A dispatch from Barbieland
Magical, romantic, breathtaking, demanding, uncomfortable, and frustrating. Plus The Court Jester Cocktail + Roasted Corn Salad + Country Potatoes + Rosemary Grilled Chicken + Cherry Chocolate Cookies
If you’re new here, welcome! I’m Rebecca, a cookbook author, recipe developer, and food photographer. You might know me from my recipe websites, Of Batter and Dough and A Little and A Lot.
My husband and I are nomads who divide our time between an RV and a sailboat (the boat is a new addition!), so I write about life on the road and on the water, the incredible places we visit, and the inspiring people we meet along the way.
One of the many things that social media has deposited in our brains is the idea that there are people out there who are living perfect, glossy, glamorous lives. Who are these people? We don’t know. We only know that we aren’t them. They are like a different species, living their perfect, glamorous lives somewhere in the ether. Like Barbieland.
But honestly, I may be placing too much blame at the feet of social media. Before the internet, I was a magazine junkie. Honestly, if I didn’t live in such small spaces, I still would be. I was both inspired and frustrated by those glossy, perfect magazine spreads. They sparked creativity and ambition, and also discontent. I knew it wasn’t an accurate picture of real life. And still, I envied it. One corner of my brain was convinced that I could achieve it. Someday.
The thing I didn’t realize until later is that all those one-demential photos aren’t fake. They are telling the truth. It’s just that they are only telling one part of the truth. Many conflicting things can be true at the same time. Instagram photos and magazine spreads are showing us the truth… but often only a distorted sliver of it.
We all do this, create curated snapshots of life to present to the world while closing the curtain over the bigger picture. When I take photos of recipes, you don’t see the messy kitchen, the crowded workspace with a camera, lighting, props, and dirty rags piled up all around the perfectly plated meal. In editing, I crop out the spoon I forgot to move out of the shot and photoshop the colors so the green of the sprinkle of parsley really catches your eye.
And also, we actually eat every single thing you see photographed here. I want to present the food as delicious because it is. I am giving you the delicious part of the truth while keeping the frazzled mess of the creative process pointedly out of frame.
We all smile for photos when inside we are dying. We comb through vacation photos for the ones that show the highlights. We stuff things in closets when people arrive at our doorstep unexpectedly.
Showing the best parts and keeping the rest hidden is a part of being human. It’s just exaggerated in the media.
But the other side of the coin is always there, even when it’s kept out of sight.
As
wrote earlier this week in a post titled “Parallel Life”…So often, though, I find myself living a parallel life. Not unlike spies, I have my daily life, and then I have my parallel life. That life might involve parenting, caretaking of others, dealing with those things outside of our routine patterns. Many of us struggle quietly, putting in the hours, giving it our all while continuing to hold together the pieces of “normal” life. And yet, we rarely share about it since our other life continues despite.
Both things are true.
And so it is with life on a sailboat. There is this…
And also, I am exhausted. We have not had a good night’s sleep in weeks. My whole body is sore and creaky from trying to sleep in a tiny bed with an uncomfortable mattress despite the cushy mattress pad. The cabin of the boat is hot and I have not yet figured out a comfortable work space. I simultaneously love and hate my tiny kitchen.
Steve is allergic to mold and everything mold adjacent, and his immune system has launched a formative attack on invisible invaders.
Sailing, as a newbie, is both exhilarating and stressful. I love it and am also constantly battling my anxiety about it. It is bringing up aaaaalllll my insecurities about whether I am capable and competent and intelligent enough to ever be a good sailer.
It is magical and romantic and breathtaking. It is also demanding and uncomfortable and frustrating.
Both things are true. You don’t get one without the other, and it’s all just one more lesson in acceptance and resistance, resilience and reward.
Everything as it is.
This week’s menu
The Court Jester Cocktail + Roasted Corn Salad with Jalapeño Cashew Cream + Country Potatoes + Rosemary Grilled Chicken + Cherry Chocolate Chunk Cookies
*Lost Supper Club Members (paid subscribers): Download the pdfs for these recipes in the recipe index!
The Court Jester Cocktail
In case you missed it, the fabulous
Bergdoll showed us on a LIVE video how to make two delicious, very royal, cocktails: The Monarch and the Empress. I had trouble finding all of the ingredients for The Monarch and made some substitutions that resulted in a whole new concoction.I gave Robin the task of naming it and her wife Sharon came up with the winer: The Court Jester. Brilliant. Also, quite tasty.
2 ounces dry gin
1 ounce sweet vermouth (rosso vermouth)
1/4 - 1/2 ounce orange liquor
A dash or two of Orange bitters
Garnish with a fresh orange slice or a candied orange slice
Instructions: Add some ice (small ice is best) to a cocktail shaker and then measure in the gin, sweet vermouth, orange liquor, and bitters. Use a spoon to stir the cocktail with the ice for at least 45 seconds to chill thoroughly. Strain the cocktail into a chilled glass, add a fresh or candied orange slice if desired, and enjoy!
Roasted corn salad with jalapeño cashew cream
The Colorado town where we grew up and raised our kids is known for the local sweet corn farms. I’d look forward to it every summer, buying a dozen ears or more at a time and freezing whatever we couldn’t eat in a couple of days.
That sweet corn set the bar pretty high for me. Perhaps too high because I’m frequently disappointed with the summer corn we find in other parts of the country.
Often, even during the summer months, I find the quality and flavor of frozen corn to be better than whatever is in the fresh produce section. Not always, mind you, but often.
