Hey y’all! It’s been a while. There are a few new faces here (lovely to see you!), so we thought we’d start off with a quick little “get-to-know-us” Q&A.
Part I: Cod, Cheese, and Clinique
What are you making for dinner tonight?
TG: Tonight I’ll be eating leftovers from last night’s baked beans with spinach and yogurt, so I’ll talk about brunch tomorrow instead! While I was in Dublin I picked up a small wheel of Durrus, a washed-rind cow’s milk cheese I had vacuum-sealed to get it back to New York safely. Christine recently warned me it has a shorter shelf life than I thought, so I’m making use of it tomorrow in a tartiflette with potatoes and thick cut bacon.
CC: I was going to attempt something more involved, but instead I think it’s going to be roasted (green) cabbage and (purple) potatoes, with cod. With like a garlicky mustardy wine sauce? We’re gonna fuck around and find out!
What’s a book you wish more people would read?
TG: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. It’s my favorite thing I read in 2022, and I’d be remiss to even try and describe it.
CC: Ross Gay’s Inciting Joy. It’s one of those books that gently breaks your heart, while reminding you of how beautiful it is to have a heart to break. Were it in my budget, I’d buy 50 copies and hand it out to friends, family, and strangers.
What’s your current makeup secret weapon?
TG: Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey. You’ve likely seen it on TikTok if our algorithms align: it’s more like a tinted balm than a lipstick, and it imparts this barely there, cool-toned berry hue that looks just as cool paired with bare skin as it does with a dramatic wing. And for once, it’s actually not sold out!
CC: Taylore, our algorithms DO align. I love Black Honey.
Mine is my eyelash curler! It’s not even a good one, but I’ve been (gently) alternating the angle at which I curl my lashes and it’s made a world of difference. I actually haven’t worn mascara for months, thanks to this new little trick.
Part II: Powders and Spreads and Butters, Oh My
TG: I find drizzle of EVOO and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt is as elegant as the next person, but I typically insist on a sauce or spread of some kind to make a meal feel complete. My fridge is mostly jars, tubes, and squirt bottles; one can never have too many types of hot sauce. Dubliners, it seems, feel the very same. I recently spent my 30th birthday in Ireland, and most of my meals were gloriously condiment-adjacent. The tasting menu at Bastible was no exception: the open kitchen was lined with murky, verdant jars filled with juniper, wild garlic, and pine pickling away, and one course’s lacquered and smoked trout was served with a crumpet and “condiments,” which turned out to be tart gooseberry relish and tangy yogurt topped with salmon roe. A plate of delicate slices of potato and sea beans was topped with a creamy, foamy roasted kelp sauce, and their venison served two ways (a steak and housemade sausage) came smothered in bone marrow jus.
While I’ll have some trouble trying to imitate anything from that stellar meal at home, the rest of that weekend’s spreads and sauces felt more accessible.
Parsley sauce: This shit is the height of coziness. It’s essentially a simple white gravy with chopped parsley, and it’s a staple on most pub menus all over Ireland. I had some spooned generously over a pink hunk of ham, cabbage, and mashed potatoes, and then I absolutely went to sleep.
Black butter: Somewhat misleading in name, black butter is more like apple conserve, and it’s been made in Ireland and western Europe since the Medieval period. To make it, Armagh Bramley apples grown in Ireland’s orchard county are preserved with brown sugar, cider, and spices. My first impulse was to spread it on scones or brown bread, but the person helping me out at Sheridans says she loves brushing it over a ham before roasting, which I’ll be doing immediately.
Living Culture Irish Cider Vinegar: I also picked this bottle up from Sheridans. The apples it’s made from are picked and fermented on a family farm in Tipperary, and it’s probably the tastiest ACV I’ve ever owned.
