When I Said That We Should Circle Back On That After the Holidays, I Did Not Actually Expect You To Do So
I refuse to live in the past and that includes following up on December action items
One of my most controversial opinions is that I love January.
Sincerely! I’m not doing a bit. I genuinely believe January to be in the top half of months. February? February is trash. Everything bad that you think about January is actually true about February. January gets a bad rap, though. January is a much-needed breather after the frenetic push of the holidays. It’s the feeling of stepping out into the cool night air after spending an evening in a crowded, stuffy bar, but in month form. It’s the feeling of putting on sneakers after taking off ski boots or ice skates. It’s the sound of turning off the range hood after cooking.
January is one big exhale, and I’m here to stand in defense of it.
I do have one complaint, though.
You see, when I said back on December 19th or whatever that we should “circle back on this after the holidays” or that “we can look at that in early January”… I did not mean that. I was stalling and hoping you would forget, but now you have followed up and frankly? I shouldn’t have to deal with it. Ever heard the phrase “new year, new you?” Well, I’m a new me and I do not think it is fair to hold me responsible for the procrastinations of old me. Old me was a flawed person, a man living off butter cookies, eggnog and Christmas M&M. New me? New me took a water bottle to work today and actually drank water from it. New me had a salad for lunch. New me cannot live in the past, and therefore your question shall remain unanswered, an unknowable mystery like the identity of DB Cooper or what happened to the Mary Celeste.
It is an action item lost to the sands of time, and I cannot be bothered with such things.
Friends, it is the first Friday of a new year here on The Action Cookbook Newsletter, and I am ready for it.
For more than four years and something like 225 Fridays, this has been the tentpole offering of The Action Cookbook Newsletter—a weekly digest offering up all sorts of things for the betterment of your weekend ahead.
Over the holiday break, realized that I’d gotten a little rigid with my format here. So, in the spirit of a new year, I’m shaking things up a bit.
First, I’m going to drop the “counting down from seven” bit—a holdover from the earliest days of this newsletter that referenced a long-since-abandoned podcast project. Second, I’m going to be less strict about the categories—specifically, I’m going to step away from featuring a cocktail in every newsletter. I enjoy making cocktails—and I’ve made some good ones over the years—but it had become a bit of a drag to do them weekly. I’ll still mix them in when I have something good to share, but it won’t be every week.
It’s still going to be a big newsletter, and it’s still going to be packed with good things that I think you’ll like. It’s just going to be a little more flexible, that’s all.
Enough chatter.
Yes, yes, of course. Let’s get on to the things.
I Will Never Stop Having Goofy Kitchen Notions
Some months ago, I was wandering the aisles of Jungle Jim’s International Market, an absolutely massive and super-fun grocery store north of Cincinnati. It’s stocked with imported foodstuffs from all over the world, and I never leave without buying a bunch of things I have no clear plan for. (If you’re ever passing up I-75, I highly recommend a stop, even if it’s just for weird British candy.)
In this particular trip—among other things—I left with a jar of grape leaves. I love dolmas, and figured that making my own would be a fun project at some point. Months passed, and I did not get around to it. Finally, as New Year’s approached, I realized I had to do something with them—but I couldn’t just be normal about it.
The usual fillings are some manner of herbed rice and/or meat, and I realized that that was adjacent to another thing I quite enjoy and had planned on making soon—boudin, a Cajun pork sausage often made with rice.
Instead of getting out the sausage-stuffer tube and messing with casings, I’d simply roll up the boudin in grape leaves.