Cooking Stuff #122

15 things about me

Welcome to Cooking Stuff. I’m Marcella. This is a place where I talk about all things food, cooking, and my life. If you are not a subscriber, hit that button below to join us. And, yes, original recipes from me will be coming back soon. When? I don’t know but soon, promise!

For the last few months, I have been spending time getting to know myself. The 29-year-old me, living in LA again with her husband, who has reconnected with her friends, and works in food (in some capacity that is maybe still unclear). What are some hobbies that interest me? How do I want to spend my days? Wait am I still a night person or did I do a full shift to mornings? Chunky or smooth? What do I want to tell others through my cooking? I have been on a mission to learn about myself and become confident in who I am today.

In the thick of my who am I/what am I going to do with myself/what is my life crisis, I stumbled on a Reel that helped shift my perspective. It was a video of a postpartum woman crying because she didn’t feel like herself. No baby for me but I know what it feels like to feel lost. At the very bottom of her caption, there was a quote that said something along the lines of “Stop trying to feel like your old self, that person is gone. Spend time getting to know your new self.” It’s cheesy but it really stuck with me.

There are many versions of me that I love and miss but they are never coming back. I look back at my post-college early 20s with envy for how carefree and fun I was but no way I want to go back to that life. Even now I look at the pre-pandemic me in KC and miss that girl. After spending some time with myself I now know how great this current version of me is.

Releasing all pressure to create fun, creative, and beautiful meals was big for me these last few months. It allowed me to not distract myself with work, start to miss cooking every day, and tap into the playful side of my creativity. The part of this newsletter where I send out recipes is still on pause because I don’t know what my food looks like exactly but I am cooking a lot more now! Funny enough, the recipes I have been making for my dinner parties have been all my old recipes from this newsletter. I would test them over and over but I never had the opportunity to make them for people. I’m really proud of them and revising them with others has been great.

*Reminder that all 30-something recipes from 2022 are unlocked. Go to the archive and make some!!

So we’ll get back to new recipes soon. For now, I’m just enjoying learning a lot about myself and my cooking. Here are 15 things about me that I know today:

1. I like persimmons. I never hated them but they were certainly not my first choice. After finding things to do with approximately 200 persimmons from our tree I can confidently say that persimmons are delicious. My favorite ways to eat them are on cottage cheese, baked into desserts, and in salads…

   

   The bowl that was stolen from the front of our home.

2. Speaking of salads, my equation for an easy yet delicious weeknight salad is this: lettuce, herbs, GOOD soft cheese, and fruit. That’s it, that’s all you need.

   

   This was the fall salad I had on repeat. Persimmon season is long gone and we will revisit this recipe next year. I can confirm this equation works well with citrus for winter too.

3. Walking the dog before 7:30 AM is a good way to start the day. I completely forgot that southern California actually does get cold in the winter and every time I did the early morning walk I left in just the sweatshirt I slept in. *moves to LA, forgets what a jacket is* After about a block I would be used to the cold and wide awake. Breathing in the crisp air, listening to the birds chirp, Josie was happy, and I would silently connect with the whole community of tired dog owners strolling the neighborhood. Surprisingly nice!

4. Early farmers’ market shopping is the way to go. We get there 15 minutes before it technically opens and cruise through while it’s empty. It’s a much more pleasant experience and you get the first pick.

5. I like my natural hair color. I went on strike and didn’t let my mom touch my hair for a very long time. It’s longer than it’s ever been and my highlights turned into an ombré. I got a trim and a few highlights last week but realized I actually like my natural brown color. Going on another hair strike.

6. Chocolate ice cream is good too. Vanilla is far superior especially for enjoying mix-ins. Chocolate overpowers everything you add in but chocolate ice cream on its own is excellent.

7. Lasagna is the best hosting hack. Almost every dinner party I have hosted has had a lasagna. It feeds a lot, you can make it 10,000 different ways, and it can be assembled the day before. You pop it in the oven 40 minutes before guests arrive and voilà.

   Hot Tip: Taste Republic makes amazing frozen GF sheets! One pack = one lasagna

This was a GF mushroom lasagna.

8. Trifles are the lasagna of dessert. Same concept, assemble completely the day before and pull out when it is time to serve. Need I say more?

Tiramisu-ish. I used vanilla birthday cake instead of lady fingers and omitted the egg yolks. I’ll send a recipe out in the future because it was 10/10.

9. Chemicals clean better, sometimes. I’m big on limited chemicals in my cleaning products, especially in the kitchen. I have tried 5 different brands of “clean” dishwasher tabs in the last 6 months and my dishes are always dirty. Sometimes they are obviously dirty with food on them but more often my cups have a weird odor that repulsed me. I tried everything: adding a cup of vinegar, cleaning the filter, washing them before they went in, and adding the soap to the bottom instead of the soap spot. Nothing has worked and I gave in to OG Cascade. Haven’t looked back since. Also, a little 409 to clean up raw chicken spills is nice too.

