In which I do not drop my full skincare routine 💁🏻♀️
Memories of Torta della Nonna from the Before Times, and a rice water face wash
Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, we ward off anxiety with the power of ginger, and wash our face before we go to bed. Check out past posts here, and please follow my Instagram @fivethingsiate.
Graft Cidery “Birds of Paradise” Moscow Mule Cider at Whole Foods
Available at Whole Foods and other groceries in the Northeast.
I’ve had a chronic stomach ache since the age of three, when I had my first existential crisis. I came home from the free Baptist daycare to my Atheist Chinese parents who watched in horror as I bowed my head to pray before dinner, and then told me there was no God. As such, I keep a variety of ginger-flavored things in my life at all times; to keep the nausea of life at bay. Graft Cidery is one of my favorite local hard cider makers -- I really like Farm Flor, which is really dry and tart, as hard cider should be. When I saw that they made a ginger flavored beverage I snapped it up at Whole Foods (also, it was on sale). The label sold me at “sour” and “ginger”; two of my favorite flavors. It’s not as gingery as I hoped it would be; it’s spicy, with a kind of medicinal, earthy ginger flavor, kind of like a ginger kombucha. That being said, “medicinal” is a good word in my book. I’d probably stick with the “Farm Flor” dry table cider next time, because I still like my dry cider tasting like dry apples only, but this is a pretty nice evening beverage, even if not quite powerful enough on its own to keep the demons at bay.
Nescafe Gold (Crema) at Asian Food Market
You can purchase online, here’s the proper link.
Although the hero (or perhaps anti-hero) of this story now has enough types of instant and “slow” coffee in her tiny kitchen than one person should safely have, continuing on from my quest last week I picked up this very intriguing “Nescafe Gold crema” at the Asian Food Market (real name). Asian food markets (you can try H-mart, Sunrise Mart) are actually one of the most fun and interesting places to try new varieties of coffee that are targeted to other global markets. Honestly this Nescafe Gold Crema knocks it out of the park for me. It is composed of very fine granules, much smaller than regular instant coffee, that create a lovely espresso crema when you add boiling water. It’s very smooth, with a golden roast, mellow flavor that’s far from the charcoal-y burnt coffee taste I despise. If you lower the amount of hot water I swear it tastes like a freshly pulled espresso.
Torta della Nonna at Pane Pasta
58 W 8th St, New York, NY 10011
The last time I ate Torta della Nonna, I was sitting at a sun-streaked kitchen table in Florence, treasuring a leftover sweet slice from a luxurious steak dinner the night before. Now it is 2021, I picked up a live mouse with my (gloved) hands last night) and I live in an apartment with a sole window that faces a brick wall, so that no sunlight, physical or metaphorical, stands a chance in this realm. Life comes at you fast. And I guess it is no surprise that this Torta doesn’t stand a chance against the one, beautiful and perfumed with lemon, thick and creamy, in my memories. It tries far too hard to be cheerful; overwhelmingly citrusy and too unnatural bright in its filling. I can’t really blame Pane Pasta, which is a charming little shop that sells only snack foods, a delightful concept. It’s just that times have changed, and no Torta della Nonna will live up to the memories I have of it Before the Fall.
Blueberry swirl cheesecake at home
Recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction
This blueberry cheesecake is very beautiful. I would link a photo of it on Instagram, but I didn’t post it on Instagram. This is because I think that Instagram is a platform that rewards cheerfulness, whether constructed or authentic, and writing is an inherently angsty medium. You can guess which of these categories I am more faithful to. So you will just have to look at these photos from Sally’s Baking Addiction, and believe me when I say that mine turned out even more beautiful; the thick swirls of berry a darkest purple, not timid streaks as on this food blog, but unrestrained, unfiltered (as I left the cooked berries in), streaks cutting across creamy white. I wish it tasted as unrestrained. Perhaps it was the use of full-fat greek yogurt (Siggi’s honey) instead of sour cream, but it could have been one drop more decadent for my desires.
Rice water for skin care at home
Recipe from: I will tell you
We will end this week’s episode on a caring note, as you, Dear Reader, have been kind, and I am Very Tired. If you, too, are Very Tired, a nice thing you can do for yourself is to wash your face with rice water. This simple act of self-care might seem so trivial, but the act of being kind to my skin first thing in the morning, and before I go to bed at night, has pulled me through some of the darkest of times. Never laugh at a person who cares about the state of their skin, or wears makeup. It might just be the small and only way they can take care of themselves, and for that, we should all be proud. Anyways, I have heard about the magic healing power of rice water for a long time on Reddit now, but only recently have I tried it, thanks to my new Zojirushi machine. Not wanting to do wrong before the face of Hello Kitty, I actually followed the lawful instructions for cooking rice, which involved soaking it first. The leftover water, soaked with rice for 30 minutes, cloudy and just slightly milky, soothes the face like a soft oatmeal bath, and makes an excellent toner or face wash.
Have a snowy weekend,
Soph
P.S. Do you want to be a Very Good Reader? Please consider a paid subscription, which includes a special monthly long form recipe.