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What I ate last week. Ranked #182 in food podcasts in Mexico according to an email I just got.
NEWS / UPDATES
I was supposed to go to the beach this week but the only road to the outer banks cracked in half. There’s a facebook page for the road where the department of transportation posts updates about how cracked or underwater it is, or that it just washed away, and that’s how I found out. Would have been an interesting episode if I had gotten onto the outer banks and then was stuck there. The episode could have been titled help I’m stuck on an island. The local food Lion was completely empty.
More details about the Justin Timberlake CD that Brian’s mom gave him in his twenties are emerging: it was futuresex/love which samples a laughing snowman in a 2002 Rugrats game for GameCube / PS2
The founding member of *NSYNC, Chris Kirkpatrick, worked at Outback Steakhouse
Wendy’s News: parent company has filed for bancrupcy despite the real housewives collaboration. I used to have a group text with my sister and Brian called Wendy’s news where we would just text each other Wendy’s updates but I can’t find it anymore
Food memory: the last time I ate hibachi (in NJ circa 2009)
https://northwoodstable.substack.com/p/the-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe?r=1v8n6k&utm_medium=ios
Magnesium Glycate gummies
SCENTS
On Tuesday Brian smelled like the small square you could get in the 90s from the Disney store that would turn into a wash cloth when you put it in water. Remember the pill that would turn into a dinosaur? There was also something soap adjacent that this is reminding me off. Paper soap?
On Friday Durham smelled like cigarettes on the beach
On Saturday my house smelled like a bag of hamburger buns
Scent: Trudon Midnight Omen
Official description: https://trudon.com/us_en/midnight-omen-eau-de-parfum-100ml.html
My blind review: Waiting for my mom to pick me up from ballet class, Pantene shampoo, my mom and aunt’s hairspray in the 90s, Bubble Yum watermelon flavored gum, Bath & Body Works watermelon scented body glitter roll-on from the late 90s, a stiff leather chair, a Goody hair brush with the rubber, puffy center, waiting somewhere
You could wash your hair with Pantene Pro-V and chew Bubble Yum watermelon gum to emulate this scent for around $15
The next day it faded into something dreamy on my sweatshirt. Good staying power. I like it but only the next day so I would need to plan in advance if I wanted to wear it out and I’m afraid of it being too sexy for any activity that I would participate it ie going to the office, going to the grocery store, standing in line to buy a sandwich
INTERNET
General Internet
Game recommendation: Map tap except I do get scared when you have to scroll over the part of the ocean where there isn’t any land
I keep hearing people in media talk about cooking ground turkey. This is something I’ve never purchased or consumed. I’m intrigued. Is it good? Or are you just buying it because you think you should? Because ground chicken is nasty.
Google Maps
Sip https://maps.app.goo.gl/PJbLRq5ntvgHjuiR6?g_st=ic
TikTok
Barney greengrass, then juniors, then orwashers https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8TSWDc9/
My mom always insisted on eating at juniors in grand central terminal when we would visit New York as a family to see my uncle or a show
Dutch crunch bread https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8TSgJ2n/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_bread
Struck by lightning https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8TAd2CV/
Jim’s steak out violent incidents https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8TDkGXv/
Sunkist fruit gems are being discontinued. Biggest shock is that they are associated with synagogue events and celebrations which makes sense because they are kosher. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8TXvLve/
September 21, 2026 (Monday)
9am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
11am: Leftover eggplant parmesan.
3pm: A bowl of cornflakes with milk.
5:30pm: Bertagni Buffalo milk ricotta spinach ravioli with mushrooms, sage, and pecorino romano, made at home.
7pm: Arcor filled hard candies.
8:45am a white van drives up onto my lawn and to my front door and a guy gets out and whips his dick out to piss so I bang on the glass door that I’m standing in front of. HELLOooo. Can you see me. I opened the door and said hey what are you doing. He was there to vacuum up all the plastic particle debris they left everywhere and Brian called to make them come back. Why would you piss all over something you’re trying to vacuum up? Maybe he thought he could piss it all down the hill.
