Food Gifting with Jenny Rosenstrach

To mark a dozen episodes(!), this week we have cookbook writer Jenny Rosenstrach joining us as our first ever SALT PIG guest. We discuss all the food we give our friends and family when they have had a baby, are going through something, hosting us, or just because: practical dinners, surprising treats, weird concoctions that need a home, and more. It turns out packaging has a major impact too: Jenny buys cellophane bags and shops from her designated gift closet (we knew she was a pro), Lukas keeps it classy (most of the time) with parchment and twine, and Ellie finds out that upcycling cottage cheese containers, while environmentally noble, really ruins the vibe. 

Discussed in this episode:

• Salt Lick Nationwide Delivery via Goldbelly
• Kari Kari Chili Crisp
• Jenny’s I’ll-Miss-You Granola
• Homemade Vanilla Extract
• Zingermans Coffee Cake Trio
• Tasteful Biodegradable Containers
• Batched Cocktail Details from Brooks Reitz
• Lukas’ Blueberry-Almond Smoothie
• The I Hate to Cook Cookbook by Peg Bracken
• Jenny’s Three-Bean Chili

Instagram | Substack

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:02

Welcome to Salt Pig, where two cookbook writers chat about the ups and downs of actual home kitchen life. Lucas, what are we talking about this week?

SPEAKER_00 0:11

This is a very special episode. This is our twelfth episode, and in honor of reaching a dozen salt pigs, we have a very special guest, Jenny Rosenstruck, cookbook author, food writer, OG food person in the internet era.

SPEAKER_03 0:25

Has an amazing newsletter, Dinner and Love Story.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

She's joining us to talk about food as a gift and all of its occasions and some of the tips and things that we've given, we've received, um, easy ideas. It's it's really a fun kind of sprawling conversation.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

Some of the flops.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Some of the flops. I think I'm the only one that has a flop. Oh no, I had a flop.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

That's right. I had a few flops. You can find new and old episodes wherever you listen to podcasts, and check us out on Substack2 at saltpig.substack.com where you can sign up for our monthly newsletter, The Chomp, which is coming out this Friday. So be sure to sign up just so you get that right in your email. All right, let's get started. Hi, everybody. We have a really special episode this week. It's our um first episode ever where we've had a guest, and we have a doozy with us today. It's Jenny Rosenstrach. She is the best-selling author of five amazing cookbooks. Um, my favorites being Dinner Love Story. She's also done Week with Day Vegetarians, How to Celebrate Everything. And the thing I really love about her is that she focuses on home cooking in like the most practical way. Um, but she does it with a lot of finesse and a lot of emphasis on making things actually taste good and having them really work in like a family environment. So yeah, we're just thrilled to have you here, Jenny. Thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Thank you so much. That was such a nice introduction. I appreciate it. Thanks.

SPEAKER_03 1:58

Trying not to not to let my nerves get in there. Um this episode, um, our topic today is very self-serving um because my brother-in-law and sister-in-law just had a baby, and I was racking my brain. We've been like collecting all these like hand-me-downs and various baby things to send them. They live in California. And I was like, wouldn't it be nice to put some little treats in there, some food treats? I was gonna ask Lucas about this offline, and then I was like, oh, we should we should do it on the podcast. And we thought that um, Jenny, you might have some some good ideas.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Yeah, it's also nice to think about this like outside of the context of the holidays because food gifts are for all year. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

