If you give a friend a cookie

Plus, how you learned to cook and the return of the cheese plate

Hi friends,

Welcome back to This Needs Hot Sauce, a weekly newsletter all about cooking, dining out and making the most of it. Last week, we had our 11th event (you can see the highlight on Instagram) and I left feeling so grateful for this community! Stay tuned for news about our 12th event which will be later this month. I also have some new hot sauce to try from Sarah’s trip to Japan!

Now, let’s dive in.

Something to cook:

I have great friends who make delicious cookies. This week was an embarrassment of riches as Julia made her signature ginger cookies (it’s cold this week so they’re still seasonally appropriate) and Emma and Jesse let me try their very impressive bakery style cookies with sprinkles.

Other good cookie options: our house favorite chocolate chip cookie (keep the extra dough in balls in the freezer). I also flagged this option for a Passover dessert.

Julianne and I volunteered at a homeless shelter on Wednesday night and I baked muffins to bring to the guys. I used this banana chocolate chip recipe, added some cinnamon and vanilla extract, and they turned out great. Another hot tip: a silicone muffin tin really reduced the sticking. I sprayed it lightly and all the muffins came out clean.

Lunch this week is going to be variations on tumeric chickpeas with red onion (from this recipe, Julia also recommends the meatballs).

Lizzi and I got back in the cheese plate game last night for dinner at my parents’ house. I love assembling a cheese plate and it was a great way to split up the preparing of an appetizer. Both of us had busy days but managed to bring all the essentials: 4 cheeses, grapes, olives, and two kinds of crackers (a seedy/fruity one and a water cracker). I added some fig jam and we had fun arranging. My parents let us use a gorgeous butcher block but it also looks nice with a bunch of smaller plates. I’ve even used a frisbee if you’ll recall.

Something to order:

I tried a new Indian restaurant in Ridgewood and really enjoyed it. The story’s coming soon but it’s a great dine in (byob) or takeout option if you’re in the area. Get the coconut naan.

Volunteering at the homeless shelter didn’t start till 8 so Julianne and I grabbed dinner before at Mama’s Too, the pizza place that recently got a star from the New York Times. It’s a counter spot (barely any seating) and it was packed! They only had squares during our visit. We sampled the cheesy, basil topped house slice, the four cheese and black pepper square and Julianne had the pepperoni one. It’s definitely worth a try if you’re in the area (or off the 1), but I don’t know if it’s destination pizza, unless you’re a huge fan of square pies. A tip from Megan, who lives nearby, is to go in the afternoon when they have more options available and try the vodka and pear gorgonzola slices.

Big news: I found a good bar on the Upper West Side (thanks foursquare). Broadway Dive has a crazy beer selection, generous wine pours, and tons of bar food options. It’s tiny and feels like an institution.

On Thursday, a group of us went to Emma’s Torch in Carroll Gardens for our event. It was lovely! The neighborhood is beautiful and the restaurant serves seasonal food with a huge sense of purpose. Working in the kitchen are refugees who are taking a 12 week training course that will culminate in placement in a professional kitchen. The program includes topics like resume writing and financial literacy as well as culinary skills. The restaurant is less than a year old (it was a pop up before) and I recommend a visit, for brunch or dinner. Everything we had was really good, especially the black eyed pea hummus, the squash pasta, the chicken with brussels sprouts, and the cookies for dessert. It also feels great to support such an innovative program while eating dinner with friends.

Ally and I got lunch at a new to me spot in Bushwick, Sea Wolf. They specialize in seafood and had a great oyster selection. Their lunch menu includes lots of brunch options, which is clutch. I liked my mushroom toast with a poached egg and really liked the housemade soft serve to end the meal (there’s also a vegan version made with oat milk). Will be back.

Friday was sunny enough to sit outside on the Brooklyn Cider House patio. I’ve missed that place. They have some new cider releases and I’ll definitely be back on the next sunny day. Their happy hour is awesome, too. You can get a cider for $5 or $6.