Almost burnt my house down because I went outside to garden and forgot that I was heating up eggplant parm in a skillet. The bottom was completely black but kind of like in a detroit pizza burnt cheese kind of way and it was delicious.
Beautiful mushroom sauce with thickly sliced mushrooms, seared in olive oil, then half an onion and two garlic cloves, three chiffonaded sage leaves, deglazed with a bit of chicken stock and finished with some butter.
Made Alison Roman’s classic tiramisu again
Ordered savoiardi lady fingers because I only have access to that one brand at whole foods that is sold in inexplicably small quantities. These absorb so much more liquid than the kind at whole foods.
Brewed extra strong coffee, added hamilton rum and Dave’s coffee syrup
Accidentally added an extra 25g of sugar to the whipped cream so I added some salt to balance it out but this recipe isn’t too sweet to begin with so I thought it would be ok
Added cocoa powder in the middle layer per a commenter’s suggestion
September 22, 2026 (Tuesday)
9am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
9:30am: Leftover eggplant parmesan.
1pm: Burrata over Christmas lima beans.
3pm: A piece of Tony’s milk chocolate.
6:30pm: Potato and cauliflower curry over basmati rice, made at home.
7:30pm: A slice of tiramisu, made at home.
Sliced off a piece of eggplant parm and seared it on all sides like a brick. This has been tasting better with age like the tiramisu. Also like the moussaka. Is this the rule with sliceable things made in pyrex dishes?
Potato and cauliflower curry
One thinly sliced onion, browned in oil with a whole head of garlic
Kashmiri chili powder, curry powder, harissa spice blend, chinese chili flakes
13oz container of Cirio passata, 2 cups chicken stock, water, chicken bouillon
3 medium potatoes
A whole head of cauliflower plus green leaves, cut into florets and quartered, tossed in oil and harissa spice blend and roasted at 425 for 20 mins
Finish with cream
Tiramisu was better than last time. The extra strong coffee definitely helped to boost the coffee flavor. Extra 25g sugar and pinch of salt? Savoiardi lady fingers?
September 23, 2026 (Wednesday)
8:30am: A glazed donut, half of a maple cruller, and an iced coffee with half & half from Bright Spot in Raleigh, North Carolina.
9:30am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
11am: Leftover eggplant parmesan.
12pm: Three hard boiled eggs.
2pm: A small slice of tiramisu.
6pm: Leftover curry over rice.
7:30pm: A slice of tiramisu.
Had to drive Brian!!!!!! to work at 5:30 in the morning so I stopped at Bright Spot donuts since I’m never in Raleigh that early and I’ve always been need to go especially because I interviewed to be the donut maker there before they opened.
I saw a school bus driving in the dark. Imagine a school bus pulling up to your house in the dark to pick you up. Never thought that this could happen. Never considered it as a possibility.
It’s in an area of Raleigh that feels like when they revitalize an old Naval port or waterfront and build a bunch of hotels and condos. The building itself is on a corner and the front door faces industrial train tracks so there’s no way to come upon this building. You really have to drive out of the way and while you’re driving there, everybody’s parked on the other side of the street so only one car can go down the street at the top at a time so you have to wait and pull over constantly. It feels really dangerous and I don’t understand that aspect of smaller cities for everybody just parks on either side of the street leave no room to actually drive and parks in either direction so you don’t know if it’s a one-way street or not people just park backwards on the opposite side of the street for some Reason.
Flavors included, plain glazed, sugar, and spice. A peach jelly filled a Boston cream, a maple crawler, a chocolate frosted with sprinkles some sort of berry glaze and I don’t remember the others, but that was about it. I wanted the chocolate glaze, but I didn’t want sprinkles. Cruller pronunciation. Sometimes they have a coffee cream.