100%. I always say that like the best whenever you're stumped for any gift idea, that there's almost always a food answer to it. Um and with that particular scenario, it's so nice to have like a happy occasion to give food because often when you're like doing the casserole thing, it's generally someone struggling or going through a tough time or whatever, and it's always just so nice to remember like that this is just it's like the best news ever and you're celebrating with them. And well, yesterday I wrote this in my newsletter. Um, this is so funny. Someone uh a writer, just by chance, it's Maria Semple who wrote uh the novelist who wrote Where'd You Go Bernadette? Here's another book coming out in April called Go Gentle. Um, but she she does this thing she where she shows up to people's houses um who have young kids and babies with that she doesn't even show up with meals, she just shows up to just be like an adult in the room and she has she orders DoorDash to just arrive at the same time that she does with an extra meal for the next day. So that obviously you can't do that. Yes, exactly. You can't do that across the country, but so many people weighed in with that because I asked people what you know when has the dinner ferry shown up for you, and so many people weighed in and said a DoorDash gift certificate is the best idea because it frees them obviously for the casseroles and the um you know the soups and the freezer, all of that stuff is amazing if you're if you're next door, but like also you're still an adult and you want to be reminded that there's a world out there, and if they're in a city, then you know it's a little bit of the outside world coming in, which I like. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:25

Plus the convenience factor of that, like people being able to do it on their own time and choose what they like. And I mean there's there is something so obviously so intimate about giving people food because if you don't know their tastes down to a T, like who knows what they're gonna like?

SPEAKER_01 4:40

True. Have you sent anything yet or not? I haven't sent anything yet. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 4:46

We keep being like we have this huge box and we keep adding, I have seven-year-old twins, and we keep finding more stuff and being like, we're done with these baby towels, and we're done with like this stuff.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Do you remember what people did for you when you were when you had twins? Like there m there must have been some pretty amazing displays of generosity, I would imagine.

SPEAKER_03 5:06

There were. Um twice or something. My friend Kari, I remember she and her husband brought over literally a pot of meatballs and sauce with like a package of spaghetti and a bottle of red wine and like a bag of arugula. And it was like they didn't call ahead, they didn't say, Oh, do you have any dietary restrictions? They just made it that's nice. Yeah. And they dropped it off. And they just it was I was glad that we were like home because I was like, Well then you know, maybe it's nice, like the you can maybe that's what you do.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

You find a place in their town that's that makes that exact meal. So then the note to them becomes like a very personal thing. So it's like, oh, when my friend Kari did this for me, I remember it being the greatest thing ever. I hope it does the same thing. You know, just I don't know, just to have it connected to the traditional. Yes. Yes. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

That's a really nice idea. Then maybe I can send them like some Calabrian chili paste or something relevant. Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Yeah, or just send them barbecue from like um Salt Lick, you know, in Texas. I love that. That's a big um Oh right, because you can send they send it overnight, right? Yeah. Like rack of ribs and the sauces and the they send the fixins with it and someone did that for us um in a less happy time when when um my father-in-law had died, and it was it was just like such a nice moment of oh god, we get to spoil ourselves for an evening. And um but bar I think there are it's not the only one, obviously, that ships to all over. There are many barbecue places that do it. So but I think barbecue is such a function.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

And Gold Belly is a good one for that too.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Yes. Oh yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

It's also nice. I was just thinking about that because um when my mom died, a number of people like came by and there's just like so much going on and you're going through so much. And sometimes it was nice when the doorbell would ring and it wasn't like somebody that you necessarily had to engage with and talk to and go through, you know, like tell the stories again instead of somebody just like, I have this, all these sandwiches for you. Here you go, bye. And um yeah, that was kind of a a gift in in a way.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Totally. And and that's also like I like the idea that someone isn't asking you what you need, they're just doing it.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

I think that's right. I mean, that's sort of what I've always come down to with all of these presents, is it really is about the gesture. I mean the it's it's gravy to have it be delicious or have it you know really scratch the itch, but the idea that someone does this thing for you, even if it's something you can't literally eat, I I think it would still be quite meaningful. Yeah. Yeah, I totally agree. Another great one that I got that's um that you can order from is you know, Zingerman's in Ann Arbor. I think I'm familiar with that. Yeah, yeah. They have great coffee cakes, and I remember um a friend sending us this little trio of like mini coffee cakes. And I'm not I don't have like a huge sweet tooth, but man, there was nothing better um than like when we were just like stuck in the apartment of just eating a ton of coffee cake for days on it.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Yeah, because when do you ever get to do that? It's literally never, never.

