Three Things

Dinner ideas for tonight, Father's Day gifts, there is no frigate like a book

Greetings eaters and readers! We have escaped for a long New England weekend with the girls while we have them home from college (more details coming soon), and have been dong a whole lot of what you see in that photo: reading and chilling and ogling at the water. (FYI Abby is reading Demon Copperhead, definitely the best book I’ve read this year, and Phoebe, my graphic novel obsessive, is way down the Lynda Barry rabbit hole.) In other news, I recorded a podcast for Matt Rodbard’s Taste — which should be your go-to listen to hear cookbook writers, normal writers haha, chefs, and food personalities discuss their work. Matt, a cookbook writer himself, is a great interviewer and we had fun talking about my next book, some favorite novels, and also…about moving out of my house and neighborhood after twenty years! You can listen here. Here are your weekly Three Things…

1. Dinner Ideas for Tonight

I think Hetty McKinnon wrote her latest cookbook Tenderheart expressly for me. Every recipe, every page seems to be calling my name. I wrote a little more about it on Cup of Jo as well as her Cabbage Carbonara-ish, where miso stands in for the bacon in the umami role. I’ve made the dish twice since then — once for dinner guests — doubling the cabbage the second time around. Hetty, you’re a genius! Other meals for your dinner table consideration this week: The always popular 15-minute Spicy Shrimp with Cilantro and Lime. Or if the temperature is soaring, make a batch of Chilled Avocodo-Cucumber Soup in the morning and serve it with grilled vegetables or a blue cheese and arugula salad? There is always my Wheat Berry Salad with Grapes, Arugula, Feta, which I haven’t made it way too long (in the The Weekday Vegetarians) or Lentil Salad with Jammy Tomatoes and Homemade Yogurt Flatbread (page 222, The Weekday Vegetarians); Or, the old faithful golden Chicken Cutlet perhaps alongside a peanutty Sugar Snap Pea Salad?

I picked up some gorgeous mushrooms at the farmer’s market, which makes me crave my polenta with mushrooms and chili glaze. That recipe is also in my book, but you can definitely get the gist of it from this reel I made last year.

2. Father’s Day Gifts: A Lightning Round Edition

For the barbecue guy, a Grilling Basket or some fancy Grilling Planks; for the dad whose idea of heaven is a book and a hammock: The Wager, the newest historical thriller from master of suspense David Grann; For the dad who is obsessed with his Merlin app, the iconic Peterson Field Guide to North American Birds; For the dad who obsesses over his pour-over apparatus: A variety pack of Joshua Tree Coffee Co or a two-pack of Grady’s Cold Brew bean bags; A BMX igloo cooler for the tailgating dad (or the dad who’s always screeching to a stop on the country road to pick up cheese and meat); For the gourmet dad who likes a deep-dive: the gorgeous giftable Middle Eastern Pantry, about the staples that make up the cuisines of Turkey, Tunisia, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Armenia, Jordan, and more (with recipes), written by Lior Lev Sercarz, who runs the famous spice store in New York…

A round challah for Rosh Hashana, 2022 — not necessary to shape it this way for the rest of the year!

Or, if you are lucky enough to have a dad like mine, for whom good bread is almost a religion, you can bake him a golden-raisin studded challah and deliver it to him while it’s still warm. Happy Father’s Day!

3. There Is No Frigate Like a Book

I love that at my daughter’s college, the English Department gets swag that’s just as good as the sports teams. Phoebe came home with this T-shirt, which she designed — she fell hard for Emily Dickinson this semester. “How frugal is the chariot that bears the human soul?” How great is that?

Have a great week!

Jenny