When I first interviewed with them, they said that they wanted to emulate the donut shop of Carolina Beach that just sells plain glazed donuts, and milk and coffee and they wanted to keep it simple. I think they accomplish that. They taste like the donuts that we used to make pies and thighs a little bit elevated but simple my uncle used to be the pastry chef at dough in New York and it kind of reminds me of those donuts too would always get the passionfruit with cacao nibs. I got the plain glazed to compare to the Carolina Beach donuts which is called Brit’s. I like this donut better I thought that Bree was a little bit too clearly sweet even though it was hot and fresh like a Krispy Kreme. I wanted to get a cake donut to compare, but they didn’t really have any so I got the cruller which was maple glaze, but had a really lemony flavor that was kind of confusing.
Came home and fed daddy another tablespoon of milk and then sang him a lullaby (dirty pop) which was the first nsync song that guys my age liked and I was like wow I guess nsync can be for guys too; which is exactly what Brian’s mom thought when she gave him the Justin Timberlake CD
Added baking soda to hard boiled egg water per a tiktok experiment and it did make it easier to peel the eggs. Apparently it’s because the baking soda alters the ph and makes the shell / membrane softer
Eat eggs all day like a snake. Sooo hungry when I wake up early. Stacy eating a lime. Maybe it’s because I haven’t eaten meat all week but thinking back to waking up early for work and school and being hungry all day
September 24, 2026 (Thursday)
9am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
10am: Leftover curry over rice.
11:30am: Two hard boiled eggs.
1:30pm: A slice of tiramisu.
5pm: Orzo with mushrooms, baby kale, and burrata, made at home, a small pour of Wooden Robot Pilmatic, and a small pour of Deep River Brewing Czech Party Mix.
Brian had 100 second graders come visit the NC State student farm and they asked him if he lived there and why he was so dirty
Do you have a YouTube channel
How are plants alive
Do people work here
Do you think people remember this place after they stop working here
Was supposed to go to the Outer Banks but the only road to get to the island cracked in half. There’s a facebook page for the road (NC-12) and DOT posts super regular updates there. The only time I’m going to praise facebook.
Orzo: olive oil, mushrooms, half a yellow onion, 8 cloves garlic, 7 sage leaves
Toasted the orzo, deglazed with chicken stock and cooked the orzo slowly
Added baby kale, salt, butter
Temped a burrata to split for serving over the top
Wooden Robot pilmatic was a lot dryer and more bitter and I preferred it although both were good for American pilsners from random small breweries in North Carolina. Tasted like some sort of cocktail that I can’t quite pin down but the word tiki flashed in my head.
September 25, 2026 (Friday)
8am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
2pm: Hot tea, steamed ong choy, beef and onion steamed dumplings, chongqing pulled noodles, and broccoli and tofu in brown sauce at Asian Kitchen in Durham, North Carolina.
5:30pm: Half of an Italian sandwich and half of a brown butter chocolate chip cookie from Ideal’s in Durham, and a can of Wooden Robot Pilmatic.
7pm: A small slice of tiramisu.
Asian kitchen life is bitchin
Macaroni grill colored walls; Etruscan reddish orange brown
Blimpee’s in Butner
Saw a loose semi truck head zooming down the highway. Makes me think of an image of a flaming screaming skull
Room full of seashells and 80s neo art deco pastel living room decor while a man followed us around the whole time. Every Google map review is “yes, the owner does in fact follow you around the whole time”
The guy was watching or listening to something that sounded like a soap opera co but it was two robot voices talking to each other
Savoiradi lady fingers at ideal’s. Small eggplant parm was $16
Brown butter cookie was deeply disappointing. Flavor was good, covered in salt, but deeply dry and overcooked in my opinion. Very brown. Skimpy chocolate. Somehow tastes like water.
September 26, 2026 (Saturday)
8am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
10:30am: Two sunny eggs over fried harissa potatoes, made at home.
1:30pm: A slice of chocolate chip pumpkin bread, made at home.
5pm: Cheese and onion pizza, made at home, and a can of Wooden Robot Pilmatic.
