two nice meals

a few weeks ago i had a party and when i woke up there was a jar of dukkah sitting on the mantle in my bedroom, a gift left from my very talented friend caroline. it was a particularly sweet surprise since my apartment smelled like a dive bar and was significantly disorganized. a clearly labeled jar of promising stuff felt like a small reminder that someday my apartment would *not* smell like a dive bar, and that i'd be able to make myself something nice when that day came. 

i'd sort of vaguely known what dukkah was by virtue of working in food media, like i could have told you it was crunchy and had nuts and spices in it and came from northern africa but that's about it? i have no idea what caroline specifically put in hers but it is so delicious i have resorted to eating it by the spoonful. caroline if you're reading this please send me your recipe. 

it's particularly good on eggs or eggs-on-toast but the cleverest thing i've done with it is this: i made fried toast, perhaps my favorite food; then i topped it with mushy peas, made from frozen peas cooked with water salt and butter until i could really mush them in a mortar and pestle. important to always remember that the frozen pea is one of the most generous products we've got. the mush bread got a big sprinkle of dukkah, and that was dinner. i felt like a genius? i recommend doing something similar if you can. you could try this dukkah recipe from the new york times, if you wanted. if you do, keep me posted.

I got laid off over a month ago, which was ultimately a great thing, and please do not send me multiple explamation marks about it if you're just finding out now. i'm ok! anyways i've been cooking for myself a lot more, which I really enjoy and am grateful for. that's the thing that got me to new york in the first place, my interest in preparing food and then sometimes writing about it, so i'm excited to do more of i guess both of those things in 2019. maybe i'll keep writing about it here; it's been two whole years since my last tinyletter, and i honestly don't know if people are still interested in that sort of thing, but i will keep at it like a cockroach at the end of the world.

there's one other recent meal i'd like to share, because it really is simple and impressive and will make your friends like you just a *little* more than they already do.

a few months ago i was in paris, yadda yadda, everyone should go to the decorative arts museum. the day I went i had lunch at a little spot recommended on a David Lebovitz list, it's called Le Rubis. if you go for lunch there will be average men in suits also eating lunch and having a little glass of wine and talking to the guy behind the counter, and you'll be like "i'm glad i'm not at that place where there was a line to get a table." i had a plate of lentils and sausage, and i don't want to be one of those people to just crucify themselves over a simple plate of food they had in europe, but it was a truly excellent meal, and came with a little pot of dijon mustard, to keep any potential monotony at bay. i also had two glasses of chablis, which was a nice touch.

i made my own version of the meal for two friends last month and it was a hit. i made this genius lentils recipe from Food52, and I bought some sausage from Cara Nicoletti at Foster Sundry in brooklyn. technically she gave it to me for free but i was *going* to buy it. I seared the sausage in a pan and then put it on plates with the lentils and set out a little pot of dijon and made clio bring a baguette, and it really was the perfect meal. if you want to make something cheap and impressive for your friends, maybe try it. you could really use any sausage you like, though i will give you the somewhat pretentious note that the nicer your sausage is, the nicer your meal will be. and if you make your own, well, you're a better woman than I am.

that's all for now. xx