Salt & Butter | #1

9/10 times Salt & Butter can salvage any Subpar food dish, sweet or savoury. Overcooked steak? Salt & Butter. Chocolate chip cookies? Salt & Butter. Tequila? Salt. While driving home, pondering this thought, I asked myself this — What's my Salt & Butter for a shitty day?

Salt. 

Salt on a shitty day only works if the shitty day was like, Dachshund-sized-shit-shitty. Ya know? Uno pequeño shitty day. 

Maldon Sea Salt (aka. the universal finishing salt): Shopping. Oh, how cliche, a woman encounters a minor inconvenience and must treat herself with a sweet treat for the trouble endured. Yeah. Sometimes it is that simple. The instant gratification. My kryptonite(s)?

• Japanese Stationary.  I can't really explain this further. I love pens and paper. 
• Liquid Beverage Vessel. A new emotional support water bottle or coffee cup really does wonders. 
• Claw Clips. Still on the hunt for the perfect clip that doesn't result in a headache. 
• New Books. No further explanation needed. Link to my current TBR list.

Jacobsen Salt Co. Flake Sea Salt (aka. overpriced, but fits the aesthetic): An Iced Coffee & Sweet Treat. This one is tricky. It's never a guaranteed mood-booster, because a shitty coffee on a shitty day, calls for Butter (see below). I know my coffee at home tastes better. Almost 100% of the time. So, I think what actually brings the gratification of purchasing a coffee is the cup. How stupid is that. A clear plastic, 12-18 oz cup with custom branding & a plastic straw (emphasis on the plastic straw, sorry turtles). If I get my iced coffee in a universal, eco-friendly plastic cup with the green stripe, game over. Time for Butter (see below). 

•  Iced Americano w/splash of cream. I order this when I'm being the boss bitch version of myself that is obsessed with fitness and success. (I dont order this much). 
• Iced Latte. When I am feeling budget conscious, and convince myself that saving the $1.00 to get vanilla or salted caramel syrup will solve equate to me putting money away for a happy retirement. 
• Iced Cappuccino, half decaf with honey & cinnamon. The go to. This will fix everything. Unless the beans are over-roasted or the barista is convinced I wont notice the difference between and Iced Latte & an Iced Cappuccino.  

Maison Orphee Grey Sea Salt (aka. the stuff you know is good for you, but feels like a chore): Exercise. Ugh. I hate that this one is lowkey the tried and true. It's so simple & can be completely free (especially if you have a home gym in your basement like I do). 

• An outdoor walk. Selfishly, I prefer todo this alone. No dogs. It gives more main character energy. 
• F45. This one hits. Without fail, during this class its physically impossible to think or worry about anything besides staying alive in the present moment. Live, Laugh, Fighting for my Life in F45. 
• Road Cycling. Astronomically expensive & time consuming for those that live in Alberta, where its winter for 8 months out of the year. Still love it tho. 

Butter. 

Butter on shitty days requires a bit more time, to really melt in-between the crevasses of my anger (or sadness). 

Isigny Ste. Mere Salted Churned Butter (aka. expensive self-care): Overpriced Cocktails. To be clear, I think what I'm actually paying for is the atmosphere. Paying $18 for a Lavender Gin Fizz with a side of eavesdropping on an unhappy, wealthy couple gossiping about their acquaintance that cheated on their husband. I love it when the public is careless with full names. When you drop the entire "Jane Smith is cheating on her husband" out loud, in a city as small as Edmonton, best believe I am doing an entire CIA background check on Jane. And her Husband. And the Manstress (why is there no male equivalent for Mistress???)

• Go to a bougie cocktail lounge with your bff, with the sole purpose to eavesdrop. No other agenda. This is a guaranteed shitty-day fixer. 
• An alternative to reading in a cafe, go to a hotel lobby with a cocktail lounge. A crispy pinot grigio and fairy smut in a hotel lobby. Day. Fixed. 

Avalon Organic Salted Butter: (aka. a more unique, time consuming way to purchase items I don't need): Thrifting. A gift sent down from the heavens. I love thrifting so much. I could spend hours going through racks of dead peoples things. The adrenaline of finding an underpriced, valuable items that I couldn't otherwise afford. 

• Everything I own that is worth complimenting, is thrifted. Usually. Here is a link to my current thrift wish-list (a love letter to the thrift gods. 
• Nothing boosts the ego more than these two things — 1. Buying an expensive item for a fraction of the price, & rubbing it in your friends face (who paid full price) 2. Scoring an antique/unique item that someone else will have to pay 2-3x the price from an eBay or Etsy seller. 

Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter: (aka. a crispy iced cider & a toasty. IYKYK): A Vacation. Hey man, don't shoot the messenger. Mental sanity is expensive. Although this is my favourite application of Butter, there is a very fine line that must be danced. Preparing, planning, Instagram searching, outfit planning are safe. Paying for the vacation? Dicey. One wrong numerical digit when looking for flights will send me over the edge. Do you want a downpayment for a house or do you want to see the world? (Yes I'm aware there is such thing as affordable travel, but I chose to forget that option exists.)

• Even a small weekend vacation or stay-cation to just look forward too is enough to cool down the jets. 
• Bonus points if you apply other Salts & Butters during the vacation. 

Hopefully your shitty days are less shitty and more Salty & Buttery.

How Salutary,

Sanshira