The best meal I've had in a while
Friday things no. 8
Welcome to the eighth installment of Friday Things — a series where I share a few exciting things I ate, did, or read during the week. Well, it’s not really a series anymore. At this point, the whole newsletter is dedicated to weekly recaps. I’m okay with that if you are!
If you have been enjoying these recaps, please give this one a like! And please feel free to share this newsletter with a friend! The majority of subscribers are people I know IRL, and while I appreciate the support, I would love for more strangers to join the list. What a wild world we live in. One where hundreds of faceless names read about the things I devour during the week. How fun!
So, we’ve been doing these Friday Things for two months now. Their intention was to act as a back-up singer to the Monday issues, but somehow they’re becoming the headlining act. As the semester progressed, coming up with a beefy, compelling piece once a week got tough, but sitting down to write about the things that brought me joy during the week got easier.
I’ve really enjoyed getting to reflect and keep up with you all in this way, but I’m a bit disappointed in myself for not sticking to my plan. I love reading newsletters like my Friday Things. I love watching other people live their lives on the Internet through YouTube vlogs and Instagram Stories. I guess I just feel a little silly sharing mine on the Internet as well. What do I have to say? Is my life that interesting? Who cares? These are the things I ask myself as a writer, but I’ve learned that it’s okay to do things simply because we enjoy doing them.
Thanks for listening to my rant.
Now onto the Things.
🇬🇧 Dame
Matt and I celebrated our last visit of college last weekend by eating at a bunch of great New York establishments. My favorite meal was the one we had at Dame in Greenwich Village. In the second installment of Friday Things, I shared an Eater piece on Dame’s business model, and ever since, I’ve been dying to eat there. It was well worth the wait.
We started with Pimm’s cups (Matt’s drink of choice these days — he knows how to make a great one) and whitefish croquettes that were served with a smoky-spicy dipping sauce. Our server suggested ordering the sourdough and butter to sop up all the sauces — great rec. I had clams for the first time in a long time, which were bomb, and now I’m really looking forward to my dad’s mussels this summer (hey Dad, please make them). The raw scallops with celery root and apple were suuuuper buttery, but my favorite dish was the fish and chips — out-of-this-world crispy and beautiful. Did not snap a pic in time before we tore those apart. For dessert we got something called a posset, which is the Brits’ version of panna cotta. It was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time.
🎂 Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz
Big week in my capstone class. We completed our final workshop of the year so I baked a cake!
I love Claire Saffitz and her cookbook Dessert Person just as much as the next person. Instead of working on my own project on Monday night, I turned to Claire by watching her YouTube videos and baking the recipe on the cover of her book. Sort of. I had to bake it in my loaf tin because I don’t have a springform pan (yet). It turned out beautifully, if I do say so myself, and my classmates and professor were thankful for the snack.
She recently made breadsticks with Emma Chamberlain, and yesterday’s episode was on her PB cookies.
🍞 Bread
In addition to the cake for my capstone class, I also baked tow loaves of bread on Monday. Mom and Dad, you guys are getting a loaf the next time I see you.
This was not my first time baking bread — my sister, our best friend Bridget, and I like to have a bread making date every once in a while #JustGirlyThings — but I was still nervous. I used this recipe from King Arthur Baking Company, which was oh so approachable! Baking with yeast is always a little intimidating, but I have such a large bag of it (like such a large bag) that I feel like I might as well bake yeasty things all summer long. My loaves were far from perfect, but they taste pretty good!
Wow! That bread looks good….