Eating Like An Adult
Feat: crisps for lunch, drunken dumplings + a classic oyster/champagne combo
Food For Thought.
In four days I turn thirty. And while some might meditate on the loss of youth, the process of getting older or simply ruminate on their younger years pre-pandemic, I'm thinking about how my younger self would have thought about eating like an adult.
‘Eating like an adult' is a subjective phrase. For example, yesterday my lunch consisted purely of half a bag of Torres paprika-spiked crisps and five nocerella olives (early birthday presents care of Georgia!). Which I see as 'eating like an adult', because there's no way my mum would consider that a balanced lunch. Or the times you return home from drinks or dinner with friends, slightly buzzed, and somehow feel like an extra meal at midnight needs to happen. This happens to me frequently. Think dumplings drenched in chilli oil, Ichiban noodles coated in soy sauce and eggs, fish finger sandwiches dripping with mayo or a cheeky double cheeseburger from the late night local.
Of course, eating like an adult doesn't always equate to consuming inappropriately salted fast food during in-between meals (or prandicles, which is a genuine definition of small meals you have between bigger ones). When I was younger, I'd imagine myself eating oysters and drinking champagne with friends at London restaurants (I'm doing this today and my younger self is still screaming with excitement); or throwing elaborate dinner parties where there would be canapés and a three course meals (long may they return); and the holy grail of eating mismatched meals at mismatched times of day. Eggs for dinner (a classic). Carbonara for breakfast (try it).
As I approach 30, I'm thinking about all the meals I've made, eaten and shared as an adult. And all the stages of adulthood I've eaten through. 18-21: University. 21-23 Internship years. 23-24: Being in a band and living with a friend for the first time. 25-26: Cornwall. 27: The lost-and-found year. 28-30: London over the last two years. Each section of my adult life defined by different meals and different relationships with food.
Now, I'm happy to eat like an adult and like a kid again. To return home and be cooked for – to eat all my favourite childhood meals (sausage + mash, lemon chicken, anything involving rice made by my mum). But also to try new things, too. As a Taurus, I can be stubborn and set in my ways. I don't always celebrate change. It's why I love the ritual of roasting a chicken. Of cooking the same meal because you know it's a failsafe. But being an adult means diving into newness to. Into uncertainty. And into failure.
So perhaps on my 30th birthday I'll try something completely new. TBC.
Here's to remembering that eating like an adult means being free to try new things. And savour the familiar dishes.
Cat x
Recipes-not-recipes™️
Sometimes, you just need to ramp up the dairy and eat an exceedingly buttery grilled cheese.
For two people you'll need:
2 thick slice of sourdough cut in half
1/2 cup extra mature cheddar grated
1/2 cup Gruyère cheese grated
A sprinkling of grated mozzarella (optional)
The bottom of one leek sliced into rounds
Loads of butter
French dijon mustard
Ground pepper
Cook the leeks in a generous amount of butter and a big pinch of pepper until they're soft.
Remove the leeks and wipe the pan with a kitchen towel and return to the hob on a low-medium heat.
In a big bowl, mix the leeks and three cheeses. Some more pepper wouldn't go amiss. Spread butter onto one side of each slice of bread quite thickly. On the other side, a smear of dijon mustard.
Pile the cheese + leek mixture on two slices of bread, then top with the other slice, dijon side down.
Depending on how big your pan in, place the sandwiches in the pan, pushing both down with a spatula.
Once it's looking golden and crunchy on one side, carefully flip the sando over, so the other buttered side is face down. Keep gently pressing down. Watch for the melting cheese and golden crunch.
Best eaten in bed, served with a bottle of something cold, crisp and sparkling (like this bottle of Col '19 from Tillingham, which I'll be consuming on 30th birthday in the Lake District, after a dip in the tarn.
Since I Asked
I’ve been following Ethaney Lee (aka @tenderherbs) for a while now, and I’m always so enraptured by the serenity of her cooking, the candour and romanticism of how she thinks about food and the dreamy tastes of simplicity she manages to achieve. Based in San Francisco, Ethaney’s food is never without process – or story. I love to watch her stories where she shows the ingredients (forever jealous of her Berkeley farmers market hauls), how she makes her dishes, the provenance of the food and the people she’s sharing it with. She’s a kindred spirit for sure.
How would you describe your approach to cooking and food?
I’m attracted to comfort and warmth when it comes to food. I have a really specific memory of being in Paris several years ago, walking along the Seine during the late afternoon/early evening when the sun was just about to set. Everything was basked in this soft orange glow and seeing couples and small groups of friends animatedly talking and laughing, ripping apart pieces of baguette, slathering it with a creamy cheese, cured meats in crinkly white paper and drinking red wine out of the bottle was so striking. Something about that ease, that comfort and beauty has stuck with me and something I try to emulate when it comes to cooking and things I enjoy eating.
