Hope all is well. Welcome to Sweet & Sour.
If you know me (and if you’re reading this, my first post, you most likely do), you know how I feel about food.
I’m that person thinking of my next meal while I’m still eating my current one. I love to cook. I am always planning and plotting, making a shopping list, figuring out how to use a particular ingredient in more than one recipe. I keep an ever-evolving “freezer inventory” in the notes app on my phone. I have just about every Asian sauce available in my pantry right now. If I were capable of keeping plants alive for more than a few weeks, I’d have a window herb garden, but since I live in New York, luckily I only have to walk a few 100 feet outside my door to find, say, chervil or marjoram. I find the term “meal prepping” utilitarian and unsexy, but I guess you could say I do that, too, on a pretty regular basis (but I just call it “cooking”).

There’s so much that comes out of the experience of feeding people. For the most part, if makes them happy, it makes me happy. There are exceptions, of course; have you ever met one of those people who don’t “care” about food? Don’t you find them sort of fascinating? (Is calling them “those people” exclusionary? Oh well, they’re likely not reading this anyway.)
Cooking for others is wonderful, but I enjoy cooking for myself just as much. Food can be self-care, with the right approach. I will happily plan a five course menu for a dozen people, and just as happily devise an hors d’oeuvres inspired feast for one, to prepare and eat while I watch the Oscars or some other appointment television event.
While we all need to eat, how we choose to do it makes a difference. One of my family’s mottos is, “Never waste a meal”, which is particularly important while traveling but is also important on a daily basis. Life gets complicated, and your next meal, dinner party or potluck is very much under your control, at least more so than most things in life. Planning is key, but so is being able to pivot if necessary.
In the kitchen, you can’t always predict what will go right or what will go wrong, but embracing the idea that there will be sweet along with the sour makes anything you do there less daunting. You can always learn from any mistakes and try again.
As I write this, the world feels pretty uncertain, specifically in the US—at least for about 48% of the country. Things are still fairly fresh, but there are a huge amount of “if you voted for him, you’re dead to me” social media posts out there. People are disengaging from entire parts of their family over the election, and this is obviously a painful time for a lot of Americans, no matter who they voted for. I’ve been thinking about this situation a lot, and have found that I’m not really interested in judging people for their feelings or actions in this particular case. It may seem black and white, but there is actually a lot of nuance involved when you really examine it.
I’m no saint. I’ve been known to end relationships over what could be defined as far less intense ideologies and behaviors (overt manipulation, blatant dishonesty, refusal to eat garlic, or seafood, ever), but for some reason, the need to cut people out of your life over an election has really gotten me thinking about how we can ultimately transition to a better place. Too soon? I can wait.
We do, after all, have to occupy the same world, in spite of the sneaky yet omnipresent algorithm that has so clearly done such a fantastic job of dividing us. Would I want to cook a meal for someone who voted differently than I did? Yes, I definitely would. Would doing so help me gain a better understanding of why they may have made the decision to vote the way they did? The thing is, I think I already do understand, and I suspect that they, just like anyone, would appreciate having a meal cooked for the, and that some of them may really need one in the not too distant future.
Feeding people is one of the purest kindnesses available to us, and it may seem small in the face of all these challenges, but we do need to start somewhere. James Baldwin famously said, “The world is held together, really it is, held together, by the love and passion of very few people." To me, that also means that its the small things that count the most, that we shouldn’t forget, when it comes to taking care of ourselves and each other.
I want Sweet & Sour to be a place to share ideas about food and what it adds to our lives, from recipes to menu ideas to what I’m eating in and out of my kitchen. I want to explore the ways we celebrate food on a daily basis. And while this newsletter may have been initially inspired by unity and meeting common needs, I also want to look at the ways that food can separate us. Food and how we incorporate it into our lives is subjective, and if we can look at it that way, maybe we can find ways to understand each other just a little bit better.
All that said, thanks for being here! Right now, my plan is to publish weekly, and I’d love it if you’d subscribe—free or paid—and become a part of the Sweet & Sour world. I’m sure we’ll have a lot to talk about.
This first post shares an easy holiday season entertaining idea that I hope you can use. Enjoy!
A CELEBRATION SPREAD: “APERICENA”
Whether you feel like celebrating or not right now, the holidays are approaching, and it’s likely that you will need to feed a crowd a some point during the next several weeks.
This menu doesn’t include recipes in their typical form (except for the cocktails), but is more of an idea, an outline to follow for a gathering or party. Rather than a concrete menu, I’d call it more of a “concept of a plan.” (Sorry, I couldn’t resist; the election is still so close in the rearview mirror!)
The aperitivo is well-known outside of Italy. It typically includes small bites to be eaten with a pre-dinner cocktail or drink, anything from nuts to olives to tiny pizzas to patatine, aka, potato chips (these truly taste better in Italy, similar to bagels in New York City). The traditional Italian aperitivo has always varied in elements and size, depending on the region of the country you happen to be in.
More recently, the “apericena” has emerged, in Milan, of course, Italy’s center of financial and commercial life. As a city in Italy, I’d say Milan is the least “Italian” of them all, which I guess really means it’s more willing to embrace more decidedly international traditions. If a flagship location of The Cheesecake Factory were to open in Italy, it would be in Milan for sure.
What is apericena, exactly, you ask? “Cena” translates to “dinner”, so apericena literally means “aperitivo plus dinner”. In a nutshell, it’s a bigger aperitivo, but slightly smaller than an actual dinner, and with more cocktails! Genius! Isn’t it great how the Italian language just naturally allows for so many fortunate word combinations that push us towards joyful experiences?
This menu is perfect for a group of any size and requires minimal cooking. It’s really a cocktail party disguised as a dinner. It’s perfect if you don’t have time to cook or just want something you can serve without too much fuss that’s still impressive and festive. Recently, a version of this style of eating was “discovered” by TikTok and anointed as the trend “girl dinner”, which is typically enjoyed by one person/girl, but I propose that sharing is caring in this case. Let’s all enjoy girl dinner together! A lot of people don’t want or need another sit down meal during the holiday season—they are full, and they are very likely tired. The holidays are rough! Serve them cocktails and small bites instead, and they will be relieved and hopefully restored.
Start with some or all of the following cured meats: prosciutto, salami, mortadella, soppressata, or any kind of meat that can be sliced thinly and is delicious. I like prosciutto cotto as well, which is just a fancier cooked—rather than cured—ham. Arrange them on a platter; if you’re like me and challenged when it comes to plating/food styling, find a friend or family member who is good at it, and it will hopefully look like this:
Now, decide what you want to serve as the vehicle for these gorgeous meats. Bread, focaccia, crackers, breadsticks…the options are endless, and all available for purchase, ready-made. You can bake something yourself, but you absolutely don’t have to!
I have a tendency to be an annoying overachiever in the kitchen (I’m working on it), so I would make this focaccia with fennel, onions and cherry tomatoes.

