How’s everybody doing? You doing ok? Holding on all right? On our Instagram last week we asked you to come up with your COVID-19 nickname, which is how you’re feeling in the moment plus the last thing you ate. We got a lot of awesome answers (like Anxious Banana, Emotional Rice Cake, Stressed Bacon, Sad Risotto, Paranoid Spinach, and SO MANY MORE!) that definitely made us chuckle. But it also helped us feel less alone in our stress, fear, anxiety, hope, drunkenness, boredom, uncertainty, and MY GOD I just need to get out of the house for ONE SECOND!! We’re all in this together, friends! And no matter how much boohocky is going in the world right now, there is one thing that’s for certain, we all gotta eat. Maybe this is a fun challenge, using every piece of vegetable and every bit of bread and every bean in the pantry. But maybe you’re also getting sick of having that same bean dish over and over and OVER again, but hey, you have it, so you’re going to eat it gosh darn it! So, here are three things that can make pretty much any leftover meal, or tinned or canned thing more exciting.

YES, I’m starting with a cheese. I know that is so predictable, but it really does make meals/life better! When I’m leaning on my pantry, one of my favorite dinners is a can o’ chickpeas, can of tuna, olive oil, red wine (or any) vinegar, lemon juice, salt, pepper, parsley (skip it if you don’t have it) all mixed together in a bowl with a very generous shower of finely grated Granaresu. Granaresu, my favorite Parmigiano Reggiano alternative, is a sheep and cow’s milk cheese from Sardinia. It’s firm, easily broken up into shards or grated, and it tastes salty and bright, lifting a dish with its zip. Thus, it is an excellent choice for anything (anyone) for a little pick me up, which is often just what leftovers need.

Now onto condiments. I LOVE condiments. Love them. LOVE THEM. But I’m going to narrow it down to just one mustard today, difficult as that is, so I don’t overwhelm you with my LOVE OF CONDIMENTS. I recently added Pommery Meaux Mustard to Mercato, our delivery service, and so I researched it a bit to write the description. Wow, France has a long history with its mustard! The Meaux Mustard is called Meaux after the place where it’s made, and it is also the name of an ancient order of monks in Meaux who made this mustard originially. Monks always make the best food! In 1760, a monk from this order gave the recipe to J.B. Pommery, and thus Pommery started producing the mustard. The recipe has not changed since its original recording in 1632. And why would they change it? It’s so freaking good! It is a course ground mustard that is mild enough to eat it with a spoon, but still has enough of a kick to be assertive in a sandwich, dressing, creamy sauce, or alongside that braised pork you’ve been eating for days.

Finally, WINE BABY! And what wine is more fun than rosé? The color is delightful, the flavors tend to be bright and tantalizing, and I feel like rosé can go with everything. One of my absolute favorites is back in stock as of yesterday (oh my heart, I’m very happy about this), the Ameztoi Rubentis Txakoli Rosado from Spain. It is dry and a little effervescent which adds to the fun, and it tastes like cherries and raspberries. Ooooh I can’t wait to take one these home. I have some leftover pizza with spicy salami covered in spicy honey that is just calling for a cheerful rosé. I have a feeling this is going to be a peanut butter and jelly situation, best friends for life. Actually, I think the Ameztoi would also go very well with a PB and J! And leftover pasta, roasted squash, turkey burgers, blondies your kids made that were actually pretty good, chili, grilled shrimp… 

Well, I hope these, or other condiments/cheese/wine brighten your day! And if not, here is a video of pandas playing and maybe that will do the trick!

For the love of cheese and mustard and rosé,

Kiri

P.S. Just to reiterate where we’re at right now with the shop: we’re closed for onsite retail, but we are open for curbside pickup (call us up, we’ll get your order ready, and then bring it out to your car when you get here), delivery via Mercato (there’s a green button that says “Mercato” at the bottom of our webpage if you’re curious), and FedEx shipping. If you don’t know what you want, give us a call anyway and we can walk you through our selection, just like we’d do if you were actually in the shop!