Nothing much happens: bedtime stories to help you sleep · Wellness Loud

Return to the Chalet, Part 3

·38 min

Chef spends winters at the large restaurant in the hotel at the foot of the mountain. While the host has been reading, napping, and sweating in the sauna, Chef has been hard at work in the kitchen and sending up treats and odds and ends: black and white cookies, fresh English muffins, miso soup, sesame bread, mashed potatoes with shallot gravy, bright green beans with almonds, and mushroom loaf with a tangy glaze, all delivered in a special box to keep it hot. Today, Chef has the day off. The first plan is simple coffee together, maybe up at the chalet, but after some back and forth they realize neither of them wants to spend the morning out among the skiers and guests. The host suggests Chef come to the cabin, but that runs into the obvious problem that the cabin has no real kitchen. For both of them, food is more than work; it is a passion. Chef asks for alphabet, and the morning settles into a new plan. The host and Elfie put on coats under a low gray sky and head out. They take the funicular up one stop and follow a shoveled path into the woods as snow starts to fall in thick, heavy flakes. The staff accommodations are beautifully kept, if a bit more lived in: one cabin has Christmas lights, another bird feeders, and a pair of snowmobiles stands nearby. Chef's cabin has a simple pine wreath on the door and a cheerful glow in the windows. Inside, a sofa in front of the fire and fresh cups of coffee make the room feel easy, and Alphabet quickly wears himself out and falls asleep on the rug. Eventually, Chef plates brunch by the kitchen window with French toast triangles and roasted potatoes, and the two of them stand together watching the white come down until they think they might be snowed in.

As heard by us

A snowed-in brunch story with coffee, cookies, and a window full of white.

The episode settles into a cabin brunch in falling snow, with Chef on a day off, the host, and Elfie moving from the funicular to a pine-wreathed door, then into coffee, brunch, and easy catching up.

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Why you'd press play

Snowy cabin coffee and brunch, with a slow, cozy drift of nothing-much-happens calm.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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