SPEAKER_03 8:06

Um yeah, it felt like the the biggest treat ever.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

I also love the like everyday just because gifts. There's so many um occasions where you like rack your mind for something to merit the occasion if it's like a newborn baby or somebody going through something, but and maybe this overlaps a little bit with like a dinner party gift, or but when I have meetup with friends, I love to just like you know, we were talking before about um things you can sort of pick up when you're out and about. And around where I live, there's this great little food store. And um, I think I gave this to you, Ellie, one time, the Kari Kari Chili Crisp. Yes. That's um this one made in Seattle. Oh, of course, of course I have to.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

Where I tend to like hoard special treats until it's too late. But I'm gonna open that.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

It's so good, and it's so special. And like I don't know, just the gesture of being like, Oh, I'm seeing you, I haven't seen you for a while. I brought you this because I think you'll like it. Um, the just because food gifts are some of my favorite. And we're for us where we're probably like cooking a lot too, I'm always like trying to offload some of the cooking that I've been doing. And so I oft yeah, most people like just expect me to show up with a little paper bag full of soup or bread or something else I've been making.

SPEAKER_03 9:17

My kids have started to expect that from Lucas because he'll like bring over a special loaf of like bread that they're obsessed with or little pastries or something. And then I get detailed notes. Yeah. Maybe too detailed.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

They're like You mean like detailed thank you notes or detailed like notes?

SPEAKER_03 9:35

Detailed sort of opinions, sort of like like this is what we thought of them at first, and then when we got further into it, we thought this. Yeah, yeah, they're very opinionated. But yeah, I I wonder um like one thing a friend of mine once gave me was um a homemade vanilla extract. My friend Annie like made a huge batch of it, and that got me thinking, it is fun when you make a huge batch of something homemade where you're like, I might as well make a ton of vanilla extract, or um like I made my own chili crisp a couple times, and then you just have so much of it. And then it is this very you feel sort of like you're like the Easter bunny or the tooth fairy or something where you're just like, Oh, I'm gonna put it all in these little jars, and like whoever I see in the next week gets a little bottle of it.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

I like bringing that to people if they're having me for dinner because it doesn't interfere at all with their dinner. Yes. And then they can do it and they can have it in the morning. Um if I was a better baker, I would do like scones or muffins. Um I feel like Eleven Madison, am I remembering this right? I've never actually been there, but everyone every time I talk about this root thing that I do, people are like, oh, it's like Eleven Madison where you go, I mean, where one goes and um and you have this beautiful dinner and then they send you home with muffins or something.

SPEAKER_03 10:55

I think it's granola. It's granola, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

It is oh, okay. So I am kind of on the right track here. Um it's definitely not Eleven Madison level granola, but it's granola. Um it's so easy to make and I'm always making it. So but by the way, I don't know if you were gonna ask this, but I always have cellophane bags on hand. That's a great idea. I don't know why. It just upgrades it a little bit from a Ziploc or a I mean a jar, a mason jar is was is sweet too, but like just a cellophane bag with like a little twine around it is so easy and it just feels giftier than just a regular batch for some reason. Oh definitely.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

And sometimes the um the gesture doesn't come through when it's just in a Ziploc bag. Yes. I um brought this was my friend Hetty had me over for lunch, and I it was in the middle of the summer and I'd had all this watermelon, and I decided to make a ton of watermelon juice, which I think personally is like an extremely luxurious thing. Total treat. Yeah, just to chug a big glass of watermelon juice, and I was like, I'm gonna bring Hetty some watermelon juice as like my thank you for having me over for lunch. And it was like a deli container that I had definitely washed really well, and I had re- you know, but I repurposed it, and I was I was really just thinking about like how good the watermelon juice was, but the second I handed over to her, I was like, oh, something's lost.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Missed opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

