Equal Parts

Olivia and I spend a good third of her waking hours in the rocking chair in her room. It’s where I feed her, and after feeding where she looks around and stares at the doorknobs on her closet behind the chair, the air return vent directly ahead at ceiling height, the lit-up red zero on the carbon monoxide detector she can see if she turns her head all the way to her right, and my water bottle on the chest of drawers in between the rocking chair and her crib. It’s where she blasts off my lap and screams at the purple polka dot quilt I keep on the back of the chair, the quilt I bought the week we found out we were having a girl, as inspiration for the color scheme of her room. And where she smiles and grabs at the animal and alphabet patterns on the hand-me-down burp cloths that are always over my shoulder.

When she was a newborn we spent even more time in that chair, because feeding her took even longer. Sometimes, though, I needed a change of scenery. We would walk down the hall to the sofa in my office, and if I arranged the pillows just so I could get comfortable enough to lay her back without pointing her face directly at the TV, and I could catch up on food videos.

First I watched all of Alison Roman’s Home Movies series on YouTube. Alison spent a few years as food media’s “it girl” and I never got on board, partly because I don’t trust hype. Then she made some insensitive comments about Chrissy Teigen and other minority figures in the space, which coincided with overdue criticism about the sometimes appropriation in her recipes, and she left the New York Times. Maybe I circled back because I don’t believe in cancel culture, but I find her videos to be both charming and informed, and I get it now. She always has a reason behind her process — use jumbo shells instead of linguine with shrimp scampi for a more consistently sized dish, after roasting short ribs (and potatoes) in a covered dutch oven for hours, place them back into the oven uncovered to crisp the tops, etc. — and I’ve learned a lot just by watching.

I haven’t tried her recipes, but I did borrow both of her books from the library. Olivia came with me to pick them up, partly so I could introduce her to what I hope will be her favorite community space, but mostly so I could practice getting my 7-week-old in and out of the carseat, the carseat in and out of the car, and driving solo with said baby. She only cried at checkout and then all the way to our next destination — not bad!

Then I fell down the Claire Saffitz x Dessert Person rabbit hole. In this YouTube series, Claire bakes through her book of the same name. Some consider it “the baking book” of last year, and once again I never got on board. The malted chocolate “Forever Brownies” sounded amazing, but the recipe was all over the internet and that was enough exposure for me.

But again, when I finally immersed myself in her work, I was similarly impressed. (This is not a lesson on judgment, more of an acknowledgement of vastness). Claire’s recipes are creative and purposeful. I learned to candy nuts in a cast iron skillet by first melting the thinnest layer of sugar, then adding the nuts, then stirring and periodically add a little more sugar, so the nuts toast and candy at the same time. She shows a smart method for pressing tart dough into a pan by first cutting the chilled dough into even strips, then using said strips to create a ring around the side of the pan and an organized layer on the bottom, then finally pressing it together.

Olivia and I also checked out Claire’s book. Maybe I’ll make her chocolate wave cake this holiday season.

Most recently I’ve taken a deep dive into the work of Rick Bayless. This one is vast — 12 seasons of Mexico: One Plate at a Time, half a dozen cookbooks, award-winning restaurants, a web archive of recipes, and so on.

I didn’t know how lucky I had it when I lived in Chicago; I could have gone to Frontera Grill every night. (But I was also 23 with an entry-level salary.) I did go once to Rick’s flagship restaurant, my brother’s choice when he visited. I kind of remember it. It gets foggy because afterwards there was beer and I think vodka, and I know we took a cab to the Ukrainian Village, and the night ended with Norwegian heavy metal music at Scott’s friend’s cousin’s apartment. (See above re: my age). But anyway, I think I tried Frontera’s guacamole and ceviche. Jeff and I haven’t been to Chicago since 2017, and I’m planning a future trip, far into the future, when maybe the grandparents will watch Olivia; we’ll stay two nights so we can have dinner at both Eataly and Frontera Grill.

I started with the season of Mexico: One Plate at a Time called Bayless’ Best Ever. In each episode Rick takes us on a tour of Mexico City inspired by a classic category of Mexican cuisine (say, enchiladas or chiles rellenos or tostadas or mole), then shares a lesson for preparing these foods from his home kitchen. It’s great work, but as the credits roll he also presents a quick recipe shot in the overhead style of a YouTube video, and secretly this is my favorite part of each episode. I happened to watch his pico de gallo short the same day that Spilled Milk released an episode on the topic, and I was doubly reminded that it is the easiest, freshest, most delicious salsa to make at home… though I think it’s technically not considered salsa, it’s just pico de gallo.

The marriage of tomato, onion, chile, lime, cilantro, and salt has got to be one of the world’s best flavor combinations. I thought I accidentally threw out my serrano peppers when I went to make pico de gallo at home last week, and I was so upset I almost scratched the whole project, for what is salsa without some heat. After I searched through every plastic bag I had set aside in our plastic bag storage drawer I found them on my second sweep of the refrigerator — thank god, I did not want to return to Kroger for a 17¢ ingredient.

The pico was the best part of the black bean tacos I also made. It was pretty tasty with winter’s imported tomatoes on the vine. I can only imagine how delicious it will be with next summer’s homegrown varieties (and hopefully homegrown peppers too, if I take the advice of my hairdresser who says it’s really easy).

PICO DE GALLO, inspired by Rick Bayless

You’ll need:
1/2 of a small white onion, finely chopped
4 medium plum tomatoes, chopped
2 serrano chiles, finely chopped
1/3 cup cilantro, finely chopped
The juice of 1 lime
Salt, to taste (start with about 1/2 tsp)

Place the chopped onion in a fine mesh sieve and run under water. Set aside while you prep the rest of the ingredients. (This helps to get rid of some of that raw onion bite.) Add all ingredients to a large bowl and stir to combine.