A few years ago my favorite pizza place in NYC closed. They were a 5 minute walk from my apartment, I’d eaten there with friends and family over the years, they kept us eating through covid, and now they were gone with an email announcing their closing date and final reservation slots. I emailed and made a final res, then asked if it would be possible for me to film their final nights as a functioning restaurant. They said yes.

It was an odd way to spotlight a place - when they are closing after 10 years - but in hindsight it was so meaningful to hear their story: how they started as a an indie food pop in a flea market, transformed a run down building under a highway bridge into a place with character, and refurbished a 120 year old bread oven into a working pizza oven all themselves. The interviews were full - a little like filming a funeral, and also a celebration, one last party to send everything off. There’s more to say but first, I’m proud to present the trailer Grand Closing: The Farewell To Pizza Moto:

After we filmed the closing (cinematographer Jeremy Stanley and I), I sat on the footage and while I did place after place closed - historic beloved shops, restaurants in the neighborhood, places all across New York City. Places opened too, but nothing without struggle and it illustrated how hard it is run a restaurant (and sometimes anything) in New York City and beyond. The documentary follows Pizza Moto and also the changing landscape of New York’s restaurants and how their presence (and disappearance) affect your life (in New York or anywhere). The day Pizza Moto announced its closing, within an hour I got these texts:

How bittersweet - to be missed and to have people want to visit one last time. I’ll keep you updated here for the official release of the documentary soon as I tie up the final edits.

OTHER CLOSING (← GET IT??) THOUGHTS

If you’re in NYC you got to witness our second big snow last week and I took photos. After college I lived in Montana and this real 2026 Winter takes me back and scratches a cold itch. It will make Spring all the more worth it.

And all these pictures were taken within less than a 2 block radius where Pizza Moto once stood. Full circle.

And recently in honor of Mardi Gras I made this Savory King Cake that tastes like a sausage and peppers pizza. Can’t recommend enough. Also pizza.

That’s it. Til then enjoy your local restaurants and more news soon.

Eat With Your Eyes is a newsletter about food and photography from producer and performer Cory Cavin. A rough draft for an eventual print ‘zine and a way to sift through 15 years of film photos, plus highlight cooking and food and conversation around it.

It’s been very cold lately in New York and Japan keeps coming up: A friend asked me for Japan travel recs. A friend I’m working on a show with told me about his 4-year Japan stint as a Blue Man (what a specific sentence). A friend on that show is Japanese and used to train robots at Google in Tokyo. Another friend, also Japanese, asked me to Japanese BBQ in Manhattan last week, which I’d never been to (similar to Korean BBQ, lots of waygu). Japan is in the air.

In August 2017 I visited Japan with my friend Bill for a shared birthday trip. One hot morning in Osaka (August was brutal there) after being out late at themed bars and restaurants in a giant office building, I grabbed us breakfast at 7-11. 7-11 in Japan is a different experience altogether with elevated to go convenience store options. I grabbed packaged Soy Sauce Eggs and Onigiri, a hearty yet light breakfast. This increased my love for the Soy Sauce Eggs - which are so easy to make at home and truly elevated from a normal (also good) jammy egg.

Anthony Bourdain was a fan of savory breakfast and I agree, even more after enjoying it almost exclusively in Japan. Soy Sauce Eggs are salty and savory, good on toast or leftover rice with chili crisp. Make them simply, I’ll link a recipe below.

On our trip I carried a small point and shoot for shots of mountains (we climbed Mr. Fuji overnight), cities, food, etc - enjoy below. I can’t want to get back soon and explore more, maybe the cooler climates this time. Until then.

Stay tuned for recipe below and some fun announcements and questions.

A FEW THINGS COMING UP:

• I NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE A MOVIE! I’m doing test screenings of the movie I produced last Summer. If you do not live in the NYC area and work in media or film and are interested in being a test screener, comment below or send me a DM.

• Eat With Your Eyes is going to print! This Spring I’m doing a small print version of this newsletter. If you are interested, leave a comment. We’ll keep the zines affordable and fun.

• As always, my monthly comedy show GREAT TIMES continues next month, March 9th in NYC. Get tickets here and use the code GREATTIMES for a discount.

  Share Eat With Your Eyes

here’s to 26 in 2026.

Subscribe now

The holidays are here - in my apartment we have greenery and stockings hung flanked by a Trader Joe’s advent calendar (just at the Church Fathers intended). I also have a natural fermented bubbling soda in my fridge that is a delicious low low ABV of NA. Why is this important? During the holidays there are SO many engagements, holiday parties, friends in town, and cozy times at your own apartment to enjoy a drink and it’s nice to have a non-spiked drink when you’re tired of spiked things. For this reason I welcome fizzy ginger bug soda, simple to make and pays off dividends. It is easy, but you need to keep an eye on it when making it (a basic rule of fermentation, see below).

The recipe is simple (detailed below). Make a ‘ginger bug’ out of ginger, water, and sugar which takes a few days to activate, then mix some of it with a fruit juice of your choice into a swing top bottle, wait a few days and boom! you’ve got a fizzy refined beverage, perfect for sipping (cherry juice comes out tasting much like a lambrusco). Mix it with seltzer, it’s a spritz. It really works and is easy.

Subscribe now

The one thing to remember as it ferments is ‘burp’ your bottles. Yes. Do that. This releases gas that builds in the bottle during fermentation. It’s a natural reaction and if you don’t do it, say you want to stretch it and push the fermentation, you may one day hear a pop in your cabinet and discover:

Oh no. Was someone shot? Look closer:

Closer still:

Yes. Harrowing. I too was surprised! This is rare!! I promise! How did we get here?

THE SAFETY SECTION: Basically don’t do what I did. What should you do? A few things. Most important, any time you’re doing any kind of fermentation you need to open the bottle carefully and let out the built up gas to relieve pressure that builds up from the fermentation (“burping”). The bottle that went rogue was fermenting slow, so I went rogue and let it sit for a bit, I didn’t check it (don’t do this) and then you see what happened (check every 12-24 hours, not 3 days). Second, always use thicker glass fermentation grade bottles. This bottle was an empty wine bottle with a swing top, not super thick (I really messed this up didn’t I?). OR use plastic bottles as they won’t blow apart. And also, I like keeping these in a cabinet out of sunlight etc just in case anything does happen. Now I DO NOT WANT TO SCARE YOU OFF - when you make this, if you burp these on a regular basis (every 12-24 hours), you should be ok. Truly.

Ginger Bug Soda is delicious and good for your gut and not difficult so I hope you try and I hope my cautionary tale does not steer you away. I experiment with different flavors - cherry, blueberry, grape, apple etc. do well. Citrus doesn’t really work, but experiment, mix with seltzer, and have a tasty no-ABV treat for yourself (again, recipe below).

BLOW-UP (The Photo Section)

For this edition’s photo section, it’s the holidays, New York City is abuzz with holiday concerts, friend visiting, it’s very COLD, and I’ve been enjoying black and white film that breathes stark life into these cold winter months. Enjoy these photos as of late.

That’s it! Listen lemme know if you do the ginger bug sodas (again, recipe below). They are good, don’t be scared off by my mishaps (but safety first). Stay tuned in the near future for a 2025 photo wrap up and updates on upcoming shows, projects, and an aforementioned documentary project.

Subscribe now

GINGER BUG SODA RECIPE:

To make the Ginger Bug starter fill a small Mason jar with 1 tbsp sliced organic1 ginger (skin on is fine), 1 tbsp white sugar, and 3/4 up with water. Set out on the counter and put a lid on it. Continue adding 1 tbsp ginger + 1 tbsp sugar daily for 3-4 days until the concoction fizzes and smells a little boozy. When you open the lid it may also ‘burp’ (but not explode) due to the gasses built up. ONCE YOU HAVE YOUR BUG….

1. Take 100% fruit juice of your choice (cherry, apple, grape, or blends, avoid citrus).

2. Strain off 1/3 cup of the Ginger Bug juice.

3. Mix Ginger Bug juice and fruit juice into a swing top bottle or plastic bottle leaving ~ 2 inches of room at the top and cap/seal. Place away from direct sunlight in a warm-ish area (away from drafty windows).

4. Burp this every 12-24 hours (err on more than less). It will become fizzy after a few days. You may want to burp using a kitchen towel over the cap as the days go on if it’s very fizzy so you can catch any juice that may fizz out.

5. When it’s fizzed to your liking, place in the fridge, chill, and enjoy. The fridge slows the fermentation - it will still ‘pop’ like a carbonated drink, almost like a champagne but will be safe to open. Enjoy on its own or with seltzer.

COKE SALAD is like a sweeter, tangier cranberry sauce made from an easy concoction of Black Cherry Jello, bing cherries, OJ, and - the secret ingredient - 12 oz. Coca-Cola.

KILLER APPLE DUMPLINGS is a super simple way to make a sweet savory dessert that resembles a classic McDonald’s Fried Apple Pie (amazing served with ice cream) from crescent rolls, apples, lots of butter and sugar (white and brown), and - the other secret ingredient - a can of Mountain Dew.

