Cheese, Book, Restaurant, Thing #14
Mini cheese, middle school awkwardness, best eggplant parm, tin predicament
Hi! Nice to see you here in 2023 where I have no resolutions except to keep this little newsletter going monthly.
Cheese: Buure Weichkasli is about the size of a Babybel and intensely savory. Schmear it on a cracker and drizzle some honey on it. Think of it like a mushroomier brie, but from Switzerland and not France. Based purely on size, it would be very challenging to share this cheese. So don’t. You must eat this in one sitting, unless you are a bird.
Books: The premise of Notes On Your Sudden Disappearance is gut wrenching: a tragic car crash leads to the death of a teenager. But the book itself celebrates the relationship between two sisters, both before and after the older sister died. I loved all of the many wonderful quotidian vignettes about being siblings: borrowing earrings, talking about first crushes, the awkwardness of all the various stages of middle school-dom. Author Alison Espach is a master of detail, and shares the various familial moments of unraveling quite expertly. Read this. It’s a page turner, a charming love story, and an unexpected coming-of-age story.
Restaurant: Truthbomb: The newly expanded Piccolina in DC’s CityCenter has the best eggplant parm I’ve ever eaten. A simple and perfectly executed 10 layers of beautifully mandolined eggplant slices with tomato sauce and basil. It has just the right amount of mozzarella on top, featuring expertly burnt crisp cheese corners (see photo evidence). The serving size is the kind that when the waiter first brings it to you, you think “oh, I’m def still going to be hungry” but then when you finish you think “oh, I’m definitely full but also I’m not struggling to roll myself back to Metro.” I’m pretty sure that there are zero breadcrumbs in the dish, which I would typically consider to be a travesty but can find no fault whatsoever in this rendition. Go here for a casual breakfast or lunch. For something slightly schmancier and just as delicious, Centrolina, the more upscale sibling restaurant, is right across the alley and serves some of DC’s best pasta.
Thing: I had been admiring these Sowden tins for years, and finally bought them on a major Black Friday sale. But right now they are just sitting in my office, totally empty, begging to *contain* something. What that something is… I don’t know. Help me solve this extremely low-stakes tin containment predicament. I welcome your email suggestions!!
See you in Feb.
-c