january twenty-something

price gouging, pizzas, and the joy of cheesy beans

Last weekend, on what felt like the first nice weather day in weeks, Liang and I went out to meet a couple of friends of mine who’ve recently moved to Vancouver, whom I know due to us being Star Trek nerds together online. I love the internet for bringing people together in this way, because if you choose to meet in person one day, you already know you have something big in common. It was the same in my music message board days in the early to mid-‘00s, and concerts made it easy and fairly low stakes for anyone who wanted to meet up.

Anyway, I put on my best Spock t-shirt and we went to The American and played a few games of pool, which I am shockingly, laughably awful at, having not played in probably ten years (I was presumably bad then, too, but I don’t remember). Unfortunately, it was a football game night at the pub, which we didn’t know, so the energy was not what we were hoping for when we decided to go out for some pinball and drinks and fries. We left to go to someplace less sports-filled, and after walking up the block we spotted, through the window of The London Pub, an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation playing on the televisions. Sometimes you just have to believe in the will of the universe.

After one more round there while ogling Tasha Yar and beardless Riker, we finished off the night with a snack at Virtuous Pie. Liang and I shared the Mac & Cheezza, which was delicious and remarkably not as heavy as you might think a mac & cheese pizza would be, though I think my fave is still the Stranger Wings. Usually if I find myself wanting dessert there I go for some of the fabulous ice cream, but I now know that the cinnamon pillows are also definitely worth your time. Whenever I take someone there I get so excited to tell them the restaurant is vegan. “Oh, pizza? I can’t have cheese…” Guess what? It’s vegan! That’s right! No dairy was anywhere near it! It’s not like a gotcha or anything, I’m just always thrilled to go someplace where almost everyone can find something to eat.

---

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m getting pretty tired of seeing articles like ‘8 inflation-friendly weeknight meals’ or ‘stock your pantry with these 12 items to stretch your budget’. Continuing to call it ‘inflation’ while wages stagnate and grocery stores make record profits is disingenuous— it’s needless price gouging. And no amount of budgeting is helpful for the average person when the price of some things has jumped more than 100% from one year to the next, and many of us were already struggling to cover expenses even before eggs cost $7 a dozen. That’s also not even considering the fact that a lot of these ‘tips’ are things many people who are on a budget already do! If you think the cupboards of working-class people don’t already contain bags of rice and store-brand cans of tomatoes and various types of beans, think again.

But I didn’t come here to yell into the void about the dangers of the very concept of an economy (well, not just to do that, at least). I came here to talk about a thing you can make with the some of the beans you likely already have in your pantry, because you’re a thrifty person who enjoys eating things that are easy and tasty and versatile. I make a few variations of ‘beans in sauce made on the stove and then baked in the oven with cheese on top’, and all of them are delicious, low-effort, and filling, even when your fridge is looking a little empty. On Monday I made a fresh loaf of bread in the morning, and then came home in the evening to make this to eat it with: garlicky tomato white bean bake.

All you need is beans, tomato paste, garlic, and cheese— anything else is up to you. I threw in a chopped shallot and a few dried herbs, and used garlic salt for even more garlic flavour. The slight caramelization of the tomato paste in the pan is reminiscent of sun-dried tomato which is really great, especially if you like the taste of those but not the texture. I’m also still working through leftover cheese from Christmas, so instead of mozza I used a mix of pepper jack and aged provolone, which I can definitely recommend for their more potent flavour. This comes out of the oven looking appealingly bubbly and saucy like it’s a much fancier dish than it is, and it’s absolutely perfect with a slice of buttery, warm bread. Assuming you can find butter for less than $9 a pound, that is.

Again with the price of groceries being what they are, sometimes you see something on sale and just go for it without really thinking too much about it. I spotted a good deal on Two Rivers Moroccan-spiced ground lamb, and bought it, figuring I could make it into meatballs for something. The meatballs were easy to make since the meat was already seasoned, and I didn’t need to add breadcrumbs or anything to make them hold together; I just rolled them and fried them in a cast iron. I ended up doing a tomato sauce in the same pan to use up the remains of a can of tomato purée, adding ginger and cumin and coriander, and serving it all with some roasted beets and potatoes and a little garlic yogurt (just grate or press a clove of garlic and add it to about half a cup of plain yogurt, along with some salt).