And you know, I kind of like dripped and it was a little bit sticky, and I was like, I definitely missed the mark on this one.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

But yeah, it does it does really transform it because I think also people need to know sort of how you're gonna use it, and there's something about elevating it that sort of gets people's mind rolling a little bit. That's happened to me when I've made I know I've like brought over like dips for people. Like if I'm like bringing appetizers to someone's house and they're making dinner or whatever, and I'll make like some hummus and some, you know, some special. I remember once I made this like beet feta dip, so it was really pretty. It was like this bright pink um dip. But similarly, I feel like I didn't package it very well. Like I think I maybe just put it in sort of an old Tupperware that I was like, I don't need an old sour cream container. Yeah, exactly. I think you're right. I think I put it like in the cottage cheese container that I just use the end of or something. And I remember handing it over and being like, this is gonna showing yet. I'm apologizing instead of feeling proud. I was like, it tastes good, I promise.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

But well, I have but I always struggle with that when I am like bringing dinner over to someone's house for whatever reason, like if they had a baby or anything else. And I don't ever feel like I have the right containers. I've recently, like when I go to Fairway or the local grocery store, I just I pick up a bunch of the deli containers for that reason. Because I feel like for a dinner, like maybe not watermelon juice, but for dinner, those feel like the best containers. I don't know. I but I'm waiting, I'm still waiting for the perfect vehicle. Like I don't have Tupperware trays that are disposable or I don't or reusable or I don't know. I guess I could just in theory deliver things with the dish that they're baked in or tossed in or whatever and then expect it to be returned. Right. Yeah, then it's work for them and it just doesn't feel as gifty as like the deli containers work with like little I put I pretend I'm like a in a in a restaurant kitchen and I put the the tape on it with like saying what it is, so it just feels kind of cool, you know.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

Yeah, I mean it's just like this is just from one professional to another.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Just a little something. Exactly. I'm just trying to pretend. But um but yes, but I am always looking for like just fun ways to make sure that it that comes across, that this is this is a gift and it's easy and it's fun and and I usually put in a little card that says like how to do everything or heat ever anything if it needs to be thawed or frozen or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Aaron Ross Powell Not to bring it back to Hetty again, but I but she brought me um something she had made and she had on hand like nice it was like the maybe they're like the biodegradable um takeout containers where it's like the brown craft paper and then the little plastic thing. But and I don't know if they were like leftover from some kind of pop-up she did or what, but she had just kind of had them on hand, so anytime she's like divvying up leftovers, she puts them in these nice little containers and gives them away. And I was like, oh that's a good tip just to that is a really good tip.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

You know, if you're gonna have to do that. That's exactly what I'm asking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Recyclable and um I'm writing that down. She Hetty, I'm assuming Hetty McKinnon, so she has those salad bunches where she has tons of leftovers, so she would I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

I think that might be exactly what it is. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But even so, those are easy to procure uh procure now.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Um have you do you like keep stuff on hand for gifting, or do you have any go-to things that you pick up if you're like heading from one place to another and don't have time to make anything?

SPEAKER_01 15:55

You know, you would think that I would have that go-to something, but it I don't. And I I always do have a something in the gift closet awaiting. Um gift closet. Gifting.

