What I Ate in One Month (and related thoughts)
A passionfruit-filled month dining at Moon Rabbit and Ellie Bird, making my dream birthday cake, and other eats
It turns out my grandma thought she’d been removed from my mailing list because it had been so long since my last update. That broke my heart a little. March was my birthday month, and there was so much I could choose to share. Then I kept delaying because of the usual excuses of being tired and busy. The longer I delayed, the more experiences, meals, and musings I collected that I wanted to share. So I took inspiration from one of my favorite pieces of content this month — Stanley Tucci’s new book What I Ate in One Year: (and related thoughts), which I listened to on audio since he narrates it so wonderfully. The book follows much of his 2023, documenting what he ate while filming Conclave, welcoming a steady stream of A-list visitors to his English countryside retreat, parenting two young children, and indulging in the occasional late-night bite. It was an incredible read listen, and I’ve been recommending it to as many people as I can.
So here’s a little recap of my month, told through what I’ve been eating.
March 1, 2025
It’s one of those years that I didn’t feel like doing much for my birthday. The part I felt most excited about was making my own birthday cake. I’ve had my heart set on Natasha Pickowicz’s passion fruit, coconut & tequila layer cake for a few months. With its many components, I had to map it out over a few days. By this point, the coconut streusel, tequila and coconut soak, and passion fruit olive oil curd were already made, labeled, and stored away in the fridge. After I got home from a morning hot yoga class, I made the vanilla sponge cake and whipped cream before starting to assemble it to set in the fridge overnight before I frosted it the next day.
Peter and I left the house a few hours early for our reservation so that we could walk around the National Portrait Gallery for a little bit. I had a pleasant run-in with the old boss; we made plans to catch up over happy hour soon. Then we walked around the corner and arrived at Moon Rabbit, where we were greeted by our dear friend Alex who recently started hosting there. She gave me a bag with birthday presents — delicious cookies, the cutest tea towels, and the most addictive little lychee gummies. It was her actual birthday that day, so I brought her flowers. Our other friend Monique who Peter and I also both knew from working at O-Ku. She wasn’t scheduled to work that night but picked up someone’s shift when she found out we were coming in. It was the first of so many thoughtful gestures throughout the night to make my birthday and our night so special.
Here’s what we ate, most of which we ordered along with some very generous gifts from the kitchen throughout the night:
Tia To Spritz (a shiso and pomegranate mocktail) for Peter, and an Out of Dipping Sauce (vodka, passion fruit, nuoc cham cocktail) for me. An Ice Ice Tamarind (tequila, tamarind, ginger, pineapple, salted coconut foam cocktail) later in the night for me.
The first course of their Visit to Vietnam tasting menu — turmeric mantou buns with roasted tomato butter, eggplant nigiri, foie gras tart, and tofu panisse.
Kampachi crudo with tiger sauce and coconut mousse
Wagyu-stuffed grilled perilla leaves with labneh and chili crisp
Deconstructed crab rangoon with pepper jelly
An Ice Ice Tamarind (tequila, tamarind, ginger, pineapple, salted coconut foam cocktail) later in the night for me.
Charred cabbage with sesame eggplant puree
Fried octopus with Viet Cajun blood sausage
Sweet potato gnocchi with lump crab and a tomato-crab fat sauce
Fried quail stuffed with duck sausage, crispy tomato rice, and clementine mustard
For dessert, they brought out a little celebration cake (a strawberry-guava mousse situation, if I remember correctly) in addition to the doenjang jjigae-inspired tofu cheesecake and house favorite seaweed dessert with pandan panna cotta and coconut granita. I washed it down with some Hana makgeoli.
We drove home so full, counting down the moments until we could make it back to our couch. We vowed to come back, but not for a while because it would probably take a while to digest all the incredible food we just ate.
March 2, 2025
I came home from soccer and ate the Moon Rabbit leftovers — the perfect victory meal. For dinner with the Oscars on in the background, I fried up some chicken cutlets and made an old favorite Bon Appetit’s kale pesto. I folded the luscious and electric fresh-cut-grass green sauce into some rigatoni and topped it with lots of pecorino.