Both of these dishes may sound insane, but they are time and crowd tested. I have walked into many a Thanksgiving dinner facing skeptical eyes saying “Coke? The Dew?” and have later seen the same eyes catch me from across the room inside a head that is nodding emphatically, approvingly with a mouth full of one or both of these dishes. Trust me, they work.

On the photo side of things (I cannot make myself break the theme of this letter - food and photos), since we always in a political moment of sorts (understatement x1000) here’s some recent shots - some of NYC Mayor Elect Zohran Mamdani, when I ran into him on my subway platform this Summer shooting a Subway Takes episode. I recognized him, we shook hands, took a selfie, and then I snapped these quick.

And with that, I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving. If you crack a can of these recipes open let me know how they went, I know they’ll do you well. See you soon, trust the soda!

ANNOUNCEMENT before you dig in: GREAT TIMES, my line up comedy show you’re about to read about is returning! 11/17 in NYC at the Soho Playhouse. Get tix here.

Out of all the comedic projects I’ve done in my NYC lifetime the most rewarding ones always involve a communal experience (the same is true from my most recent show Enjoy Your Meal). As an overcommitted social person, I naturally gravitate to creating community first and foremost. This was true for a project I did for so many years, my comedy show Great Times, which in my humble opinion was one of NYC best stand up shows ever - even though it never received wild viral fame.

From 2014 - 2020 I co-hosted Great Times With Cory + Kevin with my friend , a live comedy show in the the extremely divey heavy metal basement of Three Of Cups, a now closed East Village pizza restaurant with very good Neapolitan pizza (it is now the location of the East Village’s Emmy Squared). I am not one to make sweeping self aggrandizing statements (so here goes one) but Great Times easily gave audiences some of the best comedy the city ever had to offer period - and in an intimate space for several years, all for free. If you know me and you came to Great Times, I don’t want to be redundant talking about yesteryear (something I LOVE to do). If you didn’t know the show or don’t know me, allow me to indulge for a second. I hosted the show, so of course I’d say it was a moment but I stand by it. Our star studded line ups of comics and the literal great times there proved it - and I will talk about the importance of having great times (the experiences, not the show) in a second.

Great Times was never lauded by the NY Times or the New Yorker or AM New York or whatever paper you read, however I could impress you with details about the show if you didn’t know about it. I won’t just list off all the famous comedians who performed in the heavy metal dive bar basement under a pizza restaurant, but I will list some (and more later) - Jim Gaffigan, Nikki Glaser, Nate Bargatze, Mike Birbiglia, and Ilana Glazer did the show to name a few. But that is not the reason the show was so special. It was one of the best because as hosts, Kevin and I were fortunate enough to experience a great New York thing: an ephemeral intimate gathering that can only be appreciated by having been there.

Here’s three hypotheses why this show was so special. First, the space. Space in NYC is a luxury. A lot has been said about “third places”. We were fortunate to have full run of a third place completely different than anything in our world, a dungeon dive basement that hosted events like Rock n’ Roll Burlesque, after parties for metal bands, illicit late hang outs, all a block away from NYC’s Hell’s Angels headquarters (Hell’s Angels would often frequent the bar). Three Of Cups was like a cousin of CBGB’s era NYC that was slowly going away (and unfortunately did eventually go away). We had a house band, Captain Cam (a producer/collaborator with Sia and current guitarist for LIARS). He came to a show and offered to be our band and we accepted but not until we made him audition, then we found out his credits and ability and, well ignorance is comedy in itself. And for the time it was there we were lucky to have access to a place we normally wouldn’t hang out at. And the normal patrons (older metalheads) got to see what they didn’t normally get to - genuinely funny comedians all produced and hosted by two suburban raised guys who shopped at J. Crew on deep discounts.

Second reason, our line ups. We got to host a show where comedians like Jim Gaffigan, Nate Bargatze, Nikki Glaser, Mike Birbiglia, Ilana Glazer, (all who I previously mentioned but also) Mark Normand, Roy Wood Jr., Ronny Chieng, Tim Dillon, Matteo Lane, Michelle Wolf, Julio Torres, Gary Gulman, Jaqueline Novak, Janeane Garofalo, John Early, Judah Friedlander, Sam Morrill, Gary Richardson, Jena Friedman, Josh Gondleman, Dina Hashem, Todd Barry and many more did the show. So many of them were known then and even more now! The communal experience of hearing a basement room freak out when they saw someone they were surprised to see get up was an electrifying way to be packed in a low ceilinged room knowing that you could be anywhere else in the city right now but you were so excited that you were there in that moment because you felt lucky to see what you were seeing.

Third, our audience. Our audiences weren’t ‘comedy audiences’. They often weren’t people looking to go have a wild night. Many of them only lived in the city for a few years and were looking for a fun thing to experience but sometimes didn’t know where to go. But for them Great Times was their monthly comedy night out and getting to see a show in this strange intimate dive with a baby doll with spikes shoved through it hanging on the wall (again: heavy metal bar). Seasoned comics would often say “This is a really great crowd” and a famous comedian once told me “If you can’t crush here, you should quit comedy”. The feeling in the room was fun and electric for the audience and the comedians and we were lucky that after the shows it felt like if you weren’t there you had missed out on something. Yes, FOMO inducing! It can be good! And this is good because in a day and age of consuming things from afar, getting to experience comedy in a room with people is so much better and (forgive me) magical.

Share

This brings me to the part about the show being “unknown”. The show was known to the people that knew about it - our friends, their friends, the people who stumbled in off the street, the people Kevin and I met in NYC and got their emails to put on our mailing list. It was not widely known and because we were fortunate enough to have a confluence of magic factors - a unique place, amazing talented comedians, a hungry warm crowd, and also great pizza and drink specials ($4 beers and $17 huge pizzas) - it felt like something special, possibly secret, and kind of perfect you had found.

So with that I’ll say - in New York everyone has moments in time, crystalized places where “it all went down”. That can be the best worst bar ever or a bland apartment where nothing much happened except the important collected daily moments of your life for 4 years. Great Times was that place for many people - and the difference was that things did happen - but in a place just beneath the street that people didn’t always notice. (And sometimes in other places - we did four charity benefit shows at the Bowery Ballroom.) But it was happening, and I am so glad I got to be there. Having great times is important, you get to mark the years, and gives meaning to your days. And now I’m happy to announce we’re bringing Great Times back for the second act. It will still be in a basement, but now in an Off Broadway theater - the Soho Playhouse. We’ll book fantastic acts that you’ll look back one day and say “I can’t believe I saw them in a room as small as this”. We will continue to have great times.

Now for more photos. I always had a camera on me and sometimes we passed out disposable 35mm’s to our audience to take pictures (plus some grainy phone pictures of moments and a few times we had photographers show up). See you at the next show! Excited to build the next chapter of another great show that will be known and unknown all at the same time.

thanks for reading. see ya soon, maybe at Great Times.

It has been a while but now I am back and boy did I have a big Summer. I was fully busy in July producing an indie feature film which I have written about on this very platform and on the final day after 18 shoot days I flew to Edinburgh, Scotland to perform my new immersive cooking comedy show Enjoy Your Meal at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It was first time performing at Fringe, I performed 44 times in 26 days in 2 different shows.

There are lots of things written on the internet about Fringe so I won’t bore you too much with a diatribe of what ‘Fringe is’ (the world’s largest performing arts festival with over 3,800 shows this year - here’s a quick video with Jon Oliver talking about how he started out there). But I will tell you about both my shows, and some about food there - kind of like a Fringe travel culinary restaurant journal. Here we go lads.

ENJOY YOUR MEAL (my solo show)

My solo show is Enjoy Your Meal (EYM for short for the sake of this writing), where I make food and drinks for the audience that they actually eat/drink and I play Wayne Swingle, a solo chef opening his new restaurant determined to give the audience the best meal of their lives while also filming it so he can become a celebrity chef star all in one shot. But everything falls apart, Wayne can’t cut it, he melts down, and the show ends with a bang (kitchen explosion). It was genuinely great to perform and work on it with live audiences in real time (EYM sold out it’s entire run - unexpected, huge relief and also a crazy thing to happen so I was very happy about that).

EYM was at Summerhall, an amazing venue in an old veterinary school that was the launching place for famous Fringe hits like Fleabag and Baby Reindeer- all the shows are in old vet school facilities (EYM was in an old Women’s Locker Room, another show in a former dissection gallery).

Since I was making actual food and drinks for the show, I spent a lot of time at grocery stores as I was also developing the ‘menu’ for the show to make it more efficient and (most importantly) tighter and funnier. Doing it that many times in a row (24 nights) is really valuable - I got good at making ONE cocktail, a riff on a Gin + Campari Sour I make in the show - and went through a lot of eggs (one night during Wayne’s meltdown, I squeezed an egg , it exploded, shot toward a man the front row…it didn’t get him but IT DID manage to shoot the rest backwards and on the projector screen onto a picture of my face…theater magic).

