FMG: I put jalapeños in my sauvy b
and, to quote Katy Perry, astronaut, I liked it
Happy Friday!
I’m going to cut right to the chase: In last week’s newsletter, I shared that the TikTok girlies have been drinking their sauvignon blanc with frozen sliced jalapeños. Never one to back down from a challenge that includes both wine and spicy food, I headed to Trader Joe’s for a healthy serving of both ingredients. I sliced up two jalapeños, removed the seeds from one and left them in the other, then placed the slices in a bag in the freezer. The next day, I placed one seeded and one seedless slice in a glass, then poured a (healthy) serving of sauvignon blanc on top of the icy peppers. I was FULLY prepared to think it either 1) didn’t make a difference or 2) seemed gross, and I’m so pleased to say that I was completely wrong. The best way I can describe the taste is to compare it to salting your food — it didn’t necessarily make the wine taste spicy, but it enhanced the flavor and made it taste honestly a bit more complex. It felt like a perfect summer-y treat, and you can catch me drinking it for the foreseeable future. (Apparently it was a thing to put jalapeños in your cheap rosé a few summers ago, but I just learned about it very recently. The more you know!)
Snacks: Speaking of taste sensations, I have been (as you know if you’ve spoken to me in the past several months) on a mission to taste every single pickle-flavored item in existence. I cannottttt get enough dill in my life right now, so imagine my surprise and delight when my coworker/friend Greta came back into our office from a Foxtrot run, bearing a new pickle-flavored snack for us to try. The Daily Crunch Dill Pickle mix consists of sprouted almonds and pepitas covered in a dill mixture situation, and the result is the most perfect hit of crunchy, pickle-y perfection. Even after reading the bag and Googling it, we still don’t totally understand what makes an almond “sprouted,” but we’re willing to overlook that confusion for the sake of flavor.
Speaking of Foxtrot, my other coworker/friend Elise recently asked me to share five things I stock up on at Foxtrot (as she said she never knows what specifically to get there). In the interest of sharing the love, here’s the list:
Kid Sister wine: I like them all, from the sauvy b to cab to rosé — they’re all consistently good and insanely reasonable price-wise.
Recess drinks: These sparkling-water-adjacent drinks are my go-to way to feel like I’m having a drink without actually having a drink. My favorite is the peach ginger flavor with CBD, but all the flavors are delicious, and they each also come in magnesium versions instead of CBD if that’s more your jam.
Anything Momofuku: Yes, I knowww you can get Momofuku noodles at Whole Foods! I don’t care! If you’re a ramen lover, there is literally no better way to satisfy your craving at home than with these noodles. They’re about $15 for five packs — which is obviously more than classic packs of ramen, but I promise the flavor is worth it. I like the spicy soy or the soy & scallion flavors — and while the noodles are cooking, I like to add some mirepoix to a skillet, then fry an egg within it. Top your bowl of noodles, veggies, and egg with a healthy dose of the Momofuku Chili Crunch, and you’ve got a perfect meal. Note: I tried the Momofuku Hot Honey and wasn’t impressed. Skip that and just get the Chili Crunch instead!
Sweet Thing Original Brownie Bites: I honestly don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but I could eat an entire box of these little gooey brownies in one sitting.
Caulipower Pizza: I’m not gluten-free, but I do enjoy cauliflower crust pizza because I love sneaking veggies into my meals. The Caulipower frozen pizzas aren’t floppy the way some other cauliflower crusts can be, and there are tons of delicious variations. Buffalo chicken is obvi my fave, but the regular pepperoni is good too.
Family: We celebrated my grandma’s 90th birthday this past weekend! We marked the occasion with a not-party party (it was a party), where my aunt and uncle hosted our extended family (and about four people I’ve never seen in my life) for food, drinks, and celebration of the very beloved Jan. In addition to loving my grandma, those who know me know how much I also love my niece Eloise and my nephew Nathan. They are the lights of my life, and and my mood near-exclusively revolves around how recently I’ve seen them. Since Nathan (now six) was approximately two years old, he and I have been playing the appropriately named “Trash Truck Game.” This is as simple as it sounds — Nathan pretends to be a pile of trash, and I am the garbage truck. I pick up the trash, I carry it around (usually while saying really healthy and life-affirming things like “Is this the heaviest, yuckiest trash I’ve ever carried in my life!?” We have fun! It’s silly!), and then I drop the trash at the dump (the couch or a bed) and we repeat the whole saga over again. Now that Eloise is three and wants to do every single thing her big brother does, she (very happily!!!!) plays the Trash Truck Game too.
So there I was, at my grandma’s 90th birthday party, standing at the kitchen island (as close as possible to my mom’s bruschetta dip), when I felt a little bump up against my leg. It was my niece! The light of my life! She had bumped me playfully, and — thinking she was taking this opportunity to request some Trash Truck time — I loudly proclaimed, “Oh, are you the biggest pile of TRASH in the world!? Did I just get bumped by some TRASH!?” Looking up from my niece’s perfect little face, I realized that in addition to standing near the bruschetta dip, I was also standing very nearby to those four partygoers that I didn’t know. To these innocent bystanders, a three-year-old bumped a woman’s leg, and the woman proceeded to call her trash. I have no purpose of telling this story other than to make sure that as many people as possible know my side of it.
Have a great weekend! I’ll be back Friday and will be sharing favorite looks + moments from Monday’s Met :) I’m so excited!
XO,
Gail
And as a reminder:
The news is incredibly heavy these days — and it is my duty to remind you that while newsletters like this are crucial for maintaining sanity and levity, I am not a news source and am in no way a replacement for staying informed. For every newsletter you read that makes you smile, I hope you also read an informed take on politics, world events, and social issues (then fact check it!) — and for every heavy piece of news you take in, I hope you also consume and/or create a piece of art that promotes light, laughter, and joy.