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What I ate last week. Ranked #182 in food podcasts in Mexico according to an email I just got.
Episode 67
NEWS & UPDATES
The unknown Iowa number that texted me asking to come over and eat seafood never texted me back
I talked about my first internship at an event production company in college where we would throw raves and the first party I ever had to work I had to do coat check and someone knocked over all of the coat racks and all of the tickets fell out of the coats and people screamed at me for the rest of the night. I don’t remember anything after that so I think they must have told me to go home. Also on my last day I showed up at 4pm with one hour left in the workday. Needless to say they didn’t hire me or even speak to me ever again.
Noma to reopen Copenhagen restaurant with star chef Redzepi in new role: hiding under a table with a knife https://share.google/9jOuY74raCrTaDMcM
Pink pine nut rompope https://www.highendliquor.com/products/rompope-coronado-pink-pine-nut-liqueur-1l?srsltid=AfmBOoohkb0Ce0oYW_ckJPn8xjV28hYkVW5zjR2Brx2yX_qyfJP0r26t
ACV update
Tiramisu update
Been thinking of doing a cherry tiramisu with all the cherries I’ve been eating; my dad has had a bottle of kirsch in the cabinet for about 25 years from a polish colleague that I could borrow and maybe poison myself with https://www.instagram.com/p/DZc4N23ET0F/?img_index=2&igsh=bGZwb2tyOW0wdGRw
Malted milk tiramisu
Found chocolate mascarpone on sale at Whole Foods and grabbed it. Chocolate malt mascarpone? I was initially thinking that I would warm up the cream with some malted milk powder and then let it cool in the fridge overnight and then whip it the next day to do a malted milk flavor. I’m trying to think of what soak would be good for this. I have rum or coffee.
Only make a lemon tiramisu if you’re gonna eat it all that day or the next because the lemon juice will turn.
Rudy Jude update: love the fabric. Feels higher quality than Michaela Greg pants for the same price point. Not lined which is disappointing. Did come with what appears to be a bleach stain by the crotch. Rough texture but now that I’m used to rough laundry it’s ok. The silhouette makes me look like that photo of yoko and John Lennon where he’s walking all weird with bent knees.
https://dailytarheel.com/article/university-chola-nad-lenoir-closed-20260424
David sent Oasis a cease and desist https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8sUG1vo/
Belted cows in Fearington Village – they look like an ice cream sandwiches
https://fearrington.com/pages/belted-barnyard?srsltid=AfmBOopNwRVUHaj4UPgJofAe8LyY7JVexeuWrxFjDmyobAKAS5-K54nz
Gourmet being sued https://www.instagram.com/p/DZdmkvLgYiE/?img_index=10&igsh=MTM5NWV2Y250YTV6dQ==
Watermelon seed milk
https://drinkmilkish.com/
https://www.reddit.com/r/TastingHistory/comments/1jwdbak/melon_seed_milkforgotten_food_for_the_sickly_and/
Blue honey reminds me of the New Yorker article about red hook red honey https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250417-the-baffling-purple-honey-found-only-in-north-carolina
Neese’s sausage update: Jesse Jones bought it https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8suuJ9D/
Aperol branding update actually looks good. It looks like the before and after should be reversed because most heritage brands destroy their logos but they did the opposite https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8sxBA2N/
SCENTS
Le Labo Lys update: has that deep early scent of a white flower that magnolia that smells really, but also animal and musk really Fresh in the beginning, but then it turned into the peace Lilly in my mom’s bedroom that smelled bad and never really flowered because it was in a dark corner; While driving to work 20 minutes later my hands smelled like archway molasses cookies which I am guessing is related to this perfume and not random; about 6 hours later my hands smelled like sweet river trash; the sweet smell of a polluted river on a hot day.
Le Labo Tuberuse 40
Official description: TUBEREUSE 40, like most of our scents, barely deserves its name. It is of course full of tuberose (absolute, and nothing less), but what hits you from the start is a wave of bergamot, tangerine, and orange flower that yields that surprising “eau de cologne” effect (despite its concentration of 30% which transforms this perfume into an extract). The first pschitt is, hence, pure well-being. TUBEREUSE 40 then slowly develops to the woody/floral heart that gives its unique character and comfort. You smell the white florals where the tuberose finally has its say, and the woods (cedar and sandalwood) sing along with oak moss, musks, and ambrette absolute to rock you into a state of intensity, pureness, and bliss. As long as there is light, there is life. As long as there is NY, there will be TUBEREUSE 40. Only available in our New York labs.
My blind review: Initial orange citrus blast that quickly fades into a soapy lather. Something bitter like orange pith, or my parents’ neighbor re-staining antique furniture in his basement. Iris. Rummaging through an old makeup bag that you found in the back of a corner of a cabinet. White flowers. Violet. Unintentionally old. Sitting in a hot classroom in August taking a standardized test.
INTERNET
Stop making dot cakes
Bull City burger is best burger in NC per some list
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8sAVeBv/
Update (alley 26, queenie’s, only burger, bar Virgile which looked great, Mateos, kings aka poor man’s red hot ranch, Dane’s) https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8syBCr4/
Cheapskate https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8syRyKb/
Bob’s red mill best GF baking flour mix https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8sACHqg/
https://www.reddit.com/r/FoodieSnark/comments/1ppfd4f/is_m_kathleen_meisinger_helpful_or_just_mean_and/
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8sPM93L/
Muffin rings https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8sPkF7K/
Milk powder; Milkman? Almost grabbed it because I liked the minimal bag design but knew I needed to do more research on whether or not this would actually work in the way I wanted it to, and then stumbled across a Kathleen Meisenger video on exactly that; King Arthur is good to go https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8saWDpV/
Top Chef Finale
Can’t believe Sieger came back as a sous chef option, and can’t believe he wasn’t pickled last
Kristin is crying
Rhoda wins and immediately yells NO; another example of someone coming back after winning Last Chance Kitchen
Kristin says “welcome to the club” which feels tactless
The episode ends with the producers asking Rhoda to say what her name is and that she is Top Chef and she says it almost exactly in the same cadence and tone as “my name is Bella Hadid”. Would be funny if that’s what she was referencing but my guess is no.
Craft is closing. I remember the sandwich shops being everywhere. I appreciate that craft only served tomatoes when they were actually in season.
June 8, 2026 (Monday)
8am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
10am: Two sunny eggs over olive oil toasted heritage grain sourdough, made at home.
1pm: Pasta salad with mozzarella, kale, and carrots, made at home.
6pm: Chicken katsu with Bull-Dog Tonkatsu sauce, pasta salad, and half of a hard boiled egg, made at home.
7pm: Blue Bell Cookie Two Step ice cream.
Broke my own rule and didn’t double check the label of the sourdough bread before I bought it which is how I ended up with more heritage grain sourdough. It was on the Mt. Athos Fire shelf.
Pasta salad
basically made Hawaiian mac salad with coleslaw dressing and vegetables but with tricolor rotini instead of cabbage.
shredded carrots (coleslaw), shredded lacinato kale (basically cabbage)
Duke’s mayonnaise, mustard, pickling liquid from jalapeno peppers, garlic powder, sugar; next time I will not using pickling liquid because it’s half water
Added cubed, fresh mozzarella because my mom always would when she made this chicken, kielbasa, mozzarella, and tomato pasta salad with a mustard dressing
You don’t realize how good you have it until you don’t have access to a functioning washer / dryer combo. Felt like I was sleeping in a historical reenactment of a bed. This is what the 18th century felt like. The dryer broke last week when I was trying to wash a bunch of blankets for incoming house guests. Brian left work early to pick up food for them and spent the rest of the evening taking apart the dryer. It ended up more broken than when we started. Anyway, by Monday I had to wash all of the sheets and towels that the guests used but I still didn’t have a dryer. As soon as his guests left he had to clear cut a damn for the rest of the weekend. I dried all the blankets and towels outside in the sun. The blankets are so stiff and flat it’s basically like putting a giant matzah cracker over yourself and trying to go to bed. Is this what life was like in 1880? Creaking around in stiff clothing and going to bed under a giant Pop Tart? Making my bed was like placing three sheets of construction paper in a pile. It’s like sleeping in full body jeans. Night jeans. Brian said it’s like sleeping under paper towels.
Brian poured the rest of the unfiltered sake into a glass of buttermilk and invented a new cocktail. The two are indistinguishable. Brian says he can taste that it was rice in the same way you can tell grass that grew from cow shit. I don’t like that the alcohol is so raw and unprocessed like nail polish remover.
Packed lunch for Brian: leftover basmati rice, pasta salad, chicken katsu, half of a hard boiled egg. He complains about mixing cold and hot items in the same dish but I think you can just eat the cold item first and then microwave the hot items. Brian thinks stainless steel tins are the way to go but I don’t think he’s realizing that you can’t microwave those. I guess I could pack up a poorly designed Baggu lunchbox with items separated into smaller tupperwares.
June 9, 2026 (Tuesday)
8:30am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
10am: Leftover pasta salad with a hard boiled egg.
1:30pm: Olive oil toasted heritage grain sourdough with Danish butter, made at home.
6pm: Pepperoni cast iron pizza with purple basil and lacinato kale with parmesan and Marzetti creamy caesar dressing, made at home, and a can of Sierra Nevada pilsner.
8pm: Blue Bell Cookie Two Step ice cream.
Took a sip of coffee after eating pasta salad and the pasta salad residue was the perfect compliment / flavor enhancer to the coffee.
Made a half batch of Roberta’s pizza dough recipe from NYT Cooking
When I worked at Dusek’s (RIP) in Chicago we had a big brick oven so we would invite the Roberta’s crew to come out and make pizza for a week once a year and I working in the kitchen making all of the punch for Punch House, which was beneath the restaurant, and is still there, and the cooks gave us the Roberta’s pizza dough recipe which felt like winning the lottery. Turns out it was already all over the internet.
The comments on this recipe are kind of insane.
Made a half batch (153g flour) on Sunday afternoon and kneaded with a dough hook and by hand; it was too small of a batch for the dough hook to do much to it. Felt very dry since you only add 100g water and I try to make 100% hydration doughs and this was only 65%.
Reduced tomato sauce, salted some fresh mozzarella and let them dry out on paper towels in the fridge, pepperoni
525 for 15 minutes and let it ride in the oven for a bit; top with purple basil, parm, salt and pepper
Brian asked if it was frozen pizza (based on how it looked)
Told me that I’m the first person to tell that he killed a turtle and accidentally chopped a snake in half - I’m the first person? who else are you gonna tell?
June 10, 2026 (Wednesday)
7am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
10am: A cup of coffee with half & half and leftover pizza at the office.
Cake room: NYT Cooking Page-a-day calendar recipes for Sausage and Egg Tater Tot Casserole, Asparagus Ricotta Pasta With Almonds, Chive Pesto Potato Salad, Roasted Chicken Thighs With Cauliflower and Herby Yogurt, Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork, Marinated Feta With Herbs and Peppercorns, Rhubarb Roasted Salmon, Crispy Coconut Shrimp and Shallots, Salty Sweet Trail Mix, Chicken Breasts With Lemon and Orecchiette Salad With Halloumi Croutons
11:30am: Iced coffee with half & half from Meantime Coffee in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and leftover pasta salad at the office.
6pm: Fried pork loin chops with marinated roasted beets and mozzarella over arugula, made at home, and a can of Sierra Nevada pilsner.
8:30pm: A small handful of Nerd gummy clusters.
The package of Peeps was still there, opened; the remaining Peeps are probably rock hard
Pizza was better the 2nd day – nice and chewy after sitting in a tupperware in the fridge overnight
Roasted beets the previous night
My mom sent me a NYT Cooking article with pasta salad tips and tricks and it was pretty much things you’ve already thought of like adding beans, which I considered, adding mozzarella, which I did, or subbing some of the mayonnaise with sour cream, which is a good reminder because I need to use up sour cream and creme fraiche.
Whole Foods brought back the garlic water crackers but they aren’t organic anymore.
Roasted beets, fresh mozzarella, basil, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, La Tourangelle olive oil over arugula with plenty of black pepper; Brian said it tasted very spiced. Caprese salad with beets instead of tomatoes was fun in theory, but not in practice. Maybe if the beets had been pickled it would’ve been a better balance. I ended up picking the remaining beets and maybe I will try again in the future. Otherwise it’s soft bland on soft bland.
Brian said the fried pork chops tasted like McDonald’s chicken nuggets (MACdonalds)
I typically dip salted, thin pork chops in a seasoned flour mixture with some baking soda and let it absorb and sometimes double dip; in the past this has created a nice puffy coating that separates a bit from the pork chop itself
I worked late so I didn’t have time to let the pork chops rest before OR after frying, so the flour basically dissolved and the meat was incredibly greasy and tough. Absolute waste.
June 11, 2026 (Thursday)
9am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
10am: Pepperoni pasta salad and two hard boiled eggs, made at home.
12pm: Dot’s pretzels at Brian’s parents’ house.
3pm: Blue Bell Cookie Two Step ice cream.
7pm: Microwaved tortilla chips with shredded pepper jack cheese and Texas Pete hot sauce and a glass of Angels and Cowboys Sauvignon blanc.
8pm: Hershey’s Kisses.
Something about 90 degree weather makes me want to sit on my back deck and eat ice cream in the late afternoon. The deck is perfect around 4pm when it’s still hot but half shaded and breezy, although Brian’s mom keeps telling me to stay off the deck because it’s not brand new so she think there’s going to be a mass casualty event if someone steps on it
Pasta Salad 2
Tricolor rotini, pepperoni, red onion, pickled banana peppers, Aerofarms rainbow mix microgreens
Sauce: Very expired Good Culture sour cream, Duke’s mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, pickled banana pepper vinegar, mustard, sugar, garlic powder, salt and pepper
On Sunday my NYT cooking app widgit in my phone was a recipe for pepperoni pasta salad and I gasped and Brian thought something bad happened https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1027196-pepperoni-pasta-salad?unlocked_article_code=1.qFA.x-wK.DYsUQ3-NM-3o&smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share
Huge bag of Dot’s pretzels at Brians’ parents’ house. I’ve always imagined what these tasted like and they taste like I imagine but with more of an artificial butter flavor, like the Snyder’s butter snap pretzels.
97 degrees so I ate ice cream on the porch. Already really really soft for some reason.
Dogsitting: Roscoe gets a drained can of Vienna sausages at noon now. He wouldn’t get out of bed because he’s 14 so I fed him cheese in bed. A Kraft single. “You gotta peel the Kraft singles into strips so it lasts longer” - Brian’s dad maximizing Roscoe’s cheese enjoyment
For dinner enjoyed a classic: unidentified block of cheese grated over tortilla chips in the microwave; pepper jack havarti that tasted like cinnamon; this is the first thing I do when I enter a house that has a microwave
Angels and cowboys was pretty good. Think Eric got it from Whole Foods. Zippy like miracle whip
June 12, 2026 (Friday)
9am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
10am: Pepperoni pasta salad and two hard boiled eggs, made at home.
12pm: Wavy Lay’s potato chips.
4pm: A glass of Angels and Cowboys Sauvignon blanc.
6:30pm: Fried frozen pork dumplings with dipping sauce, Stoffer’s frozen macaroni and cheese, and shrimp with butter and Magic salmon seasoning, made at Brian’s parents’ house.
7pm: A pour of Japas Cervejaria Matsurika pilsner, microwaved popcorn, and Hershey’s Kisses.