TWO INTERESTING THINGS: I performed for audiences of different ages and one thing that happened a few times was audiences of a certain age - late 50s to early 60s - would come to the show, find something funny or weird and talk about it loudly during the show, then keep talking, sometimes the entire show which making me think they were bored. When you’re actively playing a hospitable host you can’t shut audience members down like a stand up confronting a heckler so I would politely refocus the crowd and move on. And then - without fail - after the show those audience members say they loved it. I never got this, BUT I am glad they liked it.

Another challenging thing - trying to do the show, hit jokes, make a mess, and also make food that people actually found appetizing and would interact with and eat. The show felt like it had some ‘magic show’ vibe to it - mess things up then come out with a surprisingly good bite of food. As I continue to work on the show this is a fun challenge. If you saw a show where someone spilled drinks and was an actual mess but then made food, would you eat it? Would you not? What would make you brave enough to do it? I’m figuring this out. The only real restaurant I can think of that’s like this is maybe Dick’s Last Resort, where the waiters are supposed to be rude to you. And that place rules1.

Onto my next show - after that I’ll tell you what’s next for ENJOY YOUR MEAL.

Leave a comment

GREAT TIMES (the return of my long running stand up show)

From 2014 - 2020 I hosted a stand up show with my friend called GREAT TIMES. It was a heavy metal bar in the East Village, we had huge comics on like Jim Gaffigan, Nikki Glaser, Nate Bargatze, Ilana Glazer, and Mike Birbiglia and also created a great community of an audience. This year we revived it at Fringe.

Kevin also did a solo show (his 4th one at Fringe, some of which he’s turned into comedy specials I directed) so our shows were our own projects, and Great Times was the place to meet other comedians and mess around on our own2.

I won’t say too much about GREAT TIMES except that it was right after EYM, so each night I’d pack up, wash dishes (like a little tiny restaurant), get a cab, and head to GREAT TIMES, sometimes literally walking on stage as the show started which was very fun. We had a great producer / co-host (Hannah Elsy), a great flyering team, great comics on, and it was good to do stand up again for the first time in 5 years - and I added a food element where I’d play a game with an audience member seeing if they could catch bits of a leftover baguette from EYM in their mouth. Truly high brow stuff! And so much fun. Below I will also tell you what’s next for GREAT TIMES too!

THE EDINBURGH FOOD RUNDOWN

This is a substack about food so we gotta talk about food. Edingburgh is not the easiest place to find a wide variety of non-brown food and my gut biome did suffer, even though I strived to cook good nutrition breakfasts at home (at 12:30pm when I was woke up…sleep schedule there is late to bed late to rise). The standard UK diet doesn’t scream ‘VEGGIES’ but more ‘MEAT + PASTRY CRUST LAD!’ That said I had good meals and actually slimmed down - when you’re doing 2 shows a day, you walk a ton (step count was ~ 20k - 30k daily) and forget to eat, even when you’re show is about food. Daily I’d walk to the French bakery that sponsored my show, The Wee Boulangerie, pick up my 2 baguettes (this was huge so I didn’t have to buy daily bread for a tartine I made in the show - recipe forthcoming here). I’d walk to grocery stores, run errands, grab a meat pie and munch on it during the day. I didn’t eat enough fish and chips, but I did get great Full Scottish breakfasts with blood sausage and haggis - and haggis is great. So is vegan haggis which tastes like a spiced lentils. I had more Gin and Tonics than I normally do back home as is the UK way. I embraced Irn Bru, Scotland’s bright orange official soda that tastes kinda like bubblegum and outsells Coca-Cola in Scotland. The coffee scene is pretty great there and my local shop Machina was top notch, even though I brought a portable burr grinder to have a decent home pourover set up at home (insufferable yes). I’d save leftover baguettes from EYM or not thrown at a GT audience member’s mouth and de-stale it soaking with water and heating to 400°F in the oven to have fresh bread late night at home or next day. I ate SEVERAL late night crepes from Panquake, a crepe stand open past 4am nightly, always packed with people at the Fringe. That said:

A Quick rundown of Edinburgh restaurants to visit if you go:

Edinburgh Larder - Local restaurant w/ local food, a great full Scottish breakfast

Kim’s Mini Meals - family run Korean, only open a few days a week, DELICIOUS

Alby’s - “big hot sandwiches and they are exactly that”. I had the veggie, superb

Sandy Bells - traditional Scottish pub with cask ales, and a true Scottish experience. Bagpipes emerged one night

Dishoom - not local to Edinburgh, but fantastic Indian food, and coming to NYC soon

Piemaker - family owned traditional takeaway meat pies. I loaded up here often

Behold, food pics from the month:

FINALLY: WHAT’S THE FATE OF MY SHOWS?

If Fringe is the incubator, then what comes of the shows once they’re ‘cooked’? I can’t imagine a better boot camp than Fringe for EYM, and GREAT TIMES was a great show and a great community experiment (I met an Irish comic who 2 weeks later connected me with comics in Ireland where I did a show on a mini-vacay post Fringe).

Enjoy Your Meal: now undergoing tweaking - I will do it in NYC later this Fall or in the Spring with new changes, and new menu(?) after Fringe. And maybe some touring shows.

GREAT TIMES: Kevin and I are bringing it back to NYC, keeping some of the Fringe connection alive probably probably this Fall - stay tuned for details. I’m stoked to get both these going and if you’re in NYC I’d love for you to see a show. I’ll keep you posted here.

SO! Thanks for catching up with me and re-living the Fringe memory lane. I’d love to see you at upcoming shows and I will let you know about those here. I would recommend anyone go to see tons of shows, some of most creative things and a truly buzzing city. And if you want to do a show, I’d recommend that too. I am still tired 6 weeks later but the best things will do that to you. Until next time.

As you may know from recent updates here at Eat With Your Eyes headquarters, while we have been occasionally posting about food and photography, we’ve (I’ve) also been posting about the film I am producing this summer, Dream Baby Dream, a gritty Brooklyn crime drama about three friends trying to make ends meet while trying to survive the uncertain life of our current gig economy. In December we shot a proof of concept for the film which gave us a rough first 10 minutes, and now we are in full swing preparing to shoot the feature this Summer. One of the biggest challenges of a feature film is getting enough money to make it. Imagine the irony of making a movie about three friends trying to get ahead in New York City while trying to make ends meet working in a gig economy while you yourself and your crew members are also working to get ahead to make the the movie while working in a similar gig economy. Life! The greatest jester. While we’ve been fortunate to find some financing for this low budget feature, we are still short some funds. Recently we decided to turn our efforts to Kickstarter - yes Kickstarter, the crowdfunding site. I’ve often associated Kickstarter with short films, limited run kitchen products no one had invented yet, and board games, but not really feature films. However then we met Taylor K. Shaw, Kickstarter’s Head of Film Outreach who very much changed my mind. Taylor is also a writer, she started an animation company, and now she is helping to get independent films crowd funded and get them made. Part of the process of developing Dream Baby Dream has been doing a weekly podcast with my co-producer and the film’s director, my friend Roland Ellis, so we had Taylor on recently to talk about Kickstarter, indie film, and the movie Sinners. You can listen to the pod here.

Share

In other great Kickstarter news, the Dream Baby Dream Kickstarter is in full swing and after just 3 days online we raised almost 30k of our 50k goal!! We were even named a “Project We Love” by the Kickstarter team which will get us even more visibility. This is a HUGE vote of confidence for the film. If you would like to know more about the movie and how to help bring it to life, go to our Kickstarter page. People say it all the time, but really, every dollar does help and even just $30 will get you an online screening so you can see the movie when it’s done regardless of distribution. So please do check it out.

Here’s a statement from Roland here about the movie and what we’re doing and how to help:

That is it for now, but I do have many more upcoming updates about the movie, some easy recipes, and news about some huge upcoming LIVE SHOWS in NYC and abroad. Yes it will be a very busy Summer but a good one, and I hope it is the same for you dear friend. Enjoy the rest of your Spring, talk soon, and if you’re inclined join us in making Dream Baby Dream a reality.

bye! Cory

Soon enough I’ll be back on brand with posts about food and photos but in the meantime enjoy, and enjoy this photo I took from the set of The Reunion, Roland’s first feature, while he was directing and I was remembering driving a $400k Aston Martin up the highway to start making movies:

If you want to follow more episodes or see more about the movie check out www.dreambabydream.net and find the podcast wherever you listen to them.

cory

Subscribe now

Today we’ve got easy recipes, and if you’ve followed past newsletters you know my passion for great craft service on film sets. Well today we have ANOTHER AWARDS SHOW MENTION OF CRAFT SERVICE! Observe Will Smith at this week’s Grammys:

This particular crafty story is served up with way more celebrity narrative surrounding it than Colin Farrell’s awards show craft service mention, but I’m turning a blind eye and agreeing with Will Smith (and Quincy Jones) that food on a film set (or anywhere for that matter) is more than just a snack table, it’s a place of respite and a way for people to get through insanely long days, fuel up (on peanut butter filled pretzels), and get back to making things. The outgoing surgeon general’s platform was prioritizing food and connection with others for mental health and well being and I think that is really important. A cup of coffee with your worst enemy won’t solve the world’s problems but it could get you closer! And a place of connection with someone on a job a helps you to slow down and say “…man…it’s cold out there…well...back to it?” Sometimes that’s what you need.

