Home invaders + feta-honey pasta with za’atar
(not a super scary home invader, everything is fine, I promise)
First, apologies if my Instagram has annoyed you these past few weeks. We are a little over two weeks until my book comes out (!!), which feels crazy to me, but it does mean that my posting will be heavy on the book talk. Thank you in advance for your patience and support!!
As many of you probably know, in the weeks leading up to publication, we send advanced copies of the book to media and influential people to review and hopefully write about it—which I think looks confusing as I’ve been congratulated a few times on it being published, which isn’t happening until April 16th (though thank you for the kind words, I’m both ridiculously excited and nervous!).
One person who received an early copy and actually read it and has been cooking from it, which I really appreciate, messaged me, “So how does your story end? Are you in still in Spain?” Because I started off the introduction, which I wrote almost two years ago in Menorca, talking about how much I loved it here, and how the book “came alive” there and that experience set the tone for it all, plus a little about how I ended up uprooting my life because of that first trip. It felt a little wild to clack back and write, “Yeah, I actually just moved here a few weeks ago!”
It has all come full circle, even though, while in it, I felt like I was pushing my way through a hazy cloud, stumbling forward, feet stuck in the mud and all the confused ups and downs, unclear how it would all work out. But it did, as it always does. I still can’t quite believe it. And before you roll your eyes thinking this is going to be a tale of, oh look how perfect my life is while living on a beautiful island, it hasn’t been without its quirks and qualms.
For example, on a Sunday, exactly two weeks ago, I opened a cabinet beneath the stove top (the oven is separate), which truthfully I hadn’t opened before for some unknown reason. I was excited to clear out the old-looking bottles and pantry items left there by the previous tenants as I rented a furnished home to make space for pots and pans. Well, I picked up a bag of pasta and saw some holes in it. Hmm. Suspicious. Then I picked up a bag of flour with even more holes and had a foreshadowing moment of, “Oh no, this isn't going to be good.” While my mind first went to mice, what instead hurried out of the cabinet was a GIANT cockroach.
Living in NYC for so long, you get accustomed to cockroaches, so it’s not like I had never seen them before, but this was another level. I am also highly trained at taking out the trash, never leaving food out or dishes in the sink to avoid them mistaking any of the above as an invitation to reside in my house. But this. Whoa. There were multiple moments of me screaming as another massive one would reveal itself until I began to think that any little brown colored thing was a cockroach (it’s still difficult for me to eat dates as the color is too similar). Did I become slightly paranoid? Yes.
I’m sorry if this grosses you out, it equally grossed me out. Mostly because it wasn’t just one, it was what the professionals refer to as an infestation. A large family had clearly made this cabinet their home as it was complete with plenty of food and shelter, so they nestled in the little cracks, and I truly felt like the rude home invader disturbing their peace. As it was on a Sunday and almost everything here is closed, there was no restaurant to sit in and drink and eat my sorrows away and most hotels aren’t open yet for the season. So instead, I grabbed some carrots out of the fridge as that’s the only thing that felt safe to eat and sat in my bed, chomping on them and reading.
I think they are gone now, and, as my mom calmly suggested, I should sit in the kitchen and have a chat with them, explaining that, while I appreciated their company, they are not welcomed here, and it would be best if they found another home, which I did. I also apologized for pushing them out of their happy home as I get that sucks. I think that talk plus some non-toxic gel drops have hopefully done the trick. I also read that they do not like the smell of lemon, so I quickly bought lemon essential oil and have sprinkled it in every possible crevice in my kitchen, along with baking soda as apparently they don’t like that either, giving it all a very odd odor of citrus-tinted humidity.
That aside, there are moments when it feels a bit hard to be living in a foreign country, like when I’m tired and just wish I could speak effortlessly rather than feeling awkward and wishing I was already fluent (my Spanish teacher is wonderful and very patient, so there’s hope for me!). And as I was developing some new recipes, the tiny differences in cooktops and equipment became apparent, so it just adds another learning element, which is all good but has its moments of feeling overwhelming, and I think why I feel a bit more tired than I think I should.
But truly, I don’t mean to complain. I am exceptionally happy and wake up feeling so grateful to be here, appreciating small pleasures and moments like being able to open my window and smell the clean air, say hi to lovely people in the streets and spend my days cooking and walking. The water is cold, but it feels like a cold plunge in the best way, kind of like an invigorating shock to the body that makes you feel alive.
Otherwise, I’m mostly freaking out that my book comes out in two weeks. It’s a cross between being unbelievably excited and terrified. While I don’t have children and always found the whole book baby thing weird when people compared the two, I think in some small way it’s that feeling of loving something so much and then being scared to release it in the world. Will others love it too? Be kind to it? Yes, I know it’s a book, but it’s my book, and, more than the others, it feels like a little part of me is living in those pages as it captures so much of the change I’ve gone through to get to this point. In a good way though!
