Well. Well. Well. She really did it. She wrote the (very rough) first issue of a food newsletter.
Fun fact, this isn’t my first time trying out this medium of food writing. Besides the mother-daughter blog I co-wrote when I was 12, some select friends might remember “THE SALAD BIBLE,” a brief email that I wrote and forwarded around to my other girlfriends who had just started working (and cooking) in the real world. It held such crucial gems like “use beans” and “celery is SO good on a salad” or “a chopped salad is really one of my favorites because it doesn't feeeeeel like a salad when you eat it.” Really groundbreaking stuff.
All jokes aside, I will probably write about how to build really good salads here because I think salads are a special art form. And one thing about a “salad bible” that I still really believe in is that recipes aren’t needed for everything all the time. If you signed up for this newsletter hoping for lots of recipes, I am (not) sorry, but there really won’t be a lot of those here. SURE, I’ll finally tell you all how I make chicken adobo (stay tuned for the February issue) or my beloved turkey meatballs, but that’s not really the point of what I want to write because recipes aren’t really how I cook. If you want a bunch of great recipes there’s a LOT of websites/newsletters that do that a lot better than I would and, because I’m nice, I’ll try to link to some of them from time to time.
So. This foodletter won’t be solely about recipes. It also won’t be about “healthy” eating or wellness—other than in a vague “dark leafy greens are good, actually” kind of way. However, it will be released monthly and it will include the following:
Essays/freewriting about lunch, love and/or leftovers
LOTS of tips on various topics like...
Cooking at home
How to build better sandwiches
How to order the best thing at restaurants
How to throw a dinner party without crying
How to manage your fridge/pantry
How to absolutely BUST through a grocery store (see below!)
How to get revenge through pasta, etc. etc. etc.
What I’ve been cooking & how I made it (this sounds a lot like a recipe, huh)
A lovey dovey playlist to vibe out to
TBD: An advice (read: GOSSIP) column—yes, I am humbly begging you to write me for food or life advice, this has been my dream since I was a wee subscriber of Seventeen magazine)
This introductory issue is much more brief and casual than you’ll (hopefully) find in the future. But for now, please enjoy and let me know your thoughts or questions for future issues! Anyway, like all things I cook up for friends, I hope it’s good and I hope you like it.
XO
Ambie
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
Lunch is, historically, my favorite meal. In a five day work week, breakfast is pretty boring at best and anxiety-inducing at worst. Dinner varies. It’s either eventized or it’s routine. It’s meticulously meal prepped or it’s reactive and emotional (bad day? wine and pizza. good day? also wine and pizza but with a caesar salad). But lunch? Lunch is a reprieve. It’s a treat. I love thinking about lunch for the first few hours of work. I love my (pre-COVID) desk salad as much as I love my (post-COVID) homemade mega-meal that I scarf down while we watch half an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Here are some of my favorite lunches, I’ll probably post the (not) recipes on Instagram so be sure to follow!!
Classic Sandwich & Chips: Easily my favorite lunch. The sandwich is almost always on a ciabatta roll or a crusty sourdough. The chips are almost always plain kettle chips or Maui Onion—the perfect chip.
Giant Chopped Salad: Thinly shredded romaine. Chickpeas (from the can!! Sometimes roasted til crispy). Red onion. Cherry tomatoes. Celery. Red cabbage or radicchio. Carrots. Toasted walnuts or almonds. Freshly grated parm. A drizzle of perfectly herby homemade vinaigrette!
Crispy Tacos: When I’m not in meetings and have a bunch of homemade salsas ready in the fridge, I fry up corn tortillas with whatever leftover protein or potato is languishing in the fridge then top it with a handful of shredded lettuce and cheese and go. to. town.
FOOD FOR FOOD:
Since it’s the first issue, I thought today’s tips should be about building a grocery list. Since it’s quarantine, I have completely changed the way I shop in order to limit the number of trips each month. Lately, this means I make one BIG grocery trip every 2-3 weeks. It works pretty well, but if I run out of eggs or cheese or lemons (the three things I go through like crazy), I’ll do a drive through pick up at Target or something (highly recommend).
Not to brag, but when I step in a grocery store, I’m like a machine. I generally have the same needs every time, and unless I see an awesome deal or remember a specific meal I’ve been craving, it’s all pretty robotic at this point. Generally, it goes something like this:
Produce section. If you don’t hit the produce section first, you’re doing it wrong. I believe this deeply. If you fill up your cart with a bunch of veggies and fresh fruit, you’re simply less likely to waste time and future heartburn on preservative-heavy freezer foods or—if you’re me—multiple bags of kettle chips, and you’re more likely to think of your meals as vegetable-centric. Once I’m here I focus on grabbing 4 main things:
2-3 fun vegetables to cook (bok choy, brussels sprouts, broccoli, etc.)
2-3 leafy greens and/or other vegetables for salads/raw snacking
An unbelievable amount of citrus and peppers (these are for salsas, dressings, dips, and random squeezes into drinks or heavy/oily dishes)
Roots and alliums, which literally ground every dish I make (this includes the holy trinity of garlic, onion and ginger as well as potatoes and yams)
Meats/protein/deli sections. Even though most of our meals are pretty veggie heavy and my boyfriend Chris’s amazing mom has gotten me into some delicious meat substitutes, I still buy a few different meat proteins at the store. I portion everything out and freeze whatever we’re not cooking that week. (Sidenote: A freezer should be your best friend. I freeze so many things. I could write a whole essay on my freezer!) I buy chicken thighs or I grab two pounds of salmon. I almost always have 2-3 packs of tofu in the fridge. I’m also a HUGE advocate for rotisserie chickens, which I can stretch for a whole week cut up into all kinds of meals and soup stocks (bookmarking this for a future newsletter).
Pantry section: I always have at least two cans of San Marzano whole tomatoes in my pantry for pasta sauce. There may be a rare can of Spam or sardines. I also have an assortment of canned beans and bulk grains. I stock one bottle of nice extra virgin olive oil (for salad dressings, pastas, etc.) and one ENORMOUS bottle of grapeseed oil for everyday cooking.
If you’re curious, here’s my shopping list for tomorrow, which is pretty huge since we’re out of almost everything!! I also spend a lot of time making sure to store everything properly to maximize shelf life. That’s a whole other essay for another day.
FOOD FOR EARS:
Each week I’ll drop in a playlist of love songs for you to listen to while you shop or cook or read. This fulfills my need to feel like one of my favorite people, Delilah. This week’s mixtape was inspired by red wine and roast chicken.
That’s it! See you in February. In the meantime, have questions about food? Need advice? Email me or DM @lunchl0ve on Instagram or Twitter.
Chet Baker is a MUST when cooking or might as well order Chipotle’s!! Happy you included one of my favorites ❤️
Congratulations! Can’t wait to see what cones next. Love the Mixtape!