I think food has the ability to make someone feel safe which is how I feel every time I eat a meal at my mom’s house. Eating a meal that was prepared for you with love, at the table where you’re able to be vulnerable and open with someone you trust and love is also a very specific feeling and what I try to convey any time I cook something.
I am also very shameless about going the extra mile to make my meals look pretty, even if it’s just for myself. I am a strong believer in taking the time to create something beautiful for yourself. If that means I’m cutting out flower shapes from slices of carrot, so be it! My brother always sends photos of his meals in our family chat, and even though he lives alone, each meal is beautifully plated. Even his morning pastry and cup of coffee! I think that’s important. It’s a practice in taking your time, doing something nice for yourself and recognizing that you deserve moments of beauty throughout your day.
What's your ratio of cooking/eating Korean dishes vs other cuisines – and (BIG QUESTION) do you have a preference?
As I get older, my preference for eating Korean food - specifically comfort food like kimchi-jigae, soonudubu-jigae, doengjang-jigae, gyeranjjim, galbi-tang, various banchan with a hot bowl of rice- has increased so much.
When I was younger, I associated Korean food with just Korean bbq which was such an ignorant way of viewing my own culture’s cuisine. I feel like I had some weird internalized bias against Korean food. Now, when I’m feeling sad or not feeling very well, I find myself gravitating toward food that I ate during childhood or when I lived with my mom which is always Korean food. A few weeks ago, I wasn’t feeling very well physically or emotionally, so I made soondubu with hobak (Korean zucchini), fresh hot rice and various banchan in separate little bowls like my mom would do it and I just felt so much better. It was this immediate feeling of relief- the way a deep inhale-exhale feels.
I still don’t cook very much Korean food (in comparison to other cuisines) because I find it intimidating in a way- but I’m slowly trying to teach myself!
What's the meal you'd cook if your friend just told you some big, exciting news?
I imagine making a big salad with little gems, radicchio, a handful of baby arugula, roughly chopped pistachios, bright red cherry tomatoes from the farmer’s market, thinly sliced kumquat, raw fennel, and watercress sprinkled with a salty goat cheese and an olive oil vinaigrette. Then a pasta dish because the thought of a good pasta dish always screams ‘we are celebrating!!’. I would make capellini (not the same as angel hair!) with a good, earthy olive oil, thin slices of garlic, a heavy sprinkling of crushed capers, a squeeze of lemon juice, lots of freshly cracked pepper, flaky salt and big shavings from a good wedge of parmesan. Homemade baguette spread with salty butter and topped with anchovies with crunchy slices of Persian cucumbers on the side. Homemade pavlova with poppyseeds for dessert with freshly whipped cream, macerated blackberries and blueberries and little mint leaves. Lots of red wine. The lights are dimmed low with tall candles lit on the dinner table. Music in the background. The windows are open.
What's the food you'd eat when you're looking for total and utter comfort?
It’s nearly impossible for me to choose just one! Over the past year, I feel like I’ve needed a lot of comfort and the meals that have offered me comfort have been different each time and so simple but all have made me feel grounded and happy.
A few that come into mind:
Tornado egg with mirin and soy sauce over rice with chili oil and lots of scallions
Steaming hot rice with an egg yolk, sigeumchi namul (spinach banchan), myulchi bokkeum (Korean anchovies with shishito peppers) and kimchi.
A slice of homemade milk bread slathered in butter and dipped into a yolky egg.
Rice and mackerel
My brother’s famous ‘tenderbro chocolate chip cookie’
Leftovers.
– Dreaming of beachy picnics feat. bread, tinned sardines, radishes + salty butter.
– Obviously this Munchies caption about this being an Adult Lunchables™️ resonated this week.
– Homemade egg mayo 4eva, going to be fuelling up on this next week in the Lakes
– My gorgeous friend Chanelle is opening up a place in her new hometown of Soulac-sur-mer and has started a Crowdfunder! Think bread, hugs, and natural wine as a thank you for donating.
– Might 2021 be Hot Chickpea Summer? I’m saying yes.
– Not food-related but Betty season 2 is coming. Get your skateboards out.
– Carbonara but make it udon? Yes. Please. For breakfast.
Happy belated birthday fellow Taurus! May 30’s be filled with all the meals of dreams - whether it’s champagne and oysters or a greasy midnight burger form a local x