29

IRL Birthday celebrations, a strawberry cake, and bar snacks

I turned 29 this past Friday and have spent much of the weekend celebrating and soaking up the tastes, sounds, and smells of being outside of my apartment and with people after a 9 day quarantine.

29 is a weird age, filled with unspoken (and sometimes spoken) pressures and I’m writing more about that on Thursday. This year, I was extra grateful for the ability to be around people in close proximity and for the recovery from illness that I don’t take for granted. My taste is much improved and smell is getting there more slowly, I’m starting to notice bad smells again and it is hot garbage season.

Erica and I are so excited about Meal Prep Made Simple, our meal prep ebook coming out on October 11th (only 10 days before the new Taylor Swift album, what a month it will be). Preordering is a great way to show your support AND get two fabulous playlists and a discount code for a future class.

Now, let’s dive in.

Something to cook:

I knew I was getting my taste back when I made myself dinner and actually enjoyed it. I cooked some radiatore pasta and tossed it with Rao’s mushroom marinara and little mozzarella balls, which I had ordered for textural reasons. It was so good (and I celebrated the fact that I had enough energy to boil water).

Another texture forward meal was halloumi based. I cooked the halloumi and served it in tortillas with some spinach. It was pretty good and nicely squeaky.

Common Mollies, where I had my birthday party, allows outside food, so I brought snacks (and wooden bowls to serve them). I cubed up some cheeses from Savino’s—the peppercorn cheese tastes like cacio e pepe, and set out olives and crackers. It was so easy to transport and clean up (not that there was any leftover cheese). Common Mollies doesn’t serve food but they have pop ups on the weekends which is fun.

Julia made a fantastic birthday cake that was so summery. It was Smitten Kitchen’s strawberry cake, with homemade whipped cream. I heard from a few people that it looks like a pizza in photographs, do you see it?

Something to order:

I finally went outside on Thursday and got an everything bagel from Simply Nova (I could actually taste the seeds, which was a real improvement).

Julia and I got dinner that night at Lighthouse which was a dream. We sat at the bar and it felt so good to be at a restaurant again. We split a bunch of stuff, including the mussels, the whipped feta (so good), fries, and oysters. It was the perfect pre birthday kickoff.

On my actual birthday, Dale took me to a very special dinner at Peasant, a newish Italian restaurant in Soho. The space is gorgeous, candlelit, and rustic and the food was delicious. We befriended the table next to us and they would up ordering the exact same thing as we did cause it looked so good (such a compliment). We started with a ricotta bruschetta with sungold tomatoes and then shared the vodka sauce pasta with broccolini and breadcrumbs. Dale got the hanger steak too and they brought out two desserts, one with roasted summer berries and a chocolate cake. Both were topped with gelato. Below the restaurant is a hidden wine bar where we stopped for one more drink. We also found out Rihanna has been to this restaurant which is endorsement enough.

it was very dark but i promise this looked prettier in person

Isa lives in New York (!!) and I got to see her lovely new home! We walked past Culture on our way and could not resist an afternoon froyo (the golden age of froyo was so special). I love their original, which is nice and tangy.

Last night, we had a family birthday dinner (today is my dad’s birthday, happy birthday Dad!) at Oxomoco in Greenpoint. I forgot to take any pictures but it was really good, especially the corn tlayuda and the Oaxacan chocolate cake.

Something to read:

Want more reads? The Thursday newsletter has extras for your midweek entertainment.

Reflections from turning 28 last year.

What it’s like to parent in Taipei

Ken Friedman of the Spotted Pig secretly invested/is a part owner of Horses, a popular new restaurant in LA

Patricia Escárcega dealt with a lot as the first restaurant critic of color at the LA Times (she left after a pay dispute where she was paid 2/3 of the salary of her white counterpart).

Allison P. Davis profiled Meghan Markle

We love a refresher on boundaries

The public life of the Kardashians’ private chef

The reductive binary of seasoned food versus white people food

Mini kitchen tools are so great (and cute)

Katherine Lewin of Big Night talks about the value of IRL shopping (ecommerce is coming soon though)

Cybille St. Aude-Tate on Honeysuckle Provisions and Supporting Black Farmers

When Ann Friedman writes about ambition, I am reading

Isa told me to watch Below Deck Mediterranean and it was a bright spot while I was sick. This Caity Weaver piece on how the show gets made is fascinating.

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This week, I’m curious about your experience with being 29. If you’re not yet 29, what do you think it will be like? Was it a memorable year? What do you wish you knew? I appreciate any advice!

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Next week’s newsletter will arrive on Tuesday due to Labor Day. I hope you enjoy a long weekend and get some rest!

xo, Abigail