"just do it january" recap
supper clubs, joy as resistance, and a "dgaf" life
Welcome to the February dine well substack, coming to you live from the rise of fascism in real time :) I won’t say anything more about the political and economic climate for the moment, as we’re all struggling under the weight of bad news that somehow gets heavier every day. But I hope everyone that that everyone’s friends and family are safe, and that everyone is ready to organize and fight for our own rights as well as those of our neighbors. We are going to need strength for the battle for democracy, so everyone, please take good care of yourselves <3
On a different note, I want to do a little recap of our January supper club. The third edition of the dine well supper club took place at Umbra, a brand new jazz club and wine bar in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The owners reached out to us on Reddit and personally invited us to pop up with them, which was a huge honor. The theme was classic American comfort foods with fascinating histories- histories that are often rooted in immigrant culinary traditions. The storytelling was a blast for me, since I’m a research nerd- it was wonderful to share with diners what I’ve learned and create a menu that paid loving homage these time-honored foods and techniques. We were very proud of this one and how well-received it was!
This was by far the largest group we’ve hosted so far, and we can’t wait to continue growing. The next edition is confirmed for March 25 at the same spot, Umbra- we love them and their space, and we’re so excited they want to have us back! As the world gets more terrifying by the day, we’re centering our March dinner around traditional healing foods and medicinal plants, some native to New York and the greater northeast- we hope to help foster the soothing balm that both community and food as medicine can be.
We’re also hoping to take dine well on the road in 2025, to the Bay Area (where both Dario and I hail from) and possibly Miami and New Orleans. Stay tuned <3
After the supper club I took a much needed vacation to Puerto Rico, a place that’s so easy to get to from NYC that I’ve gone pretty frequently over the last few years. This time I wanted to explore a different part of the island, since I’d really only visited San Juan and the northeastern coast. I rented a car and road tripped around the eastern side of the island to the west, through Ponce and foggy mountain jungles, and stayed in the most beautiful and remote Airbnb just outside of a smaller city called Cabo Rojo. One of the trip highlights was eating at one of the spots on calle lechón, or the pig highway, a well-known strip of lechonerías on a country mountain road in Cayey. It was well worth the 2 hour drive! Please enjoy this video of me absolutely dying at how crispy the pork skin is.
Upon meeting one of the owners of my Airbnb, a grizzled but sweet German man who’d lived on the property for 30 years, he said that he usually hosted couples and remarked how unusual it was to see a single woman as one of their guests. But that’s just how I roll, baby.
This isn’t really food related, but I love solo travel. As an adult, I’ve really only traveled with friends, family or partners a handful of times. I love the freedom of doing whatever I want, whenever I want, without having to consult or negotiate with anyone. I’m also lucky to be a person who enjoys my own company, which helps. I think there’s something of a norm- amongst women especially- to save big trips for when you have someone to go with, specifically a partner or a group of girlfriends for a giRLs tRiP. I know plenty of people who would never dream of solo traveling, both women and men.
Naturally it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. I spent two months solo traveling through Thailand about ten years ago, and toward the end I did get really lonely, and making decisions about what to do and how to get there became exhausting. It was also the first time I’d experienced feeling like a minority, painfully aware of sticking out like a sore thumb and being very clearly a tourist- a feeling I despise. I even got groped in an alley :( and scared the guy away with my very strange knee-jerk reaction of shouting animalistic sounds at him and karate-chopping his arm (I’d run away from me too).
But looking back on that trip, I feel proud of 27 year old me and the courage it took to commit to such a trip and see it through, without a single thought of going home early despite how difficult it was at times. I learned a lot, and being able to manage any and every situation was actually a huge boost of confidence. It helped me realize that I can handle anything that comes my way, even if I’m scared or uncomfortable. Now, I have great memories of meandering through the streets of Bangkok, eating mystery street food, and changing my plans just because I could (not to mention getting a massage basically every day, whenever and wherever I pleased).
This Puerto Rico trip was no different, although much shorter and an easier place to be as an American. But Instagram is just a highlight reel, and I didn’t share the multiple times I was nervous to go into restaurants by myself, sheepishly couldn’t figure out how to pump gas with an old school pump, and spoke to people in Spanish who replied in English (fair, and also… touché). I didn’t share the multiple times I got lost, on foot and in the car- in fact one day I missed the entrance to a secluded beach I was headed to and somehow ended up in someone’s field of cows for like an hour. I also realized at one point that I’d DROPPED MY PHONE and after meticulously retracing my steps and miraculously finding it, I spent like 15 minutes thanking baby Jesus/Allah/Vishnu/the Flying Spaghetti Monster for not forsaking me. Humiliating to say the least, but hey- no one around but the cows to judge me. And when I finally bushwhacked my way to the beach, the tropical sun and crystal clear water had truly never been sweeter.
I remember about ten years ago when I heard about David Bowie’s death, I had sort of an epiphany. I realized that the people I admire most in this world are those who take risks, are unapologetically themselves, and don’t give a single fuck about what’s considered normal or acceptable in their time. People like Bowie, Dolly Parton, Anita Hill, Prince, John Cameron Mitchell, Sally Schmitt who I wrote about here, Anaïs Nin… and pretty much any woman in STEM . Most of these people are artists and creators, people who live and love and create on their own terms for the love of their craft without much thought as to whether or not it’s palatable or commercially appealing. And through their fearlessness, the “right” people find them- those who resonate are touched by their work- lifting them up, celebrating them. As a result, sometimes they shake up the cultural norms of their day, changing the fabric of society itself.
Ever since, I’ve made an effort to live in the most fearless way I can. Life is short, but it’s also long- if we’re fortunate and we play our cards right, we have so much time to do all the things we dream of. Lately I’ve been feeling like the supper club is an extension of this. Dario and I kind of dove headfirst into this project, with no idea if this would go anywhere or if anyone would even notice we were doing it; but to our delight and surprise, people are responding and resonating with our food and our messaging. The excitement and inspiration for future dinners is still flowing and we’ve garnered more support from strangers than we ever expected.
Upon reflection, I have to admit that every time I’ve taken a risk like this, it’s always paid off in the end. So I’m here to tell you to go on the trip, take the class, take stock of your goals and dreams and make them a priority. Do it scared, do it if it doesn’t feel like the “right” time or circumstance, and yup- do it alone if need be.
I’m going to repeat something I wrote back in November after the election. When tr*mp was elected in 2016, one of my favorite writers/podcasters and political pundits Dan Savage had this to say: “we must fight to live, but live not just for the fight.” In these dark times, joy and pleasure can be a powerful form of resistance. Let’s continue living, loving, fighting and creating- as Margaret Atwood wrote in The Handmaid’s Tale, “don’t let the bastards get you down.” <3 <3