Friday favorites 9/9
A 90’s flashback, a surprising champagne pairing, and…Zac Efron?
Chilly mornings and balmy afternoons make me feel like I’m straddling the line between summer and fall. It’s also how I felt about my meals this week. I made my first “stew” of the season, but it was the Ratatouille-ish Summer Stew from Golubka Kitchen’s Weeknight Magic Vol 1 so it was still firmly within the boundaries of a summer dish. I may be adding herbal teas back into my afternoon routine, yet a batch of homemade fudgesicles somehow materialized in our freezer. And while gazpacho is still on the menu, there have been whispers of making caldo in the coming days.
Honestly, this is my favorite time of year, the culinary equivalent of wearing shorts with tights (an outfit pairing that I was a huge fan of in elementary school and I still quite like—hey, the 90’s are back, or so I hear).
You can find my (somewhat hodgepodge) picks of the week below!
Speaking of the 90’s, does anyone else remember those ubiquitous commercials for Grey Poupon? I despised mustard as a child, so up until now my only association to the brand had been their catchphrase “Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?”.
Earlier this week when I realized that no matter how much I scraped I couldn’t salvage any more of my beloved Maille Dijon out of its glass jar, I remembered that we did, in fact, have Grey Poupon. I used it in our standard vinaigrette recipe, and I was astonished at how tasty it was. I don’t know why I had it in my head that Grey Poupon was…not good? Probably a vestige of my mustard-hating childhood. As a side-note, did you guys know that they came out with a Grey Poupon and pretzel ice cream this summer? Someone make a dairy-free version and sell it in Spain, please!
I’m not a regular reader of Men’s Health (shocking, I know) and I’m not even necessarily a Zac Efron fan, but somehow I came across this interview yesterday and found it interesting. It’s an in-depth (read: long) article, but the part that caught my eye is when Efron is discussing the rigorous, unsustainable training and diet that he put himself through to obtain his “Baywatch bod” for the 2017 film:
“I started to develop insomnia,” he says, “and I fell into a pretty bad depression, for a long time. Something about that experience burned me out. I had a really hard time recentering. Ultimately they chalked it up to taking way too many diuretics for way too long, and it messed something up.”
We often talk about the unrealistic beauty standards that women are held to, and it’s true that men usually are cut more slack with their physical appearance, both for weight/being “in shape” and aging. But that doesn’t mean that men don’t struggle with pressure from media and diet culture.
There are a couple of things from the article that still read a little problematic—the focus on describing Efron’s veiny biceps, the scrutiny of what he eats at the steakhouse where the interview takes place, and the comment that Efron sees Leo DiCaprio as a “North Star” (I hope Zac doesn’t follow LD’s problematic dating patterns)—but at least the interview brings some slight awareness to a very real problem.
On a less-serious note, David and I bought popsicle molds a few years ago during a brief but intense obsession with the shop Lolo Polos here in Madrid. We usually use the molds to make fruit flavors (particularly the peach-lemonade pops I talk about here), but when I read Sophie’s newsletter this week noting her success at making homemade (oat milk!) fudgesicles, I couldn’t resist branching out. We followed the recipe exactly as listed except for subbing Oatly Barista for the milk.
Fudgesicles in the making As Sophie says, these are super rich and much fudgier than your standard chocolate pop. In fact, I would maybe make the individual popsicles smaller next time because eating a whole one was almost too chocolatey (a sentence I never thought I would find myself typing!). You can find the recipe in Sophie’s post linked below, and as a bonus she also reviews the La Colombe Draft Lattes (something that doesn’t exist here but I’ll keep my eye out for on my next US visit).
Some people like the idea of high-low fashion; I like the idea of high-low food pairings. One random night when David was visiting me in Chicago several years ago, we picked up sushi from a local restaurant and stopped by McDonald’s on the way home to get French fries as a side. McDonald’s and maki seems like a random pairing but it was fun and made for a silly but memorable meal.
Maki + Mickey D’s (picture from 2015 so excuse the quality) I was reminded of that night when we decided to try our hand at making crispy sweet potato fries this week. We’ve been on a mission to learn more about champagne, so we popped a bottle into the fridge to chill while we got to work. Our resulting meal was the sweet potato fries (made with purple sweet potato because that’s what we had lying around), fried eggs, and champagne. Oh, and the aforementioned fudgesicles for dessert. High-low dining at its finest. Pro tip: the acidity of the champagne is a fantastic juxtaposition to the creamy chocolate popsicles. Cheers!
Dinner of champions
Parting notes:
In case you missed it, this week I kicked off my new series Ask a Madrileño with by interviewing David. Comments are open if you have any questions for him!
It’s already time for another Sunday Sobremesa in a couple of days, but for now you can check out our current one on fall foods we’re looking forward to. We’re getting closer day by day!
What are your thoughts on high-low food pairings? Do you have a favorite popsicle flavor? Are you Team Maille or Team Grey Poupon? Any recommendations for champagne flutes (right now we’re using our regular wine glasses, which feels sort of wrong). I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
And that’s it for the week! Happy Friday, and see you on Sunday!
Ki
Ah those fudgsicles look great! Indeed they are super chocolatey -- I actually used a kids sized popsicle mold which was the perfect amount :)
Caviar and plain Ruffles chips are the move!