SPEAKER_03 16:07

Tell me more about your gift closet.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Well, I have like a little you know, I'm sure you guys know this is a problem not many people have, but people send us swag to promote on various platforms. And um and I don't always need this stuff, and but I know other people will and delight in it. Um so that goes in the gift closet. You know, I get spices and herbs all the time, and I must have 10 bottles of royal cinnamon per lapping barrel. Like I thought and it's delicious, but I just don't need all that much. So that's in the gift closet, those kinds of things. Um, I just came back from Italy and I got a bunch of really beautiful vinegars. So you have to be vinegar-worthy, you know, that's a special one. So you know what? Uh it I I can't take credit for this idea. Brooks Reitz, who writes uh the Substack A Small and Simple Thing, I think that's what it's called. Um great newsletter. He for uh uh my holiday gift guide, he wrote about giving a batched cocktail and which I always have done, but he upgraded it. He got these beautiful bottles from Amazon. They have heft and they're glass, and they have like the a little black stopper with with um some kind of seal on top, and and he bought vintage labels, and so he writes like Negroni from Brooks or whatever on it, and it's so classy and personal and sweet. And so I have in my gift closet I have a bot I have a three-pack of those. Um I think I have two left now. I've done I did a batch Negroni for my friend Lori two weeks ago. Um and I think they're it just it's an it it's very easy to make that look celebratory and and fun and and also a batch cocktail is just a fun thing to give.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

Oh, completely I I never thought about a batch cocktail that doesn't include any fresh ingredients, so you could actually just make it and hold it until you need to. Is that what you're saying? Like Yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Um That's amazing. And now that you say that I'm wondering if I did something wrong. Because I gave well, I'm I made a Negroni. I always batch a Negroni because it's easy. It's you know, one to one to one that's very easy to remember din, compari, vermouth. And um and I had a blood orange Negroni at a restaurant recently, and I was like, I'm gonna make that for Lori. And so I added blood orange juice to it, and that's definitely a fresh ingredient. So it was for the purpose of a party that she was throwing that night, so but that is good for me to know in the future. I wasn't really thinking about it.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Yeah, just keep it in the fridge. You should be fine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

Someone um once during COVID for my birthday my birthday was right in the beginning of it's it's in April, and so it was like in the first month of COVID in 2020. Um, I got a bunch of like cute little deliveries on my on my doorstep, and someone gave me a pre-batched Vesper, an elder flower vesper, just in a mason jar. Um, which was I thought was the sweetest thing. It's just a single serving Vesper. She was like, You, my friend Sonia, um, you deserve this today. And it was like a Tuesday, it wasn't like any and I was like, you know what? I'm making I'm making I'm having a Vesper tonight. And it was just for this, yeah, totally. I love that. The single serving cocktail, batch cocktail.

SPEAKER_03 19:20

It's fun. I think there's two different avenues of these types of presents. One is like the super practical, where it's like, I'm gonna just take care of dinner and you don't have to think about it. Like, and that's very and that can feel like a treat too, but then there's the like you would never do this and I do it for you.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

I love those gifts. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

I love those too.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

I love those too. The surprise and delight. Yeah. I like also when you're if you're excited about a cookbook and you're giving you can give someone a cookbook as a gift with something like that, if they have a recipe that's gifty in the cookbook, you know, just so you can I don't know. I I'm just thinking, I think Deb Perlman's book has a hot fudge sauce in it. And I feel like that would be a fun gift for somebody. Like here's the hot fudge sauce from page 220 or whatever. Or just ingredients from a cookbook and a cookbook is also a good gift.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Yeah, like one of those ingredients you have to seek out a little bit. I was just thinking I used to very regularly go to the farmer's market, like maybe twice a week, and um when the strawberries are in season or when the asparagus is in season or when there's really good stuff, like that's so I I well maybe it's just because I love it so much, but I'm like, here, here's a quart of strawberries from the farmers market today. And so in some ways what you're doing is just like gifting the uh the effort of going out to procure them.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

And also like I do that uh if if you're visiting someone somewhere else, I mean being in New York it's it's easy, but um like to bring stuff that you can get locally here, uh like from your farmer's market, like even eggs or bacon or something that's just made here that you can then give to someone.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

My friend Ben came and stayed with us uh recently and he brought a package of these dates from LA and um these dates from like one of the date farmers over there, which were just so good. It was almost like they were coated in syrup. They were so sticky and so sweet, and like the texture was I mean, practically like custard. It was so so sticky and delicious. And I was like, God, you can't even find these here. This is one of the most amazing things I've ever received.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Yeah, you probably don't want to even do anything with them, right? Just enjoy them. Oh yeah. Straight from the I put them in my smoothies thanks to a trick tip I read on Lucas Folgers.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

Oh yeah. You're a big fan of that smoothie.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

I'm you have no idea. I make that all the time. A blueberry smoothie from Lucas's website from his newsletter is um I I I always have the ingredients for that. It's you would think I had never had made a smoothie before. I don't know why, but it just there's something about it. It feels with I put flax seeds in it or hemp or um always a date, almond milk, scoopable. Balm and butter, the blueberries obviously and it's so pretty, you know?

SPEAKER_00 22:04

I know, it's a beautiful color. Yeah. It's hard.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Not to like take a picture every time.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

And you've messaged me once or twice when you've made it. I'm like, oh yeah, I'm gonna make myself a smoothie. That sounds kind of delicious. Um that's so funny too that recipes like that, maybe this is something you find in your work, but to me, I just put that out there because I was like, oof, I gotta send something. And um then the most obvious, simple type of recipe is the one that ends up resonating with people rather than the one you kind of like labor over and think about.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Yeah. We when I worked at Real Simple a hundred years ago, my boss um we were I was in the food department, not I wasn't like any kind of recipe developer, I was just like the word person in the food department, and they were brainstorming ideas and and um I think it was Kay Chun, who's now a contributor at the New York Times, she was talking about anchovies, and back then no one really cooked with anchovies, or it was kind of a new ingredient that people were discovering. I mean, just like the home cook was discovering, and and my boss said something like, Well, let's just do why don't we do garlic before we do anchovies? And it became this kind of metaphor for like content in general. Like people want garlic, they want the uh the stuff that's right in front of them first. Like we we rack our brains to try to come up with something. I mean, obviously you can't just only write about the the obvious things, but it is true. The things that resonate are the things that are right in front of us almost all the time.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

Oh, and those are my favorite recipes too. And I'm like willing to seek out the weird ingredient and special order things and stuff, but the recipes that I get the most excited about are the ones where like, oh, I have everything to make that right now.

SPEAKER_03 23:41

Yeah, right, exactly. And those feel the most practical too, where you're just like they're the ones that are right off the top of your head that everyone will eat, that you know, yeah, you have the ingredients for. It seems like it's fun to expand expand that always, but if you have like that that back pocket recipe, it's pretty handy. Oh, one other thing I thought was um salt. I have a ton of like salt and pepper shakers in my house that I'm constantly culling because like you know, if you go to an IT store and you buy new ones and then I'm like, okay, these old ones can can get you know given to someone else. So doing that and like some special salt, I always feel like is a a nice, a nice gesture for people.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

I'm intrigued by your collection of salt and pepper shakers.

SPEAKER_03 24:27

I guess I'm kind of obsessed with salt and pepper shakers. I didn't really realize that about myself until I like had to clear out this piece of furniture that has like dishes and all that stuff. I think it's one of those things if you're if you're into antiques and like consignment shops that you're constantly finding salt and pepper shakers. And you put the sort of thing.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

Yeah, do you put the fancy salt into the salt? I mean I feel like whenever I have fancy salt, it's like it has to be sprinkled.

SPEAKER_03 24:52

It does have to be sprinkled. Well, you can also get like a little have you guys ever seen these little like pinch bowls that have you know little feet on them? Um, and you can use either like a teeny tiny little spoon or you can pinch it out of there.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

Do the pinch bowls have to have the feet on them?

SPEAKER_03 25:09

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

That's that's intriguing to me. I you had me at pinch bowl.

SPEAKER_03 25:15

Yeah, I mean, if if it's got like a adorable little, you know, like griffin foot on the bottom, I'm like, yes, that's that's the one I want. Going to Etsy immediately. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

Is that these are antiques that you find, these pinch bowls?

