Food For Thought
Of late, The Afternoon and I haven't been 'getting along'. I blame this on a) winter and b) the pandemic and c) the fact that I am a Morning Person.
Let me tell you how I feel about The Morning. The Morning is my best friend. She and I share secrets before the world wakes up. Sometimes we go for walks. And when we're on holiday, we surf and frolic in the sea. We drink coffee in the sun; we cook up cute breakfasts and journal; we look SO good in a selfie and we're generally known as Quite The Pair.
Perhaps one of the reasons The Afternoon and I have had our differences is because unlike The Morning and The Evening, The Afternoon doesn't really 'belong' to a particular meal. The Morning is punctuated by the most pressing meal of the day (coffee and eggs); while The Evening, which brings us the sexy romance of dinner.
But I realise that my problem with The Afternoon isn't just that it's not characterised by a specific meal (although that does impact my opinion of it greatly). It's that I'm so busy doing things in The Morning, that I've run out of steam by 3pm. My obsession with productivity is in play even when I'm 'doing nothing'. To me, ‘doing nothing’ still means cooking, cleaning my flat, listening to a podcast, reading a book, practising yoga, writing in my journal, writing this newsletter, reading articles, catching up on the news, going grocery shopping or FaceTiming friends so I don't feel bad about neglecting WhatsApp conversations after three weeks. I fill my mornings up with these tasks (however enjoyable they are, they're still ticks on a to do list), and I'm so hopped up on productivity that I don't know how to use The Afternoon to just * insert inspirational quote about being present*.
In this article in The New York Times, Anne Helen Petersen says that millennials are "so used to making every moment of ours productive in some capacity. Like, I’m on a walk, I should listen to this information podcast that makes me more informed or a better person.” Productivity seems to be this road map we force ourselves to create in order to achieve more, or to 'be better'. This superlative complex creeps into every aspect of our lives. Sometimes I wonder if I read because I get pleasure out of it or if it's simply intellectual fodder to spit out in conversations at work or with friends (or more likely, because I'm desperate to have an opinion on something). Am I practising yoga three times a week because I want to be mindful and present, or because I’m secretly my butter bod will suddenly look like Yoga With Adrienne’s?
Of course there was a period when I lavished in the emptiness of such a time of day. Circa 2009-2012 when I was at university and had no tangible responsibilities apart from buying booze for The Evening's pre-lash or watching Mad Men while intermittently smoking ciggies out of the window. The privilege of not having to be productive is not lost on me.
Drew Millard said it best in his piece for The Outline (RIP!): "Nobody gives a shit how productive you’re being right now, except your boss." So when you get an afternoon to yourself, revel in it. I'm planning on tapping into my 20 year old mindset, when time wasn't just a luxury, it was a given and not even my non-existent boss cared about how productive I was being. Make like a university student and go with it.
Three things that have greatly improved my relationship with The Afternoon: reading with no purpose other than to just read – which often involves reading something highly unliterary, and I am fine with that. Listening to Led Zeppelin's The Rain Song while the rain taps at my window. Meta. And of course, returning to that ritual of roasting a chicken for one, because the smell of butter melting under crispy skin is like stepping into my version of heaven (where there would also be martinis, puppies and the entire cast of Insecure).
Here's to dropping that obsession with productivity, languishing in the nothingness and to The Afternoons that help us get there.
Cat x
Recipes-Not-Recipes™️
Roast a chicken, drink some wine. I start this process around 3.30pm and it lasts until 6pm by which point I'm probably a little buzzed and three episodes deep into yet another show (The Bold Type, since no one asked).
Start by salting the chicken generously – as generous as you are with your credit card at a bar after three negronis, remember that? – and leave it for about 30 mins. I keep the chicken out of the fridge for this part. But you know, your house, your rules on health and safety. Then pat the chicken with kitchen roll to remove the water that's been drawn out by the salt. Now turn on the oven and preheat it to 230ºC.