We made it through January 2025 with all its things happening and sometimes January felt like NOTHING was happening. Quiet, cold, dry (for some) and the perfect time to hole up and cook things. In no particular order I made the following cooking projects:

1. Flour Tortillas from Robert Rodriguez’ Cooking School, ripped from the Sin City DVD extras

2. One of NYT’s better focaccia recipes

3. Pizza Dough, from Joe Beddia’s Pizza Camp recipe

4. Pizza, from that dough

5. Yogurt, in the instant pot

6. Duck Breast, with gochujang marinade from Lani’s Farm in NJ

7. an improvised stock I’ll reluctantly call Jiggle Stock (keep reading for more)

The pizza, tortilla, and focaccia recipes are fairly simple and rewarding. As far as making bread, I went through a sourdough phase the same way every girl did during Covid, I even made my own starter, same as everyone else on the planet. (I named it, as many did, mine is called The Prodigy…because he’s the firestarter). My loaves turned out OK at best, never better than what I could buy, compared to the effort I put in, and not better than anyone else who had taken up the hobby. Much worse than other people’s I saw. It could be pretty deflating spending two days on a marginal loaf you’re timidly proud of, to then go to your friends kitchen and have their partner say “Want some bread, so and so has a new hobby” while a Martha Stewart Level Loaf sits glaring at you, knowing you could never make it with your own fledgling skill or patience. Artisanal dreams crushed before your eyes.

I am still in the habit of feeding my starter, not too often, but often enough to be surprised at how resilient he is to overflow yeasty goo onto the counter before he goes back in the fridge. But focaccia is much less commitment, same with pizza dough, flour tortillas are fun to realize how simple it is to make a better version of what you usually buy in a package and rarely enjoy from scratch. Sourdough pizza dough is still on my docket, where I will again release The Prodigy only to realize a five dollar slice is much easier. But it’s around the process, right? I guess.

JIGGLE STOCK

Now as far as STOCK goes, it’s a win all the time. When you’re cooking at home, it’s easy to save vegetable scraps and leftover rotisserie chicken bones in the freezer in a bag - onion trimmings, carrot peels, garlic peels and trimmings, fennel butts, leftover greens…almost anything - and stock is easy to make. Use it in recipes or drink on it’s own, and then whenever you have to buy stock at the store it will pain you to spend anywhere from $5 to $11, knowing I could’ve done this myself!!

The following is another No-Recipe Recipe again in the vein of Sam Sifton. For a quick version, I often take inspiration from Carla Lalli Music’s Instant Pot Stock recipe (insanely easy) but for JIGGLE STOCK I used a stock pot on the stove.

I almost called this HACKS STOCK, because Hacks is a good TV show now and it’s got buzz, and also I was majorly winging this stock, thus a hack recipe. This I a wingin’ it stock that produces collagen - jiggle - so therefore it’s called JIGGLE STOCK.

Along with the veggies scraps and a few more fresh veggies, for this particular stock I used A LOT of random bones. I got beef and pork bones, and chicken necks and backs from Whole Foods (surprisingly cheap - $18 for many packs), leftover rotisserie bones, and a T-Bone from a friend’s goodbye dinner I crashed at a famous NYC steakhouse with ‘no-nonsense’ waiters. I put those bones on a pan and roasted them at 425° for 20 minutes. I removed them to the pan, scraped whatever bits of fat I could get off the pan and also poured some drippings in the pot. Then I added…

The full ingredient list:

bones of all kinds (see above)

several fresh bay leaves

black peppercorns

dried juniper berries for earthiness (and because I had them)

1 head garlic, crosscut

1 fresh onion quartered

1 carrot rough chopped

a few ribs celery rough chopped, including leaves

the veggie stock bag from the freezer

INSTRUCTIONS:

Fill the stock pot with water until you’re close to the top, bring to a boil, lower to a simmer. Once you see little bubbles forming like sea foam aka THE SCUM, skim with a spoon and get the bubbles out best you can. Do this until they’re mostly gone or you think you’ve done well enough for “your process” (it can be tedious, do what you feel is noble). Let the pot simmer uncovered for a few hours, reduce a few inches of water. At this point you can go as long as you want. I went about 7 hours, it reduced a great deal, I added more water, then went another few hours. I think I went 14-16 hours total? Here’s the thing, YOU DO NOT NEED TO GO THAT LONG. My perfectionism + experimentation gene kicked in and I couldn’t be stopped, but I’d say if you’re using veggies and chicken bones, 3-4 hours is plenty, if you’ve got beef bones go a little longer or a lot longer. The longer you go, the more collagen you will extract from the bones, the more flavor you will get, and the more jiggle you will achieve. When you’ve reached your limit, strain into a bowl through a fine sieve. You may want to strain a few times, discarding the leftovers, and removing any flecks still in the stock. I chilled the stock overnight, letting the fat rise to the top so I could skim it off then scooped it into jars (scoop not pour because it got jiggly). You can also portion it out while it’s hot, then chill it and scrape off the fat layer in the individual jars if that’s easier for you.

A medium stock pot yielded around 12-16 quarts of stock which has been very helpful to use in cooking lots of things (Hainanese Chicken and Rice, an easy cassoulet, and sipping out of a mug when I’ve been sick). Make it on a Saturday, put on a movie trilogy, or heck stream Hacks for a good theme here, and then load the quarts into your freezer and you’re STOCKED.

Other than that, I don’t know what to tell you. Spring will be here before we know it. If you’re in NYC I am directing an Off Broadway comedy show called After Endgame: A Comedy Show About Chess, starring comedian, friend, and collaborator Kevin James Doyle. It runs Feb 11th - March 8th at the Soho Playhouse. It was at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2024, is very funny, and we will be playing chess, backgammon, and having drinks after the show! Come on out and let me know if you do.

I’ll leave you with one more photo from my neighborhood last winter because I like it:

Until next time, stock it up and STOCK YOUR CRAFT SERVICE TABLES!! HAVE A CUP OF COFFEE WITH YOUR WORST ENEMY! Easier said than done but we can shoot for the moon.

Last night I watched the Golden Globes and the biggest moment for me was not once again realizing I need to finally buckle down and watch Shogun (every awards show has made this screamingly clear to me), but was Colin Farrell’s acceptance freak out about Craft Service on The Penguin:

Carolena! She kept the whole crew going! When Colin Farrell had this impassioned response I was so excited that I took an iPhone picture of my TV to capture it (upon further reflection, the above video of his actual speech does the moment more justice). I loved this so much because Mr. In Bruges is right - Craft Service is massively important on a set. I say this as a man who was once complimented (?) by a fellow producer on a TV show when he observed me 5 minutes before air time inhaling snacks and said “I’ve never seen anyone crush crafty like you”. Love it or hate it, this is true. I will graze a craft service table like a locust initiating a biblical famine. Hershey’s miniatures, Nature Valley granola bars that are actually just sealed wrappers full of crumbs, Slim Jims…it doesn’t matter. I must sample. (Coincidently the show where this was complimented (?) to me was a 2010s late night show I worked on co-hosted by Nikki Glaser, this year’s Globes host who knocked it out of the park.)

Subscribe now

If you’re not familiar with craft service or ‘crafty’ as it’s called, it is basically this: snacks and drinks when you are on set. That is the most basic definition and does not do justice to the vitality of what craft service to a set. It signals to a creative crew they are being taken care of. In her indie film handbook Shooting To Kill, famous independent film producer Christine Vachon, (The Brutalist, Past Lives, A Different Man, and shouted out by Sebastian Stan in his Globes acceptance speech, so many other films) nods to the importance of craft service in the first 10 pages. This may be a foreign concept in other jobs, but if you have worked in a corporate job where an email goes to staff saying “Donuts in the conference room because it’s Flag Day, Enjoy!” and you see people leap from their cubicles and power walk to Conference Room B3, that is the same thing! It’s a treat to staff and can actually get you through your day (I’ve also worked in corporate settings where they don’t offer you healthcare as a full time freelancer but offer you pizza on occasional Fridays as a mood booster, and that’s not the same thing as craft service - that’s less “care for”, and more “carrot dangling”). Other industries do similar things - restaurants often start service with family meal and I’ve heard chefs talk about how this can change the tone of the night as it begins.

Mr. Banshee of Inisherin is correct - craft service is a nourishing balm to the soul and forms bonds amongst a crew (just see how he enthusiastically gestured to others at his Globes’ table about how great Carolena from Crafty was). I believe this wholeheartedly and will tell you with my mouth overly full of Welch’s fruit snacks while standing on the back of a camera truck. As much as this newsletter is a home for my snapshot photography and food writings, it is also about the philosophy that food has a way of connecting and bridging gaps between people. Just as a photo can capture a moment in time and make it more than it is, quality interactions with food can greatly enhance moments in time amongst people. Virginia Woolf said “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well” and if you are on a set you will notice spirits lifting when people are digging through snacks at the craft services table, or someone is brought a coffee while they’re working.

