spice rack #5
Pijja Palace, a Bollywood bash, and big little tips
Hello Spice Club! It has been a minute. My sporadic newsletters are the result of this daunting thing called med school applications, but the first part is done! The first thing I did afterward was attend my reservation at Pijja Palace, which I’d made promptly at midnight a week in advance. So much hype but the dosa onion rings and chutney pizza won me over.
Thank you for all the love on my essay about my uncle and for sticking around the club. I have some fun ideas for June and then I’m taking a break in July and August – because of more application essays that I’ve heard may obliterate my desire to read or write for a bit. Here is May’s Spice Rack, with things to read, listen to, and cook. For extra spice, some little tips that make big moves.
to read
Speaking of Pijja Palace, this was the article that made me want to go. Food aside, it was so much FUN. The anticipation and energy!
There Are Too Many Celebrity Cooking Shows on Eater: “It’s only a person of extreme privilege who gets to do something badly, or even just adequately, for an audience, especially while standing in a fancy kitchen with an expensive Viking stove, pouring olive oil from two different $40 bottles.” Pairs well with this NYT article about issues with celebrity travel shows.
Wellness is Dead, Long Live the Martini on Grub Street: I had my first martini last month and only because I felt like martinis have received a lot of attention lately? So I wanted to understand why and honestly…I see the appeal. Apparently they can be pasta too, which initially sounded wrong to me, but I’m listening and I’m curious.
Nishant Jain’s
– a newsletter with delightful tiny people and observations.Molly Pepper Steemson’s
, where she writes 100-word stories for 100 days. It’s like receiving a surprise present every day! Here is one about bananas.“Eat More Beans. Please.” on Vox: The case for beans! “But if we’re serious about changing how we think about our agricultural resources, beans can be a champion for delicious, sustainable, and affordable protein.”
“Michelle Obama Is Not Coming to Save Us” on
: On the new juice company… “To say never mind about making systemic change through federal regulation, let’s just let the markets decide, is an oddly…Republican way of thinking about nutrition reform.”Restriction as Possibility; Lifestyle as Politics:
piece for Mold Magazine that came to my attention because it was selected for this year’s edition of Best American Food Writing. “In what we call “lifestyle media,” causing discomfort has always been a big no-no—opening up a food magazine to find anything about habit-changing for climate change might happen once per year, while steaks are on offer the other eleven months. Even vegetarian recipes are promoted in a special section, while lamb and chicken are the norm for the main.”to listen
My AirPods don’t work (yet again) so I actually just run in silence these days. But my roommates and I did throw a Bollywood party! The highlight was definitely the stuff on our dining table, but the music was a close second. I personally don’t believe I have great taste in Bollywood music, but I was informed that my playlist slapped so here it is.
to cook
For the aforementioned Bollywood party, we had pani puri, samosas, Magic Masala and Kurkure (the best), and four exciting drinks: mango lassi, Rooh Afza milk with chia pudding, tamarind mojitos, and a thandai + iced masala chai crossover. And dangerously good lychee jello shots.
A couple of my friends were interested in a little cooking lesson, so they did a great job picking three recipes from my site that paired perfectly together: instant vegan garlic naan, oyster mushroom curry (we added peas too), and palak tofu.
And I’m very into a big chopped salad.
extra spice: big little tips
It’s not like these will improve your life, but like, maybe they will. Here are things that are low effort but very important to me.
Not knowing what time it is
Fine, sometimes I know what time it is. If I really want to know, I have a watch and a phone. I had long switched from digital to analog on the top bar of my laptop, but I found out you can get rid of the time altogether and it has made my laptop a much calmer place. I can read without thinking of how slow or fast time is moving! Based on conversations with my friends, this is not a concern that most people have, so maybe this is not for you. Or maybe it is.
The little tabs
There are two types of people: those who are ok with having 30 tabs or windows open and those who absolutely hate that. I belong to the latter group, but sometimes I’d like to keep track of articles or sites to get to eventually. So hello little tabs! I constantly have at least 5 articles saved to the “reading” tab.
Bring your own tumbler
Currently obsessed with taking my tumbler to a coffee shop but mine is actually a larger than a standard drink and sometimes – just sometimes – they fill it all the way to the top and other coffee drinkers stare at me with envy. Big win.
Get the curry’s contents out of the blender with water
This is something I thought everyone just did because I’ve seen my mom do it a million times. When making anything that needs to be blended and poured back into the pan, instead of adding water to thin it out, just add water into the blender to capture the residual bits and pour that into the pan. It doesn’t make a huge difference, and yet, it’s so satisfying.
Buy mushrooms from Asian grocery stores
This tip is probably not new to anyone who frequents East Asian supermarkets. Before I started buying groceries in Koreatown, mushrooms were a luxury. Now, I find mushrooms to be more affordable than cauliflower (which is actually a luxury, at least wherever I go). I bought $4 of oyster mushrooms and it was enough to make 40 wings and oyster mushroom curry for three.
Sundried tomatoes, olives, pickles, other things in jars
That’s it. That’s the tip.
You have quite literally changed my life with those mini tabs! Thank you!!!!!
Good luck on your apps!