Regardless, oven roasting corn concentrates the flavor and gives the kernels a firm but juicy and tender texture. It works just as well with fresh corn as it does with frozen corn which, as I’ve just explained, is a real bonus.
We are in Michigan this summer and there are plenty of creamy salads in the midwest. I’m here for it, but I wanted a lighter, fresh tasting summer salad that was dairy free.
Using cashew cream instead of the traditional mayo, heavy cream, or cheese for the creamy dressing makes this salad dairy-free and vegan. It also makes it safer to serve on hot summer days when you might rightfully question the wisdom of eating a dairy based salad that’s been baking in the sun.
And the flavor? Rich and creamy, but not heavy. A little bit smokey, savory with a hint of sweetness, light and fresh with a nice little kick from the jalapeño in the cashew cream.
*This recipe is available to members of The Lost Supper Club (paid subscribers). Find out more about The Lost Supper Club here.
Get the recipe —> Roasted Corn Salad with Jalapeño Cashew Cream
Country potatoes
This simple technique results in the potatoes that are soft and creamy on the inside, and golden and crispy on the outside. Eat them any way you choose - on their own, with eggs for breakfast, alongside Roast Chicken or a perfectly cooked steak, or as a delicious topping for soup.
As an aside, one of my favorite ways to eat country potatoes is topped with mushroom ragu. A ragù is traditionally an Italian meat-based sauce that's often served with pasta. This version replaces the meat with mushrooms for an incredibly rich and versatile meatless ragù that is pure magic with fried potatoes.
Get the recipe —> Country Potatoes
Lemon rosemary grilled chicken
The secret to incredibly juicy and flavorful chicken is a long soak in a sugar and salt brine. The brine tenderizes the meat and seasons it from the inside out.
Then, layer up the flavor with a simple lemon-rosemary rub and a basting sauce made from butter, rosemary, and dijon mustard.
The recipe includes instructions for an indoor or outdoor grill, or a Blackstone Griddle. It's one of my favorite ways to eat chicken in the summer: Quick, easy, and packed with flavor.
Get the recipe —> Lemon Rosemary Grilled Chicken
Cherry chocolate chunk cookies
One of the many things to do in Michigan in the summer is attend the Traverse City Cherry Festival. The 8-day festival attracts over a half million people and, as you can imagine, includes cherry everything.
The most popular tent at the cherry festival is the Grand Traverse Pie Company where they serve up hundreds of thousands of slices of cherry crumb pie and massive cherry chocolate chunk cookies.
In years past, the festival inspired this recipe for sweet cherry crumb pie. And this year, I couldn't wait to get home and start recreating the cherry chocolate chunk cookies.
These buttery cookies are soft and chewy with crisp edges and loaded with chunks of melty chocolate and sweet-tart cherries in every bite.
Get the recipe —> Cherry Chocolate Chunk Cookies
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What’s happening in the Lost Supper Club
Exclusive content for paid subscribers.
If you were sitting around my dinner table this week, and I genuinely wish you were, one of the topics that would inevitably be sprinkled throughout the evening’s conversation is recommendations. For books, food, restaurants, clothing, places to visit, things to see, things to do, things we love.
Sharing the things we love is the normal stuff of dinner party conversation. It pops up when the conversation turns to food (last week we ate at this amazing restaurant), travel (while you’re there, you have to go to…), books (I read this book on XYZ and it changed my life), politics (do you read Letters from an American?), clothing, household items, tools, kitchen appliances, and on and on and on.
That’s what this list is. Every week, I’ll share with you a few things I love that I think you might also love. If there are things in your life this week that you think WE would love, please share them in the comments. I’ll check out your recommendations and add them to next week’s list
It’s not the same as face-to-face dinner party conversation, but we might still learn a few things, find a few solutions, and discover our next favorite everything.
Here’s where to go…
Roasted Corn Salad With Jalapeño Cashew Cream
An exclusive recipe just for paid subscribers, this salad is rich and creamy, but not heavy. A little bit smokey, savory with a hint of sweetness, light and fresh with a nice little kick from the jalapeño in the cashew cream.
Classes!
Here you'll find information about upcoming classes and the replay links for past classes. LIVE classes are open to everyone who would like to drop in. Replays are available to everyone for a couple of days then available to paid subscribers (Lost Supper Club members)
Recipe Index: Get Every Single Recipe
This index + downloadable recipe cards for every single recipe (over 200 and counting!) is a perk of being a member of The Lost Supper Club (a paid subscriber.)
Recommended reading
Chopped Salad with Chickpeas, Avocado, Feta, and Herbs from
: We had guests sailing with us last weekend and I made this salad, piling it into individually portioned jars that we could eat on the deck while sailing. It was absolutely delicious and something I’ll make again. I added a generous amount of feta, left out the avocado because I was afraid it would get brown and mushy making the salads in advance. Instead, I added some marinated artichoke hearts.An excellent read from
, quite thought provoking after all my pontificating on truth. is making me wonder, how long would it take to sail from Michigan to Sardinia? reminds us that hunger is not political.
Attention Substack food writers!
If you are a Substack food writer, you absolutely don’t want to miss this incredible retreat next year! I’ll be there and I’d love to see you there too!
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Thank you for the mention! One of the things I learned from my dad: people have stories that we can’t see. And the messy parts are what truly make us human.💕
Oh Rebecca—this is one of your best (and I especially love the title!).
Everything about this resonated with me—not only the artifice of what we see, but our struggles with just keeping it real in our own lives.
We have several good friends who are lifelong sailors, so I can really appreciate how much you have accomplished in such a short period of time. Enjoy the journey of this incredible adventure. I’m in awe of you!