A Two Hundred Pound Ice Sculpture

and other edible adventures

Aug 21, 2023

This is the last Monday newsletter I’ll write in my twenties and I am in my feelings about it (more on that in Thursday’s dispatch). My birthday is on Saturday and I’m really excited to celebrate this week/weekend.

I’m still thinking about Saturday’s glorious weather—it wasn’t too hot and I got to eat a bagel in the park (bliss), go to an event Dale has been working so hard on (Genius’ IQ BBQ to celebrate Hip Hop’s 50th Anniversary), and got Greek food in Astoria! I’m trying to soak it all up and also lean into the evenings where I don’t have plans. There’s nothing wrong with doing nothing (a reminder I always need)

ICYMI, check out last week’s newsletter about sunscreen and have a great week.

Now, let’s dive in.

Something to cook:

Julia and I made our traditional Monday night tofu bowls with char siu sauce (I love the one from Bowl Cut), broccoli, edamame, peanuts, scallions, and rice. We’ve got the formula down at this point and get it ready before the Bachelorette starts at 8.

I got to attend Shoppe Object for work and met the founder of Ciao Pappy sauce, who gave me a bottle to enjoy. It was delicious on pasta with roasted broccoli and would also make such a good shakshuka base.

For lunch this week, I returned to a classic: black bean quesadillas. They never let you down.

I made a really good blueberry banana smoothie on Sunday morning after restocking my baggie of frozen banana halves. I love a little vanilla flavor in a smoothie so I use vanilla almond milk or a little vanilla extract.

Something to order:

Office snacks are very important and I’m lucky to work near Bakeri. I tried their rosemary hazelnut chocolate chip cookie for the first time last week and wow it is so good.

love a cookie that’s dancing on the edge of burnt

After getting piercings at Rowan (they did a great job and were so through), Julia and Hillary and I got sushi at Ako & then Van Leeuwen ice cream. We discovered they do something called Free Topping Tuesday (not sure if it’s at all locations) which was very fun (toppings are only $1 normally but it’s expensive ice cream).

Angela and I attended the first ever Snackies, a Snack awards show/event from

Snaxshot

at Maxwell Social. It was full of great people and of course great snacks—there was even an oat milk ice luge for cereal and L’Isolina pasta served up delicious pasta. I also tried so many forms of chips. Starting a business of any kind is really tough and food is extremely tough so it’s really great to see founders/fans come together and support each other.

a 200 pound ice sculpture! Casual Thursday!

Dale and I had a last minute Lilia date night on Friday—he put his name down on his way home and we got bar seats for 8:15. We had the focaccia, an artichoke and a few pastas (the ricotta gnocchi with pistachio pesto hit the spot) and both drank the NA Rosemary Spritz, which is so refreshing.

At IQ BBQ, they had a great selection of Black owned food trucks including Sugar Hill Creamery. Tilden, Margaret, and I had seasoned fries from Ethiopian/Eritrean spot Makina Cafe and listened to music in the sunshine while playing Uno.

Xavier picked us up and we drove to Astoria for an early dinner at Amylos Taverna. We split a ton of stuff including dips, a vegetable tower with crispy eggplant and zucchini, Greek salad, and saganaki. I love Greek food so much.

Choose your fighter: spicy feta, tzatziki, hummus!

On Sunday, we had a family outing to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and had lunch at Barboncino beforehand (thanks Isa for the rec). The pizzas were really good but I was most obsessed with the starters—an incredible kale caesar with Tuscan kale and gigante beans with pesto. It wasn’t too crowded and I’d definitely go back for dinner or another lunch (Franklin Avenue has so many restaurants it’s hard to choose).