I Love You: Spilled Milk #100

One hundred! Thank you for being part of this community.

Thank you to this incredible and vibrant, smart funny community that has given me the privilege of celebrating an anniversary of 100 posts, not including all our fun video chats that typically run on Fridays. I don’t take all this for granted. It’s especially poignant coming on the heel of Memorial Day, a holiday we have been celebrating since 1868 to honor and mourn those in our military who have died in the service of the country. I also remember and honor their families and give a huge salute to all who serve today. Freedom isn’t free.

With John Taylor and Roger Taylor of Duran Duran.

Being able to write what I want, when I want, regardless of the content, our freedom of speech, has been fought over and fought for. Americans have died so that we can have a nation of the people, for the people and by the people. We have survived external and internal threats, defended by those who serve, many making the ultimate sacrifice. I am so grateful, and I would be remiss to not mention my family members who served, here and abroad.

So after a long weekend of amazing experiences I am, feeling a ton of mixed emotions and patriotic. Last week I was in Texas doing a demo at the PGA Tournament in Texas for KitchenAid, had dinner with an old friend, chef Scott Conant, and flew to San Francisco for the best music festival on earth, BottleRock in Napa. I had the distinct honor of doing a food demo with John Taylor and Roger Taylor from Duran Duran. The festival was incredible and you all should come next year. Food and music have never been combined as well, and a huge thanks to all the folks at Williams Sonoma who helped sponsor on the food side.

With the Red Rocker himself, Sammy Hagar.

I lost a tooth aggressively biting into chewy pizza dough (essentially I lost a temporary), so that happened. Dinner with my friend José Andrés and his family on Friday night was fun and went on into the wee hours, cooking and laughing. It was a great night and reminded me why I love making recipes for you to try, in the hopes that it allows you to share more love and laughs with your friends and family.

With Rob Garza and José Andrés.

Then I flew to Los Angeles for the stunning wedding of a close friend and was so happy for him and wife, together for almost six years and now married. I am ecstatically happy for them, and at the same time some families are so tight, large and loving it makes me long for that in my own life. It’s OK to feel those feelings, too.

So as I said, a big weekend and now celebrating our 100th written post, I hope you all take advantage of our post-Memorial Day sale on Spilled Milk: We’ll take 50 percent off the price of a year’s subscription.

Buy a sub (or two) for a friend—and if you have been a subscriber for the gratis content, now is the time to switch over. Enjoy all the content this week!

Long story long, I really do love you all … so here, now, the news.

Still in Shock: What the F*ck?!?!?!?!?!? They took away the ChocoTaco and now this! Dairy Queen, are you kidding me? We need to talk.

And I am still not over pastina being discontinued by Ronzoni. I grew up on that stuff. Chris Petroni showed me a great pastina hack that I will share in coming weeks.

Best Roundup I Have Seen in YEARS! Most are awful and get it all wrong but this pastrami crawl in NYC gets it right. Huge love to Robert Sietsema, who is a superb food writer and someone I long to share a meal with. And yes, Katz’s is the best.

Myth Busters: MSG is something I have been touting the benefits of for 15 years. Now it may be the key to reducing sodium in diets. And in full disclosure, because of my stance and the culinary racism surrounding the mythology of its supposed detriments, I was asked to work on an Ajinomoto activation for a month and learned even more about MSG. I have kept a bowl of 66/34 MSG to salt on my counter, and ever since my salt intake at home has been dropped by two thirds. I encourage you to do the same.

Best Real Recipe on IG This Week: I see a hundred recipes on social media every day. This one from Kevin Gillespie, a good friend and a superb human is one I am making right away. It’s a great variation on cobbler topping that I cant resist. And it’s not one of the million of mindless videos/recipes I see all the time that get millions of views for what really amounts to mindless bullsh*t. You all know what I mean.

Hero of the Week: you all know my take on aquaculture, my co-founding of the CSA and the work I do around the world for this kind of work, even terrestrial farming of many kinds is something I work hard to preserve and grow. This article in Time is a must read for anyone who loves food heroes and incredible ideas, made actionable with amazing results.

What Made Me Laugh the Most: I mean, we all need a good laugh don’t we? What does your favorite rock band say about you?

Best Thing I Heard All Week: Ken Burns is one of my heroes and Tim Ferriss is one of my friends who has a killer podcast, and everything else he does is pretty magical too… anyway, I finally stumbled on this gem. It’s an AMAZING listen: Tim and Ken in conversation.