10. Homemade peanut butter is worth it. Santa Cruz Organic crunchy dark roasted has been my only PB for the last 10 years. It went MIA recently due to a recall and I was forced to start making my own. Making my own means I am able to get the peanuts extra toasty and leave them extra crunchy. BONUS peanuts are cheap as hell!

    

11. Beef cooked medium is not a crime. Medium rare is not the only way to order a steak/burger. In fact medium is great and I like it. Well done on the other hand is a crime and you should be arrested.

    

12. I am never ironing bed sheets again. I used to get off on a perfectly crisp ironed hotel-looking bed (ok, I still do) but who has the damn time. Linen sheets for life 🤘🏼.

13. I’m in my ice cream cake era. Fully obsessed and exploding with ideas. They have become a huge creative outlet for me. The next one I’m making is for an Indian dinner with friends. Toasted coconut cake layers with mango masala ice cream layers.

    

14. Medium small tomatoes are the only tomatoes I need. They have lots of juicy flavors like small varieties but are more universal. I am eagerly awaiting their return at the farmers market.

15. I think I like making bread? I haven’t ventured into sourdough territory yet out of fear that I will become too obsessed but I have been making other bread. My challah again, naan in the Big Green Egg, and milk bread.

That’s a little about me. What about you? What’s one thing you know about yourself (food related or not)? Chocolate or vanilla?!

If you feel like you don’t recognize yourself anymore, maybe spend some time getting to know this version of you 💖.

Amalfi-Style Lemon Cake - From Milk Street

I first made this recipe on New Year’s Eve and it was inhaled by my four friends. Since then I have made it a few more times and it somehow vanishes within a day. The recipe is very straightforward and written for bakers of all levels. If you like lemon, you’ll love this cake.

• What’s the Difference Between Shrimp and Prawns? – When I asked Marco what the difference was he didn’t know. I didn’t know either! Now we know.

• The Gen Z shake – Fascinating comparison of how millennials and gen z use social media based on one tiny detail. I’m 100p guilty of doing the millennial pause. Make sure to watch the videos linked too.

• The Food Expiration Dates You Should Actually Follow – Whole grains, oils, and nuts people forget about! They go rancid faster than you think.

🚨All LA residents can throw food scraps in the green bin🚨

@latimes♻️ All L.A. residents can now throw food scraps in to the green bin and help fight climate change. ♻️ @__tomcarroll tells us what can go in the bin and one surprising thing that can't. Click the link in bio to claim your free lil' bucket. Thanks to Stan Carroll for PA help. #compost #climatechange

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I’m on the hunt for new podcasts and discovered Anderson Cooper’s podcast this week, All There Is. It’s a podcast about grief which no one talks about yet we will all experience it. This is the only episode I have had time to listen to so far but it was comforting and insightful. A must listen for everyone.

Not the beautiful yellow cocktail in the front, that’s a white negroni. The soft orange cocktail in the back is a Mezcaletti Sour from Capri Club and you need to try one! It was so good it made me regret my order.

Goldburger – You know me, I love a burger. I can probably thank my dad for that. We have gotten Goldburger fries many many times. Curly for me and regular for Marco. We are very particular about our fries and they need to be crispy. Goldburger’s are always crispy!

I finally got around to having one of their burgers, the California classic. It was a very good burger.

It has KILLED me to throw food scraps in the trash for the last few months. Of course, we have plans to put a bin in the back yard but like the outdoor kitchen the compost bin is coming “soon.” I was elated when I saw the video above that in LA you can now put food scraps in the green bin! Previously the green bin was for yard waste and turned into mulch. Now it is composted.

Before you run out and get a countertop compost bin, don’t. You don’t need one. In fact, they make composting a pain. Trust me I have used many and my advice is to get a cute bowl designated for your compost.

My biggest problem with countertop bins is that it has a lid. Although you might think out of sight out of mind makes composting better, it makes it worse. When you put the lid on the bin you will forget about it for a day or two. When food scraps sit they do what they are supposed to do… break down, get moldy, and release slimy smelly liquid. Plus sometimes they have hard to clean nooks and crannies = mold.

So, skip the bin unless you want to pour out food sludge every few days. Instead, get a bowl. A cute bowl that you like to look at! Leave it on the counter and fill it with scraps. Every time you look over and think “that bowl is full” take it out. At first, it might be kind of annoying to walk out to the green bin once or twice a day (it really isn’t that bad) but it will become second nature. You won’t need a fancy carbon filter for smells because the scraps won’t sit there long enough to smell. Clean up will be a breeze because there will be no decomposition in your bowl. Let the food decompose in the green bin outside of your house.

I opted for a cute enamel bowl instead of glass because I don’t want to worry about it breaking if it gets dropped. This $20 bowl is from Crow Canyon and comes in four fun colors.

Little bean (Chaz) in a big bed (Josie’s).

Reporting back that I tried vertically roasting a chicken! In my last newsletter, I shared this article all about it. Of course, the chicken was great. Was it the best roast chicken ever? No. I happened to have the gadget that makes the chicken stand up so I gave it a try but this isn’t anything so amazing that you need to run out and buy the gadget today. If you do, here is a link for one.