Pancake Princess best pumpkin bread
Whole Foods was having a sale on pumpkin puree so I got 2 cans
https://www.thepancakeprincess.com/best-pumpkin-bread/
actually insane that she posted this video at the exact same time I was making this bread. She made this recipe which uses a whole can of pumpkin and reduces the oil for a taller loaf, plus streusel https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8Ttmp2m/
https://www.thebutterlab.com/blog/pumpkincake
228 grams all-purpose flour
I did 100g cake flour, 128g AP
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons nutmeg, freshly grated
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
I subbed allspice because that’s what I have
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (255 grams) pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil, such as safflower or sunflower
1 1/3 cup (265 grams) granulated sugar, plus more for topping
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2 tablespoons raw pepitas (optional)
Did not use because mine are already toasted
ADDED 82g Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
Top with 2tb sugar
Mine took about an hour and twenty five minutes to reach 205 in the center
Great with coffee. Reminds me of watching my grandmother eat cake and coffee before I was allowed to eat coffee and imagining how good it would be. I like how the oil keeps it very moist while allowing for nice browning and crispness on the outside but I agree that it’s too oily
Chocolate chips are a must in my home growing up.
Dave’s pizza oven easy dough recipe; scaled to yield 2 x 12” pizza; I want to add that I use parchment because I don’t have a proper paddle
234g bread flour
100 g all-purpose flour
216 g cold water
9 g salt
1g instant dry yeast (.03%)
6.6 g sugar
6.6 g olive oil
SUPER EASY process compared to the 24 hour dough instructions: Autolyse, mix by hand for 5-7 mins, three stretch and folds every 30 until windowpane, divide into two balls into oiled containers, then fridge for 1-2 days.
2 day ferment was better than one. Tried to do an anchovy pizza with nice tin of Mouettes d’arvor anchovies that I got at ideal’s but didn’t realize they were whole so just served them in the side.
Chuckie cheese pizza
September 27, 2026 (Sunday)
8am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
9:30am: Leftover cheese pizza.
1pm: A spicy chicken sandwich with bacon and Cajun fries with ranch at Cook Out in Oxford, North Carolina.
3:30pm: A slice of pumpkin bread.
6:30pm: Buttered popcorn with black pepper and garlic powder, made at home.
Such a perfect day and I had just cleaned the inside of my car so we decided to eat at the picnic shelter in a park that we refer to as the place where the guy tried to drop his child with us off at because of the time we ate Cook Out there with Gabe and a man came up to us and asked if we were there for the child’s birthday party and tried to leave his daughter with us. We were the only people in the park.
They didn’t give me cheese curds. They thought I ordered double fries. Double fries is the same amount as one order of fries apparently.
The park also has an indoor basketball court where Brian played basketball growing up on a team called cici’s flower shop. There was only one other local team and it was also named after a local business and they only played each other
Honorable Mentions
Burgers: Standard, Kingfisher, Players Revenge, Bar Virgile
Roman Ball or dry pizza, or just pizza crust, or dry, free-form focaccia
Quarter recipe: 250g bread flour, 200g water, 1g yeast, 5g oil, 6g salt
Knead all the flour with 150g of water and the yeast until the glutinous mesh is created (6-7 minutes)
Start adding the rest of the water (50g) flush and a little at a time.
With the last dose of water, the salt and eventually the oil.
Place the dough in an oiled container and after 20 minutes make a fold inside the container.
Leave at room temperature for about 3 hours and then transfer to refrigerator for about 24 hours.
Divide the dough to the desired size, form the rolls closing them well and let rise again until doubled (5-6 hours at a temperature of 18 degrees).
Roll out, sprinkle with plenty of oil and cook at 500 degrees for about 7-8 min.
Green goddess https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8WY8TXF/
Eclair cake https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8WpJYC7/
NYT crumb cake
Wacky cake with mayonnaise
Iambaker / cupcake project vanilla cake
https://www.cupcakeproject.com/ultimate-vanilla-cake-recipe/#recipe
Chocolate chip cookies
https://www.afamilyfeast.com/copycat-entenmanns-chocolate-chip-cookies/