Library Journal gave an early starred review of the book, and I particularly love this last line 🙂
I certainly hope so!!
I have been taking the weekend off of Instagram–okay so just two weekends, last one and this current one—and I will say it feels amazing. When I saw Aishwarya, the founder of Brightland Olive Oil and a lovely, lovely person, mention that she does this, I had a moment of, eeks, I know I need to do this but I really don’t want to. When I went to confirm the deletion, I had a panicky moment of, can I really do this?!
On Saturday morning, it felt scary to notice how often I went to check it, and it made me feel like I was addicted to it. By that night and for all of Sunday, it felt like a huge relief and like I had my life back. Or, at least my time back.
And there are wonderful aspects to social media. I love, love connecting with people and chatting, and it’s a great way to stay in touch with friends who live all over, but I know I need to find more of a balance as it was starting feeling a bit too much. I’m going to try and continue this weekend off situation, but I’m also not going to be too strict with myself about it and see how it goes. Right now, it feels really good to press that delete button.
That’s all for now. Every time I try to keep it short it never works! Here are some new recipes from NYT and the Guardian.
Two one pot/one pan recipes on The Guardian (free to access)
Baked Fish with Olives and Ginger (gift link) on NYT
What I’ve read recently
Books
Before I left London, I went to Daunt books (which I love!), and I bought a bunch of books to carry me over. I’m not entirely sure I made great choices, so these aren’t really recommendations, more what I read in case this is of help if you’re looking at these books.
Cursed Bread: It’s kind of cool that this is based on a true story about a small town in France that succumbed to mass poisoning in 1951—I mean, not the actual events, that’s very sad and horrible, but no one ever discovered what really happened, and they blamed the bread baker. This book, though, is a bit strange or, it’s not really my sort of thing. It’s not long, and I don’t know how to explain it, but it all feels a bit deranged. Do I recommend it? No. But maybe? It’s very short.
In Memoriam: This one is beautiful, sad and a bit scarily realistic with the haunting war images. I did have some intense dreams as I read this before bed, but it was very interesting all around. The woman at the bookstore described it as a cross between Call Me By Your Name and something else I can’t remember, but I do remember feeling like it was an accurate description.
We Were All Completely Beside Ourselves: Sadly, a few pages into this book, I realized that I had already read it!! I just had forgotten the title and the description is intentionally vague, which is why I didn’t remember it until I got to a scene, and I was like, wait a minute, I know this! It’s a very good book and one I do recommend, but I only feel sad that one of the few English books I have is one I’ve read in the past couple of years, so it feels too soon to reread.
Shows
Valeria!! I’m trying to not watch TV, but, as many people have told me, watching Spanish shows is one of the best ways to learn, and they are right. I already feel myself understanding words and pronunciation better and trying to unlearn everything I learned in Duolingo. Plus, this show is SO GOOD. My friend Sally recommended it, describing it as a “Sex and The City” type as it’s four girlfriends in their late 20s living in Madrid and lots of talk about relationships and men. It’s very easy to watch. I have to actively stop myself from putting it on, but I reason that it’s also educational… right? The male attraction, Victor, is ridiculously good looking.
RECIPE
This recipe is much like the Lap Dinners section in my cookbook where there aren’t traditional measurements. Instead, it’s for tired nights when you want to grab a spoon from the drawer and keep your cleaning to a minimum. Hence the video above, which, had I an editor for this newsletter, they might say, ‘ehh let’s skip it Yaz’, as I’m trying to speak and cook while tired and hungry—hence why the ease of this recipe is helpful—so it is chaotic and a lot of me making weird noises, which I didn’t fully realize that I do.
After the honey workshop I went to, I was inspired to use a tiny bit in a recipe (even though I know heating honey supposedly kills its health benefits, here it’s just warm, so maybe okay.)
Feta-Honey Pasta with Za’atar
Serves 1
Salt
1 cup of short dried pasta or ¼ of the pasta package
¼ of a feta block, or more, as desired
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 heaping, dripping teaspoon honey
Pinch or a few of za’atar
Bring a sauce pan of salted water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook until tender—no al dente here!
In the bowl you want to eat out of, add the feta and use the fork that you plan on eating with to crumble it. Drizzle in some olive oil, just enough to create a shallow pool around the feta. Drip in the honey, followed by a couple pinches of za’atar.
When the pasta is done, use the same honey spoon to scoop out two spoonfuls of water and add to the feta bowl. Drain the pasta, then immediately add to the feta bowl and stir until the feta gets melted and everything looks creamy and delicious. Here, you can add a drizzle more oil, more za’atar or even more feta if needed. Enjoy!