In a bowl add a knob of warmish butter, finely chopped parsley, finely chopped or minced garlic (about 2 small cloves or 1 big clove), a splash of olive oil and a pinch of flakey salt. Use your fingers to mix it all together then start rubbing it across the skin of the chicken. Stuff the garlic parsley butter under the skin – I usually pop a large chunk underneath then press on top of the skin to spread it out evenly across each breast. Once it looks appropriately buttered, add a drizzle of olive oil, a big grind of pepper and a little more salt. Stuff the chicken with half a lemon and a bunch of sage and thyme, then scatter a few lemon slices and thyme sprigs around the bird.
Roast the chicken for about 45mins to 1 hour (clear juices = ready). But about 25 minutes in, add potatoes that have been cut into thin rounds around the chicken and a little extra olive oil. Once the chicken is done, the pots should have soaked up all that chicken fat. Leave the chicken to rest for 15-20 minutes. You could keep the potatoes in the oven (just turn it off), so they stay warm.
While the chicken chills out, prepare a simple vinaigrette. Simple as in, use a jar and add 2 tsp wholegrain mustard, 1 tsp honey, 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp white wine or apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper then shake it with the lid on. Wash some curly kale and strip the leaves of the stalks, tearing them into small pieces. Pour the dressing over and use your hands to really massage it into the leaves. Make a sauce with 1-2 tbsp greek yoghurt, 1 tsp mayonnaise, 1 tsp mustard and some chopped dill.
Other things that made this Afternoon Experience enjoyable was arranging flowers in a vase, putting a tablecloth (read: a former duvet cover) on the coffee table and listening to Sentimental In The City and reminiscing about watching SATC the first time round, when I had no job or real understanding about the intricacies of friendships, sex or work ethic.
Since I Asked
Bre is the person I would 100% ask to come over for an afternoon of chicken roasting and wine drinking. An excellent recipe and food writer – who has her own brilliant Sunday newsletter Just To Delight – Sydney-born-St-John’s-Wood-dwelling Bre’s food always looks heavenly and she may or may not be the reason why I suddenly decided to use a tablecloth (she definitely is).
If you could only buy one vegetable what would it be?
A truly perfect ripe tomato. Fragrant and sweet they taste like pure sunshine to me. I'd buy a huge box and cook half into a huge batch of pasta sauce and keep the rest for salads or to enjoy my favourite way, sliced thinly on hot buttered sourdough with just a sprinkle of sea salt.
A recipe that reminds you of Sydney?
Passionfruit Pavlova for sure. It's a Sydney summer in every spoonful. I like to do a blend of cream and Greek yoghurt on mine to cut the sweetness which really makes the pavlova sing. I grew up making this with Mum for every special occasion but especially Christmas, we always use the Stephanie Alexander method and although I do sometimes add mango, peaches or raspberries on top, absolutely nothing beats pure passionfruit when they're good.
The dish that gives you the most delight?
So many dishes bring me delight but nothing makes my heart flutter like really good spaghetti twirled around a fork. Spaghetti and Meatballs are my absolute favourite but I also adore my Tinned Seafood Spaghetti or Roasted Fennel and Sausage Spaghetti too.
You're hosting a dinner party – who's coming?
I would want a huge table filled with all of my family in Sydney, friends from New York and London. In a dream world scenario, we'd have a different course in each city. Champagne and Sydney Rock Oysters by the sea on my local beach Coogee, steak, chips and lots of wine in a classic New York steak house and dessert of ice cream and madeleines at St. John in London.
Leftovers
Embracing Second Acts with Nasim Alikhani, chef and founder of Iranian neighbourhood restaurant in Brooklyn, Sofreh, via The Cut
Still thinking about this mushroom lasagne, but mainly this very excellent caption.
Long may You Got Snacked from Carla Lalli Music and Molly Baz live.
We should all have a jar of garlic and ginger paste in our fridges.
Thoughts on food writing and escaping diet culture via Bon Appétit
Where did the Young Black Farmers go? via Vittles
Wonderful words from wonderful women on food via Museum Of Restaurants
More reasons to love cabbage