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Last Saturday I hosted another BACKYARD dinner and this time it was filled with strangers. The majority were people that I had not met in real life. I knew them only by their Instagram icons and user names. We have exchanged DMs over the last few years about various things and although they know me pretty well, I didn’t really know anything about anyone. Surprisingly there was nothing weird about this. I got to see what they looked like in real life, find out how they found my page, spend the evening chatting, and feed them! This is what I was hoping would come out of these dinners and it is deeply satisfying.
I haven't felt like communicating much over the last few weeks. No front-facing Instagram stories, barely any posts, and I’m not sure what to even write about here. I have kept things a little hush-hush from the internet and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Scroll down and you’ll find the recipe for the Grilled Summer Salad I served last week. Enjoy the last bits of summer, eat a melon!
Does That Crisper Drawer Even Do Anything? – I honestly had no clue what the crisper drawer did or how to properly use it. Now, I have to adjust the vents.
Bite Sized – New newsletter I’m loving. All about the food scene in LA and beyond.
When is Dinner, By State – Neat! Dinner in our house is between 5-7:30 and the time is heavily influenced by the season. Winter we tend to eat earlier and summer we eat later. The older I get the more I love an early dinner reservation at 5:30.
Food adjacent, Ever wonder what Molly Baz’ house looked like? Here it is. A tour from her husband Ben Willet, who designed it. I like seeing all the little things like water-stained carpet and blue tape on the floor.
I binged the whole series in two days…
Quarter Sheets Pizza – Lives up to the hype 100p and you have to order princess cake.
A cast iron grill basket! This pan rocks. It’s a cast iron skillet from Lodge with a bunch of holes in the bottom which allow flame and smoke to reach whatever is in the pan. I used to throw green beans on the grate and just accept there would be a few beans lost. Now I don’t lose any!
Move over Wordle, I’m currently obsessed with Connections.
Grilled Summer Salad
I’m sending out this recipe written very loosely. No hard cook times and no strict measurements. This is a salad recipe and (most) salads don’t really need a recipe. This is composed of all the best summer vegetables–peppers, zucchini, cucumber, corn, and tomatoes. These veggies get grilled because everything is better grilled but they’re all in season and bursting with flavor. You can make this salad without a grill and chop the veggies up raw. That salad will be crunchier and just not smoky.
I do something interesting here and I grill olives, it’s just for fun. They get a little char, a little softer, and a little more flavor. At first, I did it with an all-metal mesh strainer placed directly on hot coals. Then I upgraded to the grill basket above and it made the process significantly easier.
We ate these leftovers for two days and every time I was impressed by how tasty they were. This is the final stretch of summer so make it now while the produce is still in its prime. Enjoy!
