1) this wildly complicated-seeming but actually not-that-hard-if-you-have-a-few-hours-to-devote-to-it turkey and white bean chili (from bon appetit), which involves four kinds of chiles, a cinnamon stick and a 12-oz bottle of hard cider. it’s worth it: i’ve been eating it for lunch for almost a full week, and it never fails to make me feel cozy and fed but not TOTES sluggish
2) this miso caramel glazed salmon (also from bon appetit.) i’m new to cooking fish and had to text my friend gabe, a seasoned Fish Guy, to ask why the skin got all scrunchy and weird, but this came out beautifully. i didn’t make the seasoned sushi rice, because i’m not going to buy a whole NEW kind of rice during a pandemic, but it sounds amazing. this was also good w just plain rice tho!
3) this cashew-dill dip (you’re not going to believe this…it’s from bon appetit), which i make a little half-cup of basically every day and eat with celery, carrots, and/or tortilla chips. sometimes, when i finish all my crudites, i just drink the remains. i call this Emma’s Dip Time, and it is sacrosanct.
4) this guacamole (you already know), which actually wasn’t as spicy as it should have been! maybe i was too conservative on the peppers. or maybe it needed greek yogurt, to be creamier? idk, it was still guacamole, and it still ruled.
5) these banana-oat-nut-cinnamon “cookies” (NOT from bon appetit! ha!), which are an absolutely bullshit dessert, but an excellent breakfast when paired w some yogurt and berries.
6) these homemade bagels (from epicurious), which were pretty damn gorgine for my first attempt, if i do say so myself. tonight i’m going to make them w whole wheat flour and poppy seeds.
7) these sambal pork noodles (okay fine bon appetit again), which i made while watching “city of gold” and crying bc jonathan gold just owned so hard and there will never be anyone like him again. but his legacy lives on in the generations of writers he inspired, many of whom don’t come from traditional food backgrounds and were personally encouraged by gold to pursue their dreams. haha im crying again!
8) lamb curry w coriander and garam masala (from one of my dad’s many cookbooks, “indian home cooking.” i bought the lamb from an extremely cute gay-seeming farmer, about whom i think often.
9) the impromptu noodle bowls i put together for random dinners w protein, rice noodles, chili oil/soy sauce, cucumber, scallions & peanuts
ive also made the tik tok coffee (which made me throw up), a very weak version of julia turshen’s turkey ricotta meatballs (which don’t really work w diet ingredients), and several bowls of raw brownie mix i ate with a spoon in front of “cougar town.” la moderation, c’est la vie — sartre, probably
<3