Cheese for dinner
& recs from the folks at Simmer
It’s somehow December and here are a few things on my mind this week:
Today, we have special guests, Tarun and Dhaval from Simmer. Over the summer, we were all in Substack Grow and I’ll be in their newsletter on Friday. Their newsletter covers food news and (vegetarian) recipes and always includes a quiz. LMK if you get it right! Subscribe here if you’d like more of Simmer!
We’re fully in soup season! Every year, I put together a reader sourced list of our favorite soups. Share your favorite soups by replying to this email so I can share a big list next week to keep us all cozy. I want to hear your favorite recipes, toppings, bowls, storage tips, etc.!
A friendly reminder that it’s never necessary to ask someone invasive questions about their personal life! It is so intrusive and you never know what someone is going through. Ask about what they’re watching on TV, what they’re looking forward to, what holiday foods they love, etc. If someone has news to share, they’ll tell you!
Three day weekends should be the norm.
Outdoor dining is still going strong. Thursday’s newsletter will be all about outdoor dining in the year 2022. It will also feature some outdoor dining recs for one of my favorite cities.
Now, let’s dive in and let me introduce you to Dhaval and Tarun:
Dhaval: I am an engineer by profession and chef by passion. I love reinventing and showcasing food in a refined manner! I was born and raised in Mumbai and currently live with my wife and kid in California. I love football and support Arsenal FC avidly!
Tarun: From 9 to 5, I am an automotive engineer and from 5 to 9, I am an unsolicited (biz)advisor, a wannabe creator and a glutton. I grew up in Punjab, currently live in Detroit with my wife and daughter. My earliest memories of cooking are with my grandfather as his 5 year old sous chef. Dhaval and I have known each other for almost a decade. We were colleagues for a number of years, then co-founders of a startup for a couple and now for the most part of 2022, co-authors of Simmer.
Simmer is a newsletter that pinky promises to provide everything you need to know about your favorite foods in a way you never knew you wanted! Subscribe now and find out how five minutes of your time every week can make you a smarter and better cook while making reading enjoyable at the same time.
Something to cook:
Dhaval’s meals: I learnt a few things while traveling in Italy - the ideal time to have wine is between 12am - 11:59pm, cheese and honey is an amazing combination and you only need a couple of powerful ingredients to make unforgettable meals. These air fried arancinis are made from a goat cheese citrus risotto. The acid (foodnetwork critique alert) cuts the fat beautifully to give an exceptional taste. Serve it with a tomato balsamic vinaigrette and you have yourself a total winner.
Tarun’s meals: True love is hard to find. Finding good vegetarian ramen is harder! It matters not whether you’re having a fancy ramen bowl or a cup of instant noodles. Ramen is something that always succeeds in filling people with warmth and satisfaction. This sesame coconut curry ramen recipe hits the spot on all accounts. A hearty bowl of ramen noodles with rich, fatty, and flavorbomb sesame coconut curry soup, topped with homemade Ajitsuke Tamago (perfect ramen eggs with a jelly like yolk), pickled ginger, pan seared tofu, fried onions and butter sautéed corn.
My cooking has been very simple! We cleaned out our fridge (so many expired condiments) and I made banana bread with bananas I froze long ago. I riff on this recipe and always add chocolate chips.
Leah and Erika always rave about this halloumi sheet pan meal from the second Smitten Kitchen cookbook, which I’ve had for years (love cheese as a meal). I finally made it on Friday and I don’t know why I waited so long. It’s simple and so flavorful and can be a meal for two with some pita or some farro or rice.
Frozen broccoli has been my kitchen best friend lately. You can roast it easily and there’s no chopping. I cooked some up with some chickpeas and tossed it with rice pilaf, parmesan cheese and a few dashes of Red Clay Hot Sauce.
Something to order:
Dhaval’s picks: Thai carry out. Perfect for those lazy evenings when you just don’t want to cook. Couple it with a bottle of beer and some mindless TV to make it a perfect night in!
Tarun’s picks: The best part of being in Detroit during Fall is that you are not there in the cold Winter. In addition to the beautiful fall colors and pumpkin patches, you get to enjoy Pumpkin Agnolotti at Selden Standard. It is agnolotti pasta stuffed with pumpkin served with brown butter, Parmesan, and pepitas. Yum!
This time last week, I was still in LA! I had a final dinner outside with Brooke and Teal at Fia. It was delicious and the chopped salad might have been my favorite thing (the brussels sprouts were a close second) and the garden is beautiful.
