Finally Some Good Food 3.10: The S.A.D. one
daylight saving time can do one
Hello my little mince pies - I know, I know, it’s been a while. This is going to be a slightly similar tune to the last roundup newsletter, but I’ll be honest, the vibes have been absolutely rancid the last few months. Yes, while the hair loss problem solved itself, it turns out things can get worse! I think I am going to write about this in more detail in the new year, as part of a longer project, but for now, I’ll just say, I’ve been ✨depressed!✨
It feels almost embarrassing to admit, as I’d hoped I’d left old-school mental illness as a phase for my early twenties, in favour of the more modern ‘undiagnosed neurodivergence in a woman’. However, as the temperature dropped and Christmas has sped towards me at a frightening rate, I felt a very old-fashioned feeling of wanting to curl up under a weighted blanket and sleep for six months. This also comes with a compulsion to eat anything and everything in the hopes that this next sweet treat will fill the emotional void.
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.
The good thing is that being a little older and wiser this time round means I know I have to actually take care of my body and deal with my feelings rather than fulfil every base impulse. This means I have started running again (much to my mother’s horror), and while, as I said last time, I am not trying to restrict my eating, I am still trying to eat vegetables regularly. In reality, this means like most middle-class people in their late twenties, I am working my way through Ottolenghi’s Simple cookbook. So far, I’ve made the courgette, pea and basil soup (very green), the tomato and (fake) prawn orzo, and my favourite dish, the charred tomato and yogurt dip. Admittedly I used dried thyme, oregano and ground cumin, but to be honest, it’s still lovely, and relatively low effort if you need something nutritious without loads of steps.
I’ve also really got into Biotiful’s plain kefir - which was a surprise for me too. Perhaps what is less surprising is that my stomach has not been behaving normally since all this stress has occurred, and after having a very small portion during a hungover DND session, I crave this tangy milk. Perhaps it’s just the placebo effect, but I’ll take whatever I can get at this point.
I know it’s strange to be so open in what is essentially a fun food-based newsletter, but the only thing more likely to send you off the verge of madness, more than mad shit happening, is to pretend that it’s not happening at all. The last time I wrote about struggling I got a very sweet message from a subscriber wishing me well - while I thank you for your concern, I write this less as a cry for pity (although in my opinion, it’s fine to want pity!), more in the hopes that perhaps if you’re having a shit time too, please know despite what you might be reading and seeing on social media, you’re not alone!
So before I get into the usual food recommendation stuff, I wanted to recommend something else first. Be honest with your friends about your feelings! I know a lot of people worry about inconveniencing others but you’re not! Your friends can’t necessarily solve your problems but the good ones can make you feel better simply by taking an active interest in your wellbeing and willing to help in any other way. Even if, in my case, it means watching terrible films about weirdly ripped snowmen.
Anyway that’s all about my feelings this quarter, here is some foods you can ignore your feelings with:
silesian potato dumplings, Platski
After walking past it for the last four years, me and Ed finally managed to arrange a date to Platski on Deansgate. I’ve never really known much about Polish cuisine, but have heard great things about their pescetarian friendly options from my colleague Jeni as of late. The day of our date, Platski had just launched their Christmas menu and I was immediately drawn to the veggie main of Silesian-style dumplings served with a white wine, mushroom and spinach sauce. What arrived was almost diamond shaped cylindrical dumplings, somewhere between gnocchi and tteokbokki and they were delicious! They were perfectly light and fluffy despite the rich sauce and I could have had a lot of them - I would definitely go back to see what their Spring menu has to offer - and also to have some more pierogi.
tuna flat tacos, Kitten
For my friend Emma’s birthday, I was invited to a family meal at Kitten, an izakaya restaurant at the bottom of the Deansgate towers. We ordered quite a range of dishes, but as is often the way with a lot of small plate restaurants, my favourite was the very first thing I had, which were the tuna flat tacos. What this actually meant was very thin slices of tuna sashimi on a quarter of a crisp tortilla, drizzled with a little truffle oil, a bit of truffle mayo and a dusting of very fine spring onions. It simply melted in the mouth and was so incredibly moreish, I wanted to give the others a piece to try but it was all gone before I know it. If I was to go back, I’d probably just order about 50 of them and nothing else.
Ways I have eaten these pickled walnuts so far because they are so goddamn delicious:
In a baguette with brie
Chopped up in melted butter and drizzled over ravioli
On crackers with goats cheese
As a Christmas canape of puff pastry and brie, yet again
Slivers by themselves, as a cursed snack (also refer to pickled ginger slices)
Eaten with just a chunk of, you’ve guessed it, brie, like a mouse
I’ve found this recipe for cheese and walnut palmiers which I am definitely going to try, and I’m also looking to figure out some salad with them too, so if you have any ideas, let me know.
In October, I attended a whisky tasting festival in Manchester Cathedral. In a surprise to perhaps no one, I do not remember a lot of what I drank there. However, right towards the end, there is one drink that burned its way into my memory despite all the alcohol. I remember through the haze being given this delicious creamy liqueur in this lovely glass bottle, that was like Baileys but even more luscious and creamy! I even drunkenly texted my friend Emma to tell her all about it, but what actual text I sent is between me and God to decode. However, in my post-liqueur clarity I was worried that my addled brain may have hyped it up incorrectly, but luckily I got the chance at Emma’s birthday to try it again. Drunk Ruby has been vindicated! It was even better than I remembered - I recommend having a glass with a nice big ice cube, ideally on a big cosy couch in front of a Christmas fire.
