Three Things

Quick weeknight dinners, a book for SNL lovers, and (ta-da!) Dinner: A Love Story merch

Greetings eaters and readers and thank you to everyone for the feedback on last Friday’s post about the 30-plus New York restaurants I’m always recommending to friends and visitors. Of course, ever since posting that list, I keep waking up in the middle of the night thinking of a place I forgot to include, so subscribers can expect a part two some time in the near future. For now, I’d like to double down on my endorsement of #9, Frankies, where we celebrated my eldest’s birthday last night — over cavatelli and eggplant Parm and crostini with chicken liver mousse that looked like gelato (trust me that’s a good thing) — and we were reminded of the basic truth that no matter what restaurant question you have, Frankies is usually the answer. In other New York news, the weather was rainy and dank on Sunday but that didn’t stop us from hitting the farm market for shawarma ingredients (my sister and brother-in-law came for dinner), plus a big bunch of kale for Golden Greens Pie (page 113, Get Simple) that I plan to make later in the week. That’s me shopping up there and aren’t you just dying to know what my new market bag says? So glad you asked — that brings us to the first of Three Things I’d like you to know about this week…

1. 🚨 MERCH ALERT! 🚨

But first, a little back story: A few years ago, when both of my daughters had returned from college for the summer, I realized that approximately 80% of what came out of my mouth when I was speaking to them had something to do with feeding them — What should we have for dinner? I got you a bagel. Want to lick the bowl? Want to split the fries? I saved you a slice. I left you the corner piece. I’m making pancakes. I’m making Nana’s chicken. You get the picture. Though it goes a long way towards proving that I picked the right career, I do also worry this behavior is maybe less about the whole “Food is Love” thing and more about “Food as Pathology” thing. Either way, instead of being mortified by this fact, I decided to celebrate it, and today I’m pleased to offer a limited edition Dinner: A Love Story Tote emblazoned with some of my most oft-used food-related utterances. The words might sound familiar to people who follow me on instagram or who were nice enough to show up to Caroline Chambers’s Substack event last fall where I turned it into a poetic reading of sorts, though I use the term “poetic” loosely. (Thank you to those of you who sent me notes afterwards encouraging me to do this.) The tote is for sale as of today — hopefully you can see from the opening photo how roomy and structured it is. I’ve only had it a week but it’s already my favorite market bag.

NEXT! This weekend marks my Dinner Diary’s 27th birthday. For those of you who don’t know the story, on February 22, 1998, I started writing down what meals I cooked every night as a way to organize myself, but also, eventually, as a way to recognize the absurd amount of energy, both physical and psychic, that I poured into the ritual every night. Twenty-seven years, thousands of family dinners, and six cookbooks later, it remains a treasured record of all that’s transpired at the table, at least culinarily speaking. It tells one strand of our family’s story that would have otherwise been forgotten — including how our palates have evolved, who came over and what we served them, what we cooked on Halloween and birthdays and graduations and coming-home-from college nights — and has proven to be an invaluable resource when the what-should-I-make-for-dinner question nags, which, as you know, is often. Over the years, I’ve heard from so many of you who decided to start the tradition yourself, and though you can of course do it in any old lined spiral notebook, why not pick up a journal that was made expressly for this purpose, that gives the whole undertaking a little gravitas and ceremony? The official Dinner: A Love Story Dinner Diary — with your mantra “Dinner is My Love Language” right on the cover — is available in red or orange, and you can click here to order.

Yay! Happy shopping!!!

2. Turkey Chili Appreciation Post

Speaking of that Dinner Diary — I don’t think any recipe has shown up more in its pages than my Turkey Chili, which first ran on DALS in 2010 with the title “My 8-year-old Made This Chili.” The 8-year-old was Phoebe, and the point of the name was to emphasize how straightforward the recipe is, but over the years, it’s mostly served to remind me how freakin fast these kids grow up. (That birthday we celebrated at Frankies last night? It was her 23rd!) Phoebe’s chili was in my first book, Dinner: A Love Story, in the “Nesting and Expecting” chapter, when I was eight-and-a-half-months pregnant and overwhelmed by the urge to stockpile the freezer with homemade dinners. (In my diary, the chili is always accompanied by a little note that says “FREEZER.”) The recipe itself comes from my mother-in-law, hand-written on an index card she gave me when I first got married. Over the years the chili has been three-beaned, beefed, and chickened, and though I crave the chili all year long, its thawing powers shine the brightest in the winter, after, say an invigorating cross-country skiing or snow-shoeing kinda day. All this to say — I updated the chili photo on my 2010 blog post with a 2025 glamour shot (above), so hopefully you’ll see the dinner is still as relevant as ever. The photo of 8-year-old Phoebe remains right where it’s always been, though. Can you blame me?

More dinner options for winter weeknights: Fish Cakes (top); Carolina Gelen’s decadent Butter Beans Alla Vodka (bottom, left); 30-minute Pasta with Broccoli Pesto (bottom, right); and my old fave Tortilla Soup.

3. Attention SNL Fans!

Good news for those of you who loved last weekend’s 50th anniversary SNL special…or the behind-the-scenes four-part SNL documentary or… SNL ITSELF! Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, a biography by Susan Morrison is published today! Full disclosure: My husband Andy was the editor* but when he was working on the book, I could tell it was going to be great because he kept talking about it, kept reading me behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and saying how much fun it was to edit. Michaels, famously enigmatic, launched the careers of countless comedy legends, and even though being a writer or a cast member of the show seems equal parts terrifying and exhilarating, it is so much fun to read about the creative process of the show. Especially since the people you are hearing from are the comedy legends themselves — Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, John Mulaney, Molly Shannon, Bill Hader, and on and on. The access and the storytelling here is awesome — in Andy’s words: “This biography took a decade to write, which is definitely longer than your average book, but it was quite the process of getting access, gaining trust, and then, of course, once Susan was in, figuring how to best use all of the amazing material she amassed.” Susan interviewed everyone, and multiple times. “Turns out, smart funny people make good copy and we had plenty of it.” Order the book.

Have a good week!
Jenny

*If you want an objective review, head over here.

If you liked this post, feel free to click the ❤️ button. It makes my day and also helps spread the word about Dinner: A Love Story. Thank you, readers and eaters!

🥬 🍅 For easy, approachable vegetarian recipes, check out my New York Times bestselling book The Weekday Vegetarians or the follow-up: The Weekday Vegetarians: Get Simple. 🍳🌿