Back to December and Latkes & Vodkas

Plus a very good office lunch

Dec 04, 2023

Hi friends,

We had our first latkes and vodkas party the same year I started this newsletter—2017. It’s grown year over year and remains a highlight of the winter. This year it was as oily, crowded and fun as ever—I took almost no photos which is the sign of a great night! I’m sharing a few recipes from the party on Thursday for paid subscribers—I know we’re in the thick of holiday party season.

Now, let’s dive in.

Something to cook:

Black bean tacos have become one of my favorite lunches to bring to the office. I do the slightly unhinged step of charring tortillas in the morning as I eat breakfast, wrap them in aluminum foil and then eat them with spiced beans with some kind of veggie, avocado, and shredded cheese. 10/10 lunch (and I have more ideas here)

Pasta is a go-to dinner obviously and I love making a simple aglio e olio with spaghetti dust (as seen on the gift guide) with roasted broccoli and some pecorino cheese. It’s also great with the addition of chickpeas or white beans.

I needed a quick breakfast last week and made peanut butter toast with cinnamon and a little bit of maple syrup. I did eat it while walking down the street but I suspect it would be even better sitting down.

For Latkes and Vodkas, our menu is pretty set. We make so many latkes with a variety of toppings (make whipped feta with pomegranate if you’re having a latke party this year, I’m sharing the recipe on Thursday with paid subscribers), party nuts, and everyone brings dessert. Rory made his legendary biscuit donuts and we do a bar with a menu of vodka based drinks.

Something to order:

Tilden and I grabbed dinner at Nami Nori, which serves temaki. They have a great vegan selection and the mushroom dip was such a good starter. I loved the miso eggplant and black sesame cucumber ones.

Elissa of

MOVIEPUDDING

and I grabbed drinks and caught up at the very cozy Rhodora. You order at the counter and seat yourself. They have a good selection of snacks including garlicky dip and burrata with a spiced tomato jam.

Hayley, Leah, Allie, Dale and I got much needed Sunday pizza at Mo’s General—it’s detroit style pizza that’s super filling and we also got mozzarella sticks, a very good idea.

Also, I shared this on Instagram stories but I am not alone in going straight to the coffeeshop after a dentist appointment—gotta get those stains somehow.