This brings me to my recent experience of producing a proof of concept shoot for Dream Baby Dream, the feature I’m at work on currently. My producing partner, writer/director Roland Ellis, and I have talked many times in our podcast about the movie about how important craft service is at setting tone on set. We’ve talked to other filmmakers about it. Part of my job on this recent shoot was craft services (in low budget indie film you wear a lot of hats and food is one I am ok with wearing). So now I want to ask you, discerning readers with discerning palates, what do you think our top craft service item was? If you’ve been on a set, use that felt sense experience - if you haven’t, think about visiting, standing around for an hour or two, wandering over, and filling up with a snack…what do you go for? I’m searching for an actual correct answer here (revealed below) but go with your gut:

No matter what this poll says, there is one clear winner. Before I reveal the winner I do want to say drinks were not included in this list, however I don’t think they would hold a candle to the winner. From popular culture you would think Celsius drinks would be a clear #1, but they were far down on the list surprisingly.

The clear winner was…a tub of Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels! By a MILE. A friend told me this a while back who said he’d bought them for his office and people devoured them. I did not believe him. Then I couldn’t stop. On our proof of concept shoot, I kept hearing people say “Whoa peanut butter pretzels?”, “Dang these are so good”, “It’s something with the salt, but also protein”, “Hey lemme get a few more of those” etc etc. I can also attest that I went back and ate more every time I tried to walk away. I love mangoes, I love Peanut M&M’s (I’m a big JK Simmons fan!), but Kirkland Peanut Butter Pretzels really took home the Golden Globe for Best On Set Snack.

All this to say thank you Colin Farrell, not for shouting out the little people, but for bringing to light what is so true on a film set and also true in life. A good snack keeps the wheels turning and helps get everyone to the finish line. And if it’s the Kirkland Peanut Butter Pretzels get there soon, because they’re gonna go fast. If you’ve got other suggestions for craft services, leave them below. Always open to new ideas (but I’m telling you, I don’t think these PB Pretzels can be topped).

Today we’re here to talk about an easy recipe and great media coming in 2025 so let’s get into it.

Through various personality tests and my own navel gazing introspection I’m pretty sure I can be associated with magical thinking, and while those are words from a title of a really good Joan Didion book I’ve never read, I often don’t find magical thinking to be a complimentary trait. Although I am often reminding myself to wake up! to reality, a profound coincidence or a moment of synchronicity which leads me to something meaningful is - to quote Chris Rock as Uncle Luke from 2 Live Crew in one of my favorite classic SNL sketches - “…my bread and butter man.”

Yes I am drawn to synchronicity I READ THE ARTIST’S WAY DIDN’T I? (Did you? lemme hear it in the comments, how are your morning pages going?) On New Year’s Day, TWO synchronicities made it my way, and the second one became a New Years Day meal.

Subscribe now

The first one was a middle schooler at the gym wearing a shirt that said “Ramen is always the answer”. This great sartorial philosophy lead me to making homemade ramen with a riff on the southern New Year’s Day tradition of collard greens and cornbread (sadly there were no black eyed peas to be found in my cupboards). Upon realizing the only noodles in the freezer were soba noodles, I googled soba cooking methods and BAM! I was led to Toshikoshi Soba - a Japanese dish I was not familiar with, but a dish that happens to be New Year’s Eve noodles - out with the old and in with the new, cutting the noodles as a way of cutting away the year behind us. Do you see how we got there!? And this was on New Year’s Day no less! To be fair, I discovered this dish on New Year’s Day - not New Year’s Eve, when it is traditionally eaten - but I tend to be behind on things often (case in point, this New Year post is getting to you on Jan 2 at the earliest). But since I was making a bastardized version of homemade ramen and a bastardized version of collard greens and cornbread, I decided to carry on a similar version Toshikoshi Soba one day late, as a way of welcoming in the new year, leaving the old one behind…following the trail from a youth’s shirt to my New Year’s Day bowl. I offer you a similar non-recipe below, dressing up homemade ramen, to be used any time (I don’t recommend eating actual Toshikoshi Soba any time of year because via my limited research, it is pretty much eaten only on New Year’s Eve). Still I celebrate my meaningful New Year’s Day meal which started as ramen and ended as a symbolic meal passing into a new time. Julia Cameron would be proud.

NEW YEAR RAMEN / ANY OLD WAY TO DRESS UP HOME RAMEN

This is a non-recipe, a la Sam Sifton’s great No Recipe Recipes, with inspiration from the Toshikoshi Soba, and a nod to the first food media video I ever made, David Chang’s Hangover Ramen in the Late Night Test Kitchen, circa a million years ago, posted below. (It looks like a first video made a million years ago but we had to start somewhere.)

THE NON-RECIPE:

Heat about 2 cups of broth in a saucepan - I used homemade bone broth, but any broth is good or Better Than Bullion mushroom base is great. Using Toshikoshi Soba as an inspiration, add a tablespoon of Mirin or Rice Vinegar and 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce to taste (if you’re using dark soy sauce, use less). Cook your noodles separately then set aside (if using soba only cook 30 seconds). Then I add my toppings to the pot and heat them. Fire roasted frozen corn for New Year’s (represents coins, wealth, and exponentially increasing crypto), finely torn dino/lacinato kale (i.e., collard greens on New Years, represents dollars, green, paper, more bitcoin). I added ground pork cooked in sesame oil with sliced garlic. Heat it all through, place your noodles in bowl, then pour the soup on top carefully. Top with sliced scallions and togarashi for flavor and kick. You can crack an egg into a ladle in the pot and poach it (see video for instruction). Homemade dressed up ramen is a great lazy day meal especially for cold months or the day after New Year’s Eve. And next NYE let’s try eating some Toshikoshi Soba. Now onto non food things…

2025 IS HERE AND HERE IS WHAT I AM DOING FOR IT

It is a new year that finds us all in a new place whether we feel it or not. Last year brought on new experiences work wise, more time for future projects, and wide eyes for more synchronicity shiny objects on the path ahead. Since the original premise of this newsletter was food and photography (and fun) we’ll continue in that vein for 2025 with the following resolutions/goals/projects/plans. Some people say resolutions don’t work - but everyone loves goals and planning. So take this however floats your boat.

1. I’m making a movie this year! And you can hear all about the process.

   

   Yes it is true. I’m producing a feature film entitled Dream Baby Dream with my co-producer, writer/director Roland Ellis. After almost a year of planning we wrapped a proof of concept shoot in December, shooting 2 VERY COLD days with a great crew and are working now to put a it together to get more fundraising done. Roland and I talk all about this process on our podcast of the same name (Dream Baby Dream) where we cover everything that goes into making an indie film from scratch in real time. I’m very excited to keep working on it as we move toward our fingers crossed May shoot date.

2. More food media projects come!

   

   I’ve been long at work on a mini-documentary about NYC restaurant closures and the ending of my favorite pizza place Pizza Moto and at long last that will be finished soon, plus other food and entertainment projects as well to find their into the world this year. And all that to say…

3. Food and photos together in a project.

   The original impetus for this newsletter was a way to gather film photos I took with food ideas to turn them into a tangible project. That is still a work in progress here and in that vein, here are my favorite photos of 2024, not directly of food but definitely on the way to food, at a food establishment, or within earshot of some food. Looking forward to more in 2025.

I hope the New Year brings you great things, more synchronicity (whether you like it or not), and I look forward to bringing more as well. Here’s to it.

I will give a strong vote for you to try two recipes I have written about here - Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings and Coke Salad - an easy delicious buttery dessert and a better cranberry sauce that’s sweeter, tarter, and has cherries in it instead of cranberries, and uses a 12 oz of Coke. They are really really good.

These recipes are actually time tested crowd pleasers that have made repeat appearances at Thanksgivings after people first saying “I’m sorry…Mountain DEW? COKE Salad?” and then saying things like “wow these apple dumplings are really, really good, no, I don’t want the rest of the leftover Mountain Dew.”

I think you’ll like them, you’ll be surprised, and you’ll blow people’s minds. That’s what you want. Be the stand out that makes an impression. Make them be thankful for you and your crazy ideas to turn traditional Thanksgiving cooking on its head. And let me know if you cook either of them.

Whatever you do I hope you have a great holiday and holiday travels. If you need a podcast here is my new podcast following the journey of making an independent movie in New York (something I am doing right now!). And if you need a holiday movie watch Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, the best holiday travel movie. I am thankful for you and for these recipes. Buckle up, let's get right into the holidays.

Onward.

Welcome to the second week of January - we just passed Quitters Day, the day where people give up on their resolutions. I hope you didn’t quit unless you wanted to and if so good for you! Today we’re talking about food and the subway and while eating on the subway isn’t the best idea, here’s my favorite video of the best it’s ever been done, when a food collective staged a six course meal on NYC’s L Train. Ok let’s get into it.

