skipping like a stone

dinners out in awful weather, roasted vegetable satisfaction, & holiday cookie recs

See? I kept my word, and wrote you this newsletter even though this week has me mentally clocked the fuck out of life while also mentally thrashing around like an angry cat because I feel like I have so much to do. Monday I usually commit to doing creative work or chores (whichever’s more neglected from the week before), but I felt like I needed an actual day off from doing anything, so instead I sat in the living room reading a book all afternoon while listening to CDs, and then watched Star Trek: Beyond for the sixth or seventh time in the evening. It was necessary.

My mom was working the week of my birthday, but still wanted to take me out to dinner, so we met up last Friday instead. We’d planned to visit the holiday market at the Shipyards beforehand to grab a couple of gifts and maybe a treat. The weather was atrocious, though, and my mom’s still on crutches, so she and I ended up sitting for a happy hour drink at the Pinnacle lobby bar while poor Jimm spent nearly an hour trying to find a place to park the car. Then we braved the wind and rain to head out to our dinner at Orto, where Jeff defied all expectations by getting there first. We were seated on the enclosed patio and ordered the bread and a bottle of Montepulciano to share. I normally think it’s a crime that restaurants make you pay for bread instead of serving it to you to keep you from drinking wine on an empty stomach while waiting for your mains, however, I always recommend ordering the bread here. It’s a perfect, crusty sourdough from their adjoining bakery, Bad Dog Bread, and comes with tapenade, fruity green olive oil, and a caramelised onion butter than I want to put on everything in my life.

My mom and I shared the beet salad which was a delightful mix of watermelon radish, golden and red beets, and pea shoots on a bed of fluffy, mild goat cheese. The pasta here is always excellent, of course. They have a few constants and a few that rotate with the seasons. I often get the gnocchi, which is one of the ones where the sauce and vegetables change seasonally, and which is so soft I wonder how it doesn’t fall apart when it’s cooked. But I wasn’t in the mood for squash, and opted for the pappardelle instead. It was classically hearty and comforting. (My mom chose the gnocchi and loved it.)

Liang and I met up after my weekly in-office shift, since it’s in her neighbourhood. We got a happy hour drink first at Fiorino, and then went to DD Mau, a Vietnamese restaurant she’s been curious about. They have an interesting drinks menu, too— Liang ordered something that had jasmine tea-infused gin that was really good. I was almost seduced by the bánh mì, but the weather called for soup, so we both got phở. We also shared the crab pockets, which were very crispy and satisfying, and made us decide we needed to come back with a couple more people so that we can order more of the street food items, because they all looked really good. I hung at Liang’s for a little while after dinner, and then walked two blocks to the skytrain, and two blocks from the seabus to Jeff’s mom’s building where I’d parked the car that morning, and was hilariously drenched just from that. As it turned out, the structural failure of the paper bag containing my leftovers was not entirely due to the torrent of rain; I’d dislodged the lid on the journey, and leaked broth all over the inside of my lunch tote. Still worth it.

---

To my mild dismay, I got a set of romaine hearts in my recent produce box. In the summer, I love putting them in salads with grilled corn, making the perfect caesar with grilled salmon or tofu, halving them and brushing with marinade to eat them grilled, but in winter, it can be hard to feel motivated to eat salad of any kind. One way it can be made more appealing is: brown butter vinaigrette. I love the squash panzanella in Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, but a slightly lower-maintenance recipe (because you don’t have to make croutons) is this Earls recipe for a roasted potato and brussels sprouts salad. It’s one of my favourite ways to eat some of the things I always seem to have in abundance in fall and winter. Lacinato kale is a great choice, of course, but I’m happy to report that it worked equally well with nice sturdy romaine. It was even good the next day— I reheated the roasted parts in the microwave for thirty seconds, and then tossed the lettuce on top and reheated for another ten, just long enough to liquefy the dressing again without overly wilting the leaves. Cranberries can be replaced with raisins, toasted almonds can be replaced with pepitas or walnuts, whatever you have to add a little sweetness and texture. Don’t skip the parmesan.

We also got sweet potatoes in the produce box, something I’m generally not a huge fan of, though I’ll eat them in the right context. This miso-tahini bowl with broccoli is one such context. I love how the punch of saltiness, vinegar, and garlic in the dressing contrast the sugar of the sweet potatoes, and it’s very easy to make. Start the rice and then prepare the vegetables for roasting, and make the dressing while everything’s cooking. I added some white beans to this just for a little extra protein. I also like the dressing a little bit creamier, using probably closer to ¼ cup of tahini and a little water to thin it out again. This dressing, though— it’s so good. I highly recommend making a double batch so you can roast some more vegetables and eating a second time, because you will want to. I’m always running my finger around the inside of my bowl when I’m done eating, just to make sure I don’t miss out on any.

I cleared out some aging produce— wilting carrots and celery, the rest of the sui choi I used in the hot and sour soup— and the leftovers of the can of beans I opened by making them into a miso-vegetable soup that was decent on its own, and even better after I dumped the leftovers of my phở from dinner with Liang the night before, using a chopstick to break up the length of the noodles before adding them to the soup. The noodles were a bit softer than was optimal, but for a soup made primarily to clean out the fridge, it was really good— and we got three meals out of it.

listen… it doesn’t have to look good.

Also this week, Jeff made a bourbon-apple cobbler out of three of the four gigantic granny smith apples from our produce box, and a vegan vanilla ice cream to go with it. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture when it came out of the oven, which is really the only time it looks nice. I also revisited this cherry tomato pasta when I got a pint of yellow ones in the produce box, and conveniently didn’t want to work too hard to make dinner. I managed to fry the capers this time so that they came out perfectly crispy and light— often in the past I’ve browned them too much, or neglected to dry them off enough for them to not end up still a little soggy. Delicious.

---

My go-to cookies that I have to make every year are these lavender snickerdoodles and these ginger-molasses cookies (modelled after the giant Starbucks cookies, which I’m not sure if they still sell because I haven’t been there in so long, but I did love them back in my mall retail days). Both of these recipes include modifications to make them vegan, or not. A couple of years ago I made the gochujang caramel cookies for the first time and was told that I wasn’t allowed back next year without making them again, so those have been added to the repertoire, too.

Then I usually make one other batch of whatever appeals to me at the time: chocolate-mint crinkles, chocolate chip toffee bars, pistachio pinwheels, confetti cookies. Often it’s something from this collection (if you see something in here you’d like to make, let me know and I can gift you the recipe). I’m already considering another Eric Kim recipe for this year, these lemon turmeric crinkle cookies, because my mom’s lemon bars are always highly sought after. Not that anything can outshine those, but maybe another lemon option would be welcome. These, by Claire Saffitz, also look lovely, but we’ll see how motivated I’m feeling. If there’s one thing that makes me drag my feet when I’m baking, it’s trying to create enough clean counter space to roll out and cut dough.

Jeff always makes zimtsterne, or cinnamon stars in English. The cookies themselves are a nice chewy mix of almond flour and meringue, but I think more than enjoying eating the cookies I think he likes making them. because it gives him an excuse to connect to his Swiss heritage while making a huge mess and getting frustrated with the dough—an important part of the ritual, I’m sure. Equally important is making several using, rather than the classic star, a cursed foot-shaped cookie cutter that I’m not sure why we have. (What’s the German word for ‘foot’?)

---

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 be taking the next week (or two) off, so I’ll see you in the new year. Have a great holiday, be kind to yourself and your fellow humans, and always support striking workers!