I made the vanilla bean Swiss meringue buttercream which I would whip the remaining passion fruit curd into to make the passion fruit buttercream. I scrolled through Pinterest to get decorating ideas and ultimately took some of the leaves and flower petals from the bouquet my dad sent me for my birthday to style the end result. I didn’t like the way the dark blue candles we had at home looked with the delicate, pastel colors of the cake-scape, so Peter drove up to Wegman’s to get some more suitable ones. Peter sang me happy birthday, I blew out the candles, and we had some cake shocked at how delicious it turned out — complex without being boozy, decadent without being heavy, tart, and sweet but not too much in either direction.
March 5, 2025
A few weeks ago, they asked me at work what dessert I would like them to buy for my birthday at the following team meeting — a ritual at the firm. I asked for pie — any kind, even grocery store pie, would make me happier than anything. On the Wednesday after my birthday at the team meeting, we all helped ourselves to cherry pie, apple pie, and berry pie. A very welcomed and gracious birthday treat — the festivities continue.
March 6, 2025
After the LA wildfires, I saw chef Molly Baz, whose house burned down, say that the best way to support her during this time is to support her work since it’s the pride and joy of her life. Seeing that pushed me over the edge into finally trying her new Ayoh! mayonnaises. I bought the sampler pack that came with all four current flavors: the giardinayo, dijonayo, dill pickle mayo, and the classic. I made three open-faced turkey melts to try each of the flavors, excluding the classic since I was least excited about that one. My initial favorite was the dill pickle, although I’ve used it the least since then. The giardinayo (spicy mayo mixed with chopped giardiniera) is amazing with chicken nuggets. And I loved the tiny bites of cornichons in the dijonayo.
That night, I met up with coworkers to watch the Traitors season finale where we enjoyed root beer floats and puppy chow (the chocolate and peanut butter-covered Chex mix kind).
March 8, 2025
My family wanted to take me out for a birthday meal, so for this portion of the celebrations, I chose brunch at Ellie Bird in Falls Church since it had been on my must-try list for a while. The night before, I made chocolate cupcakes using coconut oil as a vessel for the leftover passion fruit buttercream I had in my fridge. When we lived at our old place, Peter would often get truffles from Arcay Chocolates for me on special occasions, and the passion fruit flavor I frosted the cupcakes that morning to bring for my family along with a fresh passion fruit that I planned to use as a cute touch and a little extra flavor, at their wish.
Since we were celebrating my birthday, I insisted we dine in my preferred style — ordering a bunch and splitting it all. My mom was getting over a virus, so she opted out of sharing, instead enjoying an oxtail French onion soup. For the rest of us (my dad, my sister, and myself), we ate:
The pastry basket (miso caramel cinnamon roll, Portuguese egg tarts, almond croissant)
A celebratory waffle brought out with a candle and whipped cream
Kimchi fried rice with tornado omelet
Spam, egg, and guacamole sliders on pineapple buns
Fried chicken with dashi gravy and biscuits
I almost forgot to mention the incredible vanilla custard latte I had with my meal. Something that sounds overly rich and sweet but was the exact opposite — slightly salty and silky. It was the envy of the brunch table.
After brunch, we went to my car so that I could give my family their cupcakes to take home (I knew we’d have sweets at brunch so figured this was the best move). When I opened the car door, I was immediately hit with the smell of sweat soccer cleats. Assuming the odor was exactly that, I apologized out loud and said it must be my soccer bag. My sister scoffed. Then I realized the smell was actually coming from the passion fruit — the actual fruit, not the buttercream. I was so confused and the Internet (Reddit) provided little clarity on why this was the case. I opted not to top their cupcakes with the pulp. On my anxious ride home, I realized my dad might be allergic to passion fruit since he sometimes has adverse reactions to tropical fruits. I started playing out worst-case scenarios in my head, thankful we were all so full from brunch that I felt safe assuming he wouldn’t eat the cupcakes before he had the chance to read my frantic string of messages in the family group chat. He said better safe than sorry and threw them out. My mom called later to say how much she loved them though.
