Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
What I ate last week. Ranked #182 in food podcasts in Mexico according to an email I just got.
EPISODE 60
NEWS & UPDATES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(soft_drink)
https://www.campbells.com/prego/the-connection-keeper/
https://www.theassemblync.com/news/business/hi-chew-morinaga-america-mebane-north-carolina/
https://morinaga-america.com/brands/
My hyper-local, live-in health department: my cats
If food is left out for over an hour, my orange cat starts destroying the house and demanding that is removed and replaced. This is the same cat who was pricking holes in my kewpie and dispensing the mayonnaise into is mouth. I wonder if he would eat the expired kewpie. Could be safe.
Grey cat can detect maladies in our milk
I was once in a NYC health department video (by force) when i worked at milk bar. The video was about monitoring how long pastries were in the case. You were supposed to toss all of the pastries after a few hours which is insane and obviously nobody does. The people filming were pissed because I wasn’t smiling in the video. It’s a video about throwing away rotting food? Why would I be smiling? Also I didn’t sign up for this.
Sorry that I keep talking about surgery but I’m wondering if I should interview the koi fish surgeon for the pod
Swiffer product update: When I moved in four years ago there was a plastic swiffer duster wand and I finally bought duster pads for the wand. Ordering the pads and putting them on the shelf of my laundry room had the same effect of feeling like I cleaned the house. Not sure if I’ll ever actually use them. This is the first time I’ve lived in one place for long enough as an adult that I’ve had to consider buying a duster and cleaning the walls. Feels easier to move.
My sister has reported that the strawberry lemon cake shake at Portillos is great and tastes like the lemon ricotta cookies she makes for Christmas. Pickled strawberry jam and lemon curd was the best milk bar cake flavor and I got so excited every spring when it would come back.
SCENTS
Picked another random sample from Surrender to Chance. Also why did these come in the mail from a woman named Patty in Kansas?
Ffern Geola
Official description: As the twilight thickens, laced boots crunch on silvered leaves. Along the edge of the forest, an ancient tradition is beginning. The Wren Boys march in single file - whooping, singing. One carries a brass birdcage. It glows in the lamplight. We are at the heat of Geola, the ancient twelve-day celebration of midwinter. This is the wheel's darkest spoke, marking the ending of the calendar year. Durande says "For me, this scent is all about warmth, shadow and comfort during the darkest days of the year. This first bath feels ancient and enveloping like stepping into a quiet, candlelit space to share stories in the stillness." Geola opens with a gently fading sunset, a gleam of bergamot that shimmers across a changing sky. Clove, cinnamon and nutmeg bring stronger colors, little sparks of heat. Around these spices we combined the luxurious warmth of vanilla and roasted tonka with the glowing meditative tones of tolu and Peru balsam. They sank these gourmand notes into a depth of almost bitter rooibos tea and coffee, cutting through the sweetness. Along the edges of the woods, the oak trees are brown and leafless, Further in, tall firs, a crystal chill turned evergreen. For this we called upon the dry, camphorous notes of cedar. Yet still we were looking for somethin grounding, amid the moonshadows and mistetoe. We found it in brown-eyed rock rose, a variety of cistus. This is an ingredient that's long been one of our favorites in resinoid form - but here, for the first time, we have used three of its extracts together, layering them to create an amber depth, lit from within. We blended rich labdanum resinoid, extracted from the resin that seeps from the plant's leaves and stems, with fresher, herbaceous cistus oil, obtained by steam distillation. To refine and sweeten the accord, we brought in cistus absolute. This is also derived from the resin but using the solvent extraction process - producing a subtle note that lifted the shadows. Approaching a distant stone circle, the Wren Boys are chased by darkness. Inside the cage they carry a wren, the King of the Birds, Captured, this winter songbird is silent. For the mystery of such traditions, an accord of enchantment was created with incense notes of olibanum, myrrh and agar. Geola features top notes of roasted coffee bean, nutmeg, olibanum, Ceylon cinnamon bark and clove bud; middle notes of patchouli, bergamot rind, rooibos leaf, myrrh, tonka bean and roasted tonka bean; and base notes of agarwood, vanilla pod, brown-eyed rock rose, tolu balsam, red cedar and Peru balsam.
