January 2023 - What's For Dinner?
Some advice on better resolutions, an experiment in recreating the food from my favorite movie, and my latest guilt trip
January is a terrible time to make a New Year’s Resolution.
Think about it. In the darkest (literally, the darkest) part of the year when we are in greatest need of love and grace, we subject ourselves to an unnecessary performance evaluation. And instead of giving ourselves a raise, we put ourselves on a performance improvement plan.
This is part of why I don’t really do New Year’s Resolutions. January is hard enough without the added psychological pressure of counting all the ways I was insufficient in the year before. Yes, we all need to work on ourselves — we all need to eat more vegetables, and take more walks, and be kinder to our neighbors, and buy houses, and move apartments, and reconnect with old friends. We need to do all those things all the time and, frankly, it’s exhausting. Let the beginning of the year be a time of grace, of rest, of congratulating yourself on surviving another year.
Okay, I do have one goal. I did make one solitary goal at the beginning of this year is that I wanted to put out one of these at least once a month. My original goal was once a week, which proved intense and overwhelming. Then I said once every other week which, while doable felt like the kind of timeline that I would easily lose track of. So, I settled on monthly and that’s the plan from here out. As I said, this is something I’m still working out and is, mostly, a vanity project for myself to write and eat and share with (mainly) my friends and family.
Anyway, let’s get into it.
Experiments: Recreating Food from My Favorite Movie
My favorite movie is Wong Kar Wai’s “In the Mood for Love”. It’s a slow-burn romance set in the claustrophobic halls of a Hong Kong apartment complex in the 1960s. There is a multitude of reasons I come back to this movie at least once a year (the color palettes, the power of relationships no matter how brief, Maggie Cheung’s color cheongsams). But, the aspect of the film that I am permanently fascinated by (and is most relevant to this newsletter) is how it incorporates food and eating to convey intimacy.
There are lots of incredible food moments in this film. The early interactions of our two star-crossed lovers are their brushes against each other as they pass in the alleyway on their way to the local noodle cart. There is a pivotal scene where they are trapped in one of their apartments together with little else to do but eat and talk about their feelings. But, the most famous food scene takes place in a Western-style Steakhouse when Mrs. Chow (Maggie Cheung, in one of her colorful cheongsams) tells Mr. Chan (Tony Leung), “you order for me.”
Guilt Trip: Tupperware
Picture this: you made something delicious and had leftovers. You take out some Tupperware to put away for another day. In the days that follow, it just doesn’t appeal to you as an option. You pass it over for other leftovers or other fresh options or the everlasting appeal of takeout. Eventually, you go searching for what their weird smell fridge is, and lo behold it’s the Tupperware That Time Forgot.
Now, you could hold your nose and clean it out or you could just toss the whole darn thing in the trash. Look, we all do it and we should all be ashamed of ourselves.
This weekend, I cleaned out my fridge and did the impossible. Instead of tossing the smelly Tupperware, I cleaned every single one of them. If you’re looking for a practical New Year’s Resolution that isn’t influenced by society’s unrealistic expectations — consider resolving to throw out fewer Tupperwares.
Recommended Viewing: Vegetables That Don’t Suck
If you dabbled in New Year’s Resolutions you probably had one about eating more vegetables. This video from Epicurious is an older video but it’s one I go back to every once in a while because I love the host’s passion for fresh veggies. Though the video says it’s about cutting vegetables, it’s really an overview of great ways to cook and prepare fresh veggies.