SPEAKER_03 25:28

Yeah. Yeah. They're um they're the best. The thing is, you it's very hard to find a spoon that's small enough. Even like in an antique store, you're like, you're like, this teeny tiny spoon is just a little too big for this teeny tiny bowl. So it works well if you're using um the type of salt just flew out of my head, the um flaky salt. Yeah. Yeah, if you're using almond salt.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

I'm I'm assuming the bowls are just a little bit too small to get your fingers into.

SPEAKER_03 25:54

You can sort of you can stick you can stick two fingers in there and grab a little bit, but you might have to do it a couple times. They're not practical. They're not practical, they're purely for fun.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

That's a fun little gift idea too. Don't overlook the flea market or the antiques for it.

SPEAKER_03 26:09

Oh gosh, yeah. I mean, it's I I do tend to do that because I have a lot of that stuff. I'm a collector of that sort of stuff in my house, so it's definitely if I get desperate, I'm like, I'm just roaming around the house and finding some little antiques that like I've really enjoyed for the last 10 years, and it's time to like ship them off to a new home. That's a great idea.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

My friends Paul and Brandon are major, like they go to that giant antique flea market thing up in Massachusetts, the one that like sprawls. Yes. Oh, yes, sprawls for like acres and acres and acres. And then I think they just find all this stuff, and then over the year they just it's like they're gifts for everybody, and they always wrap things up beautifully because they find these beautiful linens and little.

SPEAKER_02 26:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

They gave me something in um it's just like a little like cloth bag with a drawstring, and I can't remember what it was even in it, but I was so excited about the bag because it's like, oh, I'm gonna put all my cords in this bag. And that's like a little big bag that I have, like my iPhone charger and earbuds. And I was like, I think it's a big thing. And it's well, it's just like a piece of cloth, but it's really cool. And anyway, that's and it's kind of fun that they've like collected all these things, and then every time they need a gift, they just reach into their collection.

SPEAKER_03 27:20

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:21

I like that for um for vintage cookbooks too. Like when you go to those or like bookstores or antique malls, they have usually like fun sections on vintage cookbooks, and those are make really funny gifts. Oh. I've gotten a bunch of them and as I've been the recipient of many, and they're just always always interesting and different.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

Are they ones that you cook out of?

SPEAKER_01 27:45

Never. But um well, once I got yeah, no, I can't. I I mean they're so fun to read. I mean, in particular, I hate to cook cookbooks. Yeah. Many people have given that to me over the years and I've really Peg Bracken is like a real kind of p patron saint to me. Like she just the way she writes about food and is so funny. And so it that it the recipes, I don't know if they were ever in fashion, but the writing is never just never goes out of fashion. I don't know how it's possible, but like you can from the first page of that book, um she just grabs you. Like she's so funny and um real kind of sassy and over it and busy and like clearly likes to cook, but is just talking about everything else around the cooking, not just the food, which is always my favorite way to read about food. I I have definitely used that in some way, just not I just haven't cooked from it.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Got a few extra copies in the gift closet.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Um so Jenny, as you know, or I think I mentioned um we always close out our episodes by asking what's for dinner tonight. Do you mind sharing what what dinner what your dinner plans are for tonight?

SPEAKER_01 28:57

I know I I you did prepare me and I still forgot that um and usually I think about dinner email. I I but I think about dinner literally all day long, so it's really weird that I don't have an answer for you. Um but the only reason why I think I don't know exactly is because I'm on my own tonight, and usually when it's my husband is home, like I don't know, I'm just a little bit more intentional about it. And um, but having said that, I think I have some some chili in the freezer that I made. Some um I have a three bean chili that I have that's uh that I make all the time. It's from one of my cookbooks, and I um I I just remembered I have a stash of that, so I'll probably do something like that with uh I have an avocado and some plantain chips and watch a little British bake off on the couch.

SPEAKER_03 29:43

Yeah, oh like the perfect evening. Sounds amazing.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Lucas, what are you?

