diff --git a/nvim/.config/nvim/lua/plugins/ui.lua b/nvim/.config/nvim/lua/plugins/ui.lua
index bdc2974..75da4b5 100644
--- a/nvim/.config/nvim/lua/plugins/ui.lua
+++ b/nvim/.config/nvim/lua/plugins/ui.lua
@@ -8,26 +8,28 @@ return {
 			-- if molten exists, is initialized and connected to a kernel
 			-- show it in the statusline
 			local function molten()
-				local function checked_pynvim(_, exitcode)
-					if exitcode == 0 then
-						has_pynvim = 1
-					else
-						has_pynvim = 0
-					end
-				end
+				-- we don't have access to python, disregard element
 				if has_pynvim == 0 then
 					return ""
-				elseif has_pynvim == -1 then
-					vim.fn.jobstart({ "python", "-c", "from neovim import VERSION" }, { on_exit = checked_pynvim })
+				elseif has_pynvim == 1 then
+					local status_ok, res = pcall(function()
+						return require("molten.status").kernels() ~= ""
+					end)
+					if status_ok and res then
+						return "󱪄"
+					end
+					return ""
+				-- we don't know if we have python yet, start a check
+				else
+					vim.system({ "poetry", "env", "info", "-p" }, { text = true }, function(_, exitcode)
+						if exitcode == 0 then
+							has_pynvim = 1
+						else
+							has_pynvim = 0
+						end
+					end)
+					has_pynvim = 0
 				end
-				if
-					has_pynvim == 1
-					and require("core.util").is_available("molten.status")
-					and require("molten.status").kernels() ~= ""
-				then
-					return "󱪄"
-				end
-				return ""
 			end
 
 			-- count number of selected lines and characters