Ah, geez, would you look at that? It’s Friday the 13th.

Now, I’ll confess to being a slightly superstitious person. If I say anything that could possibly be construed as jinxing myself in the future, I’ll rap my knuckles on some wood just to make sure. I like numbers, and do think of some as good and some as bad. And if one of my sports teams is doing well in something, the absolute last thing I’ll do is be confident about it.

(My friend Dennis once referred to Cleveland’s 3-1 lead in the 2007 American League Championship Series as “in the bag” and the rest of our mutual friend group has never forgiven him for this.)

That said, I can’t get behind considering Friday the 13th to be unlucky.

The number 13 alone? Sure. Fine. Dan Marino never did win a Super Bowl, after all. But Friday? You’re expecting me to be somehow negative about the second-best day of the week? No, sir. I won’t do it. I love Fridays too much, a love this recurring newsletter serves as an enduring monument to.

I was curious where exactly this particular superstition originated, and so I pulled up the font of all knowledge (Wikipedia)…

… and this is what I find?

It is possible that the publication in 1907 of T. W. Lawson's popular novel Friday, the Thirteenth, contributed to popularizing the superstition. In the novel, an unscrupulous broker takes advantage of the superstition to create a Wall Street panic on a Friday the 13th.

That’s it? Get out of here. Hit the bricks, T.W. Lawson. Nope. Fridays are lucky and I won’t hear otherwise.

It’s Friday, and that means it’s our lucky day, friends.

Today I’ve got a great slate of stuff lined up for the sole and express purpose of improving your weekend, including:

Soup, even if winter isn’t cooperating
A delicious cocktail from the dusty pages of bartending history
Pop-punk, time-travel, and all sorts of entertainment options
Lively discussion with The Internet’s Best Comment Section
Oh, and of course, your very own pets!

Luck? Where we’re going we don’t need luck.

7) So I guess this is what soup weather is gonna have to be now?

Last week, I noted that I was shuffling the order of recipes I was sharing, as my hearty winter content—planned during the sharpest cold of late December’s polar vortex—didn’t quite match up with the 60-degree temperatures we were experiencing last week. Instead, I pivoted to grilling, figuring winter would be back in no time.

Well, uh… I’m still waiting.

It’s felt more like April here this week, with a stretch of warm-but-grey days occasionally broken up by severe thunderstorms and soaking rains. I can’t pivot two weeks in a row—I’m not that nimble—so we’re just going to have to call this soup weather and move on with our lives.

During that bitter December cold, I wanted soup. Rich, hearty soup. Stick-to-your-bones and warm your cockles soup. I wanted a chowder. We’re about as far away as we can be from corn being in season, but given a nice long simmer—kernels, cobs and all—along with potatoes, onions, garlic and bacon fat—we can pull out a little ray of summer sun in a decidedly-winter soup.

Corn and Potato Chowder with Bacon

(Serves 6ish)

The Action Cookbook Newsletter

Friday? Unlucky? I won't hear of it.

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