After Brooklyn Cider House, Julia, Sarah and I were hungry. We wandered past great options with long waits and then went for the never fail Roberta’s takeout. They’ve closed the tiki bar and have a different tent now, but construction is happening so I’m sure it will be different by summer. Either way, it’s pretty wonderful that no matter how busy they are, you can have Roberta’s in just 15 minutes. We got the bee sting with no meat and a special, plus the romaine salad (which you can recreate here) and sat in the backyard. The vibe is so Bushwick and also so much fun.

Coffeeshop of the week: Nostrand in Bed-Stuy

This shop is next to the Bedford-Nostrand G which means it is the perfect place to meet you friend who lives in Prospect Heights (hi, Isa) or Crown Heights (hi, Sarah). There’s a big communal table, wifi (not the best in the world if it’s crowded), and a big menu of Korean food and the usual coffeeshop fare. This is definitely the best option in the area because I’m still haunted by a terrible bowl of soup I had at a nearby establishment.

Something to read:

Your coffee addiction by the decade

What if Sweeney Todd went on A Chef’s Table? (I laughed out loud)

Bookmarking this bakery tour of San Francisco

More praise for Hunky Dory and Gertie, which I really need to try.

A pleasure tour of New York City. We deserve it.

This article just got nominated for a James Beard Award: I made the cinnamon rolls from Mario Batali’s sexual misconduct apology letter. Rooting for it.

What the loss of longtime neighborhood bars means for NYC

Ruch Reichl’s memoir on her Gourmet years is going to be juicy! This excerpt is fantastic and I also enjoyed this interview. (If anyone has an ARC, I’m dying to read it)

I love learning about a new dessert. Has anyone heard of nanaimo bars from Canada?

Nine things I’m doing to refresh for spring

How Carla Lalli Music gets it done (love her gym tips).

A very funny April Fools post from Bon Appetit.

Excellent shade from the LA Times in this April Fools story on New York’s “emerging” restaurant scene.

Remembering the wines you’ve tried is hard!

I love High Street on Hudson and their bread game recently got an exciting upgrade.

This is a really thoughtful piece: does every kitchen utensil you own need to be beautiful? My complete hodgepodge of an apartment says no, but having beautiful things is also nice. It’s complicated.

How Brooklyn Brewery Brewmaster Garrett Oliver spends his Sundays. Read this and then read Garrett’s absolutely insane Grub Street diet from a few years ago.

For all my Manhattan drinkers, America Almost Ruined Cocktail Cherries, But Italy Is Bringing Them Back

Bow tie pasta isn’t just for kids and I want to try Musi next time I’m in Philly.

Speaking of Philly, Pizzeria Beddia has reopened in a larger space and it looks so good.

A great interview with Mayukh Sen, who just got nominated for another James Beard Award. I interviewed him last year.

Updates from me:

I spoke to very cool sommelier Tira Johnson for Bushwick Daily and learned so much about buying and enjoying wine. I’m also planning to discuss wine more in this newsletter since there’s so much to learn! If you have questions or topic suggestions, please reply and let me know!

I’m sharing your cooking victories from the week all day on Instagram! Join us.

Now, let’s talk about how you learned to cook. All the feels ahead.

Julianne: HONESTLY I give so damn much credit to the one and only, Mr. Ian Donnelly!! He got really into cooking in college and always would teach me the things he learned. I cooked a tiny bit of very basic things growing up but he really gave me a better understanding of how everything works, how to slice/dice/chop/mince, how to reduce stress in the kitchen, to ACTUALLY follow recipes until you are confident in the product, to be able to properly cook meat... the list goes on. It also helps a lot that he treats me cooking for him as an appreciative special occasion and also will specifically ask me to try cooking his favorite desired recipes for him. I am SUCH a perfectionist (which is honestly my biggest struggle in the kitchen!) but I'm glad he's showed me that messing up is okay, recipes can be saved, and there's always next time.

Jolie: I never realized cooking was something some people learned and others didn’t! Growing up in a single parent household my sister and I were often in charge of feeding ourselves when my mom needed to take one of us to a doctor appointment, had something for work, or the likes. And ultimately my mom had bigger life concerns than policing exactly what recipes we followed. I learned to cook from what I wanted to eat. I think back to my poor mother now because I don’t think I ever washed a dish growing up (sorry mom I love you!). This included handmade pasta, elaborate desserts on a whim, and anything in-between. My mom did work hard to cook dinner for our family every night she was home, which was still most nights. I would help her out and always asked questions of why her recipes were the way they were.

As I got to college and began suffering through science courses and labs, I realized the one part of lab I enjoyed was seeing the outcome. I push myself to recreate dishes now, try new products in dishes, and play with flavors. I feel grateful for how I grew up because being in college has shown me that most young adults my age don’t know how to cook, a skill I have always taken for granted and enjoy! I also love love love not draining my bank account on delivery. After living on a college campus with a forced meal plan and no kitchen I know firsthand the dangers delivery harbors on a young persons savings! 

Sophia: I learned to cook by hanging out with my Dad in the kitchen. I mostly watched while he made pesto from basil we grew in our garden, pizza crusts from scratch, two-day chicken soup and family dinners with multiple courses every night. My friends always wanted to stay for meals and our barbecues and dinner parties are legendary. When I got to college and moved off campus, I realized how much I had learned via osmosis and just watching, but got the chance to try things myself and add my own twist, to the delight of my five roommates. I still call my Dad all the time for advice on spices, pairings and recipe swaps and whenever I'm home we love to try cooking experiments together - sourdough starter, making jam, pickling sauerkraut, etc. Still haven't nailed his ability to time it so every part of the meal is ready at the same time though...

Hillary: My first cooking memory was baking sour cream chocolate chip coffee cake with my dad a bunch of times for various holidays and events. It's funny that this is my first memory because I didn't turn out to be much of a baker. I used to take cooking classes with friends at the local community college in middle school, and my mom and I went to a few classes offered at a grocery store nearby. I got a recipe for fettucine alfredo through one of the grocery store classes that I started making a lot, because it felt like the first time I had figured out a secret ingredient -- which, it turns out, is nutmeg.

Anna Claire: I learned to cook because my horrible ex constantly compared my cooking and baking to his mom's. Even as I got better his mom won out. (Meanwhile I was over here successfully making good croissants in a dorm's communal kitchen during finals week?!) After we broke up I was vegetarian for a year, and that forced me to get a little more creative in ways I really enjoyed, too. So, something great came out of a shitty situation! 

Hilary: It really all goes back to frequently being in the kitchen smelling the smells of dinner being cooked by my mother every (!) night and eventually pitching in on tasks like grating cheese, chopping things, or stirring things on the stove-- all the while observing the process of cooking. I also remember learning measuring and spice-related skills through food-based cooking projects, like making big batches of tomato sauce, cinnamon rolls at Thanksgiving, and pretzels (unboiled but still delicious as a kid) with our babysitter. (This same babysitter let us play a game my two sisters and I called "taste test" where the blindfolded tester seated on a beanbag was fed a spoon of something-- had to be food-- from the kitchen. Amazing!)

Post-college I really learned how to cook when I lived in a suburb away from most people my age and I also didn't have my family of 5 around for those nightly dinners, so I learned to make healthy, soothing, delicious, things for dinner, how to really read a recipe to see if it'll be good (alone, you'll be eating all the servings), and upped my go-to-recipe game for hosting and treats. Cooking through *tons* of recipes eventually got me to the point where I'm comfortable going recipe free and/or combine/adapt when the mood strikes. Just remember to taste test! :)

Thank you for sharing these memories! And if you’re still getting your confidence in the kitchen, it is never too late to learn.

This week, let’s talk about your go to snack (or drink) to offer a guest. If someone’s over and it’s time to nibble, what’s it likely to be? I love hearing people’s staples. My parents always have hummus and I usually put out some nuts and open a bottle of wine. Reply to this email with your go-tos.

Happy eating and thanks for reading.

xo, Abigail