four zero

birthday dinners, sheet pan noodles, and the perfect sandwich

Dec 13, 2024

The thing about having a birthday at the end of the year is that I always trick myself into forgetting how old I actually am, because at the start of the year, I’ll think, this is the year I turn 35, or whatever. And then when my birthday rolls around I have to think, wait, am I 35 now, or am I turning 36? Anyway. I did not turn 35 or 36 this year— I turned 40! I didn’t want to make a huge deal of it, because I am not bothered by being in my forties, because how amazing is it to have lived for four decades? At the risk of sounding corny, what a gift it is to have a long life.

On my birthday last Thursday, I was dragged out of bed by the fire alarm to the building going off, which didn’t feel like a great omen, even though everything was fine. And I had to work, which feels like it shouldn’t be allowed. After work we went to dinner at Farina a Legna, and if you want to hear my story about how Swifties made Jeff an hour late for dinner, I’ll tell you, but I magnanimously chose peace and decided not to be mad that evening. (I’m pretty much always operating at a baseline level of anger, kind of like the Hulk, though, so take that as you will.) I did, however, treat myself to both a bicicletta and the most expensive glass of red wine on their menu.

A table in a restaurant with glasses of water on it, and a crystal glass with a red drink and a slice of orange rind in it. There's a little bottle behind it that says 'bicicletta'. The window is foggy and it's dark out, and the lights from cars and the street outside are making the window light up in various colours.

We had the kale caesar, which I ate half of before Jeff was anywhere near the restaurant, and while I was tempted by the hazelnut pesto pasta, I was craving the carbonara. Jeff had the butternut squash campanelle with arugula which was also really nice. We got tiramisu for dessert, and then walked around the holiday market at the Shipyards for a little bit before it closed. There was a vendor selling maple candy— the kind you get at Carnaval that’s just maple syrup poured onto ice and then rolled onto a stick— and we also grabbed one of those as a nostalgic treat. At least, it was nostalgic for me, a person whose elementary school celebrated Carnaval for some reason; I don’t think Jeff had ever had one before. But they use the really good dark maple syrup for it and it’s delicious. And having two desserts on your birthday just feels right.

In the foreground, a shallow white bowl of rigatoni carbonara with parmesan on top. There's a glass of red wine on the table above and to the right, and a fork and knife on the edge of the bowl. Across the table in the background, Jeff has his hand on a glass of a half-empty cocktail, and a fork is sticking out of his bowl of pasta, which is covered in arugula.

Longtime readers of this newsletter know that each year on my birthday, I host a party where I make dinner and dessert for everyone, which is served in the intermissions between watching three movies I love. This year we watched Howl’s Moving Castle, The Search for Spock (it’s 40 this year, too!), and Empire Records. I also managed to make popcorn before everyone arrived, which I’ve never managed to do in previous years. I use copious amounts of the dill pickle seasoning from Trader Joe’s on mine, but I did thoughtfully set aside a bowl with just butter and salt for people with less refined tastes than me.

A door with a (fake) evergreen wreath on it. It's got red berries and silver picks in it, and a gold mesh bow tied at the top with a small silver ball dangling in the centre. — I made this! It’s festive!

I didn’t take any pictures at all at the party, partially because I was ~living in the moment~ and partially because the food I served was not all that photogenic. For dinner, I’d been thinking about a hot and sour soup, which really hits at this time of year. The recipe in Isa Does It is excellent— dried and fresh mushrooms, tofu, plenty of cabbage— and a couple of alterations make it even better. I used a mix of dried wood ear (usually called ‘black fungus’ on the package) and shiitake mushrooms, and fresh brown mushrooms which I dry-fried and added into the soup just before serving. The recipe has you adding them to the boiling pot to simmer, but they have so much flavour this way, and it breaks up the texture a bit too.

The traditional cabbage for this soup is napa cabbage, or sui choy. It has a slightly softer texture than green cabbage, so then it soaks up lots of the broth, which is what you want. I find it also needs a dash more vinegar than the recipe calls for, especially if the broth you’re using also has salt in it. The sriracha amount felt just right to me, though if you like it hotter, it can definitely handle more! And finally, I use medium-firm or ‘traditional’ tofu for this, not extra-firm, because I like the way it crumbles slightly as it picks up the broth. I couldn’t find this recipe online but if you’d like it, feel free to send me a message.

Liang brought donuts from Mello, and when she offered to do so I almost decided to bow out of making a cake. But I persisted! I made a lovely citrus-rosemary cake, an Alicia Kennedy recipe that I think I may have actually made for my birthday in a previous year. I used half lemon and half orange for the juice & zest and thought it was really nice. (I have a lot of citrus in my fridge right now.) And the fact that I dropped the ball on making a glaze turned out just fine. This recipe is for subscribers only, but there’s a similar recipe of hers available on Tenderly, which I have also made and enjoyed.

For a quick dinner when I didn’t feel like cooking but had too much fresh food in the house to justify not cooking, I made a version of this sheet pan chow mein. I had carrots, broccoli, and peppers (hot ones and bell peppers), and used instant ramen noodles since that’s what I had. I think I might have opted for a little bit less time than listed, maybe ten minutes at the end instead of fifteen— it could have just been the smaller amount of things on my sheet pan but I found the veggies were fairly soft and the noodles on the crisper side. Regardless, this was really easy and good and I will gladly make it again.

On a black stovetop, a blue bowl of noodles with broccoli, carrots, and peppers, topped with green onions and sesame seeds, and some cucumber matchsticks. In the background is a sheet pan with a small amount of the chow mein on it, a set of metal tongs resting on it.

I had an eggplant I forgot about, and a little cauliflower left after making aloo gobi (the roasted aloo gobi from Indian-ish, always a winner), which seemed like the perfect opportunity to make this wonderful gochujang-glazed eggplant once again. The fried green onions for this dish are kind of lot of work that I almost never feel like doing. I have, and they’re amazing, and fried shallots work too with a bit less prep, but I’ll be honest: unless I’m trying to impress someone, I don’t usually bother with either. I add some chopped peanuts and sesame seeds and maybe some fresh green onion for garnish and call it a day. The sauce is so good you won’t miss them. And if you aren’t a fan of eggplant, it’s also great for tofu (or cauliflower, as mentioned).

A blue bowl on the counter full of rice and eggplant and caulilower in a deep red glaze. On top are chopped peanuts, sesame seeds, and chopped green onions. In the background on the stove is a cast iron pan with the remainder of the gochujang-glazed eggplant & cauliflower.

I don’t usually share my Bachelor Meals™ in here— the food I make for myself on the nights when Jeff’s at work through dinner— but sometimes you make a sandwich so perfect it simply must be seen. It’s essentially a BLT, except instead of bacon it’s leftover extra-hot capocollo (from last week’s pizza) that I fried in a pan, and Jeff had cracked open a perfectly ripe avocado that morning, so I made it a point to use some of it. And the tomato and lettuce were the perfect texture and rationed correctly across the sandwich, which restaurants never get just right. I guess a photo doesn’t really capture the experience of eating a flawless sandwich, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

A white plate with a blue rim holding half a diagonally cut sandwich on sourdough. My hand is holding the other half up in front of the camera so the inside can be seen: crisp layers of lettuce, a thin layer of meat, and slices of ripe tomato. The bread has mayo spread on one side and avocado on the other.

Thanks for reading— if you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with someone new! I like providing this to you for free, but it does still involve time and effort, so any donations are greatly appreciated. I’ll write to you next week, even if it’s just to send links to the holiday cookie recipes I’ve posted in previous years. Finally, there were many fine vintages of Luigi-related memes this week, but I’m fond of this one.

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