Subscribe now

EAT: Japanese Spicy Smashed Cuke Salad

I often take incredibly long to cook meals. Last month a childhood friend was texting and me and asked what I was making for dinner and before I could answer he said “Something complicated with way too many ingredients?” And that hurt. Because the truth hurts. Which is why I’m delighted to bring you this simple 4 ingredient Japanese cucumber salad that is a fantastic side dish and takes 10 minutes and THAT includes marinating. The spice comes from Shichimi togarashi which also adds sweetness and brightness. Shichimi togarashi is a Japanese spice powder - ‘Shichimi’ means “7” for 7 spices, ‘togarashi’ is the Japanese chili pepper that provides the heat kick. Amongst the other spices are yuzu peel, sesame seeds, and orange peel. On top Nori Furikake - a Japanese seaweed and sesame blend - adds crunch and a little brininess from the seaweed and kelp powder. Get both of these spices at any Asian grocery store, and honestly Trader Joe’s and even Wal-Mart have versions now. They are a fantastic topper on lots of things and a great pantry addition. Let’s waste no more time, so I can go take 12 minutes to make a single cup of coffee (not totally false).

Spicy Smashed Cucumber Salad

makes 4ish servings

4-5 Persian Cucumbers, sliced lengthwise into spears, then chopped into pieces

2 large pinches Maldon salt (or any flaky sea salt…kosher will do but flaky is better)

2 tsp Shichimi togarashi, to taste

a generous sprinkling Nori Furikake

1. Combine chopped cucumbers in a medium bowl and sprinkle with flaky salt covering all.

2. Gently crush cucumbers with your hand, lightly squeezing them breaking them up some and lightly massaging salt into them. Cukes will release some water initially.

3. Let sit 10 mins. The salt will soften the cukes and pull water out of them.

4. After sitting drain off cucumber liquid (you don’t have to do this, I do for a crispier salad), sprinkle with Shichimi togarashi and toss to combine. Top with Nori Furikake. Serve immediately. Keeps a few days in the fridge.

SEE: STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING DOORS

Like any New Yorker I ride the subway a decent amount and I can see the highest subway platform in the world (!) out my bedroom window. The subway is one of the great equalizers of New York City where most of the city meets to get around and it is a cultural experience all its own worthy of photos. The subway is a marvel, it’s crazy how fast it can be, it’s insane how slow it can be, it’s a wonder it works like it does, and it feels like it doesn’t work at all half the time. I’ve seen so many crazy things on the subway and wished I had a camera for all of them, but here are some and there will be more and more one day I’m sure.

see ya next week,

cory

READ: DRY, GRAY JANUARY

It’s the first week of January and to every “How is your New Year going?” I’ve responded “…sloooow” because that is how the gray-ish is in my corner of the world (my corner = NYC after a drive back from upstate NY). In January the volume turns down on everything for a week or two. I am observing Dry January and a meal plan with minimal sugars and complex carbohydrates plus steamy, sweaty, hot yoga a few times a week, all this to GET BACK ON THE STICK.

January also feels ruminative and for now the best way I know to engage it (I was gonna say ATTACK IT, but have you noticed how much we use war language when we talk of organizing our lives? Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but it’s interesting to notice how often we ATTACK, DIVIDE AND CONQUER, AND EXECUTE our lives…if we’re gonna do that let’s have fun with it and say things like I’M COMMITTING WAR CRIMES AT TRADER JOE’S THIS AFTERNOON THEN DRONE STRIKING THE DRY CLEANING to really drive the point home and even make ourselves think…maybe? maybe not, who knows, back to January) is to shake the ruminative bouts with easy tasks like throwing out old socks, finally taking a broken camera to be fixed and finding out it’s now a shelf decoration, and giving away a ring-light-iPhone-holder I never used (I never did make food and drink vertical videos, oh well). Clearing off the to do list gives some sense of lightness and progress.

Still it’s hard to shake the ruminating and anxiety and for that I say bring it on and engage it (or NAPALM IT). Speaking of never making food vertical videos + ruminating on what is life (especially if you work in media or long term projects), this post by Alison Roman was a great read (and for a great listen check out Alison Roman on my podcast where we talk about Sex and The City). Sometimes you gotta push through and get back on the stick - dry, sugar free, and carbless - and after some gray (and hopefully) snow, we will be able to ATTACK the Spring. First we must engage the Winter.

EAT/DRINK: SHAKEN, LEMONY ESPRESSO

I’m a big fan of Sam Sifton and his ‘No Recipe Recipes’, and today I’m taking a page out of Sam’s book (not literally) and doing the same! This is NOT a recipe but a suggestion for bright, zippy coffee in your life, maybe you already do it. It is simple: add lemon essence to your coffee, specifically espresso, more specifically (in my case) Moka Pot. AND take your hot espresso and easily make it into a cold shaken espresso. It’s very simple and great.

Before we get into it - why would you want to do this? Because it adds a bright, pleasant, citrusy taste, and when done using the shaken frozen method (below) it is equal parts refreshing and invigorating. It cuts some of the bitterness of the espresso and, while still being a strong brew, the citrus adds lightness with less bitter aftertaste. With the frozen, shaken trick, it feels almost not bitter at all.

First, the lemon: Peel some lemon like you would for a cocktail, or grate some lemon peel, being careful not to get a lot of white pith (pith will make it more bitter). Prep your Moka Pot or espresso machine as normal, then add some fine shavings (or small pieces) of the lemon peel into your grounds, being careful to distribute it evenly so you don’t block the flow of the water that will come through. If using a Moka Pot, I also place some lemon in the top chamber of the pot, so you get the essential oils of the lemon once the coffee is brewed.

Then brew as normal and BAM! all of a sudden you and your sister live in a lemonworld, do do do do do. (Very specific reference there.) However here is the next step to take this thing to the top: make it shaken and frozen. I learned this one neat trick from an Instagram video and have used it often. Basically, brew espresso, freeze it in a bottle on its side, brew more espresso later, combine, shake, enjoy. Here’s the video:

Combine the the frozen trick, with the lemon, and voila, your new delightful morning/afternoon/whenever pick me up. You could even try with an orange, it may mix well with the chocolate flavors in the coffee. Go nuts!

SEE: WELCOME WINTER

I’m keeping it simple this week and since it is currently flurrying outside, here’s a few images that evoke the cold from over the past years. Stay warm out there inside and out! Embrace the cold and warm it up where you can.

happy new year, see ya soon,

cory

READ: What a year! Let’s get back out there!

What a year! It feels odd to say anything retrospective-ish after only writing approximately four entries here. That’s what you get for starting something in December. With a world in turmoil, this year was very full of life and job changes and travel and for me and how do you look back on a year? A journal, your camera roll, your friends’ stories, a toast at midnight, a moment of quiet reflection while you wash your hands in a bathroom which happens to be the one solitary and quiet place in the restaurant and you think to yourself “wow what a year…what a month…what a life…how old am I…who are these people…how did we get here…what lead me here…what am I doing…where are we going…ok I need to get back out there” (this is the most poignant place of reflection for me). It is hard to sum up a year except with year end lists which are fun for the time being. My hope and prayer for you reader is that you have time for reflection if you feel you need it or if you don’t. Whatever you need I hope you get it. Here are a few images from my past year that stood out to me, including moments of quiet reflection in a solitary bathroom where I happened to have a camera and needed to get back out there but still took a sec. Others are just on the street! Moving on.

Subscribe now

EAT: Coquito

I’m a huge egg nog fan, more than most and at least as much as your elderly relative. Once I aged homemade egg nog in my fridge for an entire year to serve at a Christmas party - the most I’ve ever planned ahead for anything (note: it was not worth it). That said I’m a sucker for thick holiday cocktails and this year rum and coconut were on the menu. Enter the Coquito - dairy, coconut, sugar and dee-licious. This recipe is a paired down adaptation of Liquor.com’s batch recipe, and it gives you more than one drink for your labor but not enough drinks for an entire house party (however the party would enjoy Coquitos more than year old egg nog…you live you learn). Use rum or sub Licor 43, the Spanish liqueur in Carajillo’s (for my money an easier and just as good Espresso Martini). Coquito can also be enjoyed virgin as a sweet treat. Drink Coquito after a meal in shot classes or over rocks with freshly grated nutmeg as a thick sweet sipper.

COQUITO

Ingredients (makes 4ish cocktails)

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 12 oz. can evaporated milk

6 oz aka 3/4 cup cream of coconut (like Coco Lopez)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Optional: 6 oz Puerto Rican rum of your choice (or Licor 43)

1. Add condensed milk, evaporated milk, cream of coconut, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, making sure to stir the bottom of saucepan. Remove from heat and let cool.

2. After cooled, add rum and stir. (If making virgin, leave out liquor and you can always add and stir in later if you want to booze them up.)

3. Store in a sealed container and add cinnamon stick to container.

4. To serve, stir mixture, pour over ice, top with freshly grated nutmeg.

SEE: New Years with a BANG // Amsterdam 2019

Amsterdam on New Years Eve! Tourists, canals, college kids…EXPLOSIONS. In a different world, 2019, I took a New Year’s trip with a collaborator, a next door neighbor, my friend Jeremy. After much research Amsterdam was the plan. Jeremy had been several times and I not at all. New Years there was smaller than other major European cities - walkable, less crowded, and full of fireworks. When I say fireworks, I don’t mean organized displays; Macy’s, a ballpark Fourth of July, the end of Crazy Rich Asians. I mean locals with mass quantities setting them off everywhere all night long. So much that every year Dutch officials try to ban fireworks due to inevitable injuries and dangerous chaos. They did not succeed in banning them when we were there.

