Plus salteñas, Mortal Kombucha, and great granola.
APRIL 15, 2023
Do you like cats? Do you like cannabis? Well, do I have the place for you: Meowy Jane, the only (I believe) cat-themed dispensary in the country. Featuring a couch of animatronic kittens, a selfie corner, and all sorts of merch, the Portland, ME-based store brings a certain levity and fun to an often staid industry. But make no mistake: their product selection is the cat’s meow, and their budtenders are incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. I highly recommend stopping in. -DW
Baking queen, three-time James Beard Award-nominated chef behind the Never Ending Bake Sale, and friend of Gossamer Natasha Pickowicz has just released her first cookbook. More Than Cake is a collection of over 100 playful baking recipes that pull inspiration from her Californian and Chinese heritage, like kabocha squash galettes and a fennel, olive oil, and mascarpone cake. It’s also one of the most artful cookbooks I’ve had the pleasure to flip through in recent years—her mother’s illustrations (also featured on the boxes of our kiwi oro blanco Delights collab) dot the recipes. I personally can’t wait to try my hand at the fruit curd section. -PR
I’m not a big breakfast person, but I make an exception for this granola. Based in upstate New York, Sweet Deliverance currently has three offerings: Strawberry and Salty Peanut, Sour Cherry and Pistachio Rose, and Turmeric and Super Seed. I’m not actually sure I want to choose a favorite—honestly, just order the trio—but I can tell you that Strawberry and Salty Peanut was the first bag we finished. I recommend pairing it with plain, old fashioned, whole fat yogurt (specifically Seven Farms, if you can get it), which I’ve been newly enamored with after years dedicated to the Greek and Icelandic varieties—there’s just something perfect about the milkier texture and tang of regular. -VvP
Apologies for the late notice, but this show ends today. If you have time to get there before it closes, please do. Otherwise, you could read David Beal’s essay on Miyako Ito for the New York Review of Books and then spend the next few hours down a stoned rabbit hole of her paintings, like I did. Ito, who was born in Berkeley, spent a year imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp in California, and later survived breast cancer, a double mastectomy, and a nervous breakdown. Her art, however, belies her suffering and instead offers a visual balm of tranquility in color and light. -VvP
Over the past 20 years or so, I’ve gone from absolutely loathing kombucha to loving it. The funky foot-esque smell that once repelled me now lures me in, like the scent of a cartoon pie on an open windowsill. But not all kombucha is alike, and not every brand is actually particularly good for you (or even just good). However, on a recent jaunt to the grocery store, I stumbled across Mortal Kombuchaand I’m hooked. While yes, the packaging is kind of tailor-made for people, such as myself, who might want to drink kombucha without entirely buying into the lifestyle it tends to represent, the taste and lack of added sugar should have universal appeal. The flavors are unique enough to spark my interest and tasty enough to sustain it, and the story behind the founding of the company is equally compelling. I’ve been buying the Black Sage and Basillion Strawberries flavors nonstop, but you can order any and all (including hard versions) directly from their site. -DW
Salteñas at Bolivian Llama Party
As a kid, I could always count on fresh salteñas (and coca tea) as soon as we got off the plane in La Paz on trips to visit family. They were also the one food I could never get once I was back home in California. Salteñas are like empanadas but with a special sauce you can’t find anywhere else. Lucky for me, shortly upon moving to New York years ago, I discovered the now-shuttered Bolivian Llama Party stall beneath Columbus Circle (whose sopa de mani, or peanut soup, was recently featured in the New York Times). A modern Bolivian restaurant serving up insanely delicious salteñas, traditional plates like silpancho, and more, I finally visited their Sunnyside, Queens location this past weekend and it was absolutely worth the trip. And for non-New Yorkers, they may start shipping out of state! -PR