My review: Harsh, old, wood, permanent marker, Big Red gum or the smell of my dad’s closet because he hid bulk bags of fireball candy in there, pile of ash. Fades to a synthetic vanilla that smells like the rubber sole of my dad’s LL Bean slippers. Lot of dad smells. Smells like a dad.
My dad also hid Nesquik powder under his bed as a child
Rewore Le Labo Tonka 25. Smells like a scent from Gap in the 90s. Woody and deep but fades to a warm, soapy freshness.
Laundry essential oils instead of dryer sheets; now that I’ve stopped using dryer sheets and I feel something that I washed last year with dryer sheets, I’ll never go back. But I do miss how they make laundry smell. Essential oils don’t really cut it and I don’t know how to get that scent otherwise.
Neroli doesn’t come through
Lavender smells like the McDonald’s happy meal cookies from the early 90s before they changed them to cinnamon. Maybe that’s why my cats smell like that.
INTERNET
RHORI popularize Pizza chips
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8gqkUUE/
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8ggpsHq/
Graham Norton on Off Menu putting jalapeno in his white wine
https://www.instagram.com/p/DXcvmjrD7Hn/?img_index=1&igsh=MTFtNXA4ODBwY3RtYw==
https://cooktildelicious.com/berry-basil-fraisier/
The "Cheong" Method (Best for Flavor):Combine equal parts fresh basil leaves and sugar in a jar and let it sit in the fridge overnight
The sugar draws out the oil, creating a highly aromatic, intense syrup without any heat-induced bitterness
90 Day Fiance
Remember, Forrest, who was wrapped up in a human sized banana leaf and left out in the sun? He’s heading home to the US with his family, which is his mother and her partner who has spent most of the vacation staring into the sun, and his mother is packing her suitcase full of bags of potato chips and he thinks that the potato chips will explode because of the change in air pressure on the plane. Forrest’s mom says, well, people bring their dogs on the plane and they don’t explode. Mystery solved. Before Forrest leaves the Philippines he places his cowboy hat on his girlfriend and tells her he has to wear it every day. They monitor each other via cameras 24/7 so she’s probably going to have to do that. BTW Forrest is the one who has a fuzzy blanket as a tablecloth.
Kim from 90 Day reveals that instead of putting a star on top of her Christmas tree she puts a sparkly top hat on it which is so scary and makes it feel like the Christmas tree is alive and a cabaret dancer living in your house
Vanja, who has the most boring and contrived storyline on this season of single life, is about to leave for a 2.5 week trip takes bags and bags of fruit out of her fridge to make a fruit plate before she leaves for the airport. Why do you have so much fruit in your fridge before you leave for so long? She puts the uneaten fruit back in the kitchen. Vanja was originally on the show for dating someone in Eastern Europe who lived with him mom, didn’t have a job, and loved to play basketball. The night she arrived to meet him he told her that he had to go to a film discussion club at 11pm because he’s a film buff. They didn’t make it past the second day of her two week trip.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8gxTdRM/
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8gQFAxW/ (what is the texture like, though, if not kneaded?)
@fizzacooksitall: * Ground meat
* Onion (finely chopped or blended)
* Salt
* Flour
* Water
1. Prepare filling: Mix ground meat with onion, salt, and pepper. Shape into small balls.
2. Coat: Lightly dip each ball in water, then roll in flour. Repeat 4–5 times until a soft coating forms.
3. Cook: Add to boiling salted water, stirring gently to prevent sticking. Once they float, cook for 2–3 minutes.
America’s Culinary Cup Season 1 Episode 8
Sponsored by Dawn Powerwash, Rivian, and Dippin’ Dots
Padma walks out of the elevator with bangs; like, ok, you can’t just cut bangs mid season. Maybe she had a mental break after episode 7 when the two judges offered to massage her feet, one guy per foot. One guy one foot.