March 9, 2025
Daylight savings made it feel like I went to bed too late and got up too early, which is because I did. Coffee was the bare minimum I needed before going to soccer, and I treated myself to the spiced coffee my coworker Nidhi recently gave me to savor on the car ride to my match. The coffee smelled strong as it sputtered out of the moka pot’s mouth. Adding oat milk turned it to a clay-hued crimson red. I kissed a sleeping Peter and the just-fed cats goodbye, then texted my teammates that I was running 10 minutes late. It turns out I didn’t need to because the other team didn’t show up so we scrimmaged against ourselves and a few others who were hanging around the field, including one woman’s 10-year-old son, who probably played better than me.
It was still early so I was able to make it to the DuPont farmers’ market in time. I picked up some cilantro, parsley, and spinach along with a spelt loaf for the week and a spinach labneh scroll — both from Seylou — for the car ride home. Even cold, it was flavorful, chewy, and crispy in all the right ways. After a shower and watching Love Is Blind to motivate some overdue laundry folding, I was hungry again and heated up the Thai leftovers from the night before. That was enough to send me into my weekly Sunday afternoon nap. The only thing nudging me to eventually get up was the chicken stock I needed to start simmering so that it could be ready in time for the soup I wanted to make for dinner that night.
Speaking of the stock, I made the mistake of adding a lime at the end which made the stock really bitter. I course corrected by adding some honey and tomato paste after a frantic Google search. The stock perfumed the entire apartment. It was ultimately the base to which I added carrots, celery, onions, fennel, and garlic. Pork meatballs were seared and then added toward the end along with a bright green blended mix of parsley, basil, and chili peppers. Pastina and spinach were late additions too. The soup tasted herbaceous, spicy, and healing. It accomplished my goal of feeling like I was eating something healthy. I topped it with lemon zest and grated Parmesan for Peter and me. We enjoyed it with some of that spelt bread with a thick lather of butter. We watched Yellowstone for the rest of the night, and I treated myself to one of the last chocolate-passion fruit cupcakes.
March 12, 2025
My birthday pie at work sparked inspiration for a Pi(e) Day competition at work. The night before I made my mom’s recipe for key lime pie using fresh key lime juice that I had stored away in the freezer for a perfect moment like this. I made a homemade graham cracker crust and a meringue topping, rather than the whipped cream we usually do. The meringue was a perfect topping because it used up all the egg white counterparts of the yolks that were used in the pie filling. I asked Peter to bring me home some dehydrated limes from the bar at O-Ku to level up my presentation. Perhaps it was what put my pie over the edge to win the “cutie pie” award. A badge of honor I display proudly in my cubicle.
Later that night for dinner, I cooked up what I believe to be one of Trader Joe’s greatest offerings (which is saying a lot given the high standard and generosity of Mr. Joe): their frozen turkey burgers. You can buy four patties that have nothing added to them other than salt and rosemary extract for less than $4. Cheap, convenient, and delicious. I mixed the giardinayo with ketchup to make a quick spicy burger sauce. Instead of fries, I made a more wholesome aloo gobi to get our potato fix. For greens, I made what Peter and I have deemed our “house salad” — kale salad with nutritional yeast vinaigrette. Other than serving it with that addictive dressing, the only real secret is just to really massage the kale. If you do that, you can’t really go wrong. Peter and I enjoyed our meal while watching Yellowstone.
March 13, 2025
Pasta is one of my favorite meals, but Peter doesn’t share my enthusiasm since it’s so common for him to have pasta at work for family meal before shifts. That is unless I’m making orecchiette. So using orecchiette is usually my surefire way to make him excited to have pasta for dinner. This time I mixed it with homemade pesto, blanched broccoli rabe, and chicken sausage. The only thing that could have made it better would probably be using pork sausage, but I couldn’t resist Harris Teeter’s BOGO deal on the chicken sausages I ended up using.
March 14, 2025
After a long day capping off an even longer week, Peter and I got home from our shifts at O-ku by making quesadillas with the leftover aloo gobi. I made a spicy cilantro yogurt sauce using some ingredients from the fridge. On our way home, we even made a special stop at Wegman’s to look for the Tacombi burrito-size tortillas that I’ve been loving, but we were unsuccessful. The tortillas we bought served their purpose at no expense to the delicious, hard-fought quesadilla.
