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September started getting coffee and vegetarian paninis at Strip Mall’s grand opening and ended also at the coffee shop-turned BYOB wine bar for SoundByte, a local music and food event. It was one of those meals where the next day I immediately tried to recreate one of the dishes (eggplant caponata) even though I knew it wouldn’t be the same.

It was a good month for keeping my head in my notebook, laptop, and assorted books, only to surface in the “real world” for good food and music with friends. (And plenty of doomscrolling to keep up with one horrific story after the next, but don’t worry, I’m not diving into that in this post.)

Reading

For a very fun assignment, I’m reading Cheesecake by Mark Kurlansky, and just finished Food Person by Adam Roberts. I also got to finishing up Cellar Rat by Hannah Selinger and am very close to done with Vibration Cooking or, The Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl by Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, which is Alicia Kennedy’s last bookclub pick of the year.

Writing

September was busy with interviews, grant application and report writing, and revamping my website — which isn’t done done so I’d love feedback on it if you visit and notice anything not working right.

On this ol’ newsletter I published:

• Against Delivery 

• Introducing ART MEAL

• Dinner, A Semi-Complete List: Part 8

Up next week is a short essay by way of reintroducing myself, and then the following week an ART MEAL that is autumnal.

Eating

I ate a lot of bowls of greens or cabbage with rice, tofu, and whatever toppings that sounded good that day: Crumbled feta, marinated artichoke hearts and white beans, cherry tomatoes, pickled red onions, Castelvetrano olives, Japanese BBQ sauce. And I will keep eating this way because it makes me happy and is easy to replicate without much work.

Breakfast, also, is an unvarying bowl of yogurt, topped with Mesquite powder and some banana, or a spoonful of cherry preserves. Judging from my photos from the month, dinner wasn’t anything remarkable. Mostly leftovers, or fried eggs. I did make a good pasta sauce on night, and that was a triumph.

The most exciting meal of the month I ate at the event Soundbyte hosted by local musicians Ash Uss and Josh Caballes at Strip Mall, a coffee shop and BYOB wine bar friends opened in Phoenix. Dana Arbel was the chef for the night, and her menu was paired with a performance by Eon Grey and live painting by Alberto Devon. I ordered one of everything: Chalette with smoked date butter, a plate of eggplant caponata and caramelized onion labne with potato chips, hummus and pita with marinated squash, zhoug, and a pickle, sprinkled with pomegranate seeds, and a caramel apple cake with cardamom whipped cream. And a hot Americano made by the incomparable Misch.

I really like what Ash and Josh, along with the Strip Mall team, are doing — SoundByte is an event series dedicated to paying musicians for a gig where they can bring newer music that they’re still working through. Eon Grey was fantastic and I can’t wait to see who performs at the next event.

What’s a highlight from your eating, cooking, and reading of September?

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