We’re down to six. Can’t wait for this to be over. The commandment this week is consistency. They have to make 30 of the same dishes, using a particular cooking method and fish. Buddha has an advantage from winning the previous episode so he gets to pick his method and team. He picks Matt and poaching.
Most of the episode is people pin boning fish which is absolutely riveting. If fish bones are something that interests you definitely check out this episode.
Padma has a bunch of bones in her mouth from Keith’s deboning job.
Matt and Buddha obviously win. Everyone else has to cook against each other again. They all have to make an omelette. Keith’s omelette sucked and he went home.
Top Chef Season 23 Episode 7
Antonia Lofaso puppy milk
My theory going into this is that Jen goes home because she’s in a full body sling and they let Sieger stay, which is why they didn’t have anyone come into last week’s episode of Last Chance Kitchen. So far Jen is still here.
We open with Anthony saying “Feels like we’ve been here forever” so true
Kristin is in a rocking chair because this episode is sponsored by Cracker Barrel
Apparently there are over 60 locations in the Carolinas alone
Check out my episode where I go to cracker barrel for the first time, “First Time at Cracker Barrel”. I had a bad time. Oscar reveals he hasn’t been to Cracker Barrel which is good.
Two people from Southern Charm show up, one of which is Craig, Paige DeSorbo’s ex boyfriend. They bring the peg game from Cracker Barrel. They also had this peg game at Friendly’s for all my Northerners.
Quickfire: Teams of three, each person has to make breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Only one person from each team can cook at a time. Cracker Barrel relay race.
Broken arms Jen is somehow shucking corn
I was into the Duyen’s fried green tomato and country ham sandwich from the losing team
Elimination Challenge: Someone from Glee is our guest judge. Create a dessert fit for a queen choosing from a selection of Southern desserts. They have 3 hours to make a dessert for 60 super fans, who will vote to determine the winner.
We do a cookbook series at work on southern desserts so I thought I had a pretty good handle on what the classics were but I hadn’t heard of sonker
https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/north-carolina-sonker-recipe/
Jen gets Atlantic Beach Pie which is my fave; I got a metal pie pan from the thrift store so maybe I’ll make one. Jen knocks over all of the lemon juice that she’s been juicing.
Laurence is turning Coconut cake into a tres leches cake.
Duyen is doing a spin on caramel cake; as soon as Brian saw it he yelled out that his grandmother made caramel cake
Oscar is making a giant, deep hotel pan of bread pudding that is never going to cook in time. He also sets it on the floor which is insane.
Brandon did Banana Pudding but turned it into tiramisu which is perfect. I don’t love banana but I have to say Pies n Thighs makes a killer banana cream pie. Crust is insane and perfectly salty.
Anthony wins with a take on apple stack cake
Bottom
Oscar: broken whipped cream, uneven and undercooked bread pudding
Nuyen: didn’t incorporate caramel into her dessert, which was supposed to be a take on caramel cake; she made a pandan rice pudding which Tom said didn’t have any flavor
Justin made a poor take on ambrosia salad that was too cold and not assembled correctly
Jen is having a medical emergency? Her face is frozen on one side.
Justin is going home. He should be taking his wife to the hospital. Sponsored by Josh wine.
Kristin calls everyone back to judges table let them know that restaurant wars is next. They have an hour to plan. This year they have to do take-out orders this year.
Medic is taking Jen to the ER to get her face checked out.
Kristin lets Justin know that she is being asked to leave for her own wellbeing but is invited back to another season. Kristin is crying. She offers Justin the spot back since he was the last person eliminated. Justin leaves.
Last Chance Kitchen:Best part about this show is that each episode is about 12 minutes
Justin enters because Jen is feeling better. But where is Sieger? I’m betting that he’ll be asked back for restaurant wars as the stronger player.
