The Girl Who Ate Everything

Brussels sprouts and bacon covered in fried onions.

"Looks like we've both gone to our default meals."

Three nights ago my roommate Chris pulled out a frozen pizza from Whole Foods, his "I'm at home and want to eat something that I know I'll like but won't take much effort" meal of choice. He came home as I was halving Brussels sprouts and frying half a pound of chopped bacon, ensuring that bacon fumes diffused into every cubic inch of our apartment. And the hallway outside our apartment. And probably a few feet beyond our building's front door.

The fate of the Brussels sprouts and bacon: Kenji's recipe for "Brussels Sprouts Worth Eating"—aka, seared Brussels sprouts and bacon. It's easily my most oft-cooked dish that doesn't come out of the freezer. Why? Because to make it I only have to buy two ingredients: bacon and Brussels sprouts. This is a big deal as someone who sparingly cooks at home (I eat out a lot, not always predictably so), and when I do, it's just for myself. Cooking from scratch for one person after getting home late from work can be a frustrating exercise in getting the most deliciousness with the fewest leftover ingredients in a reasonable amount of time. This recipe requires no extra starches, no herbs, no spices, no sauces, no medley of anything. And I use all of the bacon and Brussels sprouts in one go, with no leftover ingredients—like a bag of cilantro when all I needed was a tablespoon, or a tub of ricotta when all I needed was....not a tub, or a whole mess of other half-used ingredients left to age in my fridge-turned-35°F-cell-of-decay.

This post originally took place on January 11. I guess I could've just skipped straight to my Norwegian vacation, but this mean was pretty epic. I MUST TELL YOU ABOUT IT. And then I'll be on to Norway time.

Good-bye Blue Hill. And good-bye, sun.

"Are we blindfolding and gagging d. the whole way there?" asked Greg.

"Why even do that? Just slip her a sedative, she won't even know what happennned."

Hahahahaha don't worry, we did nothing of the sort. Greg tossed out the idea as a joke (I...I think), as did I in my response, but when Greg, Kathy, and I neared the line of cabs outside the Tarrytown train station with birthday girl Diana in tow, we realized we should've at least given her earplugs to keep the birthday present meal a surprise. Or firmly clapped our hands around her ears. Or drugged her.

"BLUE HILL? ARE YOU GOING TO BLUE HILL?"

If getting off the Metro-North in Tarrytown hadn't already given the surprise away, the cab driver's shouts surely did. Oops.

Although I'm sure there are other nice places to go to in Tarrytown, it's not surprising that a cab driver would automatically assume your destination is Blue Hill at Stone Barns. To quickly fill you in, Blue Hill is known as one of the best restaurants in the country, helmed by renowned executive chef/co-owner Dan Barber (the other owners are Dan's brother David and David's wife Laureen) with a menu that takes the farm-to-table ethos a few steps closer to the source. Because...it's on a farm. (There's also a Blue Hill in the West Village, and while I've heard it's great, I feel like if you're going to go all out for a special meal you should get out of the city and choose the location that's on a farm.) They pluck whatever seasonal vegetables/pigs/etc. they need from Stone Barns, the Barber family farm, Blue Hill Farm in Massachusetts, or other nearby farms, then do something beautiful and deliciousness-ifying to them, and serve them to you in a comfortably refined environment. And then they spent the next three hours or so fattening you up and making your brain release happy chemicals.