Hamantaschen Season & Little Gems
Lettuce and otherwise
I was a little grumpy when I first started writing today. My personal laptop is in a phase of losing battery very quickly. The Genius bar says it should be working fine, but it took over 20 minute to open up this Substack draft. It’s at once humid (78%) and chilly, which is no one’s preferred weather. First amendment rights are in danger, as are many other rights. I thought about skipping this week’s newsletter, but I haven’t written This Needs Hot Sauce since 2017 without occasionally writing through a bad mood. Feelings are not facts and they pass like the weather. I felt a lot better after writing, as I always do. The format of this newsletter always pushes me to reflect on the good in life and that is a gift. So here we go.
Last week, I wrote about third spaces in New York and the five year anniversary of the start of lockdown. This week, for paid subscribers, I am going to write about granola and phases of breakfast!
Now, let’s dive in.
Something to cook:
My lunch last week was an impromptu tofu katsu—I coated planks of tofu with cornstarch and seasoned panko, drizzled them with oil and baked it for about 30 minutes. Per the many recipes I read, I need to press the tofu for a while next time, but it was a good first attempt. It would have gotten crispier if I had fried it but I wanted something hands off. I served it over rice (this is my new favorite rice) with some cabbage that I seasoned with rice vinegar and salt. At lunchtime, I topped with Ayoh and Fly by Jing Chili Crisp (two tasty clients), which amped up the flavor a ton.
For dinner one night, I cooked up the last half box of fusili corti and boiled some frozen spinach in the same water (put it in where there are about 4 minutes left). I tossed my pasta and spinach with pesto I had in the freezer, a can of chickpeas, and some pasta water. Then I added pecorino cheese, some nutritional yeast, and flakey salt. It was a lovely dinner and lunch later in the week. Pasta and pesto never let me down
We had a Hamantaschen palooza on Saturday. My mom heroically made ten batches of dough. Our favorite fillings were her homemade apricot one, various jams from the fruit trees that grow alongside Matthiason’s vineyards, Ghianduja (client), chocolate chips, chocolate goo (cocoa powder, milk, and sugar), mini reeses, and a cheesecake inspired filling from
. Next year, we talked about doing a tiramisu inspired version of the cheesecake filling with a little espresso powder. It was very special afternoon of baking and tradition. Leslie had incredible folding techniques and many guests made their first hamantaschen.
Something to order:
This week, I had a few lovely IRL meetings at fun locales—Micki and I met IRL at La Cabra in Soho (go on weekday afternoons when there is no line, the cardamom bun is excellent) and Mackenzie and I went deep on reality tv and other matters at the spacious Daily Provisions on the Upper West Side (I had a crueller and an arnold palmer and thought about Pop Pop).
After running an errand downtown, I wasn’t in the mood to go home yet so I had a solo dinner at the bar at Corkbuzz, which is my go to recommendation for a spot to get a glass of wine near Union Square (The Immigrant is my other rec). They also have a bunch of classes. I had an excellent gem salad that I want to recreate (it had gem lettuce, mint, parsley, goat cheese, pistachios, a crouton/breadcrumb situation and a lemon vinaigrette) and some za’atar popcorn. I finished Cue the Sun, Emily Nussbaum’s excellent book about the history of reality tv (a book club recommendation), and people watched.
Dale and I went to see St. John’s win the Big East at Madison Square Garden, which was very fun. I love the energy of live sports and my mom went to grad school at St. John’s. I had some pierogi from Veselka’s MSG kiosk—very tasty. I’m always shocked at how hard it is to find vegetarian options at stadiums (popcorn is not a meal) so I was happy to see them.
Tilden suggested we finally visit Che in Bed-Stuy, which has been on my list for about a year. The three of us all got the egg sandwich which has dijonaise, sun dried tomatoes, crispy cheddar (!), and arugula. Very good. We split the sourdough french toast with toasted buckwheat, which was good but crispier than most french toasts because of the sourdough crust. The coffee was very good and I loved sitting at the window and watching everyone go about their sundays.
Something to read:
What to do when you get an icky feeling from
documented her no buy yearI don’t really ever do tasting menus but this advice on beverage pairings is useful if you’re booking one soon
Introverts should (sometimes) act like extroverts. I also suspect the reverse is true, comfort zones are good for nobody.
I read some very interesting pieces about Meghan’s new Netflix show (and I watched one episode, I want to watch more). The vitriol she receives is so disproportionate and racist (
describes this well and so does here) and I don’t know why relatability is our new barometer for lifestyle television. has me wanting to try her one pan pasta and broke down Meghan’s wine selections.14 things to look forward to this spring in New York via
. I’ve heard great things about the orchid show. went to a ten day survivalist course in Mexico. The chapters on the making of the first season of Survivor in Cue the Sun were top of mind as I read this.Hell Gate spoke to Columbia University students about Mahmoud Khalil's arrest and detention
Haim has new music! Hurrah!
Jordan Chiles’ inspiring mental comeback, Defending Doechii, Five years after Breonna Taylor's death
curates today’s most incisive journalism about Black women.I needed to hear Every Single Album’s thoughts on Mayhem (and especially “How Bad Do You Want Me?”
Tariffs are top of mind for everyone, especially if you work in food. Frida covered a tariff I hadn’t heard about, on potash, a fertilizer that major US crops rely on.
Take care this week and I would love to hear little gems from your life in the comments!
xo, Abigail
I live for your annual hamantaschen bake! Such a cool tradition.
I came across an alternative to pressing tofu in a recipe by Joe Yonan for herb-marinated tofu feta. It’s much quicker. The recipe itself is really good—I used the feta cubes in a pseudo Greek salad I made over the weekend and the salad was a hit with all the carnivores (I’m not sure they knew they were eating tofu!) I found the marinated cubes tasty to just munch on too.
https://wapo.st/3FxYnXH