They draw knives with adjectives on them: whipped, glamorous, alien
Rhoda starts talking about how she believes in Aliens
Rhoda makes mushroom toast, Justin makes scallops, tuna tartare and whipped beef tallow; Rhoda is moving forward; I agree that the cold versus hot components in one bowl is weird; also who wants to eat cold beef tallow?
April 20, 2026 (Monday)
8am: Little Waves coffee with half & half, made at home.
9:30am: Leftover butter curry with basmati rice.
2:30pm: Scrambled eggs with provolone, virginia ham, chives, and chive blossoms, made at home, and a leftover brownie.
6pm: Orzo with chive blossoms, butter, parmesan, and spinach, made at home.
8pm: A can of cherry Spindrift.
April 21, 2025 (Tuesday)
8am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
9am: Leftover green curry with rice.
12:30pm: Garlic and herb water crackers and a cherry Spindrift.
3pm: Marinated gigante beans.
6:30pm: Chicken katsu over romaine lettuce with Marzetti creamy Caesar dressing, Parmesan, and black pepper, made at home.
One of my cats stayed in bed until noon because it was cold so he thought that it must be nighttime because it certainly couldn’t be this cold during the day. He went outside and swinging on the porch swing for a little bit, slapped a butterfly, and then went back to bed.
Supervisor’s review of Chengdu in the early 90s. Worst bathroom of the trip, so much worse than a hole in the ground, nothing was worse; the ethnically Chinese were fleeing from the bathroom; the buildings looked like they had all fallen down but they were actually being built. Shoney’s can make a salad bar bad.
Spent the rest of the afternoon looking up peoples’ moms on LinkedIn to see if they were open to work.
Speaking of parents on this day I remembered the time one of Brian’s friend’s Dad showed up to my 30th birthday party and ate a bag of lettuce. Hello sir.
Marzetti Caesar dressing has this flavor profile that is the reason why I hated ranch dressing for so long growing up it’s just flat
Add the crumbs that fall off of your chicken cutlets on top of your Caesar salad as croutons or breadcrumbs
April 22, 2026 (Wednesday)
7am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
10:30am: Leftover katsu and basmati rice with Cook Out buffalo sauce and a cup of coffee at the office.
Cake room: NYT Cooking Page-a-Day calendar recipes for Soor iyo Dalac Bilaash (Grits and Tomato Stew), Avocado Salad With Herbs and Capers, Broiled Turmeric Salmon With Corn and Green Beans, Classic Okonomiyaki (Japanese Cabbage and Pork Pancakes).
4:30pm: A Bryant Bridge Gateway Golden ale, part of a hot pepper ale, and duck frites at Bull City Brewing in Durham, North Carolina.
5:30pm: A sip of Fonta Flora Maple Wood Maibock, sausage rolls, gai lan chaat, and London Mixed Grill with garlic naan at Viceroy in Durham.
7pm: Popcorn and part of a Full Steam IPA at Carolina Theater in Durham.
No obvious difference between counter culture coffee that I get on sale and more expensive coffee
Air fryer grilled cheese recipe is insane: 2 slices bread, mayonnaise, 2-4 slices of cheese
Heat air fryer to 400. Assemble sandwich and put in air fryer about 3 minutes per side
My sister saw HAMLUVR
Parking lot smelled like magic bars again
Cook Out buffalo sauce is kind of harsh
For some reason this meal reminded me of this (Canadian) youtuber that I used to watch like 15 years ago who was a hoarder and lived in utter filth and would make cooking videos and his kitchen was so crowded with trash that he would strain noodles into the toilet.
NYT Cooking app widget recipe today was cheeseburger soup which sounds like an episode title of this podcast
Had a longer day in the office than usual since I was waiting around to go to Carolina Theater so I overheard an editor bragging that he grew up near a swamp. Ok Shrek. Gotta get out of here.
