Cinnamon spice weather is coming ☕❤️
Apologies for the technical difficulties.
Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, we slide into fall, one hot spiced beverage at a time. Check out past posts here, and please follow my Instagram @fivethingsiate.
Churro latte from Copper Cow
I always get a little sad, and in denial, when the weather takes a steep turn into fall after Labor Day. As much as I hate sweating and the feeling of the back of my thighs sticking to the mysteriously-stained subway seat, I love summer. Summer always feels a little manic and stressful and sweaty, but it also makes me feel alive, which is the best thing a person can feel. Even when you did not have the mental bandwidth to plan a vacation, everything still feels like vacation because you can go sit outside and the sun doesn’t set till 8PM. Anyways, as a consolation prize, it is nice to slowly phase into autumnal foods and my fall wardrobe of Three Flannels from Uniqlo. Last week, I was sipping mint cold brew, but this week, I broke out the cinnamon spice flavors. I have not yet ventured into Pumpkin Spice, and perhaps I never will because I am afraid of what lies there, but this churro latte was a good compromise. I’ve spoken about how much I like Copper Cow before, individual packets of pour-over coffee. To be honest this churro flavor, which means mostly cinnamon, is my least favorite so far (lavender and mint were both phenomenal), but not because of its flavor. The coffee is superb and the cinnamon flavor is really nice and warming, but because of the spices, the filter does tend to clog. Still, I’ll happily drink up this box.
Chocolate mochi cake mix with peanut butter frosting mix at Trader Joe’s
Available at your local neighborhood Trader Joe’s.
I love to pick up box mixes whenever I go for a grocery run. It’s not that I think they’re a lot easier than making homemade cake or cookies (in fact, it can be just as easy with a simple recipe and a cooking scale), or that they taste the same as homemade dessert with fresh ingredients. It’s simply fun to try out new flavors, and mix up things that come in little packets with instructions. Kind of like socially acceptable adult versions of those DIY science kits I loved as a kid. This chocolate mochi cake is gluten-free and all you need to provide are eggs, water, and butter. It bakes up simply and beautifully. It’s not as bouncy or moist as my favorite chocolate mochi brownies, which are almost as easy to put together. The peanut butter frosting, which has powdered peanut butter and sugar in it, isn’t as good as the real thing (and has a strange coconutty aftertaste?), but with a dash of vanilla in it, the whole dessert comes together pretty satisfyingly -- and perfect for an impromptu birthday cake.
Upside-down peach cake at home
Why not in your kitchen, too, so it can smell like butter and peaches?
The problem with working from home is that I constantly have the impulse to wake and bake cakes. Sometimes cooking is this sort of mindless state-of-flow for me, and when I get into the flow, I can’t stop making things, until my sink is filled to the brim with dishes and I’ve run out of forks. I guess the real problem is that when I am at home, I have to work, and I am not the kind of human being who was made to sit still. That’s why I peeled a peck of peaches and made an upside-down cake before noon even though I had leftover mochi cake on the counter and lime pie in the freezer. Upside-down cake is something I’ve always been attracted to for its homey, kitschy vibe, but never got around to making. I’m very glad I did, even though I’ll have to wash another sinkful of dishes. The recipe is very simple and the results are sublime. You end up with a crumbly and buttery, almost cornbread-esque cake topped with caramelized brown sugar goo and soft peaches. This cake straddles the line between cobbler and cake and I am here for it. I reduced the sugar in the batter to ½ cup, but I bet you could cut it down even more.
Strawberry vanilla Olipop at the bodega
Also available at Whole Foods and other grocers.
Sometimes, as an adult, happiness can feel so complicated. There’s internal work and then there’s external work and too much of every kind of work along the way. But, being happy can also be really simple. Like going to dance class and making a new friend and then buying a strawberry soda and strawberry popsicles on the way home. Olipop is this low-sugar soda-esque drink with all sorts of reputed health benefits on the label but the truth is that I just like it because it comes in old school soda fountain flavors and the cans have soothing pastel colors. The strawberry vanilla flavor is my favorite, because I like strawberry flavored things almost as much as I like rose flavored things (they are, in fact, from the same botanical family!). And then, I think, maybe being happy is in fact very simple and it is everything unhappy that is so complicated.
Lobiani at Chama Mama
Two locations, UWS and Chelsea -- check online!
After writing all the way to the bottom of this newsletter and realizing I only mentioned sweet things, which is a habit I need to shake given that I am possibly genetically predisposed to diabetes, I am now going to write about beans. As much as my vegetarian friends (and Instant Pot fans) try to convince me otherwise, I am just not a huge fan of beans, unless they take the form of tofu or sweet red bean bun filling. But the Lobiani at Chama Mama, a Georgian flatbread filled with creamy, buttery mashed beans might be enough to change my mind. I was worried that the combo of beans-on-carb might be too dry or stuffy, but somehow the flatbread dough tastes incredibly soft and almost moist. It’s a pretty hefty serving size, too, perfect to share among two people.
Have a good weekend,
Soph
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