Leave it to Leonor #337

This week, I am thinking about food. Friend of the newsletter, Nichole Perkins (buy her books!) tweeted this out, tell me about a food or drink you had on vacation/while traveling that you still think about, and it sent me on an absolute tailspin. So presented here is a very incomplete, unranked list, of some of the meals and dishes and drinks that I still think about. Cause I think about food A LOT. (And yes, this list is one of great privilege because I have been able to travel! I am very lucky!). Surprisingly or not, I don't have pictures of many of these! I wish I did, but alas.  

• Venice, Italy. 2002. A loaf of bread, a hunk of cheese, some delicious tomatoes, all eaten on a bridge on the canal. I can close my eyes and taste that tomato. 

• Isla Mujeres, Mexico. 2016. An entire grilled fish at a small restaurant on the beach. 

• Insisheer, Ireland. 2018. A steaming bowl of chowder with a side of fries 

• Tangier, Morocco. 2005. A cup of mint tea, sweet and warm and not something I would ever choose on my own, but I drank it because it was offered and have been trying to recreate it ever since. 

• Rome, Italy. 2002. Every single pizza I ate from the pizzeria under our apartment. The cheese to sauce ratio, the crust, the toppings, all perfect. 

• London, UK. 2004. Hear me out - feijoada from a Brazilian "by the pound" restaurant on the second floor on some random street I think near Tottenham Court? 

• Tibau do Sol, Pipa, Brazil. 2014. A single perfect coconut with a whole drilled at the top, maybe the most refreshing drink I've ever had. 

• Paris, France. 2014. A chocolate mousse so decadent and creamy and smooth, served in a gigantic bowl, in a charming neighborhood restaurant in the 12th. 

• New Orleans, Louisiana. 2010/2022. I used to think a lot about the fried alligator I had at Cochon Butcher, but it has been replaced by the praline bacon I just had this past December because, well, bacon. 

• San Francisco, CA. 2017. The fig tart (?) -- I'm not 100% certain that is what it is technically called -- at Chez Panisse (hi wife! thanks forever for this!) 

  

  the tart (?) being made
   

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This week in reading. . .
I was slowed down immensely by some other things, but I managed to read Every Man a Menace a crime thriller (by the husband of a colleague) which was very good. Now I am reading Sign Here, which is inventive and sinister - I am really enjoying it.  

​This week in listening. . .
I love gossip and mess, so I tried listening to Beyond the Blinds, a gossip podcast. If you have recommendations for others, I am all ears.