We were free of danger except when I was in a crowd and Jeremy yelled “Move!!” and a thrown cherry bomb exploded 5 feet from me. Other than that all good. I shot the night with an Olympus mju ii as Jermey and I celebrated/dodged small explosions. I’ve also included my favorite video of 2019, a man launching a bottle rocket that makes a 180 and explodes right back at him. Three months after the fireworks the world became a completely different place. Happy New Years!

DISPATCHES

• In the spirit of year end lists, here are the best things to cook (or best cooking to watch) from the videos I directed in 2023.

• If you want a semi-meditative glass half full portrait of the NYC subway, here’s a short I made this year about morning commutes. Featuring music from Sufjan Stevens who had some of the best tunes of 2023! Watch Wake Up and Go! here.

As a year closes with so much going on in our world, here’s wishing you the thrill of hope in 2024! See ya soon,

Cory

The holidays are here and things are busy and travel is happening and things are stressful and unexpected and sometimes you just have to take it.

This week I paid the most I’ve ever paid for a car to the airport for holiday travel (really I think any travel). If you correctly guess the amount in the comments I will venmo you $5, which is way less than a tip would’ve been on the ride. I made my flight and am grateful so what are ya gonna do? Since I just asked, here’s a few things you could do for the price of that car:

buy a cheap suit

order a great steak dinner

fly from NYC to Puerto Rico

get cool Nike shoes

drink a dollar beer (then give the best tip ever imagined)

take 3 other car rides!

EAT: Coke Salad

Recently I posted a recipe for Apple Dumplings made with a can of Mountain Dew and that is a delicious stand out dish but NOT my favorite soda based dish. My favorite is, you guessed, Coke Salad. Coke Salad comes from the great tradition of ‘salads’ made of Jell-O around the 1950s-1970s and from adding various canned ingredients for flavor and flair. It also comes from my grandmother who made it for holidays and special occasions, and it has became a family holiday staple to this day. It’s a surprisingly good side dish for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner; it’s simple to make, and if you play up the “I made it with a can of Coke!” it really is a surprising delight to people that try it. It’s like a less tart cranberry sauce, and the dark cherries make it sweet and fruity. It’s very easy to make, it’s a secret crowd pleaser, and I don’t know what you want from me, it’s good.

Coke Salad

Ingredients:

1 large can crushed pineapple

1 large can dark, sweet cherries (in the canned fruit aisle)

(2) 3-oz. packages Black Cherry Jell-O

1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts work well)

1 cup orange juice

12 oz. Coca-Cola

1. Drain cherries and pineapple in a mesh sieve or colander and save fruit juices. Afterward, set fruit aside and pour juices into a medium saucepan.

2. Bring juice to boil and sprinkle Jell-O packets over mixture. Dissolve Jell-O.

3. Add orange juice and Coca-Cola.

4. Place in refrigerator until partially set.

5. Add cherries, pineapple, and nuts. Sir until mixed, then set back in fridge to fully set.

If suspending a Coke bottle / can in Coke Salad (recommended), check mixture after 1.5 hours and when partially set carefully suspend Coke bottle/can in mixture then place back in fridge til’ finished.

SEE: Back From The Dead

A few weeks ago I picked an old camera that has long since died so I decided to fix it. I didn’t know if I could but I’d watched a YouTube video on the process and these days that is the same as getting a PhD so I felt confident. The camera is a Yashica T4 Super, a sought after, hip point and shoot camera that I’ve bought twice and both times they’ve died on me. I miss them very much. After messing with it very minimally the camera came back to life (I told you I was a doctor)! I was very happy to have it back and it’s been fun shooting with it again. It reminded me how great this camera looked for certain shots especially black and white photos. As a celebration of the return of my Yashica, here’s a reflection on some of the great black and white hits it has produced over the years (specifically the year 2015). Here’s to (fingers crossed) many more.

Dispatches

• I forgot the capers. In an early posted Chopped Salad recipe. Any little bit of brine is good so go make it and add in them capes.

• Here is a nice video I made of of a brief relationship between a lady and a duck at the Louvre Fountain in Paris.

HAPPIEST OF HOLIDAYS to you and see ya soon,

Cory

We’re dead in the middle of December, in the first 1/3 of Advent, Chanukah’s over, and we’re 8 days from Christmas. We’re squarely in the holiday tension: before vacation, in the season of socializing, waiting on the light to change (the ball to drop, the light of the world to shine, etc etc). Everything is coming to a big merry close! I sit here drinking a cup of Witch’s Tea to fight off an oncoming holiday cold, so while I rally my body for one last time this year, let’s get into it!

READ: Do you hear what I hear? Is it holiday blues?

What exactly is the mood of the holidays? Just like the title of the 2009 ensemble RomCom, it’s complicated! I actually auditioned for that movie, and while prepping for the audition my friend said “Play it like “Jim from The Office”.” If you watch the movie, the person playing the role I auditioned for is the actual “Jim from The Office”. So whether or not my audition was good, my friend had great casting instincts!

Yes, it’s complicated. The holidays are hopeful and warm, and also reflective and sometimes lonely which I know is no news to you, festive reader. That “vibe” is all around and I really pick it up from Christmas music (and not just modern sad, indie Christmas songs although they’ve got many bangers for your stocking). Classic Christmas songs speak of merrying but also about love lost (“Blue Christmas”, ) and separation (“Baby Please Come Home”). The actual theme of Advent is waiting in expectation (cue “In The Bleak Midwinter”), so I think this a anticipation and rumination opens the door for some holiday blues.

Like any complicated time and emotion, it is best to do what any therapist would say which is to accept and lean in (you mean therapists don’t fix our problems? They just show them to us? Why are we paying them?). Holidays come with a wave of emotions so ride it, sit with it, and let it ebb and flow. That is my unsolicited gift to you and I will gift that to myself. With this in mind, another gift I give is some deeper cuts of non-trad holiday tunes. Enjoy, my fellow celebrant.

EAT: The Green Chopped Salad

This salad is a true ensemble show. Yes the fennel could be seen as the star, like Mick Jagger or Freddie Mercury or John Lennon, but you have to have your celery and greens and olives who would be your Brian May or Keith Richards and the dressing, who is George Harrison (because there is so much going on with the dressing, and while the fennel would never talk about how good the dressing is, the dressing is truly multi-layered and you could even have the dressing go off and do its own thing and think “that’s really something”*). This salad is a staple and once you get a good base of it you can add really anything to make it your own. Great to have in your quiver for work lunch, for easy dinner, a side dish for entertaining, or a solid meal of accomplishment for yourself. At the time of this writing it’s the holidays, so it’s also perfect for a hearty, healthy palate cleanser when you don’t want anything heavy. Add salmon or even a swordfish filet on top, seared mushrooms, chicken thighs, steak, or on its own it is great.

Recipe: Green Chopped Salad

1/2 - 3/4 bulb fennel finely sliced

Fennel fronds, reserved from bulb for topping

3 ribs celery finely sliced

1/2 white onion finely sliced

1/2 cup castelvetrano olives sliced

1 heaping teaspoon capers, rinsed and chopped

1 bunch salad greens and/or 1 head romaine or butter lettuce shredded with your knife

2-3 scallions, greens and whites thinly sliced

1/2 jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced (*see note for heat option)

a few stems of cilantro (optional if you don’t like cilantro)

Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano or asiago cheese to top (a hard, salty cheese)

Pickled red onions to top

Dressing:

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons mirin (or rice vinegar), adjust to taste

2 teaspoons soy sauce (or tamari if desired)

Salt to taste

1. In a large bowl make a bed of salad mix with your greens then layer on with sliced fennel, celery, white onion, jalapeño, scallions, capers, and olives. Add cilantro on top if using.

2. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine olive oil, lemon juice, mirin, soy (or tamari if using) and blend using an immersion blender or mix vigorously with a fork or whisk until combined in a vinaigrette. Taste and add salt, mixing salt in.

3. Drizzle dressing over salad liberally then mix using salad spoons or two forks to coat salad.

4. Shave parmesan over top in sheets. Top with pickled red onions. Pull fennel fronds from stem and top. Add a protein if desired.

NOTE: If you’re concerned about the heat of the jalapeño, slice it longways first and remove the seeds and white pith. Then slice green parts thinly and add. This will take out almost all the heat.