March 15, 2025
My favorite Saturday treat is when Peter wakes up before me and brings me coffee in bed. Lychee was my morning companion before I forced myself out of bed to get ready to go to a friend’s birthday party. I microwaved a tortilla with cheese and more of the aloo gobi, globbed it with some of that spicy cilantro yogurt, and had a delicious car brunch. At Jenn’s celebration, I had a slice of birthday cake from Wegman’s. “I’m keeping my phone ringer on this weekend in case my best friend Lauren calls to tell me she’s engaged while in New York this weekend,” I told some of my friends at the party.”
While in D.C., I drove up to Bold Fork Books to cash in on a gift card my lovely coworker got me for cat-sitting over Christmas. I bought Caroline Eden’s new memoir Cold Kitchen, wanting to be inspired by her travels in the Baltics, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Before heading back home, I popped into Each Peach market where I got a sparkling coconut water for the road. (I’ve ordered two cases of the drink since. It’s become an obsession.)
A few hours later, Peter and I decided to go to what we have deemed our neighborhood pho place (an essential destination): Caphe Bahn Mi. Stalling on the couch, I get a FaceTime call from Lauren with the amazing news we had all been hoping for. Her boyfriend Robert proposed!
March 16, 2025
After coming home from soccer (winning our Volo championship), I stopped at Harris Teeter and was unimpressed with their blackberry jam offerings, so I went back to the produce section to buy fresh blackberries deciding I was going to make my own. I boiled down the blackberries on the stove with lots of sugar, lemon juice, and some freshly grated ginger until it was, well quite frankly, starting to smell burnt. After tasting it, I decided it was salvageable. Later on, I made Nea Arentzen’s recipe for Copycat Mary O’s Irish Soda Bread Scones based on the current NYC sensation. Making Irish Soda Bread once a year is my annual homage to my Irish ancestry. We tried them for dessert with thick smears of counter-softened Kerrygold salted butter and blackberry jam. This would also be my breakfast throughout the week.
March 17, 2025
I decided to cook a corned beef for St. Patrick’s Day this year, at my grandmother’s previous urging. I texted her for advice, which she shared generously (and adorably). I let it boil on the stove for a few hours while taking an after-work nap. I used the braising liquid to boil some cubed potatoes and cabbage to serve alongside. Peter and I enjoyed it all alongside some spicy mustard. This meal was a cherished yearly St. Patrick’s Day tradition in my family when I was growing up. It’s one of the few ways I feel connected to my Irish immigrant roots.
March 22, 2025
On this particular Saturday, I had the luxury of sleeping in a bit. Once I got up, I made an omelet that turned into scrambled eggs and toasted some croissant bread from the freezer. I went to the Larz Anderson House in Dupont Circle for their Art in Bloom exhibit, which felt like a great way to welcome in spring. Afterward, I got a passion fruit green tea boba tea from Spot of Tea and walked around the neighborhood to admire the cherry blossoms and other flowering trees.
By the time I got home, the omelet-turned-scrambled eggs had worn off. Peter made me pan-fried spam with rice and kimchi — one of those simple meals that tastes at least 100 times better just because he made it for me. I ate it, while he ate his lunch, and we watched one of our current favorite Korean cooking shows Chef My Fridge where celebrities come in with their fridge and pantries and famous chefs compete to make the best meals out of the available ingredients. I highly recommend!
March 23, 2025
My friend Lincoln impressively runs pop-up cafes out of his apartment, single-handedly baking an entire cafe’s worth of coffee and sweet treat options for friends who filter in and out throughout the late morning. I ordered the black sesame latte (iced) and pistachio cream roll. He shelled every pistachio by hand to make the homemade pistachio cream that went inside the rolls. They were phenomenal. I talked to one of his friends from college and her friend most of the time about reality dating shows we like to watch.
From there, I went to meet up with my other friend Gabby at Three Fifty where I ordered an oat milk latte (hot), and we sat outside in the newly emerging spring sunshine for 2.5 hours catching up.