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Oh, okay. We talked about this at one point, you Ellie and I, about both of us not really loving black-eyed peas. Oh, yeah. And um just like oh I love beans, I love almost all beans, but they're ones that I've struggled with. And so I put the question to in like the little Substack chat and asking people, you know, what do you do with your black-eyed peas? Why don't I like them? And basically everyone said you need to try Indian recipes. Um, make like a black-eyed pea curry, which I've never done and that would not have occurred to me.

SPEAKER_02 30:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

And so tonight I'm going to make one. It's like a sort of a tomato curry with a lot of the familiar spices and the ginger and the chili and the garlic and oh gosh, how that sounds amazing. I know, I'm really excited about it.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

That's a good um that's a good way to disguise them. I'll I'll be curious if you're like, oh, I actually love the flavor of them, or it just I couldn't taste them anymore because yes sucking.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

But maybe like compliment, there's something about the texture that makes more sense in that context, you know? I'll report back. How about you, Ellie?

SPEAKER_03 30:44

My husband requested barbecue chicken for dinner last night, which I made, and then no one really ate it. I don't know if that's very frustrating. Everyone's your husband did, I hope. He did. I did. But the kids like the kids eat like a million snacks in the afternoon, and sometimes the snacks just they then it comes to dinner and they just don't really eat anything. So I have like a ton of barbecued chicken, which isn't a chicken uh preparation that I tend to have around all the time. So I was trying to think of something to do with it, and then I was like, maybe we can just stick it in tacos. So I was like, if there's avocado and there's tortillas, basically my kids will eat anything. I was thinking about that. Maybe make some black beans. But again, if I do that, then no one will eat the chicken.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

So Oh, they want the beans more than they want the beans.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

Wow, yeah, they love they love black beans.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

How do you make the black beans for them?

SPEAKER_03 31:30

Um, it's pretty straightforward. Like a sauteed onion and garlic, add some cumin, add some paprika, add some salt, and then add the black beans with their liquid, if I'm just using canned ones, and then blend it up.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 31:46

And they're very pumped about it.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

It's not the worst thing in the world if they choose that over the chicken.

SPEAKER_03 31:51

It is not the worst thing.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

They're getting something healthy. They're getting something.

SPEAKER_03 31:54

I mean, in some ways it's probably the better meal, to be honest, but I'm like, if I'm trying to move the chicken along, maybe they're like, today's special is the chicken.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

The chef is recommending the chicken.

SPEAKER_03 32:09

You might not recognize it, but it's what we had for dinner yesterday. So funny.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Well, thank you so much, Jenny, for joining us for this conversation. It was really fun chatting with you.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Oh my gosh, it was the best. Thank you so much. I could talk about this forever. Thank you guys so much.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

All right, well, that was fun.

SPEAKER_03 32:28

Oh, that was so fun. Thank you so much, Jenny. That was amazing. And this gives me so many good ideas. I think now I'm gonna be able to um send stick some more stuff in that box.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

Yeah, and I I think what I'm gonna do is stock up on some nice sort of like takeaway containers or something for easy packaging of food gifts.

SPEAKER_03 32:47

Yeah. Pat said, I do think you package your food gifts quite well. Yeah, maybe I'm there was like wrapped in parchment and tied with a little piece of twine.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

That's true. I I think I made an effort that time. That was like a loaf of that bread or something, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:00

It made an impact. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

Um well, it was really fun to also have a special guest for the first time, and would love to hear if you all who are listening have any food gifts that you um like to give away or occasions that maybe we didn't discuss or wouldn't have thought of. And you can always um tag us in comments on our Substack, which is saltpig.substack.com, or shoot us an email, saltpigpodcast at gmail.com. All right. And thanks, Jenny.

SPEAKER_03 33:30

Yeah, thank you so much, Jenny. And um we'll just talk next week. Sounds good. Okay, sounds good. Bye.