My coworkers are not as bad as when I worked at the library and the two people interviewing to be the only other person in my department were two guys who looked exactly the same and both had long ponytails. Didn’t realize how long the pong tail of the guy who was hired was until we finally met in person at a conference and we both had long brown hair down our backs like we were a traveling gang of mennonites and I was like ok we can’t stand next to each other anymore. Our department is going to fold. He’s the only one left. Brian said every guy who works in a library is a time traveler from 2005.
My tire pressure sign is on in my Honda even though I keep filling up the air. Brian says that this is just how Hondas are air pressure sign has been on the entire time satisfy to fit, but his tires aren’t flat so it’s OK except my Honda has like 12! On the dashboard telling me that something bad is gonna happen and they won’t go away. What is the point of this? Is this just something that is invented by Honda so that men have something to do they get an alert and every week they get to go find somewhere to fill up their tires the basketball pump someone’s garage.
Listened to Arthur Schwartz on the drive to Durham and he says Smitten Kitchen has the best brownie recipe he’s ever tasted, and he’s tasted plenty. Unsweetened chocolate and butter melted in a double boiler with sugar. No cocoa powder. I never have unsweetened chocolate on hand. He says it’s not too cakey but not too fudgy. Maybe I’ll try with dark chocolate and reduced sugar.
Viceroy vibes are weird and bad. 90 minute table limit. Host was taking reservations from spam bots. Calling spam bots back to make sure they didn’t want a reservation. Feels like a 50% chance that there might be some allegations of some kind here.
Gai Lan Chaat: Crispy chickpea battered Chinese broccoli topped with onion, tomato, and house chutneys
Sausage Rolls: Curried pork sausage in a puff pastry served with mustard aioli
London Mixed Grill: Hariyali & Angara kebabs, chicken tangri, lamb boti, and masala shrimp, sizzling with onions. Served with rice. Added garlic naan.
Maibock was great: Tastes like honeydew melon
Drumstick tasted like a hot dog texture wise
Sausage rolls were dry and felt like fake meat on the inside or something fried. Maybe that’s what we needed, but I wanted that baddie sausage interior.
Water pressure in bathroom sink was insanely low
Sorority girls asking why I’m at a Connor Wood show. It’s an amazing question. We look like cops.
Seated in the middle of a big gaggle of girls who were shouting at each other over us while Brian scoped the deals on his Zappos app
Most of Connor Woods Phan bases nurses that are about to get married so it’s getting kind of weird because Connor’s at this phase in his life where he mostly talks about living alone and being lonely doesn’t know if he wants kids and he’ll soon be getting a little bit too old to have 22-year-olds chasing him down the street. Things are gonna get real weird real quick for him. But the thing is he’s actually really funny and if more people that weren’t 22 year-old girls realize this baby they would start coming to a shows and I think that’s what he needs. The worst part about being at the show is Brian looks very out of place but he looks like the one who was dragged to the show by me an old hag in a sea of 22-year-old girls.
Connor referred to Duke as the Tarheels and the audience got mad. When will sports end?
April 23, 2026 (Thursday)
8am: Leftover coffee with half & half.
11:30am: Three sunny eggs with Texas Pete hot sauce on olive oil toasted Whole Foods heritage grain sourdough, made at home.
2:30pm: Blue Bell cookie dough ice cream.
6pm: Red beans and rice, made at home.
I had all the ingredients for red beans and rice with celery, frozen peppers, kielbasa and basmati rice to use up: watched an old Kenji video and he says to salt beans as you soak them to help with uniform tenderness so I added salt to the Ranch Gordo Domingo Rojo beans
Didn’t have andouille or a ham hock; used North Country Polish-style kielbasa, onion, celery, some frozen bell peppers that we grew last summer, kashmiri chili powder, chinese chili flakes, fresh sage, fresh thyme
Soaked beans for about 5-6 hours; cooked for about 4-5 hours. Beans were tender and kept their shape after about 2 hours but cooked longer to get a creamy texture
Went over to Brian’s parents’ house because his father’s siblings from Boston were in town. They brought Mike’s Pastry but sadly didn’t offer us any. Dolly brought a bottle of blue curacao. We sat around for about 3 hours and listened to Dolly tell stories about how everybody in Charlestown got their nicknames (Suitcase, Jimmy Bundles because he always was carrying a bundle of something because his wife sent him to the meat depot everyday). Boomers love to explain commercials.