Another 100 degree day in an extreme drought with incredibly high humidity so I’m forced to eat picnic food all day
https://www.magicseasoningblends.com/shop/seasonings/salmon-magic/
He had a lot of PBS shows; asked Brian if he knew who he was and he said yeah, “huge man with Marlon Brando vibes” - Brian. Rude but thanks for your input
Matsurika is a crisp, floral Bohemian Pilsner brewed with jasmine petals by Japas Cervejaria, a brewery founded by a trio of third-generation Japanese-Brazilian women. It features a 5% ABV, offering a delicate balance of bready malt sweetness and bright, aromatic jasmine
June 13, 2026 (Saturday)
8am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
2pm: Cheviche, a shrimp roll, a fried soft shell crab sandwich, and a michelada special with shrimp, oysters with mignonette, and Pacifico at Jeans “By The Sea” in Durham, North Carolina.
3pm: A cold brew with half & half at Cocoa Cinnamon in Durham.
5pm: Better Sour watermelon yuzu gummy shells and Lays wavy potato chips with Dean’s French Onion dip at Brian’s parents’ house.
7:30pm: Shrimp, made by Brian, a small pour of Japas Cervejaria Matsurika pilsner, and two maraschino cherries at Brian’s parents’ house.
Pasta salad 3 aka Mac Salad 1
Half of a red onion, diced, mellowing in red wine vinegar
Carrots, lacinato kale, one lonely broccolini stem, arugula, fresh mozzarella
Duke’s mayonnaise, Good culture sour cream, garlic powder, salt and pepper, sugar
Jeans “By The Mavis Tire Shop”
Cool space with laminate booths and tons of outdoor seating. Almost choked at how warm the self serve water was. Seems like they hired a designer which I appreciate. Nothing disappoints me more than spending money on a business and/or restaurant that uses the canva / etsy cursive fonts on their signage and logo. I know that people need affordable access to marketing and communications materials but let’s choose a different font than cursive with giant horizontal loops that make it look like your font is going to fly away on a balloon.
Ceviche reminded me of the ceviche from the Pete’s salad bar but was really good and had a fried tortilla served over the top and thinly sliced jalapeños.
Pretty good Michelada special with a 32oz bottle of Pacifico in the middle of a pellet ice oyster tray. Tajin and tamarind rimmed glass. Too much ice so the flavor was diluted a bit. Ultimately regret not ordering a spicy margarita habanero.
Shrimp roll was pretty straight forward. Nothing special - tasted like shrimp mixed in sour cream.
Crab special: Louie dressing, shredded lettuce, pickled banana peppers on brioche.
Menu: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/68d14eb300f99564d3e0712d/t/69f217ff07770818d7f5501a/1777473541322/Copy+of+Menu.pdf
Brian wanted to get a second round of fried clam strips and in-shell shrimp but we went to Whole Foods instead and bought local shrimp.
Better Sour: 25% daily fiber so watch out. Tastes like a mouthful of pool water in a good way. Subtle flavor and not very sour. Good texture. Not sour enough. The seashell shape felt apt after all of the seashell decor at Jeans. Plus seashell is Brian’s secret chosen name. I asked Brian that randomly like 7 years ago and he blindly answered “seashell”, never to live it down. He says he doesn’t want that to be his name anymore. After eating shrimp 3 meals in a row I think he should be called flamingo.
June 14, 2026 (Sunday)
8am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
11am: Grilled white Kraft Singles on olive oil toasted Mt. Athos Fire sourdough, made at home.
4pm: A glass of Angels & Cowboys Sauvignon blanc and Dot’s pretzels at Brian’s parents’ house.
6pm: Grilled NY strip steak, grilled green onion, and grilled corn salad with radish, cilantro, parsley, red onion, and Tiki tomatoes, made by Brian at his parents’ house.
7pm: Microwaved popcorn and a small pour of Japas Cervejaria Matsurika pilsner at Brian’s parents’ house.
8pm: Better Sour Mango gummy shells.
Perfectly super salty steak and thanks to using table salt instead of fresh salt is available at Brian!!!!!!‘s parents house. Also, I will say that all the processed foods are perfectly designed to make you just not satisfied enough that you have to keep getting more and seeking out something else which is terribly frustrating and not being in a household with tons of processed snacks that I can’t refuse. Makes me feel restless and crazy being in someone else’s house with a bunch of processed food with nothing to do but we eat them. Maybe that’s why high school was so hard. Same situation and I felt crazy and antsy and no ownership over anything.