Tell Me What To Cook

While I detox off my Instagram addiction

Hi friends!

I’m on Day Two of a Social Media Restriction Diet. Or should I call it a Mental Health Plan? Dieting is against my religion. (I also don’t have one of those.) Whatever you want to call it, I’m trying to spend less time scrolling. Get in, get out. Those spaces bring me a lot of joy and happiness and connection, and so the trick is to figure out how much time I can spend there to get those things, and how much time shoves me off the cliff and into the abyss. The goal is to stay out of the abyss.

Anyway, so right now I’m in a bit of withdrawal, and thinking about the things that I love about it, and the first thing I thought of, after DMs with my friends at odd hours of the day, basically texting with everyone whose phone numbers I might not have, is that I love to watch writers cook and eat.

Have you noticed this? How many writers are also secretly professional-level chefs and bakers? My friend Jenny Han is always baking something. Roxane Gay is always cooking and baking elaborate meals. Mary HK Choi is eating apples and documenting the experience with aplomb. (Aplomb/a pomme.) There are no links—just follow those geniuses on Instagram and you too can see the apples and the cakes and the dishes.

I also find that I am happier when I’m cooking elaborate things. Not fancy things—I have no time or patience for fancy cooking methods, or recipes that require obscure ingredients. I mean the things that are so delicious that you are psyched when you open the door at lunchtime the next day and think, oh yes, lasagna. It was my six year old’s birthday last week, and we just polished off the end of the cake. A birthday cake with sprinkles on top is a very nice thing to have in the kitchen.

The meal that I have made the most often in the last year is this sheet pan situation—it’s sweet and cheesy and onion-y and honestly what more could one need. I would tell you all how much I make this, but then you would call the police.

So: more lasagna. More cake. Less scrolling. My therapist said I should plug my phone in in a different room. Still working up to that one.

What meal do you cook most often? I’m talking at least once a week. Something that you will always say yes to, that you can cook with one eye closed, without looking at the recipe. Cakes welcome. Please share yours in the comments.

My runner-ups, right now:

Deb’s fluffy pancakes.

Carla’s cauliflower pasta.

A good dutch oven chicken situation.

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