Once you have these two parts of the menu figured out, which are really the centerpiece of it all, you can put together the ancillary parts of the menu. Roasted peppers, all manner of olives (I prefer Castelvetrano, but any variety will do), caponata, roasted nuts, marinated artichokes, pickled vegetables, sun-dried tomatoes, paté, anchovies or tinned fish of any kind, even hummus or other dips and spreads, fruit, CHEESE…there are so many possibilities, and all available store bought. Stalk the olive bar at your local Whole Foods or any Italian deli or market. This is your opportunity to get something that you’ve always wanted to try, like pickled mushrooms or that cheese you’ve been eyeing. Prepping for this party is more of a recon mission, which can take time, but is way simpler than making it all yourself. So, so easy.
Now, let’s move onto the cocktails! These are a bit more labor intensive, but since you aren’t cooking, you can put your focus on them. I would serve this menu with two signature cocktails, a Classic Negroni and a Tomatini. I’d also have your standard wine and beer available for your guests, as well as something with bubbles.
Classic Negroni

This is such an easy drink to make and the recipe is so easy to remember, because it’s 1:1:1, Campari, gin, vermouth. You can use Campari or Select (legend has it Select is the original, and Campari stole their thunder) or any other red bitter alternative. Just DON’T use Aperol, because it is NOT a substitute for Campari. If it seems like I’m being dramatic here, I suppose I am, but in my defense, I have seen years of Aperol abuse on many levels and I have had enough! Moving on to vermouth, you can use sweet or dry here, though sweet is the classic choice. For gin, I like a classic London dry gin versus something extra flowery like a Bombay Sapphire or Hendrick’s, but to each their own.
Here’s the recipe:
1 ounce Campari or other red bitter
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce gin
orange peel
This is how I saw a Negroni made in Milan once. I have no idea if this method is important to the outcome of the drink, but it’s stuck with me like a superstition and it’s the only way I want to make this drink forever: Pour the Campari and the vermouth into a glass without ice. Stir several times. Add the gin, stir again. Then add the ice; one of those ice balls or giant cubes works well here. Rub the orange peel around the rim, drop it into the glass and serve.
Tomatini
This is like a lighter, more boozy Bloody Mary, and it is absolutely delicious and very refreshing. It can be simple and unadorned, or you can pull out all the stops with extra pickles, capers or cocktail onions, though I don’t recommend you go the wacky over-the-top garnish route (even if it is kind of fun to look at), because that’s just too much for such a graceful cocktail like this one.
Here’s what you’ll need for one cocktail. You can make up to two at a time in one shaker, maybe three, depending on how big your martini glasses are:
2-4 cherry tomatoes
2 ounces of vodka
1/4 ounce dry vermouth
1 tsp white wine vinegar
dill pickle spear along with 1 tbs of brine
dash of salt
1/2 tsp of olive oil
optional: capers, cocktail onions, green olives—all of these brines would make great additions, too! if you decide to use more than one, start slowly and see what you like; too much may be overpowering in such a small cocktail
tabasco or favorite vinegar-based hot sauce (I wouldn’t recommend sriracha for this, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world to use it, as long as you muddle it with the tomatoes so it has a better chance of blending and not making clumps in your cocktail)
Muddle the tomatoes in a shaker with the vodka and salt, then add the vinegar, vermouth and brine. Add a few ice cubes and shake shake shake! Pour into a glass and add the pickle spear and the olive oil, which will float beautifully on top, along with any of the other optional garnishes. I find it best to have the vinegar, brine and vermouth set out in smaller containers for easier access during assembly.
And there you have it—a cocktail party that’s actually dinner that will be appreciated during a busy party season. The other great thing about this concept is that you, as the host, will not feel pressured at all by this menu, as it involves basically no cooking and doesn’t hinge on timing. If you wanted to add something more to it, you could make a pasta—I’d suggest carbonara or cacio e pepe—and serve a green salad. Dessert could be Italian cookies from a bakery, or ice cream and fruit, something easy. Or you could go all in and make tiramisu. Or just buy one!
Things are already so complicated. Make your next gathering less so.
Thanks for being here! See you next week.
xx, Molly