The Kitchen Sink: July
Trying blueberry wine, downing rosé, buying tomatoes and Beenie Man
I miss having co-workers. When I worked at Buzzfeed’s Tasty, we had weekly Monday meetings where the team would share TikTok and IG Reels we found interesting, new content creators to work with, and traded talk about news in the industry and beyond.
So this is my monthly ode to that: The Kitchen Sink. A hodgepodge of my observations within food, wine, books, L.A., and pop culture. All the things that make my world go round. Also: world peace.
If you like this post, share it with a friend, a homeboy, or the neighbor who always keeps their blinds open. They’ll love it!
Rosé:
I know chilled reds and orange wines are popular with the girlies this summer, but let’s remember who we pledged our allegiance to circa 2014 - 2021: crisp, mouthwatering, juicy rosé, ideally served when you’re near a body of water and the skin on your arms are reaching sunburn status (helps takes the edge off). But instead of reaching for Whispering Angel or Josh Cellars, here are some basic things to keep in mind when shopping for a bottle or reading a wine list at a bar or restaurant:
If you’re looking for a rosé wine that’s casual, chuggable and most likely under $25 a bottle, look for wines from Provence. Rosés from Provence are light-bodied, with high acidity, and taste like strawberries and the sea (i.e. salt). You cannot go wrong with a dry rosé from Provence.
If it’s a celebration and/or someone else is spending money (hehe), opt for a Bandol rosé, which while made in Provence, is a fuller-bodied expression that gives off plum and spice, and pairs great with BBQ.
99.9% of rosés are dry, not sweet. That one percent, I’m saving for White Zinfandel which is not rosé, but gets lumped into the category anyway. Many people think that the darker a rosé is, the sweeter it is. Not true. It just means that the skins of the red grapes had more time to mingle with the juice, resulting in a darker color.
Okay, fine. This is probably my favorite rosé wine from Trader Joe’s.
Spanish rosado’s and Italian rosato’s are all rosé wines, and typically made with that region’s indigenous grapes. Last week, I brought over a bottle of this Sicilian rosato made from Nero d’Avola grapes for a friend gathering (hi Alex and Alex!). It had high acidity, tasted like red berries and watermelon, and overall, refreshing.
Tomatoes:
If you don’t like tomatoes, you might be eating them during the off-season (November - April, but depending on where you live). Just sayin’ because there is nothing better than a juicy, sweet, ugly-looking heirloom tomato on a BLT or cherry tomatoes eaten as a snack or cooked down into a pasta sauce. Last week, I made this tomato tart from
, and this week, I’m making Pasta with No-Cook Cherry Tomato Sauce from food editor, Jesse Szewcyck. I made his Pasta with No-Cook Zucchini Sauce a few newsletters back, and his recipes are gold.Can someone please invite me to the next tomato party with Horace Cameron and Yasmine Mei? I have never seen a more deliciously-designed table.
i mean, c'mon! Photos credit: @YasmineMei and @HoraceGardens
Blueberry Wine:
Grapes are not the only fruit that can be turned into wine. Most fruits can be made into wine because of the sugar content. Yeast, that’s flying around in the air and on the skins of fruits, feed off the sugar in fermenting fruit and turn it into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Blueberry wine is no different, and this Maine Wild Blueberry Sparkling Wine was trippy. Made with 100% native Maine wild blueberries, this is a great option when you want a low-ABV drink that’s tart, refreshing and light. Kinda reminds me of kombucha, but without the tang. Comes in single-serve cans and a 750ml bottle. I’m interested to see where this space goes. Would you drink blueberry wine?
Links, Reads and Views:
Still making my way reading through Circe, which has gotten better, but I wouldn’t recommend reading it unless you have a good grasp of Greek mythology.
Watched the movie Zola (Max) based on the ICONIC Twitter thread from 2015 by Aziah “Zola” Wells and this profile in Rolling Stone. This movie is so A24-coded, that if the pandemic hadn’t happened, I’m sure it would have been super popular. The movie is about two dancers who road trip to Florida to strip and it does not go as planned…at all. The direction and cinematography were beautiful, but don’t expect too much plot. This movie is mostly ~vibes~.
Is #underconsumption a trend, or is it how most people live outside social media? Food for thought by Katie Mather via
.You can read and follow a baking recipe to a tee, but instinct and practice will go further. Read: the “perfect” recipe won’t make you a better baker by Kassie Medieta of
.Speaking of baked goods, Baked Bar Los Angeles might be my favorite bakery and work spot but doesn’t get the credit. Get the spinach pesto danish.
Food52 is having a talent-driven social glow-up and I am here for it.
Heard the below track last weekend at The Dime. Summer in a song circa 2002: “Girls Dem Sugar” by Beenie Man and Mya
Happy Leo Szn!
Thanks for the shout out!