Hello again!
We’ve got flowers blooming in the backyard: a coral rose that made it through a nasty winter frost; a butterfly bush that has tons of cool conical purple flowers; a gardenia bush that looks weak (yet refuses to give up). We grew snap peas as a raised-bed experiment, which never really produced enough for a veggie tray but managed to give us a little crunch of joy here and there. I tried (unsuccessfully) to get really into Succession, but am putting together a summer reading list - more to come on that front.
We also joined another farm CSA, which has kept us in bok choy (eh) but also strawberries and turnips (hooray!). Business as usual in these parts!
A SCATTERING OF GOOD TASTES
Offline:
Currently booking a mid-summer trip to Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, where I will surely swan about in linen blends with a lobster roll permanently attached to my claw. If you have any can’t-miss stops, let me know!
Reading Happy Hour by Marlowe Granadas, a silly summer romp
Admiring:
I know, who amongst us doesn’t love a well-staged celebrity home tour, but this Open Door with AD with Chloe Fineman is really popular for a good reason. I love the colors + textures in her NYC apartment and very quickly googled her bath towels (we do not need new towels).
This really great instructional piece on adding more color to your home
Restaurants are starting to design for solo dining, which I absolutely love, as someone with a deep and abiding love for the solo dinner-at-the-bar experience while I’m traveling
Other items of note:
What Handel liked to hang on his walls
The charming towns of western North Carolina
How much is a smidgen? And other histories of custom measurements
Listening to:
VHS by CASTLEBEAT, which has summer 2010 vibes in a very distinct way
A lot of Arlo Parks, especially the new album
This Spotify playlist called “funeral” by the late musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, who privately compiled it to be played at his own funeral, which is just honestly a very moving thing
A few playlists generated by Chat Jams, the most personally USEFUL application of ChatGPT/generative AI I have seen yet!! (Though there’s also this piece about songs from Spotify that follow you around, corroborating a longtime theory my friend Tim and I have had about Cass McCombs)
WARM TOMATOES WITH FETA DRESSING
By some divine miracle, we haven’t hit summer temperatures in Atlanta just yet. While this particular dish seems best-suited for hot summer days, it’s actually better before the weather makes you hostile. And, it comes together in under a half hour.
INGREDIENTS
For the tomatoes:
1 pint of cherry tomatoes
Salt, pepper, and a pinch of herby seasoning (I like Bragg’s Sprinkle for this)
Head of garlic, cut in half crosswise
Olive oil to coat
For the feta dressing:
½ cup, crumbled feta cheese
½ cup, full fat Greek yogurt
¼ cup, olive oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
½ cup combined, fresh dill and mint, chopped
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. dried oregano
WHAT TO DO
Preheat your oven (I like using our convection/toaster oven for this task, but would be just fine in a regular oven) to 400. On a baking sheet, toss tomatoes and halved garlic bulb generously with olive oil, and shower with salt, pepper, and herby seasoning. Cook for about 20-25 minutes, or until the tomatoes are softened and juicy.
To make the dressing, throw its ingredients into your favorite mini food processor (as mentioned in vol. 70). Churn until smooth and consistency is a medium-body dressing - add more olive oil + pulse if you are looking for more liquid. In my fridge, this dressing keeps for about a week in a tightly-sealed mason jar.
Dress the warm tomatoes in the feta dressing, add some fresh corn and a sliced avocado if you’d like. Squeeze out the roasted garlic from its bulb, it should release easily. Garnish with a bit of the fresh dill and mint if you still have some on-hand.
What a great edition. I had so much fun making playlists and daydreaming about how I would decorate an apartment. I loved it all.