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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
This episode is going to be all about the rise of brown cars
Danger pudding (20 min boiled condensed milk, moved to the freezer) from #1 listener’s Grandaddy in Black Mountain North Carolina. Asheville’s food scene desperately needs more restaurants that make historic dishes like this
What was pie dough like in the south when they couldn’t chill their fat / dough? Sloppy as hell?
My friends who I went to the mountains with confirmed that Graza mayonnaise is disgusting and tastes like metal but their sister who is somewhat famous is constantly sent Graza mayonnaise so they are forced to eat it
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/gibsons-sued-over-oysters-allegedly-linked-veterans-brain-injury.amp
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-nutrition/a73392025/avocado-oil-products-labeling/
SCENTS
Brian smelled like lollipops from a dr’s office on Wednesday
INTERNET
TIKTOK
Lemon mousse https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8nsEgFC/
Half moons in Syracuse: best is holland farms https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8nGrGWd/
Exhibition onions https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8nGSo4J/
Wrapping cake while warm https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8nGUsyQ/
Marinate hamburgers https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8nvVa9M/
Creamy soup, dark yellow vegetables, low energy beverages https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8WBTekB/
August 10, 2026 (Monday)
9am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home, and a leftover slice of pizza.
11am: Toasted heritage grain sourdough with Danish butter, made at home.
3pm: Half of a can of Narragansett.
6pm: Potato and cabbage casserole, made at home.
7pm: Blueberry coffee cake, made at home.
I hadn’t cooked in five days so I decided to go all out and make a cake and a casserole with what few groceries I had rolling around in my small white fridge
https://www.seriouseats.com/polish-cabbage-potato-bacon-casserole-recipe
2 slices of leftover bacon that I needed to use up and the rest of the sausage from the gas station in Virginia
¾ of a savoy cabbage
1 fat onion from the farmers market
A whole head of garlic that we grew
Deglazed with Narragansett
Panko
Heavy cream
A ton of masquerade potatoes
Foothills Hoop cheese (Foothills Country Ham, 711 Country Ham Lane, Jonesville NC, 28642)
Tastes like clam chowder with unpeeled red potatoes
Have you ever returned from vacation and spiraled out and questioned every life decision you’ve ever made? I hear that this is a phenomenon where people go on vacation and suddenly realize that they can have agency over their own lives and will quit things. Why am I working two jobs just to not even be able to comfortably afford a house or feel like I can even take a vacation without stressing about it? Should I quit my job? Then will I feel even more stressed out?
Defunct train line that these old guys run; they have to run into traffic and stop the cars to let the train cross through busy roads; you cruise by a giant jail on a hill which scared the children and you end up in a hot parking lot which they expect you to stand in for an hour; everyone agreed they would rather just drive back
Agnes Varda’s subversion of a government-sponsored tourism video assignment: Du cote de la cote – I really only want to go to places where I can be with real people who live there and/or have a purpose or a job. I don’t enjoy staying in a random hotel and spending money and being a tourist.
Wanted to combine KA blueberry buckle and sour cream coffee cake recipes because I didn’t like how little butter the buckle recipe had
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/blueberry-buckle-coffee-cake-recipe
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/sour-cream-coffee-cake-recipe
Cake flour
Subbed buttermilk
Added half vanilla to the batter
Used pecans but I probably only had ¼ cup
Added 3c frozen blueberries
Baked 350 for closer to 50 minutes because of the frozen blueberries
Super fluffy and lovely. Could have upped the salt. Blueberries sank to the bottom despite coating in flour. Reconfirms my thought that this would be perfect vanilla cake with frosting.
August 11, 2026 (Tuesday)
9am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home, and leftover potato casserole.
11:30am: A leftover slice of blueberry coffee cake.
2:30pm: A glass of iced black tea and two hard boiled eggs, made at home.
5:30pm: Keftedes with white sauce, made at home.
7:30pm: A small pour of Narragansett.
Keftethes or Keftedes in a battard shape https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8ng6J8S/
6 medium potatoes & 1 white onion, blitzed with milk
1LB ground pork
1tsp beef shawarma spice mix, pinch of dried oregano, pinch of harissa
2 tsp diamond crystal kosher salt
3 eggs
2.5 slices of heritage grain sourdough, blitzed into breadcrumbs
Panko because it was wet; should have drained although the creator said she doesn’t
White sauce or cheat Toum
½ cup Dukes mayonnaise
Splash of buttermilk
Splash of apple cider vinegar
Dash of salt
Dash of sugar
6 grated garlic cloves
1 tsp garlic powder
August 12, 2026 (Wednesday)
8:30am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
11:30am: A spicy chicken sandwich from Food Lion with Cook Out ranch and a glass of leftover iced black tea.