Peter made budae jjiggae for dinner from scratch. The name translates to “army base stew,” and it’s one of his favorites. I had not had it before. Its origins come from after the Korean War when people in South Korea used American military rations (things like hot dogs and Spam) in their spicy stews. As is often done, Peter also added rice cakes and ramen noodles to ours, topping it at the end with fresh green onions. It was spicy and comforting. I already knew it would taste incredible the next day when I came home from work, and all I had to do was heat up a bowl of it in the microwave for my dinner. And I was right.
March 26, 2025
That night for dinner I went to Stracci Pizza in Del Ray with my friend Tarah. She and her boyfriend recently went into O-Ku and sat at the bar with Peter, which reminded us that we were long overdue for a catch-up. Stracci Pizza is known for their Roman-style pizzas with homemade stracciatella cheese. And their long wait times. We put our name down, and waited for our table while enjoying a glass of Lambrusco at the standing bar. We ordered the spring salad with thinly sliced rhubarb and goat cheese, among other components. For pizzas, we got the spinach and artichoke and one with pepperoni, sausage, mozzarella and stracciatella cheeses, basil, and hot honey. For dessert, we split a perfect little bowl of tiramisu accompanied by our own tiny mugs of decaf espresso and biscotti. We spent three hours talking about the major things that have happened in our lives over the past 5 years and our aspirations for the future. She reminded me that our 10-year high school reunion is coming up this fall. Yikes!
March 27, 2025
Feeling lethargic after working from home all day, already exhausted by the week, I forced myself to take a walk around the neighborhood discovering a new street with the most beautiful flowering trees and a small family Greek restaurant that I made a mental note to try soon. The road dropped me right off at a little Eastern European market I had been wanting to check out. It looked like the storekeeper and the only other customer were on a scavenger hunt, taking directions from a woman speaking to them on FaceTime. All conversations were happening in a language I presume to be Russian, so this is my best guess Meanwhile, I was marveling at the rows and rows of jars of pickled vegetables of all kinds, jams and preserves of all different flavors, freezers full of different types of dumplings like pelmeni and pierogies, and fridges of homemade and hand-labeled carrot and beet salads. I left with some beef and pork pelmeni and sour cherry preserves.
March 29, 2025
It was my first Nationals baseball game of the season. A few days before, my dad had sent me an article about the new food at Nats Park this season to get excited about what I wanted to eat when we went. The stadium was packed, and I was starving, so right away we went to Kam and 46, a Hawaiian-Filipino food truck that now has their own stand. We ordered the tuna tartar nachos, chicken wings, and crazy fries. We both loved it and decided this would be a new go-to spot for games. We drank a Coke, chatted, and had a great time watching the Nats lose. While we were there, Peter told me he was going to Costco, so I knew there would be Costco pizza waiting for me when I got home.
March 30, 2025
On the way to my Sunday morning soccer game, I stopped at Hana Market, which I believe will tragically close soon. I picked up a few groceries and treats, including a carrot and burdock onigiri for me which I’d eat on the way to my game, and a salmon one to bring home to Peter later.
When I got home from soccer, Peter had made an elaborate brunch for us — cheesy scrambled eggs with bacon and croissant bread French toast with some leftover homemade passion fruit curd I had just defrosted. I was starving, so it was perfect. He added malted milk powder to the French toast dipping liquid, which likely among other things, made it absolutely delicious.
After watching more Chef My Fridge, I got started on some focaccia dough since I knew there would be multiple proofing stages. I love Claire Saffitz’s recipe for soft and crispy focaccia bread — it’s highly specific (“turn on the mixer for 15 minutes, then turn it off for 10, then back on for 5”), but it always turns out amazing. In between steps, I made the carrot hummus recipe my dad made for us often growing up. There’s no chickpeas in there — roasted carrots, tahini, and lots of spices. The recipe description says it best, “So good you may have a difficult time transferring it from food processor to bowl without making a serious dent in it.” Before baking, I topped the focaccia with lots of za’atar, extra sesame seeds, and flaky salt. The combination of the bread and hummus was absolutely divine. We ate that with some baked brown butter salmon and a simple arugula salad for dinner.
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STUPENDOUS!!! The Carrot Hummus is a MUST TRY....personal experience confirms this.