I watched the first season of Master of None in one day because of course I did, and besides being thrilled to have Aziz back on my TV, it was a refreshing and realistic yet funny look at millennial life in New York. Obviously it was also amazing for those who are into food and the restaurant scene and plenty of work was put in by journalists to find where they ate on the show. Of course I loved that focus, but when I had the idea for this blog, I remembered a scene that prompted a "challenge accepted" moment from this show. In "Mornings," when Dev uses his spaghetti maker to make a vegetarian version of carbonara for his girlfriend, Rachel, my mind went into overdrive thinking about how I could make that a reality. Part of carbonara's trademark is the smoky meat used in the sauce, so I did a bunch of research to figure out how to replicate it and combined a few recipes that would help make the absence of meat a little more exciting while still resembling the source material. Now, I'm determined to make the real thing (technically in the show he makes both!).
Read moreSelina's Stomach Flu-Free Froyo [Veep]
While we're on a political roll, I'm celebrating the premiere of Veep with an early episode that I will always associate with the show's antics, plus it's even CALLED Frozen Yogurt. Selina was set to have a froyo tasting at a local DC shop where they even named a flavor after her. Selina gets a taste of the presidency in this episode, and between the staff and her dismissal of her VP tasks once she's briefly called to be president, this episode is always one I like to revisit. Although she went thinking she was going to try the flavor named after her, Selina Strawberry, she only got melty vanilla. I wanted to go the fruit route though since I already made vanilla ice cream, and I had frozen blueberries on hand. If you want to make vanilla, I considered using this recipe (via Greatist) before settling on blueberry. I guess we can call this...Biden Blueberry?
Read moreJessica Jones's Revenge Chinese Takeout [Jessica Jones]
We all have those days where all you can do for dinner is park it on the couch and order your favorite Chinese feast, knowing full well it's way more than you can eat and likely all fried. It's delicious at the time, but 20 minutes later, your insides feel a little greased and it takes Herculean effort just to get up to put the lefties in the fridge. A friend of mine sent this recipe for sheet pan fried rice to me, and I knew I had to try it. I don't typically dabble in order-in staples, but this is a much healthier version of a delivery go-to, plus it's super quick, it almost seems too good to be true. When I thought about shows I've watched, a lot of them have good Chinese takeout moments, but I thought I'd assign this one to one of my favorite characters in recent memory. At the end of the first season of Jessica Jones (on Netflix), she tricks the season's villain, Kilgrave, into eating drugged Chinese food so she can take over her situation. It's such a badass move, and since Women's History Month is coming to a close, I thought it was appropriate to dedicate a dish to her.
Read moreLet's Potato Chips [so many shows]
TV is funny because it's creating little realities that many times seem to exist in a parallel universe, one that includes food and brands that don't exist in our world. Sure, we're used to really obvious and maybe less obvious product placement at this point, but it's more fun when things are made up, or in this case, a TV industry-wide inside joke. There have been a few different stories (and even a now-defunct blog) about the famous Let's potato chips that pervade TV—spanning networks, genres and decades, and it's fun to compare how the fictional brand is used in different fictional worlds.
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