Three Things

Easy weeknight meatballs, cocktail napkins I love, a novel that will inspire you to bake

Greetings eaters and readers! Hope you had a lovely weekend, I’ve spent the past few days testing and editing recipes for my next book which you will hear more about very soon. Before we get to that cozy coffee cake up there, a reminder for locals: There are still slots open for next week’s volunteer shift at God’s Love We Deliver. (Tuesday, February 6 from 1:00-4:00, 166 Sixth Avenue at Spring Street. NYC.) Thanks to those of you who have already signed up — I’m very much looking forward to meeting you! ALSO. I wanted to make sure you saw that Liana Finck has a book out for littles….

You Broke It (ages 3-5) is trademark Liana, flipping classic nags to illustrate the silly sanctimoniousness of parents. (“Stop squirming!” — Mom snake to baby snake; “Hurry up!” — Dad turtle to baby turtle.) Finck, author of the graphic memoir Passing for Human and Let Their Be Light, is very popular in our house. She is so good at consistently channeling our inner voices, that I sometimes wonder if she has somehow gained access to my brain — and my daughters’ brains. When I asked Phoebe, who worships Liana, to explain her genius, Phoebe texted: “She detects all these little currents in the air. She pulls the stringy whisps out of cotton balls.” Check out the book here.

And now, your Three Things…

Photo by Jeni Afuso for Make it Japanese, by Rie McClenny, with Sanaë Lemoine.

1. Chicken-Tofu Tsukune (Meatballs)

I’ve been a Weekday Vegetarian for over five years and though now it feels easy, a lot of that is because I’m not cooking for my college-age children on a daily basis anymore. When I was just getting started, with younger kids who weren't always, shall we say, receptive to the plan, I remember how much I appreciated coming across a recipe like these chicken-and-tofu meatballs from Rie McClenny’s wonderful -- and wonderfully accessible -- cookbook Make it Japanese.

…In the recipe, McClenny uses tofu in place of the usual breadcrumbs and to stretch out the chicken. “In Japan it’s common to mix in tofu," she writes. "As it’s more affordable than meat and considered healthier. Since tofu is mild in flavor, it doesn’t affect the taste of the dish. It also gives the meatballs a lovely soft texture and adds moisture to the chicken.” When I was cooking for kids, I was grateful for these kind of transitional recipes, meals that let me dial back meat without eliminating it completely. McClenny and her co-author Sanaë Lemoine, were nice enough to let me share the Chicken-Tofu Tsukune recipe, which is over on Dinner: A Love Story today.

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2. Cocktail Napkin Crush

I love cooking for people, but you know what I like even more these days? Making them a drink and some low-effort snacks, then heading out to dinner in our neighborhood. (Definitely a new thing since we’ve moved to the city.) Because of this new habit, I find myself collecting fun cloth cocktail napkins, and this scalloped-trim line from Schoolhouse is my latest crush. I have them in honey (above) and butterscotch.

P.S. Speaking of drinks and starters, remember this perfect little snack plate? (Baguette, La Tur, radishes, guac and roast vegetable dips.) The kind of Super Bowl spread I can get behind.

3. Should I keep reading? Or bake that drizzle cake?

In early December, a few weeks before my father died, I was tasked with reviewing Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame, a new novel by TV writer Olivia Ford. My deadline would be after the holidays so being the world-class procrastinator that I am, I set the cheerfully packaged advanced copy aside, then promptly forgot all about it. When I finally picked up the book again in the middle of January, it was the day after the “official” period of honoring my father’s life had ended. Besides official, it was of course beautiful and necessary and intense, and on the morning after the last shiva, I didn’t have much energy to do anything but hang around in my pajamas, go through condolence notes and re-read the eulogies my siblings wrote for the funeral. But I reached for Mrs. Quinn, climbed into bed with the dog, and started reading about the adventures of 77-year-old Jennifer Quinn. Quinn, married to loving and loyal Bernard for nearly 60 years, lives a quiet life in a bucolic English coastal town and decides she wants a little something more, so secretly applies to be a contestant in a prime time reality baking show. (Think: Great British Bake Off.) Drama ensues. As do detailed play-by-plays of the most charmingly named British cakes — Tunnocks, Battenburg, Cut and Come Again, etc. It’s not the kind of book I usually read, but on that particular morning, I couldn’t have picked better. And in fact, as soon as I emerged from my bedroom cocoon…

…I had a powerful urge to make the house smell cozy — like cake-in-the-oven cozy. (That should be its own genre!) I didn’t have the bandwidth — or the chops — to pull off one of Mrs. Quinn’s confections, but I did have my favorite Yossy Arefi book of easy bakes. And an hour later the apartment smelled like cinnamon and vanilla and comfort. Here is that recipe. And here is my official review if you want to read more about the novel.

Have a great week,

Jenny

P.S. Thinking about dialing back meat in your house? Here are seven tips for going (mostly) vegetarian at the family dinner table. And here’s a link to your new vegetarian bible, she says humbly.