March Assembly
Ideas for better cooking, eating, and drinking (ft. Aliza and Aja from Platonic Love)
Friends! Hello, hello, and welcome to my new subscribers. We’ve made it to our next Assembly, a monthly post in which I share ideas for better cooking, eating, and drinking. Today, I’m sharing the stage with Aliza Sir and Aja Frost, the authors of Platonic Love, one of my favorite newsletters.
In Aliza and Aja’s words, Platonic Love is a newsletter for women in the messy middle: navigating the transformation from “twenty-something” to “Adult with a capital A” right alongside their readers. It’s been featured in Cup of Jo’s newsletter Big Salad, Rich Text, and The Washington Post. Aliza and Aja started Platonic Love to open up the conversations they were having in real life but not seeing enough of online — from the anxieties and joys of making friends as an adult and the journey to preserve your identity as a newer mom to Dolly Parton podcasts and the hunt for the perfect wedding shoe.
I’m forever nosy about what people cook, eat, and drink, and I loved reading the tidbits Aliza and Aja sent me for this post.
March Assembly
Looking for a hobby? Try bakeries! Yes, it counts.
Someone recently asked me about my hobbies, and I was momentarily stumped. While writing Platonic Love with Aja started as a hobby, it’s definitely morphed into something larger — and most of my other waking hours are spent working, chasing my toddler, and/or meeting up with friends. But then it came to me: Bakeries. That’s it, that’s my hobby. (Not the baking, the eating part.) My ideal Saturday morning is spent popping into a local bakery after hot yoga or in the early morning with my son and letting my nose guide me across the display — from chocolate croissants to jam buns to cinnamon rolls or babka. Local (to Greater Boston) favorites right now include Butternut Bakehouse, Sofra Bakery & Cafe, La Saison Bakery, and Iggy’s Bread — and I’m always adding new ones to my list to try!
- Aliza
Eat Your Books
My latest and greatest discovery is Eat Your Books, an app that allows you to create a digital archive of your cookbooks. I collect cookbooks, and there are hundreds, probably thousands, of recipes in the pages of my beloved collection that I’ve never cooked. Now, when I have an idea of something I’d like to cook, or an ingredient I’d like to use, I start by searching my online cookbook archive. More often than not, I find just the thing. Here’s to more dogeared, stained, notated pages!
- Phoebe
Pickle. Salsa. (Mic drop.)
I’ve never met a salsa or pickle I didn’t like, so when I saw Grillo’s was selling a pickle salsa cleverly named Pickle de Gallo, I bought a container immediately. My mistake was not buying two. It’s incredible — tangy with brine, a little spicy from the jalapeno, and satisfyingly crunchy. I’ve eaten it with chips, piled on top of tacos, and occasionally straight up with a spoon.
- Aja
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