strong feelings about peanuts as beans
they are legumes after all
Happy week after the Super Bowl and before Valentine’s Day! The Seahawks were the only NFL team without a single Covid case, and our wardrobes look a lot alike so I’m hoping lime green is a Covid deterrent.
I ordered some sprinkles and am hoping they arrive in time for Valentine’s Day so I can make this Red Velvet Bread/Loaf Cake (link also includes some history on red velvet/velvet cakes in general - fun read!).
If you read one thing this week, make it this ESPN article about baseball player Drew Robinson who survived a suicide attempt and is trying to be the second ever major league player to compete with only one eye. This one is worth sharing far and wide.
In lighter news, Michelle Obama’s first Netflix show was officially announced yesterday. Waffles + Mochi will premiere on March 16th - is it socially acceptable for a 26 year old to watch a show made for pre-schoolers or do I have to watch it with my nephew? Sound off in the comments.
Top Chef is returning for its 18th season set in Portland (my second favorite Portland) on April 1. Check out the cheftestants and trailer here. If you can’t wait that long for food competition on your screen, I recommend the new truTV show Fast Foodies, which features some TC alums. The show takes an iconic fast food dish and has the three chefs try to replicate it then reimagine it for a judge. The first judge was Joel McHale (whom I love), and I expect more comedians/actors to follow.
In Gastro Obscura, Emily Monaco coined the phrase “Food Grammar” to describe which foods can or cannot be eaten together in different cultures. For example, spaghetti would never be served with meatballs in Italy because they don’t serve pasta and meat together in that way but in the US it would cause an uproar if the pair was separated. Also, Caitlin Daniel, a postdoc researcher in nutrition policy, wrote about the true cost of healthy food. I’m always skeptical when recipes include a price per serving, and this piece reinforces the point that those prices are misleading.
I finally got around to reading one of my Chanukah presents, Deep Run Roots by Vivian Howard. I haven’t been so excited about a cookbook in a while. The first thing I want to make: duck, rutabaga and date pot pie. There’s also a chapter on peanuts that treat them like beans. Then I saw this and it made me laugh.
Also, if you were invested in the bucatini shortage saga I have good news: I found some (it’s Barilla) and there’s an update.
Other things I felt strongly about this week:
Brandy’s Cinderella is finally coming to streaming! When we went through all of our VHS tapes over the summer I was fine parting with every one except the objectively best version of Cinderella because I knew it wasn’t streaming anywhere. If you haven’t seen it you can remedy the unfortunate situation on February, 12.
Guess what city you’re looking at on Virtual Vacation, which I found out about from one of my favorite newsletters “Links I Would GChat You If We Were Friends”
This interview with Eve 6 singer Max Collins was surprisingly delightful.
If you’re looking to support New York City restaurants but also not eat out and you don’t want to do anything other than reheat but also might change your mind and need your food to stay fresh for a week, CookUnity is for you. Think Nutrisystem commercials but for food that actually tastes good with hundreds of options each week. It’s available in 28 states (hasn’t gotten to the west coast yet) plus DC, let me know if you give it a try!
I made wings, sourdough soft pretzels (good but not distinctly pretzels, will try a different recipe), perfect chocolate chip cookies and PB miso cookies (with chocolate chips) for the Super Bowl. We also had ribs and got too full for the customary nachos so we had them Monday night. There may or may not have been flames in the oven.
If you don’t know what to eat this week, have a rice bowl, they’re great. As always, please share STRONG FEELINGS with anyone and everyone you know, I appreciate it.