Three Things
A summery rice bowl, a tomato-plum salad, and how to teach yourself to pay attention
Greetings eaters and readers. Hope you had a nice weekend. We spent it bingeing Dept Q and adding a few more Lazy Patio Dinners to our repertoire, both of which I strongly recommend. And next week is busy in the best possible way: I have tickets to Swan Lake at Lincoln Center, Romeo and Juliet at Tanglewood — and this Hark-Taste summer podcast event is very much on the radar for July 23 in Brooklyn. It’s a live taping of the Bon Appetit Bake Club featuring some big names in food like Padma Lakshmi, Jesse Szewczyk, Hailee Catalano and Chuck Cruz. How cool does that sound? Lastly, some housekeeping: If you want to get in touch with me, the best way is by messaging me directly through Substack. The worst way is replying directly to these newsletters — there is a 99% chance they’ll get lost in the spam shuffle. (This is another way of saying, I’m sorry if you’ve reached out that way and haven’t heard back from me!) And now, Three Things I’m excited to share with you this week…
1. Keeper Alert: Rice Bowl with Grilled Fish
I’ll never forget a few years ago when our friend Hisham came over for dinner and, just as he sat down at the table, described a tingling feeling he was experiencing around his chin. He told us not to worry, this was a sensation that happens to him whenever he knows he’s about to eat something delicious. I don’t even remember what was on the menu — I was experimenting with chickpea flour fritters, so some version of that — but I do remember thinking, man this is the best guest, or maybe the best human, ever. And the thing is, I kind of know what he’s talking about. Most of the time, when I’m making dinner, I have a general idea where I’m headed, but sometimes ingredients inspire a little off-road discovery, and I start taking notes because I just have a sense (no tingling, more like a gut feeling) that the recipe is going to be a keeper. That’s what happened last week when we snagged a steelhead trout (local in the Berkshires where we were staying) and as Andy was grilling it up fairly simply, I started thinking about a Swedish smorgasbord plate I had last year in Minnesota…and how good that smoky fish would be with dilly, creamy, mustardy, pickley things. Before long, serving the fish on top of rice with yogurt-mustard-dill sauce and pickled onions almost felt like a foregone conclusion and as soon as we finished, scooping up the last of the rice that had been accidentally, fortuitously soaked in the dill-forward sauce, I was already plotting when we’d make it again. We did — the second time with salmon — only a few days later.
Grilled Salmon* Bowls with Yogurt-Dill Sauce & Pickled Onions
*Or Steelhead Trout if you can find it. You can download the recipe here:
Important: Please note, you will have to make the Quick-pickled Red Onions ahead of time.
2. Summer Salad of the Week
You know what I tend to forget? That a tomato is a fruit and that, because nature knows what it’s doing, it pairs beautifully with other fruits that are peaking at the very same time, minimal intervention required. No doubt when I say that, your brain hurtles towards some version of the ubiquitous tomato-peach-mozzarella salad, and I’m not in any way throwing shade on that one, but allow me to suggest something simpler and maybe slightly more special: A tomato-plum salad. Last summer, I had the honor of trying this dream-team combination at a Gem Wine (RIP) rooftop pop-up, and as you can see, even though I still haven’t recreated it, I’m still thinking about the salad a full year later. The cherry tomatoes were as sweet as sugar and tossed with the kind of deeply-colored-fleshed plums that you feel lucky to score once a season. So as soon as I can procure that kind of plum, I plan to slice it into thin wedges and toss with yellow cherry tomatoes, the tiniest bit of sherry vinegar, a drizzle of good olive oil, and a flurry of basil. That alongside a weeknight Tortilla Española? Now we’re talking.
3. Just Ten Images
“We literally just had this conversation yesterday,” my daughter, Abby, said to me over salmon salad the other night, when I asked her about…uh…one of her classmates? Her travel plans? Her move to DC next month…I can’t remember! Ugh, I’m so forgetful these days, and I use the word “forgetful” because it sounds so much less clinical than the term experiencing memory loss. I’m comforted by the fact that forgetfulness seems to be common among many of my friends of a certain age. “Has anyone read Covenant of Water?” texts one of my college roommates on our group chat, and we all go back and forth with opinions about Abraham Verghese and eventually Cutting for Stone until someone says “GUYS. We talked about this last year when the book came out!” We like to blame it on menopause because we like to blame everything on menopause, but I feel like the problem is less about memory and more about just not paying attention. For me, at least.
This realization became clear to me when I read an essay by Ash Parsons in Suleika Jaouad’s The Book of Alchemy, a collection of prompts and essays for journal writers*. Parsons’ essay is called “Just Ten Images,” (it’s also online) and is about a practice she began when her third son was in the NICU, a period that was so intense and all-consuming, she wasn’t able to keep up her daily journaling ritual. Instead, she took mental snapshots that she’d write down later. Her prompt for us: “Recall the last twenty-four hours, and observe the moments, mental pictures, scenes, or objects that pop up. Choose ten, and write them down.”
This sounds easy, but is actually very hard. When I was on vacation last week, I tried to do it every morning, flexing my memory muscles and scribbling in a new journal dedicated to “Just Ten Images” while I had my coffee, and usually couldn’t make it past six or seven. Pretty soon, though, I started to recognize the point of the exercise: I’d be thinking about the images throughout the day, and therefore paying more attention to the details of what was happening around me. (I guess this is what the professionals call mindfulness.) My daughter duck-facing in Fairway’s self-checkout camera. The pair of goldfinches flying in their distinct wave-like pattern across a rural road upstate. The man who replied, “Stay out of trouble” to a woman using a walker, after she thanked him for holding the door. The heated, granular would-you-rather conversation Abby had with her cousins around the Fourth-of-July dinner table. (Would you rather never kiss again or never have sauce again? 😂) Obviously, none of these daily observations is extraordinary. But, as Parsons says, it doesn’t matter. “The value doesn’t lie in the image, but [your] attention to it.” And when we pay attention, I like to think we’re less likely to forget. What do you think? Would you try this?
Have a great week!
Jenny
*You’re thinking: “Jenny, we literally just had this conversation”
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For more easy, approachable vegetarian recipes, check out my New York Times bestselling book The Weekday Vegetarians and the follow-up: The Weekday Vegetarians: Get Simple. 🍳🌿
I just read Lisa Genova's "Remember" for book club and "Pay Attention" is her first and loudest tip. For the rest, you must read at least the appendix of her book. Good stuff- story and science but not too science! (Also yum)
We had elaborate (fun but exhausting!)Advent traditions that as our kids became adults changed into daily questions in December. We learn so much about their adults selves, and have begun to include partners (when they make the cut...) - some are the "would you rather" version, others are just general questions. I am going to add the snapshot-type idea for 1-2 days to add some variety - maybe people just give a simple list of 5, or send 5 images. Thanks so much for the idea!