Leah and I grabbed breakfast at Bardonna before I headed to the airport and a breakfast burrito is the perfect preflight meal to keep you full and avoid airport food.
Zoe was in town and got dinner with Erica and me (she designed our website). We went to Huertas (I love their patatas bravas and cheeses) and then to The Winslow.
Julianne had a surprise engagement party for Ian at DuckDuck and Natalie was in town for Emily’s birthday at Post Bar. Julia and I helped with favors, which were bags of popcorn with tags that said “Ian popped the question.”
We watched the World Cup with Manny and Michelle at Grey Bar and then walked down the block for brunch at Il Fiorista, a restaurant with beautiful decor (think dried citrus slices and sweet holiday lights). I loved the crispy potatoes and snuck a few bites of Dale’s coconut french toast.
Yesterday, we went to the Giants-Commanders game with Teal, Ali, and Tim. It was a tie, which was unusual, and a chance to preview Taylor Swift’s concert venue. The stadium food was meh, but Dunkin hot chocolate was the real MVP as a beverage and handwarmer. After we got back to the city, we grabbed dinner at Bottino on 10th Avenue. The arancini were so good and there are several private rooms.
Something to read:
Simmer has a weekly news section that I’m excited to share with you:
The Domino’s pizza tracker may soon have a new step of vehicle charging. This week the pizza chain announced a rollout of over 800 new Chevy Bolt EVs. The move to make the vehicle charging and delivery times the same, offers plenty of advantages. Beyond the obvious zero tailpipe emissions, the chain also points out that an electric fleet is an opportunity to recruit delivery drivers who don’t have their own cars.
A woman is suing Kraft for $5 million, saying Velveeta microwave mac and cheese takes longer to make than advertised three and a half minutes. The lawsuit argues that the 3½ minutes doesn’t account for the other three steps required to prepare the pasta: removing the lid and sauce pouch, adding water and stirring… That comes to ~$1.67 million per additional minute.
A Florida bride and her caterer were busted and are facing $30,000 of charges for spiking food served at a wedding earlier this year with pot — including weed-laced lasagna. In what is the modern day “red wedding” equivalent, guests overcome with edibles, exhibited excessive vomiting and heart attack like symptoms. Eventually authorities werecalled to have them transferred to a hospital for treatment.
Jackie Summers on a Caribbean Spirit's Centuries-Old Story
Ashkenazi Jews Have Become More Genetically Similar Over Time
What’s the point of cookbooks if people rarely cook from them?
Starbucks is acting like they’re too big to fail
Are you a Goodfellas fan? This tour takes you to the film’s filming locations around Queens
Klancy Miller’s upcoming book For The Culture is now available for preorder!
Why America’s Railroads Refuse to Give Their Workers Paid Leave
There’s No Wrong Way to Champurrado
How Instagram turned a Holocaust memoir into a self-help manifesto
Stevie Nicks’ beautiful tribute to Christine McVie
My Mom Said ‘I Love You’ with a Lunchable. (I was never allowed to have lunchables, shoutout to my friend Maya for sharing sometimes)
How food influencers sharpen their brands with print cookbooks
Now let’s wrap things up with a quiz from Simmer (they include one every week):
One of the benefits of living in a democratic country with a well-established judicial system is the opportunity to use the courts to achieve justice and set wrongs right. 40 million lawsuits are being filed in the US each year. And with cases dragging along like a George R.R. Martin book, it’s no surprise that judges are always busy.
A lot of those cases are filed against restaurants. Now don’t get us wrong... when something goes — no ketchup served with fries — type of wrong, it’s the only way out. However, most of them are truly bizarre. From the list below, one is made up. Can you guess it? Scroll down for the answer.
Two dudes from New York sued Chobani in 2014 for deceiving customers with its Greek yogurt label because there wasn’t anything Greek about it.
A teen from Australia sued Subway in 2013 because their footlong wasn’t really a foot long and measured only 11 inches.
A mother sued Nutella in 2012 claiming that she was fooled into believing that the product was actually good for her kid’s health.
A couple in 2016 sued Taco Bell over their Chalupa Craving’s box because contrary to the claims, their cravings were not satisfied after eating it.
Thank you so much for reading! Send me your favorite soups and take care this week!
xo, Abigail
P.S. The Taco Bell fact was made up.