Marie Rose sauce: Since fish spot Matt the Thresher happened to be down the street from our hotel—I could talk about how lovely The Shelbourne is all day, and I still might—we shuffled over for lunch while massively hungover on a rainy afternoon. The fish pie was reliably delicious (this one topped with broiled mashed potatoes rather than puff pastry) but the seafood platter ended up being our favorite thing on the table: Carlingford oysters, crab salad, Howth smoked salmon, and the sleeper hit, Dublin Bay prawns in Marie Rose. It turns out that velvety pink sauce is just the U.K. interpretation of straight-up thousand island dressing, but when tossed with perfectly poached shellfish and dusted with paprika, it somehow felt extra elegant. I thought about it so much that I re-created the dish at home for a belated birthday girls night; I showered the shrimp with chives for extra brightness and served it ahead of some saffron tagliatelle with white wine and cockles.
Part III: My Fragrance Friends and their Celebrity Doppelgangers
CC: Hello, friends! It’s 44 degrees in Burlington, Vermont today, which is balmy for this time of year, but still too cold for me.
Thanks to TikTok, I am deep in the throes of ADHD perfume hyperfixation. When I’m not on Fragrantica reading reviews (note to food writers: this is a great exercise if you’re feeling uninspired), I’m combing r/fragranceswap to find samples or decants of scents I want to try.
It’s a new hobby (if you don’t count my elementary school Bath & Body Works obsession), but allows me to flex old muscles. A major part of the wine + cheese classes that I’ve taught for going on 8 years now is sensory analysis, and it’s something I’ve trained new cheese professionals on as well. I’ve always loved that smell is such a visceral, personal experience—your brain interprets new scents through the lens of your memories—and talking about fragrance is its own form of storytelling.
I do think that precise aromatic notes are extremely helpful, but sometimes what’s more helpful is sharing the ~vibes~. Who would wear this fragrance? What would they wear it for? What do you think the perfumer was inspired by when they created this?
So, here are a few recent fragrance favorites, with the celebrities that I think should/could wear them.
Basilico & Fellini by Vilhelm Parfumerie for Janelle Monáe
Top notes: Dragon Fruit, Basil
Middle notes: Violet, Wild Fig
Base notes : Vetiver, Green Hay
I don’t know this fragrance’s birthday, but it 100% gives non-binary Sagittarius vibes, in the same vein as Janelle Monáe. Vibrant! Captivating! Perfection transcends the gender binary!
I’m very femme-leaning, but I would wear this fragrance for a boost of confidence and effervescence while wearing a colorful outfit.
I Don’t Know What by DS&DURGA for Timothée Chalamet
Top Notes: bergamot essence
Heart Notes: iso e super, vetiver acetate
Base Notes: civetone, firsantol, ambrox super
Technically, this is a fragrance enhancer, which means that it’s lovely on its own, but the perfumer also intended it to be layered with other fragrances. When I wear it on its own, it smells like what I wish Chanel No 5 smelled like on me—mysterious and woodsy (Bergamot and Sandalwood are two overlapping notes), but also clean and ethereal. Like you just happen to smell perfect without having tried.
In my mind, Timothée Chalamet wore “I Don’t Know What” sans deodorant to this shoot and everyone gushed to him and each other about how good he smelled. Every person there, no matter their gender or age, tucked their number into his bag at the end of the day.
[TAG: CC is correct, it is mysterious! I wore IDKW a few years ago until I drained the bottle and I have never had more Uber drivers and strangers on the street ask me what I was wearing.]
Lira by Xerjoff for Giada De Laurentis
Top Notes: Bergamot, blood orange, lavender
Heart Notes: Rose, jasmine, licorice blossom
Base Notes: Vanilla, musk caramel
Lira, to me, smells like a lemon meringue pie, with a shockingly tender whole wheat crust, and a cinnamon caramel drizzle. It’s stunning. Almost too stunning. Why are you so stunning, Lira? What is all this perfection compensating for?
I don’t have the answers, but I do think Giada, our lady of deliciousness and over-the-top sex appeal, needs a bottle, if she doesn’t already have one. I can already hear her over-enunciating that R. Lirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrra!