hey now, hey now
anniversaries, smashed potato salad, and assorted beans
The main problem with how I’ve been writing this newsletter only bi-weekly is that by the time I get to the end of the second week, everything that happened in the first week is only a distant memory. I realised, when I sat down to write this, that I had yet to mention our anniversary, and had to double-check the calendar. But that was so long ago! It’s September now! How have I not written about that yet?
So. Jeff and I celebrated sixteen years together on August 25th, and six years of marriage on the 26th. I know many people stop celebrating their dating anniversary once they get married, but for one thing, saying ‘we’ve been married six years’ doesn’t adequately capture the scope of our relationship, and for another, since the two dates are so close together, it’s really just a good excuse to do two nice things for ourselves.
We had to go to Park Royal for reasons, and as malls are always tiring no matter how little time you spend at one, we finished off our errands with lunch at the Zubu Ramen there. I like that they have two sizes of ramen bowls, in case you aren’t super hungry or don’t feel like taking home leftovers. I’m of two minds about the fact you have to order— and pay for— the egg separately: a boiled egg in my mind is an integral part of the ramen experience and should be included, but on the other hand it is a whole, seasoned egg (at many places it’s an unseasoned half), so it actually is kind of better. I need to try making eggs like this at home; this guide looks very thorough and helpful.
We’d made a dinner reservation for Is That French, which is a new-ish wine bar in the old Salt Tasting Room location in Blood Alley. The chef there is someone Jeff used to work with, and Salt was one of our earliest dinner dates, so we were looking forward to it, but we got an email mid-afternoon that they had to cancel our reservation as they were unexpectedly closed that day. We ended up going to Fiorino, a Florentine-inspired restaurant on Georgia Street I’ve been meaning to try. That weekend was also the Light Up Chinatown festival, so the restaurant had all-day happy hour, and we did not say no to a $9 negroni. I also had the house red with dinner ($1 an ounce), a cab-merlot that was nicer than I was expecting.
The food and service were both great; I particularly liked the preserved watermelon and tomato panzanella, and while I do think it’s kind of a crime that restaurants charge for bread now, the focaccia was excellent too. At one point Jeff noticed a slushie machine behind the bar and we assumed it was a frozen margarita relic from the pub that was in the location before, but since it appeared to be in use, we asked the bartender about it. He poured us a sample. It was similar to a bellini, only stronger and lightly bitter: peach purée, rum, aperol, and arancello from Woods here in North Van.
When we finished our dessert (orange olive oil cake with vanilla gelato) and paid the tab, the server asked if we were doing anything else with our evening, as one does. When we said it was our anniversary and this was the extent of our plans, he insisted on bringing us a shot of limoncello to celebrate, making us both nostalgic for a restaurant in Florence we visited a couple of times: a loud, homey place where the limoncello was poured like water at the end of the meal.
You all probably know my feelings on video recipes, which are that they are generally annoying and not very helpful when you actually want to cook the thing they’re making. I honestly don’t even like looking at a recipe online that much while I cook— I acknowledge that the internet is a good resource, but my computer is nowhere near the kitchen and it’s too easy to get distracted by notifications and scrolling if I’m using my phone. I’m old-fashioned. I like books. Not only because they’re easier to work with while I’m cooking, but because with a book, you know a recipe has been tried, tested, and edited. This is the case for some, but not all or even most, internet sources. So even though I trust my tastes and skills enough to know when I’m going to make something to spec and when I’m looking at something more for inspiration, there’s more attention needed for this practice with online recipes.
However. My sister sent this smashed potato salad with sesame-miso dressing in the chat after she’d made it and said it was incredible, so I decided to try it. Smashed potatoes seem to be having a bit of a moment right now, and they’re really easy to make even if the thought of boiling them, draining them, smashing them, roasting them, and then having to wash all the dishes that that creates does make me drag my feet a little. Plus, smashing them is just fun to do. The recipe doesn’t specify a bake temperature for those of us who stubbornly refuse to own an air fryer, so I went with what I did the last time I made them, 425°F for about 25 minutes‚ or whenever they look brown and crispy enough.
The rest of the salad comes together while the potatoes are boiling and roasting— chopped cucumber, cilantro, and green onion (the recipe uses spring onion but those aren’t easily found here) in a sauce made of mayo, tahini, miso, and lime. I used less mayo (around 80g) and a splash or two of rice vinegar in place of water, because Alice said she found it a bit too savoury as is. It was amazingly good, and the chili crisp pulls the whole thing together.
This salad was definitely best the first day, served when the potatoes are still a bit warm and holding their crispy edges, but it was not at all disappointing on day two after the cucumbers have soaked up the flavour of the sauce. And I had a little of the dressing left over, so on another night I used it to make a quick noodle bowl with a boiled egg. An egg would probably have been good with the potato salad, too, actually.
Zucchini is plentiful and cheap in late summer, so I keep buying them. I made this zucchini grilled cheese on a night I was home alone for dinner, and dipped it in mustard (it’s good and normal, don’t look at me like that). It only used a little of the provolone I bought, so we also made the pizza version, with the addition of chopped kalamata olives, later in the week.
I procrastinated going to the grocery store this week (as usual) and then had to poke around to see what I could make that wasn’t another sandwich or bowl of pasta. The shortcut chhole from Indian-ish is a standby pantry meal for times like that. If I don’t have fresh tomatoes, a can of diced fire-roasted ones works great, which is what I used this time. The roasted tomatoes are less juicy than fresh ones, obviously, so while I’m cooking I keep a little water in the tomato can to add to the pan if it starts to dry out. The recipe is pretty much perfect as is, but I often add a bit more yogurt just because I like it more saucy. A sweet little spoon of chutney on top for serving is also great.
I’m sweating at my computer while writing this, so it seems harder to recall those actually pretty recent cool days of rain. I made cornbread to eat with some vegan chili I took out of the freezer, and the next day, some cheesy baked beans. I also made a variation on the baked feta with chickpeas and tomatoes to use up the remainder of the white beans I’d cooked, and I didn't have the amount of tomatoes I would normally use, so I added a chopped zucchini to round it out. Because you can basically never go wrong with beans and cheese in some form or another, this was very good despite me forgetting that I normally make it in a rectangular dish, not a square one.
Other things I made that I could not be bothered photographing: linguine all’amatriciana, and a tuna melt with salt & vinegar chips in the sandwich (inspired by this recipe). Tomorrow after my dentist appointment, Kayla (a known appreciator of 70s food) is coming over so we can make the Watergate cake, possibly the most ‘dump-and-bake’ dessert I’ve ever seen, and which Claire, who made it once for a party, assures me tasted incredible even after hers exploded into pieces upon being removed from the pan. I will report back regardless of how ours turns out.
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, especially while I’m still looking for work, are greatly appreciated. Anyway, where’s that meme of Apollo throwing the gift of prophecy dodgeball at the random internet users trying to be comedic because, uh, how is this real.