Three Things

10-minute shrimp dinner; a drinkable dressing; books on my nightstand

Greetings eaters and readers! As I type this, my daughter is making dinner for me — some version of her cacio’d Brussels — which was the deal if I ditched work and went prom dress shopping with her instead. (SUCCESS!) Don’t tell her I said this, but as far as I’m concerned, I’d call the whole transaction a major win-win for moi. In other news, last Friday we went out to dinner at our old stand-by and it felt so good to be back supporting local restaurants again. (Tri-Staters: I’ve been loving this outdoor dining guide to NYC.) Without further ado, your weekly trio dispatch…

Spicy Shrimp with Yogurt: Hello Old Friend!

We made this Spicy Shrimp with Yogurt over the weekend because my friend Robin had texted me a photo of it, rediscovering the meal after poking around in the DALS archives. (You would laugh at the percentage of our text thread that is dinner-related. Thank you, Robin!) The meal had not graced our table for a very long time, and it was crazy how much those flavors, that pinch of cinnamon, the cool yogurt cutting the heat, brought us back to such a specific time in our parenting lives, when we spent half our afternoon in a car shepherding the kids and their friends to various activities around the county, Meghan Trainor and Katy Perry on the radio. The other thing I loved so much about the meal? How freaking fast it came together. The hardest thing is making the spice mixture, which isn’t actually hard at all, and after that it’s 10 minutes in the fry pan. Add one of those Near East couscous boxes and you’ve got something pretty special for a regular old weeknight.

[Under the category of Make New Friends But Keep the Old, we served the shrimp with our new favorite salad, a chicory-gorgonzola-hazelnut number, which will be arriving in subscriber inboxes later in the week.]

2. Healthy Afternoon Snacking

That same daughter texted me after school the other day: “Do we have any food?” Yes, I told her, you’ve lived in this house for 17 years, You know we have food. “Eh, I’ll just pick up something on the way home.”

Why do I bother? Seriously.

We have a full fridge, just come home.

“I am really craving that salad.” She meant the one from a local Japanese restaurant that has great lunch deals during the week.

I have everything you need to make that salad.

“Even the dressing?”

Even the dressing!

I totally lied, or so I thought, but I was in the mood for a challenge.

She sent that text at 2:30 and at approximately 2:43, I was drizzling a bowl of greens with this miso-ginger dressing that was maybe the best thing I’ve ever made in my kitchen. Even Abby was like, How on earth did you do this? It tastes exactly right.

Better than bragging rights for mom (in short supply these days) was the fact that I had enough dressing leftover to deploy as a dip for vegetables the next afternoon. It was a satisfying enough snack for me to suppress the usual chip or cookie craving, so now the goal is to have a stash always at the ready. We’ll see how long this lasts.

3. Nightstand Report

My nightstand is looking so fire right now: I am loving Great Circle, by Maggie Shipstead; next up Whereabouts, by Jhumpa Lahiri, then Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner. How much do you love it when your pleasure reading is mapped out for the foreseeable future?? And I might have to add one more to the shopping cart after reading my book reviewer friend Liz’s endorsement of Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot: “A literary thriller about a frustrated writer who steals a plot from a student in his class. He becomes a best seller, his life changes — but someone knows what he did, and they want revenge.” Also! Perks of being married to a book editor: I just finished an advance copy of Elizabeth Strout’s next novel, Oh, William! now available for pre-order — fans of her Lucy Barton series will not be disappointed. Holy moly, why is she so damn good? Every time I read one of Strout’s novels (start with this one if you never have) I want to just run to the computer and try to write the Great American Novel, or I’d even settle for an Above Average American Novel. She makes storytelling look so easy, which is of course the hardest thing in the world to do.

See you in a few days.

P.S. As always, feel free to send me your dinner questions for my next podcast. Record yourself and email the audio file to jenny@dinneralovestory.com with the subject “Podcast Question.”

[Or, just send me an email and let me know what’s up about anything! I always love hearing from you.]

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Have a great week. xxx