💸Pay your taxes!!
A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well!
Good good morning morning. Hope hope you you had had a a great great week week!! Annoying isn’t it? We understand bogo is good when it comes to food and not newsletters. Due to a glitch in the service we use, many of you’ll received duplicate emails for last week’s edition. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Moving along.. Monday (not the 15th of April this time) is tax day or better known as “kick your computer in frustration day!” Worried about getting an IRS audit? Avoid what’s called a red flag. If you have money left in the bank after paying off your taxes, that is a BIG red flag! Also do not cheat on your tax returns… That is not the world we want to raise our 25 dependents in.
Clicked to perfection!
We are a generation that loves taking pictures! So much so, that by the time you complete reading this email, there will be 16500000 new pictures clicked (1.7 trillion in 2022)! Even with our impressive backgrounds, providing tips to help you click your next masterpiece was bit of a stretch. So we reached out for some help.
Indu @alettertomyfood, who prior to being approached by us, was featured by Apple (for whipping out masterpieces using an iPhone6. Check out her interview here) and Pooja @poojanikam an old friend, ex-vogue, now studio owner and future Simmer content creator (hopefully) agreed to help us. Here are some of our takeaways:
Train your eyes: Before you flood your phone with 50 avo toast pictures, take some time to get into the right mindset. According to Indu, the best way to learn any new visual art is by training your eye to see the surrounding details and studying other creatives’ work.
Study lighting: Bad lighting has the same effect on a photo as broccoli has on a pizza. Try placing a simple fruit on a table, covered with craft paper, next to a light source and view it from your camera. Study how the light falls on the fruit. Where does it glow, where is it shadowed, trying different angles and positions till you get hungry enough to eat the fruit.
Understand concepts: To make a good photo great, you will have to take the viewer on a journey where you present the photo in a way you want them to see it - and that does not mean the sepia filter. You could go all ham and adjust various knobs or do it in a much more controlled way by using these resources recommended by Pooja
Color also affects how you feel.
Learn compositions here
Get the right equipment: The right equipment, like salt in a recipe, is very subjective. Buy what makes sense to your budget and schedule. For starting out we recommend, any bluetooth activated tripod stand, artificial lights (if you cannot wait for the opportune moment with natural light), diffuser and backdrops. Use apps like Lightroom and Snapfeed to edit the raw images.
In the food world
Bar wars: Clif Bar & Co. has agreed to discontinue the use of the claims “The Ultimate Energy Bar” and “an optimal blend of protein, fat and carbs” following a recommendation by the National Advertising Division. These claims were challenged by Kind LLC, a maker of competing energy bars, because, like Elon Musk’s tweets, it implies comparative superiority without any supporting evidence.
Mars mission 2022: This year marks the 2 year anniversary of the launch of Perseverance - NASA’s Mars rover project that cost $2.75b. Not to be left behind, Mars Wrigley - the maker of Snicker products, has announced plans to invest $175 million in its confectionery plant in Kansas. And while they may not have the budget to explore it, these funds will be used to start production of Milky Way at the plant, along with expanding its existing production capability.
Scan & Go
Your trip to the grocery store will be a lot more exciting with these new products being launched across the food industry!
Now that’s a Kat-ch!: The Hershey Co. is releasing blueberry muffin flavored Kit Kat bars this spring. The limited-edition flavor, available in 3 sizes, features the classic Kit Kat wafers at the center of a blueberry muffin-flavored exterior that has graham cookie pieces folded in.
Go blue: Vital Farms debuted True Blues, an heirloom egg marked by its blue shell. The eggs are produced by heirloom breeds of hens, which generate a pigment that naturally colors their eggs blue. They will be available at select Whole Foods stores at a very Whole Foods price of $9.99 a dozen.
Oui-nough said: If pronouncing it correctly was hard enough while sober, Yoplait Oui, the brand’s French style yogurt, turned to fruit and wine for inspiration while developing their newest boozy flavors. The new limited edition batch will be available in mango champagne and strawberry rosé, as well as a dairy free version of the mango champagne.
Recipe of the Week: Saffron Rice with Lavash Bread Tahdig
by Parmida @golden.tahdig
Life is too short to eat plain rice. Considering it is one of the most common ingredient across the globe, why not celebrate it! Tahdig is a Persian soul food, which literally translates to bottom of the pot. It is the crispy layer of food that gets panfried at the bottom of a pot.
Much like the food, Parmida too, has gotten to the bottom of solving the mystery of making the perfect tahdig. This recipe uses a lavash bread to form the crispy layer, which covers a bed of saffron rice. Check out her recipe below, keeping in mind:
Use the right tools - non stick pot is a must have
Techniques > recipe when it comes to tahdig
Be patient to get the best crust formation
Once ready, please send us some!! We failed miserably for points 1-3.
Meal plan
Today is Titanic remembrance day. It was exactly 110 years ago when the largest and most luxurious ship at the time, sunk in the Atlantic ocean. It’s also exactly 8883 days since the iconic movie released and unlike Rose (there was room for two people on that board!), we believe in sharing! Our meal plans are for (and by) everyone and we will never leave you out in the cold. For this week we have:
Chickpeas in coconut curry by @foodyfables
Mushroom masala pasta by @liveitupwithwinnie
Sabich Salad by @noshwithmicah
Did you know?
The average person eats eight pounds of grapes a year.. This does not include wine
A pineapple on an average takes 24 months to grow and approximately 6 months to cut!
One ingredient in ranch is titanium dioxide which is used to make it look whiter. It’s the same ingredient that is used in sunscreen. Your next beach trip got a lot tastier now!
Quiz
Can you solve the following anagrams that lead to popular food dishes. Treat yourself to the ones you get correct! The number of letters for each word are written next to the question:
Example - Find His Chaps (4,3,4) is Fish and Chips
On Us Simon Peter (10, 4)
As Angel (7)
Her Sheep Dips (9, 3)
Amok as us (8)
To Riots (7)
*Answers at the bottom
Cooking Tips
A quick way to fix hardened brown sugar, microwave it next to a small glass of water. The moisture released into the microwave will help break up the block of sugar 🤯
Roll citrus fruits and/or microwave them for a minute for easy peeling (the fruit or your skin) depending on how careful you are
When baking tomatoes, use a muffin tin liberally coated with oil. The tomatoes will sit straight and hold their shape. Think of it as hot yoga for tomatoes.
Media watch
“A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring the soul to the recipe.”
– Thomas Keller, famous American chef
A recipe should always be taken as (philosophy alert) an inspiration and not a prescription. Modify them as you please to suit your palate and make few disasters along the way!
Combine three parts inflation and one part tax day, and you get a classic by O.G. Brother Green: How to live on $3 a day
Don’t throw away dying herbs. Turn the mere mortals into powdered magic dust instead.
While this simmers…
Do not let your friends/family/colleagues/neighbors/stalkers miss out on all the fun. Share the awesomeness here!
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Answers
Minestrone Soup
Lasagne
Shepherds Pie
Moussaka
Risotto