April 24, 2026 (Friday)
8am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
11am: Toasted heritage grain sourdough with Isigny butter, made at home.
2:30pm: Whole Foods frozen cheese pizza with Texas Pete hot sauce.
6:30pm: A brownie, made at home.
Whole Foods frozen pizza is soft and bad. Tastes raw even when overcooked.
Didn’t eat dinner. Brian made himself buttered tricolor noodles which took a few hours and involved opening every cabinet in the kitchen. I want to sign up Brian for season 48 of Chopped. He would spend the 30 minutes or however long they have boiling water and rummaging in the pantry then get sent home.
Smitten Kitchen “My Favorite Brownies”
3 ounces (85 grams) unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
1/2 cup (4 ounces or 115 grams) unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
1 1/3 cups (265 grams) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt or 1/4 teaspoon table salt
2/3 cup (85 grams) all-purpose flour
I had 75 grams unsweetened chocolate so I added a tablespoon of cocoa powder
Half butter, half peanut oil
230 g granulated sugar, 15g Dave’s coffee syrup for a total of 245g sugar
Did not develop the shiny, crackly crust; Cooked 25 minutes. My batter and brownies looked exactly like the video. Not great warm – too cakey and flavorless. Best chilled, when it gets nice and dense. Over all nice but I prefer the King Arthur recipe. Brian liked it.
Brian’s parents and aunt and uncle tried to get us to go to zinc house which is a fake trumpy winery that also seems like an underutilized venue. Brian said that he follows a police scanner account that has basically turned into just reporting when people get into accidents when leaving zinc house because it happens everyday; and that we wouldn't be joining them at the fake winery.
April 25, 2026 (Saturday)
9am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
10am: Scrambled eggs with chive blossoms and a slice of toasted heritage grain sourdough with Isigny butter, made at home.
2pm: An iced coffee with half & half from Strong Arm in Oxford, North Carolina.
3:30pm: A crispy chicken sandwich, French fries with ketchup, and black raspberry ice cream from Ethel’s in Keysville, Virginia.
5:30pm: A Krispy Krunchie chicken tender from Parhams Stop in Kenbridge, Virginia.
7pm: Utz bar-b-que corn chips.
Lot of chive blossom consumption this week. Speaking of purple foods, the black raspberry ice cream (gummy) was purple. Do you think they got rid of purple ketchup, which is the tinkie winkie of ketchup, because the Christian powers that be and own our food companies thought it was making children gay
Around 11:30am Brian was sleeping on the couch and jumped up from his sleep to run to the fridge and eat leftover tricolor pasta.
Parhams: cheap gas, Coke Zero tall boys, local dried beans, local pork products, Brew Dr kombucha, Krispy Krunchie chicken. Utz BBQ corn chips were vaguely sweet and expired. People say the sausage and BBQ sandwiches are amazing.
April 26, 2026 (Sunday)
9am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
10am: Leftover red beans over basmati rice, made at home.
2:30pm: Steak with A1 sauce, mixed greens with cranberries, walnuts, and Olive Garden Italian dressing, a small piece of rosemary sourdough with Kerrygold salted butter, two glasses of Malbec, Sara Lee pound cake with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge, a cup of coffee with half & half, part of a Kahlua and soda with lime, and Italian wedding cookies from Mike’s Pastry in Boston at Brian’s parents’ house.
Rotten Food Lion chives
Kahlua and soda
Huge shout out to the guy who continued eating at the white house dinner during the active shooting instead of hiding under the table