Mon 3/28: fried ravioli and bresaola salad. We needed a quick and easy meal. Frozen fried ravioli and cured meat to the rescue. Bresaola and arugula salad is one of our favorite things from our Italian honeymoon. Note to self moving forward: don’t make the whole bag of ravioli. You will regret it. #agingisnotfortheweak
Tues 3/29: Mateo. We had tickets two years ago to see one of my favorite podcasts live on stage. And then, well, you know. This night was the redo, and we were able to get a last-minute reservation at one of our favorite places ever. If anyone wants to make a tapas restaurant in Winston-Salem, we promise to be there on the regular. Also: the Night Vale crew was as creepy and heartfelt and captivating as usual. Brava.
Wed 3/30: Asian steak noodle salad. One of Hampton’s signatures. He doesn’t even follow a recipe anymore. There are glass noodles, mint and lemongrass, and perfectly marinated and grilled flank steak, this one — surprise, surprise — from Smoke City Meats.
Thur 3/31: mussels with creamy bacon + white wine sauce and Mateo toasts, arugula salad. We planned a different meal but ended up coming home with lots of toasts from Mateo, so one of the packs of refrigerated mussels in the fridge from Costco was just the vehicle for using them up.
Fri 4/1: pork chops with an apple/tart cherry gastrique, roasted potato and curly endive salad. We planned a different pork chop recipe with a pan sauce from a current food mag. Then forgot an ingredient. We have many, many juices in the fridge at the mo, so Hampton did his thing and yay. He wanted to try a different green than usual, so he grabbed some interesting looking curly endive and we made a salad inspired by this recipe, since roasted potatoes and greens are my favorite thing of 2022, thus far.
Sat 4/2: peposo, creamy polenta, arugula salad. Besides the aforementioned bresaola salad, peposo is another favorite takeaway from our Italian honeymoon. It’s just browned, chunked, beef chuck, lots of garlic, a whole tablespoon of black pepper, a whole bottle of red wine, and three hours. Instead of the usual Chianti, Trader Joe’s currently has a Tuscan from the same year as said honeymoon, so we used that to shake things up.
Sun 4/3: Roar Food Hall. I was done with rehearsal around the time Hampton had a break from his, and we needed to swap cars [the joys of adulting. Sitting to get my tires changed as we speak.], so I met him downtown and we went back to the new food hall that’s just near his theatre. I should have tried something new, but a chicken cheesesteak with mushrooms and pepperoncini is hard to switch away from.
Lunches: leftover roast chicken on big salads with leftover black beans and corn and a tequila-lime dressing.
Ann Davis-Rowe 