an array. There's a whole host. It's like a painter's palette. A whole host of spices that go into this. And I want you to keep in mind, if you don't have one or two of these spices, Totally fine. Leave them out use what you have. Yeah. Okay, so we're first gonna go in with some turmeric We can add some nice lovely yellow color beautiful some Kashmiri chili, which is less spicy than cayenne It looks spicier, but it's less spicy. Yes. It has more of a fruity note to it garam masala Which is that Indian spice blend that has a whole bunch of different spices in it? Coriander lovely and citrusy beautiful and then these are some fun guys Okay, this is ground green mango powder. Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. Okay. Okay, you can find most of these spices. I'm really amazed by grocery stores these days. They have a good selection of spices that go beyond those tiny little bottles. Yeah, it's true. You get like little sacks and they're really inexpensive. So if you want to have a bit of fun, add some amchoor powder to the mix. Get some amchoor in your life. Ground dried pomegranate powder. Oh, that's going to be really citrusy. Citrusy and tangy. We have kasoori methi. If you love butter chicken, then you know this spice. Yep. And then we're going to add some asafoetida. Okay. Which is made out of... Look, it's like a resin that they've dried down and pulverized, and black salt. Which looks purple. Which looks purple. Yeah. I know. Someone went wrong in the naming department. Yeah. And then you're going to cook those spices out in the reduced tomatoes. As soon as that hit the heat. It smells so good. It smells like you've just walked into your favorite Indian restaurant, right? Yes. All right, so cook that down, and then we have our chickpeas. I want to make things nice and easy for you. These are tinned chickpeas. Nice. No need to soak and cook. Just use the tinned stuff. You're going to be good to go. Perfect. Mix that through. We're going to add in our tea as well. That's the bag. And just look at the color. Oh, nice and deep and dark. Absolutely. Beautiful. And then you're going to cook this for an additional 10 minutes. So this is a really fast meal. You can make this any day of the week. You can make it for Diwali, of course. And you want to cook this down until it slightly thickens. The starches from the chickpeas will start to release a bit and thicken the sauce as well. I love that. And then we have to be a little bit over the top and introduce a little more flavor, a little more. Fat into the mix. Yes. So I have some ghee here, which is clarified butter that's been heating up in this pan. And we're going to do something called tadka. OK. So tadka is a hot seasoned oil that goes into curries that just sort of takes them to the next level. Beautiful. So this is nice and hot. We're going to add in some roasted cumin powder. Oh, already that's looking good. See how it's getting toasty? Yeah. And then as few or as many green chilies as you like. We're spicy girls. We like that heat. Oh, my God. So swirl that around. Come on. And then I'm going to follow you, Mary. Okay, we've got a reveal coming up over here. Absolutely. So we have our chole that's ready. Check out this beautiful curry. And we're going to... Oh, my God. Get that. You're hosting a dinner party, you walk in with your little hot ghee, pour it in. Yeah, I'm honestly going to eat it out of this pot. You know what? That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to put this away and you give it a taste. I'm going to give this a taste. It looks so good and savory. And we're serving it with hot curry fried bread. Is that good? That is so good. Nice. For JR. We have it. It is ready. Tell people what's going on. So we're making a mango mousse. Really simple. We have some whipped cream, some orange jello. Everyone has a pack of orange jello sitting in their pantry. Some mango puree that comes in a tin. It's from India. It has this beautiful floral flavor to it. Mix that up. Mix that together with the whipped cream. Throw it in a glass. Top it with whipped cream. Some mangoes to garnish. And it is the most delicious mango-y dessert that you'll ever eat. The texture on here is out of control. Absolutely delicious. Vijaya, thank you so much. Take a break. We'll be right back. To level up burger night, this flavour-packed smash burger will be hard to beat. Hey Mary, my name's Michael, I'm a Toronto-based food content creator, and today I'm gonna show you how to make smash burgers with kimchi onion jam. This recipe brings sweet, it brings spicy, it brings savoury, and seriously elevates smash burgers to the next level. Let's get started with the patties. Portion the ground beef into 12 loose balls. We're gonna keep the meat cold because that'll keep the fat solid until it hits the pan, After making a juicier burger and a crisper crust. Make sure not to season or pack them ahead of time because then your burger is going to become springy and tough. Add them to a smoking hot cast iron pan and smash them thin within the first 10 seconds. Season the top. I like to mix my salt and pepper in a bowl ahead of time to make this easier. Cook for two minutes or until the edges go lacy and dark. Then you're going to scrape, flip, season the second side and lay on a slice of cheddar. And then you're going to want to keep on cooking until it melts, about 30 to 60 seconds. Let's move on to the kimchi onion jam. Dice your pork belly into small pieces, add them to a pan over medium to low heat, and cook them until they're nice and crispy. Drain them on a paper towel. We're going to keep the fat in the pan. Then add your sliced onions to the reserved pork fat with a pinch of salt and you're going to caramelize them until they're nice and golden. And this can take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. Then you're going to add your kimchi and your brown sugar and cook for another 10 to 20 minutes, stirring often until a spatula trail holds for about 2 seconds. Last of all, we're going to finish with a bit of salt and pepper. Alright, now let's put this all together. To a toasted bun, add your gochujang mayo, where I mixed a bit of gochujang into some Kewpie mayo for some extra kick, got a bit of coleslaw, add not one, but two smash patties, our kimchi onion jam, that crispy pork belly, some cucumber pickled in a bit of rice vinegar, and top it all off with a bit more mayo. This looks outrageously good. Let's dig in. Mmm, guys, I cannot wait for you guys to try this out at home. So delicious. Thanks so much for doing that. That is our show for today. Thanks so much for watching. We'll see you tomorrow for more of The Good Stuff. Yeah!