2pm: A small slice of blueberry coffee cake.
3pm: A small bag of Flamin’ Hot dill pickle flavored Cheetos puffs.
5:30pm: Kefthedes with white sauce and mayocoba beans over arugula with Parmesan, La Tourangelle olive oil, red wine vinegar, and black pepper, made at home.
6:30pm: Blue Bell chocolate lava cake flavored ice cream.
Went to Food Lion and bought a box of Funfetti cake and forgot to buy a box of Sprite. I love that I just spent over $100 on local organic flour and then bought a box of Pillsbury funfetti cake.
Went to buy pecans but they are expensive so going to wait until people around us have too many of them falling off their trees
Lava cake ice cream should be banned; Great fudge swirl plus sundae sauce. I would get rid of the chewy cake pieces though. I just don’t love them. I would buy the Blue Bell flavor Homemade in the Shade instead when it comes back.
Served Brian a bowl of Moollenium Crunch and he said wow what is this? I told him he asks the same thing every time, even when I prep him and tell him that it’s the flavor tha the likes.
The 50 cent tiny chip bags that are 2 for a dollar are now 2 for 3 dollars or 66 cents each. We’re basically living in Argentina. These tasted like grass.
August 13, 2026 (Thursday)
9:30am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half and two hard boiled eggs, made at home.
11am: A small bag of Chester’s Hot Fries and a small bag of Ruffles sour cream and cheddar.
2:30pm: Leftover potato casserole and a scoop of Blue Bell chocolate lava cake ice cream.
6pm: Smoked andouille sausage and pesto mayocoba beans with red wine vinegar and arugula, made at home.
Woke up feeling hungover from eating a small bowl of ice cream. Needs to be taken away.
Chester’s hot fries: thank god I only had a small bag
The queso Ruffles are better than the sour cream and cheddar
Suddenly occurred to me that i could make a pesto with all the basil i have
Made a rough purple pesto and a rough green pesto with garlic, parm, olive oil by hand in a mortar and pestle; used a marble mortar and wood pestle per seriouseats recommendation. I wasn’t going to stand there all day until it was smooth. Everyone in the comments says it turns into a black sludge so at least I avoided that.
My mom said it wasn’t real pesto without nuts and I said shut up bitch
August 14, 2026 (Friday)
8am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
10am: A hard boiled egg and leftover pesto beans.
1:30pm: A bag of Andy Capp’s Cheesy Tots puff corn.
3pm: Two hard boiled eggs.
5:30pm: Braised soy tofu over basmati rice, made at home.
6:30pm: A slice of vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream, made at home.
Went to Walmart to buy a can of sprite and you literally have to buy a plastic bottle for $2.58 so I bought a bottle of ginger ale and then saw a vending machine on the way out where you could buy a single can for a dollar.
An inconvenient truth: Walmart is cheaper. But why are chocolate chips almost $8. I read an article a while back that says it’s impossible to make chocolate chip cookies at home that are cheaper than anything you could buy at any bakery at your store and it’s sadly true.
Funfetti cake: half of the box mix with six ounces of ginger ale. Cooked for about 25 minutes or until 210. Smelled like playdoh. Looked strange and spotted. Wasn’t sure if it was worth making buttercream for this. Tasted a corner and threw it away.
Cheese puffs reminded me of Jax with hard spots and cheaper cheese flavor. Barrel or pill shaped which made me think of root beer barrels or donkey Kong or doctor mario.
Tofu https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8nswqFs/
Block of tofu
Red long of Florence onion
2 star anise
Oil
Soy sauce, salt, warm water
Cornstarch slurry
Made the KA sour cream coffee cake base cake with cake flour, buttermilk, and vanilla. Smelled like beautiful buttermilk pancakes. 35 mins at 350 or until the center registered 200.
KA
Broma
Butter
1 stick
1 stick (half oil)
Sugar
Eggs
Vanilla
2 tsp
2 tsp
Flour
Salt
½ tsp
½ tsp
Buttermilk
1 cup
⅔ cup
Per 100g flour Broma has more sugar, fat, and egg; less buttermilk than KA
| | KA | Broma |
| ---------- | --------: | ---------: |
| Sugar | 82.5 g | **86.7 g** |
| Fat | 47.2 g | **63.0 g** |
| Buttermilk | **100 g** | 88.9 g |
Buttercream (scaled down Preppy Kitchen)
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
Small pinch of salt
200g powdered sugar
4 teaspoons heavy cream or whole milk, plus a little more if needed
1tsp teaspoon vanilla extract
Good not great. Huge, fluffy, domed cake. Cake tasted like a coffee cake base rather than a sponge cake obviously. Maybe because I associate this cake base with coffee cake. Should have done half oil. And the buttercream was very soft and there was too much air . Also not as salted. I think I whipped it a little too hard at the end and got too much air in there. Also, I added more cream / liquid this time aka the proper amount. BUT the KA sour cream coffee cake gets better with age so I’m hopeful. The next day it tasted more like a butter-forward wedding cake than a boxed vanilla cake so I threw it away. Next time I would remake the Broma recipe, making sure I cook to 210 to avoid a denser middle, and remake the Preppy kitchen buttercream but with less liquid, avoiding cream so that it doesn’t take on too much air, and use a paddle attachment on a low setting. Plentiful salt in both cake and buttercream. Disappointed but I’m glad I got both the soda cake and my thought that the KA sourcream coffee cake would make the perfect vanilla cake out of my head. I’ve started a google doc where I am updating what the best recipe I’ve made so far for each type of thing is. Chocolate chip cookie, vanilla cake, coffee cake, etc.