Gold Digestive biscuits
As you may know from previous newsletters, I am a big fan of the McVities addition in recent years of the White Chocolate Digestives; however, not everyone agrees with me and that is fine. They are allowed to have their opinions, even if they are wrong. However, I have recently found that there is a new digestive on the block that is winning over even the white chocolate sceptics, and that is their new limited edition Gold bar flavour digestives. Made with the same caramelised white chocolate as the eponymous lunch box staple, I have presented these biscuits to various events and they have gone down a treat, even with the haters. Inevitably they will succumb to the curse that everything I recommend does, which means they will never be sold again; that probably being the case, I would buy the packs while you still can or before they bring in some Wicked tie-in green and pink flavour or something.
Pancho burritos, Arndale Market
Another date visit with Ed, this time we were recommended Panchos as the closest we’d get to actual Mexican food in the UK in terms of quality. Now I can’t verify if this is true, but what I can say is that it was a very nice burrito and I enjoyed the chipotle salsa with it. If you’re spice averse, this chipotle had a bit more of a kick than most of your chipotle sauces you’ll get in the chains, but not in an unpleasant or physically unbearable way! It’s worth braving the Arndale for at least.
Hot and Spicy This Isn’t Chicken Pho, Pho
Unlike a lot of people, I have never had any qualms about eating lunch alone. I love it. Howver, with money being tighter than usual, I’m not really able to do it much beyond a Greggs at the moment, so I was lucky this year where as part of the Pride celebrations at work, we were given a promotional set of chopsticks from Pho which we could trade for a free bowl of Pho. I only got round to redeeming it right at the very end of the offer period, but I’m so glad I did. I took myself for a lovely solo lunch date where I ordered their vegan spicy pho with This Isn’t Chicken; I will say now while it's definitely got flavour, it is nowhere near as hot as it could be, especially considering that I am a medium spice girl at best. Also the chicken was succulent and juicy and unlike any other veggie substitute I’ve had recently, which is impressive - good if you’re craving a flavourful and (fake) meaty lunch (which can be enjoyed with or without other people).
Mushroom gang jung, Koreana
After binging yet another KDrama with my mother (who in her retirement has become an absolute fiend for them), I realised how little I know about Korean food, despite there being a lot of interesting vegetarian or pescetarian dishes. So when Ed’s mum came to visit, I took this as a perfect opportunity to check out Koreana, a Korean restaurant in Manchester that’s been on my list for a long time. I had a delicious yogurt soju cocktail (which was not too dissimilar in spirit to my adventures in kefir), as well as some tteokbokki to share and mushroom gang jung, which is deep fried mushrooms, potatoes and veg in a sticky sweet spicy sauce.
Sweet pasta, The Sparrows
Back when I was on Instagram, I was informed by several of my followers about the existence of dessert pasta. I was sceptical, but then I noticed on the menu of popular restaurant The Sparrows they had their own version using their spatzle noodles, which was drizzled in melted cinnamon butter and sugar and served with a little dollop of mascarpone.
I am not sceptical anymore.
This might have been one of the nicest desserts I’ve had. So simple, yet so beautiful. Sweet and buttery but somehow not too heavy either. If it was acceptable to lick a plate in polite society, I would have. I mean it when I say run, do not walk.
Chip Butty, Medlock canteen
I was alerted to the sandwiches at Medlock Canteen thanks to one of my instagram mutuals Tom, and me and Ed eventually made it there to try, and I got to order their truffle fry butty. Is this anything like a chip butty that you would expect? No. Do I wish there was another veggie option on the menu? Sure. Did I enjoy the fries covered in truffle mayo, gruyere and parmesan in a Holy Grain baguette nonetheless? Of course I did, I’m not a monster.
Ben and Jerry’s Peaces
Last year, I randomly found in a Co-Op refrigerator a bag of Ben and Jerrys cookie dough balls as a ready to eat snack. Of course they were delicious, but true to this newsletter’s fashion I never saw them again. However, more recently, Ben and Jerrys have released instead the ‘Peaces’, which are just mini Choco Ices with a core of cookie dough. I don’t think I need to explain why I liked these, and why I will keep eating despite my sensitive teeth crying out for mercy.
cheese and truffle pastry, Marks and Spencer
A spontaneous purchase between an extremely trying Pole session and a more chill DND one, I managed to pick this up while still warm - truly, a chef’s kiss to the M&S product development team for this one. A lovely gooey cheese filling, crisp pastry, and just a hint of truffle.
Greggs vegan festive bake
If you couldn’t tell already, I have not felt very Christmassy at all this year. For the most part, joy and merriness is eluding me at the moment. But one of the plus sides of Christmas this year was my first introduction to the Festive Bake. Before this month I’ll admit I was completely unaware of the Festive Bake; I’ve been primarily veggie for 21 years, so sue me. But this month I was kindly bought the vegan version for the first time by my aforementioned colleague and friend Jeni, which was an instant hit. It contains Quorn chicken, sage and onion stuffing, not too bad fake bacon bits and a cranberry and onion sauce for a sweet acidic touch to cut through. It made a welcome change from my usual cheese and onion bake order and proves to all the other companies out there that you can do a decent veggie Christmas dish that isn’t just rubbery brie and some slimy chutney. A nice, cheap and Christmassy lunch option if you can get your hands on it!
That’s all for this quarter; I’m currently planning what a more feasible version of this newsletter will look like - I’m endeavouring on a new project for paid subscribers, so depending on how the new year goes/how traumatised I am, I’ll be looking at a new schedule but I will still be trying to persist in bringing you the best food recommendations when I can.
However, if you want to keep all these cool free recommendations going, I highly suggest perhaps flinging a donation this way or paying for a subscription if you can afford to do so; I am in the process of building an archive of all my recommendations on my website, so any donation will be very useful in making this happen!
But as always, I’m still open to requests or recommendations or burning questions from anyone, so do get in touch. Otherwise I’ll see you later this week for a special paid edition about Kemi Badenoch’s favourite breakfast food…