I eat lamb maybe once every three or four years, which is apparently just enough time for me to forget that I don’t really enjoy it that much. Jeff does, though, and the meat was perfectly seasoned, so if you do like lamb, know that you won’t have to add much to this if you buy it. I did enjoy this meal overall— I would have just preferred another type of meatball, or maybe the black bean kofta from this recipe. The garlic yogurt was a hit, too— super tasty with the meatballs but especially nice with the potatoes.

Jeff has been experimenting with different pizza doughs as he’s been working his way through a book called Mastering Pizza. This one involved multiple fermentations over a few days. The crust came out very thin and crisp on the bottom and chewy in the middle which was pretty nice, but we both agreed a little more airiness would have been good. Maybe a little more yeast would do the trick.

Anyway, making pizza in a 500°F oven is the way for most of these types of doughs, and I’m a fan of this for three reasons. First, and most importantly, you get a great crust texture. Second, it’s freezing in here this time of year and that warms the kitchen up nicely. And finally, the pizza cooks faster, which means getting to eat it sooner. We made our usual pair of one with hot capocollo and pineapple, and the other with olives and capers. And since we still had a bit of provolone left, we mixed that in with the mozza— I love the way it browns and bubbles in the oven.

Also this week I made another rice bowl with braised delicata squash and cabbage, this time with cubes of smoked tofu. The sauce was just hoisin mixed with some rice vinegar, honey, chili miso, and water to thin, but it’s delicious. The tofu was a bit of a wild card but it gave the dish a bit of a smoked salmon vibe which was actually pretty excellent, and I love the way the sugars in the sauce help caramelize the squash even further once the sauce gets added to the braised vegetables in the pan.

On a stormy evening Jeff also made hot chocolate for us using the steamer wand on the espresso machine, and it worked great! My only regret is not pre-heating the mugs, because it cooled off a little too quickly. But the level of foam on top was impressive (we used oat milk) and there wasn’t a weird gross layer of powder left at the bottom like you often get when you make it in the microwave or using the kettle or stove. The hot chocolate was one from Jeff’s stocking, a mix that has cinnamon in it, but I hope to try it soon with actual melted chocolate to see if it still gets good results.

---

The below paragraphs deal with weight gain and fatphobia. If this is a trigger for you, skip to the next dividing line.

Media:
I, like most of everyone else on the queer internet, read this incredibly graceful and nuanced response by Heather Hogan of Autostraddle to a reader who wrote in for advice after telling her girlfriend she found her less attractive now that she’s gained weight. She rightfully tells the reader that she is centring herself when the focus should always have been on her girlfriend, who not only has to deal with the emotionality of her own body’s changes, and existing in a deeply fatphobic society, but now has had to deal with a lack of support from the person in her life who is supposed to love, cherish, and support her no matter what. I really recommend giving the whole thing a read if you have not already, but for me the crux of it is in these two sentences:

“[Gaining and losing weight] is so inconsequential in the vast tapestry of existence, and if getting fatter over the course of nine short months throws you into this kind of tailspin where you find yourself not only unattracted to her, but you feel honor-bound to tell her so, how are you going to handle it when the really hard stuff happens?

Why would your girlfriend trust you with her future happiness, with the burdens and joys of buying a home or having children, with the gift of loving her so long you get to see her face age into her grandmother, if simply gaining weight is going to cause you to say something you know will devastate her?

I personally don’t believe this relationship can be saved, but I really hope this reader appreciates the kindness in Hogan’s reply, because maybe she will be able to look at her own biases and insecurities and make more compassionate choices. And maybe her girlfriend will be able to be loved by someone who does not feel so much of her worth is tied to what her appearance looked like at a particular time in her life.

---

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 donations I can use towards cookbooks or future treats are much appreciated. And as someone who got a really good thing of garlic salt this Christmas, this is definitely true.