Three Things
Seafood made simple, five easy weeknight dinners, and omg I really need wallpaper help
Greetings eaters and readers! Guess what? I actually left my new neighborhood last week and went downtown to meet my friend Evelyn at Buvette — an old favorite haunt, and still the easiest reservation to snag when compared with its also-beloved sister restaurants, I Sodi and Via Carota. In other news, today’s book recommendation (brought to you by my editor-husband Andy) is The Maniac, by Benjamín Labatut. It’s a novel centered on the life of scientist John von Neumann, a Jewish-Hungarian mathematician, physicist, and computer scientist, and Andy called it “mind-blowing” and “weirdly prescient” in this brave new AI world of ours. Labatut, who also wrote the National-Book-Award-nominated When We Cease to Understand the World, is Chilean and this is his first book written in English.* One more thing before your Real Things…subscribers! I finally organized the last two years’ worth of Monday-to-Friday Dinner Plans, as well as Seasonal Recipe Indexes, in one place: On the right margin of my home page. Special thank you to reader Cherie for requesting this. Reminder that meal plans are the second most exciting reason to subscribe to this newsletter — the first is the THRILL you get from supporting an emotionally needy writer. And now…sound the trumpets, your Three Things…
*Related: More books for science lovers
1. A Proper Sunday Dinner
September, as always, was a busy month, compounded — in a good, happy, lucky way — by our move to Manhattan. Which is probably why this past Sunday, our first completely free day in what felt like weeks, Andy turned to me and said “Why do I feel like I still don’t know my own kitchen?” I knew what he meant, I’ve been using it more than him, but my cooking has definitely been different in the apartment. Cooking for two, instead of four, is obviously a big change from the summer — without the beasts girls around to feed, we have become Olympic-level last-minute planners. The stakes feel lower, so it’s often glorified eggs or a vegetarian soup that at least one voracious child would've responded to with “so what’s the next course?” Another difference? We are now surrounded by so much excellent takeout and prepared food that I feel almost guilty if I’m not tapping away on that Seamless app I finally downloaded. It also means I’m very into halfway-homemade cooking — I’ll pick up a few falafel balls at Sido, or some vegetable fritters at Zabar’s (they were good!), or a poached salmon at Citarella then build dinner around them. Last week, I flaked that salmon, tossed it with cooked black quinoa, corn kernels, slow-roasted tomatoes, chopped basil, and a creamy dressing (just one dollop of mayo in my all-purpose dressing did the trick) and, to call my own number, our dinner absolutely slayed. Official recipe coming soon, but it seems so self-explanatory, that maybe you don’t even need it.
All this to say, since Sunday was free, we were determined to be intentional about Sunday Dinner, doing a proper stock-the-pantry-and-fridge grocery shop, then picking up apples, delicata squash, lots of greens and a beautiful piece of tuna at the 79th Street Greenmarket. As luck would have it, Eric Ripert’s new book Seafood Simple had just arrived in the apartment, so it didn’t take long to figure out how to turn that tuna into dinner. The book lives up to its title, which is an extraordinary task given that Ripert, the Michelin-starred chef from New York’s Le Bernardin, is universally regarded as the LeBron James of Fish. (Or given how long the chef’s been at it — decades — maybe we should be saying that LeBron is the Eric Ripert of basketball?) The book completely demystifies seafood preparation, organizing the recipes by technique — poached, steamed, fried, broiled, etc. — with helpful step-by-step photo tutorials scattered throughout. It’s really a must-own for anyone serious about seafood, or come to think of it, for anyone who is intimidated by seafood and is looking for a little hand-holding. It's one of the few books that is appropriate for both kinds of home cook. Exhibit A: This absurdly easy, restaurant-style herb-crusted tuna.
2. Five Easy Dinners
Are you right now thinking Wait, we’re only on Thing 2? Me too! There’s been a lot of chit chat, so here we go with a lightning round of ideas for quick weeknight dinners: The Green Enchiladas from The Weekday Vegetarians (Page 105) which I just made for the first time in months — I forgot how unbelievably easy they were. If you’re feeling pasta, how about the very fall-forward Rigatoni with Honeynut Squash and Chard, which is almost like a creamy cacio e pepe that’s been stuffed with vegetables omg so good; Braised Beans with Burrata and Pesto, always the right answer! Or, meat-eaters, how about starting with my go-to Spicy Chicken Pieces then proceeding in the taco or salad or burrito direction? It’s your dinner and it’s your call!
3. Help Me Pick My Kitchen Wallpaper
The dining area in our new place is still very much a work in progress — we are installing light fixtures next week, and the old kitchen table is standing in while we wait for our new one to arrive hopefully in time for Thanksgiving. (The new table is tulip-style with a walnut top, and 70 inches long because it will have to do double duty as both a kitchen and dining room table. And an office. And a conference room. You get the picture.) In the meantime, I’m entertaining the idea of maybe some wallpaper behind the banquette to create an accent wall. I say “maybe” because I’ve looked at approximately one million patterns and I feel like I just cannot make a decision. It’s overwhelming! These are my four leading contenders — as you can see, I am ALL OVER THE MAP.
Cole & Son’s Nuvole (top left) I love this in “Dawn,” but worry it might be too cold; we are also considering it for our daughters’ bedroom; Graham & Brown’s Cascade (top right) Andy thinks it’s too busy and I think I agree, but I keep coming back to it so that’s gotta mean something; Arrows Kraft Wallpaper (bottom, right) I love the grasscloth texture here, we had this pattern in pink in my old den, and it transformed that room; Graham & Brown’s Forsythia Sunshine (bottom left) How cool would it be to feel like spring all year long?
What do you think? Should I pull the trigger on one? Or if you have specific wallpaper suggestions, feel free to post the link.
Just please, please, tell me what to do.
Have a great week,
Jenny
I love the busy green. There's something lush about it. Second choice would be the grass paper. Those warmer colors feel like they'd shed a lot of love on the walnut table top.
The yellow wallpaper. The orange will eventually cause headaches, the flowers may induce hallucinations and the clouds are too wispy, making people daydream instead of eat. The yellow is uplifting, steadying and just bright enough for a dark winter day. Wow! I didn't know I had so many opinions about wallpaper!