Tag: food

despite the rain a.k.a. BRING IT ON, APRIL SHOWERS!

why even the rain today can’t ruin my mood (a.k.a. BRING IT ON, APRIL SHOWERS!):

– fresh homemade pasta and (DAIRY-FREE!!) pesto made in a coffee grinder. by a man in an apron. hollaaaa. (p.s.- the apron proclaimed “I LOVE CASSOULET” and, coincidentally, the night before i had tried cassoulet for the first time. who says fate doesn’t exist?)

– halvah-flavored donuts from Underwest and really bad punning. also, being introduced to Meiji Gummy Chocos by my Spanish friend. i’m a terrible Asian.

– a rare phone conversation with my father (about business, of course), and the realization that he seriously has a great sense of humor. i only hope that i inherited a little bit. if anyone wants to hear any immigration law jokes, please let me know. i wrote them down.

– the loveliest matcha latte at a lovely coffee shop made by the loveliest Japanese barista. a girl walked in without her wallet and he insisted that she still get whatever she wanted. photos of this experience to follow soon.

– the man sitting at the counter who asked everyone in the shop if they would try a piece of bacon chocolate bar if he bought one. who says no to that? no one.

– “you must be Filipina because of those cheeks.” (the ones on my face)

– “you must know who Warren G is. girls from Houston know hip hop.” (for those that don’t…)

– dancing to Kendrick Lamar in public. i have no shame. i see you wanting to join in.

***

i’ll leave you with the Rousseau i read on the train ride to work this morning:

Real wisdom is not the knowledge of everything, but the knowledge of which things in life are necessary, which are less necessary, and which are completely unnecessary to know. Among the most necessary knowledge is the knowledge of how to live well, that is, how to produce the least possible evil and the greatest goodness in one’s life. At present, people study useless sciences, but forget to study this, the most important knowledge.

(Jean Jaques Rousseau)

                

wastED

starting today, Blue Hill Farm is “temporarily reinventing” its location in Greenwich Village as wastED, a popup devoted to a theme of food waste and re-use.

WastED will collaborate with local farmers, fishermen, distributors, processors, plant breeders, producers, restaurants and retailers, reconceiving “waste” that occurs at every link in the food chain. We are also partnering with more than 20 guest chefs to curate daily specials and help celebrate what chefs do every day on their menus (and peasant cooking has done for thousands of years): creating something delicious out of the ignored or un-coveted.

though i have yet to dine at Blue Hill (don’t worry! it’s on the wishlist– the upstate Stone Barns location in particular), i have long admired its incredibly simple and powerful mission: “We will tell you a story of the earth, and we will feed you wonderfully while doing so.” Dan Barber has painstakingly (over the course of ten years) sowed the seeds of change where chefs think about not only the farm-to-table aspect, but the seed-to table journey. as the GQ article puts it:

Is it any wonder, with all that to coordinate and care for, that Blue Hill has required a heroic length of time to reach its potential? The Trojan War lasted ten years. Odysseus spent the same time making his way back to Ithaca. Very few restaurants have such resolve. We live in a meek era when nine out of ten don’t survive that long, and the few that do rarely improve. Yet Blue Hill has painstakingly evolved into the restaurant it was surely destined to become.

as the friends that i frequently dine with know well, i am passionate about not wasting food (almost to a point of self-detriment). yes, if you don’t believe me, i dare you to watch me eat the cartilage off of your fried chicken bones.

i admire the approach that wastED will be trying from March 13-31st, and i hope we will all find more creative ways to use what we have (or what others don’t want) in an effort to waste less.

rainy days. moroccan chicken lentil stew, which, as we learn form the image above, turns out to be not very photogenic. glad we have something in common.

whimsy:

A Yeezy for All Seasons – “The most labor-intensive, compulsive, and scientific way to determine the Greatest Kanye West Song of All-Time. (And, in the process, hopefully figure out why he means this much to me).”

My sister posted this article on Dr. Bill Thomas’s revolutionary experiment, and I found it very moving. I may have to sneak in a few sessions of hiding at Barnes and Noble and reading Atul Gawande’s book, Being Mortal.

Up until I graduated, I would get anxious if I didn’t have a watch on. I haven’t worn one in years now, but… seriously… how can you NOT covet an Apple Watch?!

And oh my goodness, while online-stalking a certain Longreads editor, I found his reference to this article about couples combining bookshelves. I adored it, because I quite ardently follow John Waters’s advice.

Fine. I still shamelessly follow Lululemon’s blog, and I found this entry on uni-tasking interesting. For the first time in my life, I have a pretty flexible work schedule and I find that I actually work best in the evening. While I’ve been following lifehacking tips and tricks for most of my internet life, I recently enjoyed reading this article on The Complete Guide to Productivity and Unclutterer’s time-blocking technique compilation.

Meaghan writes here:

“I am 30. I have not achieved everything I want to achieve in my life. I am still reeling with ambition and urgency, often without direction. I still haven’t figured out lipstick or my hair color or whether I look better with bangs or without. I keep forgetting how important it is to me to run, to cook, to write. In other words, I have not mastered my life yet, but I have also figured enough of it out to know I am not ready to forget it. I am clinging to this notion of my self, and fearing that everything about motherhood is a mandate toward selflessness.”