This week, we recover. Check out past posts here, and please follow my Instagram @fivethingsiate.
Dear Reader,
You may have noticed that Five Things I Ate has been missing from your inbox for the past two weeks! That wasn’t a fluke: Unfortunately, I have been very sick! I’m doing much better now, but as my diet has consisted solely of Pedialyte and Saltines mixed with cough drops, this week’s newsletter will be a mix of foods I ate from the before-sick-times and this week.
<3,
Soph
Softly scrambled eggs with butter and ketchup on toasted English muffin at home
The perfect breakfast.
The first real meal that you eat after being sick for a week will feel more decadent than anything a Michelin-starred restaurant can prepare. After an endless slog of fever and vomit, one morning you will wake up and realize that you feel… strangely normal, albeit weak and wobbly. You brush your teeth, marveling at your lack of desire to vomit. You make a cup of tea, beat two eggs with a fork and a sprinkle of salt, and pop an English muffin into the toaster. Set a nonstick pan on the stove, and the heat to low. Add a tab of butter when it’s hot enough to sizzle. Pour in the eggs, keeping the heat on low, and quickly beat with wooden chopsticks to form small curds. Turn the heat off just before it’s totally set. Pour on top of the toasted muffin halves. Generously sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bask in gratitude.
Brown sugar boba ice cream bars from H-mart
You can get them at H-mart, if you’re lucky.
Under normal circumstances, a pint of ice cream almost always makes me happy. But these are not normal circumstances, so I had to reach really deep into my childhood psyche / the freezer section at H-mart and pull out these brown sugar boba ice cream bars which are basically really really trying their hardest to make you happy. And I am here to report that it works! I was not sold at first bite, because the popsicles tasted way way too sweet for me, but then I realized that’s part of its charm. Just embrace the super-sweet, super-sticky-chewy excess. Oh, at 10.99 for a box they’re pretty steep, but that’s probably the double mark-up (H-mart and NYC forces combined). There is something so joyful about consuming ice cream on a stick, preferably while bingeing cartoons on Netflix (I’m on season 3 of Castlevania — let’s discuss if you watch!!!).
Matcha boba tea at home
You can make this, too.
Can I be honest with you? I like boba (bubbles) in everything except for tea. I think because you’re supposed to chew the bubbles while you drink the tea, but what I always end up doing is drinking all the delicious tea first. And then I’m left with a mass of sticky starch at the bottom. I’m probably doing it wrong but I still feel terribly fond of bubbles, even if most go to waste. I just like feeling like my tea isn’t barren and lonely. I even bought some from H-mart (but you can get them online) and cooked them at home, and steeped them in a brown sugar syrup. Then I made myself a nice matcha latte (it turns out Ito-En matcha isn’t so bad, although it’s no Ippodo), which you can do too: Fill a mason jar half-full with ice, a teaspoon of matcha, and about 2 fingers of filtered water. Screw lid on and shake vigorously; add half a cup of whole milk (Lactaid!) and shake again, until frothy. Scoop out some boba bubbles with brown sugar into a pretty glass, and top with matcha latte. Try not to leave the bubbles behind.
Trader Joe's Ube Mochi Pancake & Waffle Mix at home
You can get this at your local Trader Joe’s, if it’s still open. Remember to wear a mask!
I scored a box of the ube mochi pancake and waffle mix from Trader Joe’s which I feel is sort of analogous to winning free tickets to a luxury cruise before the Pandemic Times. But this is true luxury now, being able to get novelty waffle mix (I mean, to be fair, I hate cruises and love breakfast foods, so this has always been the winner for me). I was super excited to try the waffles out, especially because I’ve been meaning to make mochi waffles on my own for a while now. They’re gluten free and primarily composed of rice flour, and you need only water, egg, and butter to complete the batter. I mixed up the smallest serving size of waffles, which yielded three (not two) waffles for me. The result was very tasty — Puffier and lighter than I expected, with a crispy exterior, chewy interior and a good buttery mochi taste. I find them more filling than wheat waffles, so about 2 waffles were perfect for me. I think they’re best plain since the batter is already sweetened; maple syrup did not jive well with the ube flavor.
Perfect gin fizz at home
Sophie’s recipe
I wanted to write a more blithe description of this Perfect Gin Fizz I made, because it really is perfect: Lemony and crisp, it is far greater than the sum of its parts. Something about it tasting like the first of June; floral and full of renewed hope, just like me after conquering my fever. But the truth is that I am tired. You are tired. We are all tired. And the reason I know how to make this drink is one part culinary curiosity and one part internalized toxic masculinity that takes pride in being really good at serving alcohol. Anyways, here's how to make it: Just pour 1 1/2 ounces of dry gin (3 tbs), 2 teaspoons of superfine sugar or simple syrup, 1 ounce (2 tbs) fresh lemon juice, and 1 egg white into a shaker with ice. Shake the smithereens out of it, and strain it into a pretty glass. Top with a drop of Angostura bitters and if you're fancy you can use a toothpick to make a little heart. Drink the raw egg white foam without the fear of food poisoning in your eyes and I promise you will not get sick.
Here's to life.
Soph