Another week, another post. My opted-in subscriber count has now exceeded my original email list, and I’m pretty jazzed about it. Turns out vanity metrics are quite encouraging. Would I hate it if you shared it with your friends? No. Would I understand if they don’t get it? Yes.
When I asked a friend who recently subscribed how she would explain this newsletter to a stranger, she said,
“In the Kitchen is a stream of consciousness in the form of organized chaos, a culinary journey with nuggets of food and non-food knowledge and facts, a lighthearted and inspiring delight that is personal and relatable.”
A little tear just dropped on my keyboard 🥹
The year of the zucchini
This week I’m finally processing that it’s almost 2023. It feels like the year you made a promise to do something a really long time ago. Like in 2006 you told a friend while shopping at Spencer’s that, “If we’re still single in 2023, let’s promise we’ll marry each other.” Or, “If we still hate our jobs in 2023, let’s team up and live our dream of opening a high-end mini-cupcake store.” Here’s to hoping we didn’t make any promises for our future, now present selves.
Maybe it’s the year of nurturing our passions outside of work… or bravely taking the teeny, yet mighty steps to make the said passion our work. Turns out over 70% of tech workers have a side project and 55% intend to make money off of it (Source). Look at me, I’m selling toddler-sized zucchini t-shirts and laptop stickers:
About 50% understand the pun (based on a study conducted this week; n=6). Consider yourself a genius if you get it. TBH, I have not actually figured out merchandising these. If you actually want it, comment on this post. I can make them for adults too I guess.
Enough reflecting, I’ll save that for my food diary and morning pages. Yes, 2023 is the year I likely need to start a food diary. I’m intolerant to something and according to my gastro friend, those at-home food sensitivity tests are 99% BS. Apparently the best way to learn about our bodies is to actually listen to them… I was really hoping for an easier answer.
Let’s dig into Edition 5.
Why is picking wine so hard?
Last week I dined at a nice restaurant (Good Good Culture Club). Classy, right? While I had a good enough grasp on what food to pick, when it came to the wines I was drawing blanks. We enlisted the server for some help. During her 3-5 minute impassioned monologue about their curated wine list, I went from hopeful to distraught in a matter of minutes. Picking tasty wine is so hard. And such a big commitment.
Look, I’ve accepted that my vocabulary + sense of smell/taste will never capture whatever the wine maker intended. Unless it’s Franzia. Then, I definitely get it. But is there something that can help when aimlessly staring at a rack full of pretty labels at a convenience store, jealous of the person who quickly made their selection? Help when we’re inevitably in the same restaurant situation?
I went looking for a mystical one pager that would answer every question. I should have known better. Like my GI problems, the real way to learn our preferences is to take notes and pattern match. That’s what my friend who has spent the better part of a decade researching and producing wine said.
But I’m stubborn and wanted some resources to help me (and hopefully you) be better wine savants faster. Also at this point I’d committed to writing about this and it’s Wednesday. So here are some breadcrumbs of my few day-long voyage through 8-10 open tabs, ChatGPT insights, useless YouTube videos marketed as objective fact, and resources from my very knowledgeable friend:
If you want some tools to actually be a better wine taster, check out Wine Folly. They’ve got wine journals, flavor wheels and even tasting placemats. By the end, you’ll be using words like “leathery and manure-like” instead of “sort of an oaky afterbirth”. They have good written content too. Here’s a piece that outlines how long open wine bottles last. Thank you, anonymous wine-expert friend and Ellen.
There’s nifty app where you can scan wine labels and menus to see ratings and pricing! It’s called Vivino. Definitely using this one (in combination with my diary). Thank you for the rec, ChatGPT.
For a comedic relief during your intense wine studies, here’s an epic 1 minute bit from The Eric Andre Show.
If you’d like to host a game night where you use can only use these absurd descriptors while tasting wine, this is your go-to. I have been laughing at this list for a week straight.
Baby grind on me
Future Knowledge Drop: Sausage-making edition
Was playing in the background when you promised your friend to open that cupcake store in 2023. It’s also what I’m spending my time researching this week. Ya girl is getting into meat grinding and sausage making. According to our one and only Kenji, grinding meat is an easy way to level up your burgers or tacos! If you’ve got a kitchen aid stand mixer, all you need is this adaptor (plastic is recommended by him).
This rabbit hole is a multi-week research-and-practice kind of pursuit. I plan to host a Sausage Fest by the end, where we break down the science of sausages and make our own! Until then, here’s a preview of my research:
PS- I’ve been learning how to sketchnote from this awesome German teacher here. Highly recommend her course so far.
What I’m Cooking
My virtual meal included a chicken SZA salad:
My IRL meal of the week - Ginger Carrot salad, aka what they serve you at some sushi restaurants. Loosely followed Just one Cookbooks recipe and Kenji’s Wok recipe. (omitted the sesame oil). The pic doesn’t do it justice, but I promise it was a banger.
That’s all for Edition 5.
-Chef DPo