Creative Cooking in Quarantine
How living at home leveled-up my cooking.
A few months before the pandemic, I was at the MoMA with two friends, Mike(y) and Isabelle. Naturally, on the art-museum-conversational-spectrum from “I could make that.” to “How tf do they do that?!” we landed here: Mike(y), a fun, intellectually curious (and creative!) guy in f*nance, said he needed to find more creative outlets. Isabelle, a fun, hilarious (and creative!) gal who makes films immediately challenged his notion of what creative means. Sure, she said, if you define “creative” by what’s on display at the Museum of Modern Art, you might not be doing the most, but those are not the parameters which she believed creativity should be measured. We agreed, but still struggled a bit to identify where we felt creatively fulfilled.
A few hours later, on a quest for a good, quick Sunday meal on 53rd and Park (a fool’s errand), in a moment of clarity, Mike(y) turned to me and said, “Dude, you cook. that’s creative!” So I texted our creativity shaman, looking for validation.
I probably cook more than the average person – definitely more than the average New Yorker. In most cases, I try to cook as healthy as possible, for as cheap as possible – a protein, a grain, and some veggies, generally not the frozen stuff, and likely from Trader Joe’s. Occasionally, I’ll use enough butter and salt to really wow myself, but it’s usually the healthy, simple route.
“There is no debating that it’s ‘better’ to cook at home whenever–and as often as–possible. It’s cheaper, for sure. It’s almost always healthier than what you might otherwise be ordering as takeout–or eating at a restaurant. And it’s probably better for society.”
– Anthony Bourdain, Medium Raw
This baking-on-a-budget way of things had been my MO for about three years, until quarantine began and I found myself living with one of the best cooks I know: my mom. She’d be the first to tell you she’s “just good at finding and following recipes,” but find and follow she does, five or six nights per week. Growing up, every single kid I knew loved the mac n cheese from Wilt Chamberlain’s in Boca Raton, FL. My mom wrote into the newspaper asking for the recipe, and she still makes it that way to this day. Apparently she’s not alone.
For many, the beginning of quarantine was Tiger King and baking bread. For me, it was Tiger King and a departure from the “cheap” component of my cooking philosophy. I was finally, truly leaning into cooking as my creative outlet, using better ingredients and more of them (thanks largely in part to not having to pay for the groceries).
We had a good system, my mom and I, splitting up or sharing the responsibilities of cooking and cleaning. It felt like we were running a little restaurant, except our only patron was a respectful, hungry, reasonable food critic who loved the food almost as much as he loved us. Except the tofu, he did not like when we made tofu.
I’ve really struggled to prescribe how to be more creative. Is it more reps? Is it a product of the environment? Just simply innate? If nothing else, this jumbled anecdote proves it’s probably all three.
Since moving back out of my parents’ place, I’ve been living with up to 10 people at times and “fam dinners” have been a constant, though the fam has been entirely unrelated by blood or marriage. But thanks to my quarantine cooking, living at home, and DNA, these fam dinners have been more ambitious, more creative projects (read: less taco nights).
In the absence of indoor dining as it’s intended, we are trying (creatively!) to fill that void in my kitchen. It feels good to create something delicious, especially for others. But as I’ve prepped veggie ramen for 6 and tried to nail the timing of the soft-boiled eggs with the noodles (with help!), I have a new appreciation for the work the teams at my favorite restaurants are capable of. Great meals are memorable, but a great meal with great company is transformative. I’m looking forward to more of that soon. We all deserve it.
And in the end, maybe it is all about the food.
–Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential
Private Schools Have Become Truly Obscene
This story in The Atlantic goes beyond the typical “rich parents behaving badly” narrative and really tries to unpack the complicated issues surrounding private education in the U.S. The writer, Caitlin Flanagan, is both a former teacher and parent at L.A.’s elite Harvard-Westlake School, who brings a multitude of perspectives to the piece that really highlights how much of a have-have not world we live in and how insecure the haves feel about their position in it.
—Justin
Nomadland
It’s not that hot of a take to recommend a movie that was nominated for six Oscars and already won Best Picture-Drama at the Golden Globes. But I saw this last night in a theater (a glorious friggin’ theater!!!!) and it really does deliver. Writer and director Chloé Zhao created a film where you deeply a broad swath of emotions even though, plot-wise, not a whole lot happens. The logline for the movie is basically, “Frances McDormand lives in a van,” yet the feelings of loneliness, suspense, and wanderlust that it elicits is truly profound.
—Justin