the saturday digest #6
beach sandwich yap, cookbook club recap, new in cookbooks, and alien romulus
Thanks to Hailee Catalano (aka Cafe Hailee), beach sandwiches have been living in my mind rent free. According to our beach sandwich queen, the perfect beach sandwich consists of the right bread, substantial layers of thinly sliced items, and wrapping in butcher paper. I went to the beach with Christine and Halley, and we tasked each other with bringing a beach sandwich to share. Halley and Christine are both talented chefs…so although we agreed there was no pressure, the pressure was on.
Some thoughts that crossed my mind:
What is the formal definition of a sandwich? We agreed it was anything placed between slices of bread (or other carb). Tacos and hot dogs are not sandwiches but a quesadilla is a sandwich (???)
I could take a few different routes in sandwich making…
Classics (good but not impressive) — BLT, ham and butter on a baguette, caprese, PB&J, tuna salad, etc.
Asian sandwiches (fun and I have most of the ingredients) — banh mi, egg sando, onigirazu, chutney sandwich, kaya sandwich, etc.
Sandwiches inspired by Marks & Spencer in the UK (I like these flavours but they’re not particularly beach friendly because they’re a bit wet) — prawn mayo, curried chicken, roast beef, cheese and onion, ham and mustard, etc.
I grew up disliking sandwiches because my dad would throw leftovers (steak, curries, bbq, etc) between two slices of bread. Now I realise I was mad spoiled to get more than Kraft cheese and bologna.
Should I make my own bread? Or is it too hot outside?
I eventually decided on a California roll-inspired onigirazu filled with avocado, imitation crab and cucumber. My medium grain rice was not sticky enough but the plastic wrap really held things together thankfully. 10/10 day overall.
Other required beach food: cold watermelon (tajin optional), something crispy like a chip or popcorn, and lots of water.
August’s cookbook club featured BIG DIP ENERGY by Alyse Whitney with 88 dips and dippers. This one was a special collaboration with Ali Domrongchai with 100 attendees (our biggest one yet!). As per usual, many familiar and new faces, delicious food and plenty of chit chat.
I made 5 of the recipes beforehand to test out the book, with my favourite being the crab rangoon dip. I came to the realization that as much as I love dips as a dish served at gathering, I can’t reasonably eat a serving of dip on my own (I also prefer dishes as solid meals and not blended?). I must have eaten at least a block of cream cheese during cookbook club. Thank goodness for the angel that brought a bottle of lactaid to share. Anyways, highly recommend the book if you’re looking for fun, creative ways to add some pizzaz to your dip game.
Special thanks to author Alyse Whitney bringing her energy, Velvet Turtle Events for the photo booths to capture memories from the evening, and Local Roots for providing interested attendees with their weekly organic, sustainable produce box.
New in cookbooks! These are the books that I’m reading through at the moment:
Amrikan: 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora by Khushbu Shah
Agak Agak: Everyday Recipes from Singapore by Shu Han Lee
The Vibrant Hong Kong Table: 88 Iconic Vegan Recipes from Dim Sum to Late-Night Snacks by Christina Wong
Easily Made Dishes (Cantonese)
Coconut & Sambal: Recipes from My Indonesian Kitchen by Lara Lee
I’ll Bring Dessert: Sweet, Simple Recipes for Every Occasion by Benjemina Ebuehi
Humming and hah-ing over which one to dive into fully and actually cook from. Ali hosted an Amrikan Pizza Party on a weekday and everything was a-party-for-your-palate delicious. Indonesian and Singaporean flavours are familiar (some Cantonese influences) yet foreign to me, which is probably why I’m so intrigued by both Coconut & Sambal and Agak Agak. My partner also recommended a Mexican cookbook like Nopalito or Mi Cocina because I haven’t explored that part of the globe through cookbook club yet.
Forthcoming books that are on my radar that I don’t have my hands on yet:
Chinese Enough by
The Chinese Way by
Bodega Bakes by Paola Velez
The Four Horsemen by Nick Curtola
Other fun stuff:
READ: Do You Know Mr. Mango? Alex sent me this article and now I think about it every time I walk into my local and beloved Mr. Kiwi. One of our earliest hangouts was a gym sesh followed by a fresh pressed $6 juice at Mr. Kiwi.
HIKE: Girls Gone Hiking NYC. I need to touch grass and
just started a slow-paced day hiking group. The first hike is 9/14 at Sugarloaf Hill. Find me at one of these hikes this fall. Follow along on IG or join Lu.Ma for more info.PLAY: Monument Valley. If I wasn’t outside this past Labour Day Weekend, I was probably on the couch playing Monument Valley. It’s a meditative puzzle game with relaxing music and MC Escher-style optical illusions.
CATEGORIZE YOURSELF: What vegetable are you? Tracy of
shared this lofi Buzzfeed-esque quiz with me. I am a Green Bean, which is characterized by being an absolute clown, always down to help, dramatic and an astronomically bad texter (sorry). Tell me which vegetable you get!WATCH: Alien Romulus. O M GEE. I thought Long Legs was going to be the last good horror-ish movie I would see in theatres this year. Alien Romulus was terrifying in all the right ways. The movie accomplished a lot in a couple hours:
It was very fast paced for my rotted tiktok scrolling brain.
It explored similar concepts to previous Alien films in the series such as the human trust/reliance on AI and accelerating evolution/playing God to move humanity forward.
It brought new facts and context to the universe (ie the idea that aliens can track us based on our body temperature).
It connected the dots to other movies in the Alien universe.
It could be consumed and understood as a standalone movie but also made me want to rewatch the others in chronological order.
Ciao for now. Have a great weekend!