Brian’s review: “very moist” and then poured himself a glass of milk
August 15, 2026 (Saturday)
8am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
10am: A sunny egg over leftover rice and pesto beans with North Country applewood smoked bacon, made at home, and a small piece of leftover vanilla cake.
2:30pm: A hot dog with coleslaw, onions, and chili, a honey mustard chicken wrap, and cheese curds from Cook Out in Oxford, North Carolina.
6pm: Two chocolate chip cookies, made at home.
Brian was really into this bacon, It’s pretty good. Crisps up quickly at 15 mins at 425; no fatty, overly chewy areas.
Pesto beans are great because you can eat hot or cold.
https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies/#tasty-recipes-70437
Sally goes above and beyond to make sure her cookies are shaped correctly which makes me feel better about having oddly shaped cookies. She forms them into a mini tower so that they don’t spread too much, and then if they are spreading too much, she takes them out of the oven and reshapes the spread with a spoon, pushing the edges back into itself.
Only had light brown sugar; she uses 255g of chocolate chips but the bag I got was 340
Does using slightly warmed melted butter help melt the sugar and make that glossy, lustrous finish like on a brownie?
Made the dough on Saturday morning to set up overnight, per Sally’s recommendation. Gave Brian a small taste of the dough and he immediately started screaming for more so I could tell this would be good. Baked off two around 5pm to test.
Baked 2 50g cookies at 325 for about 13-14 minutes per instructions; had trouble getting them to brown on the edges so probably ended up baking them for 18 minutes or so. Sally puts chocolate chips in them on top after they bake but that feels weird because the chocolate would end up being a different texture than the others. Decent shape; not quite as crinkly and wrinkly as I would have liked despite making lumpy columns as instructed, but best attempt at what I’ve been looking for so far.
August 16, 2026 (Sunday)
8am: Counter Culture coffee with half & half, made at home.
10am: A sunny egg, fried chili potatoes, Neese’s extra sage sausage patties, and leftover pesto beans, made at home.
2pm: Two chocolate chip cookies and a glass of iced black tea, made at home.
4pm: Japanese curry with ground beef, potatoes, onion, carrot, and peas over basmati rice, made at home.
6:30pm: Two chocolate chip cookies.
Steaming potatoes while the oil heats up
Neese’s extra sage sausage wasn’t too thanksgiving
Had a fresh cookie and a day old cookie side by side. Cookie was perfect the second day.
S&B golden curry extra hot was not hot whatsoever
Even when the cookie columns fell onto their side they still made nice cookies; oblong but still what I was looking for, with fatter outer edge to catch middle
Honorable Mentions (diabetes summer)
Pizza
Green goddess https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8WY8TXF/
Dave’s pizza oven 24 hour dough; yield 1x 12” pizza
117 g bread flour
50 g all-purpose flour
4.3 g salt
0.1 g instant dry yeast
103 g cold water (use crushed ice to get temperature around 45°)
3.3 g olive oil
3.3 g sugar
you are using a stand mixer, here’s my recommendation:
add you water, flour, yeast and sugar
mix on low for about ten minutes, or until the dough reaches 60°
cover and rest for 30 minutes
add the salt and mix for 3 minutes on low
add half the oil and mix on medium until absorbed. Then add the other half
once all the oil is absorbed, drop the speed back down to low until the temperature is roughly 70°
cover and rest for 30 minutes.
do at least one series of stretch and folds and check the window pane test.
Store on the counter for 20 hours, or 12 hours and then chill until ready to use.
Updated version that does a 1-2 day cold ferment.
NYT black & white cookies
NYT crumb cake
Wacky cake with mayonnaise
Iambaker / cupcake project vanilla cake
Chocolate chip cookies
https://www.afamilyfeast.com/copycat-entenmanns-chocolate-chip-cookies/