It's showtime! 👯♀️
Read all the way to the bottom for a butter sandwich.
Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, we drink a protein shake or two (who am I??). Check out past posts here, and please follow my Instagram @fivethingsiate.
OWYN vegan protein shake, dark chocolate, backstage
I’ve seen ‘em at Brooklyn Fare and Whole Foods
It’s showtime, ladies and gents! And no, not the subway kind (sorry for triggering). By the time you read this newsletter, I’ll probably be backstage somewhere, stuck for several hours without food and with too much makeup on. Other times of the year, you could not force-feed protein shakes down my throat if you tried (please do not try), but during rehearsal season they’re essential. OWYN is the only brand that doesn’t make me feel (too) vomit-y afterwards, and the dark chocolate flavor is pretty good, with minimal fake sugar taste (YMMV for the other flavors, I’ve tried “golden milk” and cold brew, and I like them far less). Perfect for subway meals; useful for sustained energy at long rehearsals; do not recommend substituting for home cooked sustenance at any other time. It’s a thumbs up from me!
Good Day Chocolate for Adults Calm Supplement at my apartment
I got it at a CVS that was going out of business but you could probably get yours from Whole Foods.
“Chocolate for Adults” sounds vaguely sexy but I assure this is not that kind of “Adult.” This is the “I need two white noise machines to sleep,” “I drink lavender tea after using lavender body wash and lighting a lavender candle because they all promised to decrease my anxiety,” and “I have three meditation apps on my phone” kind of adult. And I am all the above. I have no clue if these chocolates (which contain L-theanine, magnesium, and chamomile extract) work because there are too many confounding factors (again, see above) but they’re like really good oversize m&m’s so I’m into it. Sometimes, between the very adult activity of making phone calls to argue with health insurance companies, I like to treat myself to a cup of decaf coffee (because I can’t handle regular), with oat milk froth (because I can’t handle dairy), and some chocolate supplemented with calming ingredients, because this is exactly how I imagined being a Grown Woman would be like. In all fairness, it’s pretty tasty.
Classic French Dip Sandwich at Maison Pickle
2315 Broadway, New York, NY 10024
From the outside, Maison Pickle looks like a tiny French cafe, but on the inside it’s a multi-level bistro with huge portion sizes, sweet and vicious drinks, and a strong drag-brunch-meets-Cheesecake-Factory vibe. I guess that’s what happens when you choose a place to eat solely based on the fact that it has the word “pickle” in its name (Jacob’s Pickles, on 85th and Amsterdam, was way too crowded to find a seat). You end up in a place that’s unexpectedly... fun? Thankfully, the French dip sandwich was heavenly (and enough for two meals, if I weren’t physically incapable of stopping after half a sandwich). It was loaded with tender slices of beef on a deliciously chewy and fresh baguette and served with a smear of zesty mustard on the plate and a bowl of piping hot broth. People should eat French dip sandwiches more often, really.
Kale and red onions roasted in chicken drippings and smashed sweet potatoes at my place
You, too, can make this!
I love to roast chicken thighs (skin-on and bone-in only, please) for weeknight dinners. Not only are they easy to find, cheap, and satisfying, but you’re left with a sheet of fatty drippings that makes the perfect sauce for a vegetable like kale. This recipe builds off the sheet pan chicken thighs with curry, smoked paprika, and cumin I wrote about two newsletters ago. For a simple feast, throw in two sweet potatoes (I find that organic ones are far more flavorful, at least at my local grocery) on a sheet pan and let them roast while the chicken cooks. When the chicken is nice and crispy, take it off and onto a plate, and toss half a bag of washed and chopped kale onto the sheet pan and half a sweet red onion, sliced, coating with drippings. Keep roasting for another 20 minutes or so, until kale is wilted. Take sweet potatoes out of the oven, slice down the center, and stuff kale with drippings into it, and serve with the chicken.
Anko butter sandwich at Kokage by Kajitsu*
125 E 39th St, New York, NY 10016
I may have buried the lede because this week I ate a BUTTER sandwich but I didn’t tell you about it till now. But patience and loyalty has its rewards, because I will now describe to you something magnificent. Imagine a sandwich, small and round, the size of your palm. Two chewy-fluffy pieces of bread, so soft they may have been steamed, sandwich a thick pat of salted butter and a schmear of jammy anko. The whole thing is incredibly light while also being outrageously rich. The combination of sweetened red beans and salty fatty butter is one I wish I’d known about sooner — apparently it has a cult following in Nagoya.
*This is the little cafe adjacent to my absolute favorite tea shop, Ippodo.
Break a leg,
Soph