I had a pear and gorgonzola pizza last night at the restaurant. There could’ve been more speckles of blue cheese but the strips of pear were perfect. The restaurant feels contrived and cold. We stopped off at Burger King on the way home to share a multi-layered caramel oreo sundae. Marvelled in Burger King’s upstairs area - a non-place, airport lounge liminality where anything can happen. In comparison to the pizza place that tried too hard to cultivate a vibe, a mood, a personality for you to have alongside your pizza, Burger King is just Burger King. You are Burger King but you are also you. I think I need to formulate these thoughts more but that’s roughly where I am with them.
Breakfast
Routine cinnamon buns. After a brief affair with Real Person coffee, we welcome instant coffee home with all its sweetness. Consider buying figs.
Lunch
I research 12 different crumble recipes - trying to combine the best elements and techniques into a hodgepodge recipe of my own. We have frozen berries in the freezer and flour and sugar from pancake Tuesday, so I’m hoping to scrape together some kind of pudding for tonight in lieu of not having thought that far ahead. Come across a Guardian article with suggestions for Breakfast crumble, Lunch crumble and Dinner crumble. Trying to imagine what mindset a crumbly food day would put you in. I make the crumble, rubbing butter and flour between my fingers before mixing in sugar and oats, with a smattering of cinnamon. I make the breadcrumbs for the aubergine parmigiana - toasting stale bread and grating it (and my entire thumb seemingly) onto a plate. Toasted brown flecks of bread make a neat little rectangle at the foot of the grater, and I have no idea how many crumbs are the right amount of crumbs. Crumbling afternoon, crumbs stuck under my nails.
Smoked salmon on brown toast with pepper and lemon, absent-mindedly.
Dinner
Pearly paper shells of garlic litter the counter. Salted aubergines drain in the sink. Cored apples splay across the chopping board. Saucepan spitting red sauce all over the cream linoleum. The warm night creeps in, the table is set, and I’m behind schedule. The hills turn purple and we steal away at low tide for a dip in sea, running even more behind schedule. At least the table is set.
Ruby Eleftheriotis is a curator and writer, with one foot in Scotland and the other in Norway. You can find her on instagram here.
That’s Ruby’s last entry from her takeover — it’s been a pleasure getting to know you, your interests and eating habits over this last week. Thanks for taking part!
The Fortified Gazette is an irregular bulletin, where anyone is invited to share their eating over the period of a week. As this part of Fortified expands it’s been great having people from our wider networks who we don’t know personally get in touch and take part, so please do if this is you! We’ll be back in a few weeks with our next takeover.
Best,
Kate and Sinae