SEE: City Sidewalks, Empty Sidewalks

As evidenced by the READing portion this week, we got a theme of some holiday malaise. NYC is a busy time at the holidays yet I’ve found myself in the Winter and at this very time on a street at night completely alone; in a city like New York that’s a surreal experience. Solitude in a city of many can be magical, the opposite of another classic NYC experience, “feeling alone in a crowd”. With this pick-me-up of a thought experiment, I present to you images of NYC with no people visible taken over a span of years I’ve lived here. In movies and shows, NYC often plays a character, today it is the main character.

see ya next week,

Cory

During Covid I got into a few morning routines. One was shooting a photo of myself every morning AS SOON as I woke. When you are alone in isolation you have to keep yourself on your toes:

The other was making a “health tea” from scratch everyday because of 2020 immune system anxiety (I also made 52 garlic clove Vampire Slayer soup - worth the experience, yet I still got Covid later). I also ate raw garlic and still do occasionally - it’s recommended by a notable natural doctor. Try it once just for the experience which is honestly pretty awful, but hey so is getting sick. This tea is more pleasant than chomping raw garlic and it’s very easy. Steeped garlic can act as a decongestant, ginger can settle your tum tum, and turmeric can fight inflation. Add lemon and honey and you got yourself a little tasty zinger that’s also preventative (I am not a doctor clearly but this seems possibly correct). Add whisky or brandy to make it a hot toddy (I don’t know if a doctor would tell you to do that).

Witch’s Tea

4-5 garlic cloves, smashed (thwack them with a knife to get them out of the skin and smash simultaneously)

2-3 inch knob of ginger, skin on

1-2 roots small-medium roots turmeric

1. Rough chop all ingredients and gather. Don’t over think it.

2. Place ingredients in a saucepan with 3 cups water and bring to boil.

3. Lower to a medium simmer and simmer 10 minutes or until satisfied.

4. Strain tea into a mug. Add honey and/or lemon as desired. Sip and heal.

READ: I Hate Tote Bags

In the aughts in NYC at every comedy night, music show, or bar gathering you went to evvvverybody had a tote and looked very cool holding them. The New Yorker tote? Classic and smart. A band tote? Worth the $25. JUST a simple black tote? Excuse me, you are wanted back at Fashion Week. But those days are gone and my shoulders are tired.

This weekend in the NYC rain, I toted a gift and it was awful. The tote slipped off, the gift got wet, I had to bend my arm and grab the strap so it wouldn’t slide down, holding the tote while wearing it. Why do you need to hold a thing and wear it? You don’t hold your pants up while you wear them, that’s taking a job from a belt. I don’t want to take anyone’s job. Speaking of jobs, you know who is great at one? A backpack. All rainy Saturday it was on me, two straps solid. I deilvered the gift, and stuffed the tote in my backpack to show it how a real bag worked.

I will still use totes. A backpack full of groceries doesn’t feel right. Eggs, milk, and a bottle of olive oil knocking around is tote territory. But now papa’s got a brand new bag, and it’s actually not new, it’s a $10 Ikea backpack he bought 3 years ago.

SEE: Wu & Julia Go To White Castle

A few years ago a friend who worked in restaurants invited me to a party at a White Castle. It was a PR launch for the new “Impossible Slider”. At the time, Impossible was new food technology and if you know anything about me, I love going to parties with free food. I went to two just this week. I knew this party would be cool, my friend is very cool and puts on very cool events. It took place at a White Castle in Bushwick, Brooklyn, which is not a traditional party place…which makes this cooler? When I got there two great things happened: there was ample food and drinks (my main focus), and it was an all-star show, hosted by a food enthusiast comedian, DJ’d by a famous hip hop fixture, and on top of all that THE Wu-Tang Clan showed. Free food and free entertainment. Heaven. Ghostface Killah and Cappadonna played all the hits all of 5 feet from us in the White Castle with full fluorescent lights up, which is the best part. It’s one thing to bring out the band, lower the lights, and get into it. It’s quite another to say “We’re in the White Castle, there are no dimmers on this fuse box” then launch into C.R.E.AM.

It was a monumental night out and one of the coolest things capturing it was not realizing who all was there. Years later looking at the photos I saw a familiar face in the crowd at the WC. Julia Fox, entranced by the Clan.

Uncut Gems began shooting 5 months after White Castle dropped their own diamond, the Impossible Slider, on the world. When I was a child I did not expect to ever eat a slider made of (appetizing) scientifically engineered “meat” nor did I expect to see the Wu-Tang Clan and a then unknown movie star. But this is what great moments and cameras are for. So thank God for them both.

Dispatches

Finally here’s a section for extra things announcements, whatever, to end off the week.

• SWAP, my short film is showing at Another Hole In The Head horror film festival in San Francisco. You can watch it through their virtual portal, plus other fun weird short films, here.

see ya next week,

cory

It’s cold in NYC so I’m heating up, plus an evergreen party recipe for you, and a shoutout to the Transportation Security Agency. This is our first official dispatch (our? It’s just me here). If you want a more formal introduction, read here. Welcome to Eat With Your Eyes.

READ: I Love Hot Yoga And All Its Sounds

I recently started doing hot yoga, for the first time in my life. This came at the suggestion of a friend who swore it cured his aching back and as a current back acher I was willing to try anything with an $80/month unlimited class deal.

I have enjoyed as it’s truly supportive. All skill levels, friendly people. And it offers a nap. At the end of class they offer you the option to stay a while, a few minutes, on your back to let your thoughts pass. After a collective namasté, 3/4 of the class quietly leaves, 1/2 of that 1/4 hangs for 3 more minutes, and usually 2 people really hang out a while, wet and hot. Today was different. During today’s class I leaned in on lying there after. And I kept laying. I listened for the early ejectors and they were not there. After what was I can only assume a few minutes I opened one eye. Everyone was there. The whole class! We ALL hung in. I closed my eyes and hung in longer. I opened them. We’re all still going. ALL OF US. Like a sit in of sweaty protestors who look like wet dead bodies. After a few more minutes I heard stirring so I opened my eyes and saw some people walking - NOT my fellow hot friends but the staff coming to straighten the room. We did it. We reached nirvana. As a team. I spoke to the instructor after and she said “You all must’ve really needed this”. I bowed and let out a 45 second ohm. She felt my rhythm and knew I’d be back next week. 

FOOTNOTES: On my second session, someone actually farted. Everyone is an adult and no one reacted.

EAT: Mountain Dewmplings

You are reading this after Thanksgiving Day so this will not help you for Thanksgiving, but this is a recipe I often use for Thanksgiving. I am sorry. This is not your standard recipe food newsletter, ya know, the kind that gives you recipes on time to actually help your life. However! Use this recipe for many other things not Thanksgiving. It is an uncanny hit, as long as you can endure a bit of doubt and ridicule from everyone around you when you announce the secret ingredient, Mountain Dew. I first heard of this recipe from my mother. It’s also seeping around the corners of the internet. It is a recipe that may deserve the ridicule because it is finished with 12 oz. of The Dew.

HOWEVER, the best way to think of this is like a McDonald’s fried apple pie, the classic ones of the 80’s and 90’s, that was saltier, sweeter, and more caramelized than the current offering at McDonald’s. 

Mountain Dewmplings aka Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings

Ingredients

2 apples, sliced into 1/8ths (Granny Smith work great, as do something sweeter like Jazz Apple, Gala, etc. Mix em up)

2 tubes refrigerated crescent roll dough (keep cold for easier handling)

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 12 oz. can Mountain Dew

Note: These dewds are pretty rich, a half batch works just as well. To achieve, cut all the ingredients in half, and chug the rest of the Mountain Dew.

1. Heat oven to 350. Grese a 9 x 13 pan with butter.

2. Microwave apple slices in a bowl for 1 - 2 minutes until softer. This helps to cook them more completely. Save whatever juices the apples realease from microwaving.

3. Pop! open crescent roll dough, and use the perforated triangle of dough to wrap the apple slices, covering each slice fully. Line slices in pan up in rows. Pour the reserved apple liquid in as well.

4. Melt butter and combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. It will be a delicious slurry. Pour over and around apple slices to cover them.

5. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of pan. Do not pour over top of apple dumplings.

6. Bake at 350 for 35-45 mins, until done. Depending on your liking, dumplings will be doughier when cooked less. Serve with ice cream. Lay down.

SEE: Bon Voyage

Vacation photography is different now. It went from boring friends by projecting your meaningful photos of Hawaii or Yuma on a wall (before my time), to getting prints made and building scrapbook albums to show off (my time), to using your camera / phone to broadcast photos in real time to the entire world at large (also my time). I suppose this section is kind of all three - gathering you all here to see a curated processed image now broadcasted publicly to the world. Technology really is fascinating isn’t it?

Years ago I went on a particularly monumental trip. Friends had a deal of lifetime at a cottage in the south of France, with a private chef (currently for hire, to teach!), I was at a job and life rut in dire need of an escape. The trip proved to be great; I enjoyed time with friends, took a long French bath in a deep French tub, dropped in on an impromptu pasta making class in a 13th century chateau, swam in the Bay of Biscay, and drove solo across France to experience the most creative and inspiring meal of my life. I even left my laptop in France, a surprising apéritif to an amazing trip (I got it back).

T.S. Eliot says between the idea and the reality falls the shadow (among other things), actors preparing for a scene talk about the moment before, and monumental experiences all start with some inhale. Here’s me in a moment after washing my hands, after a panicked phone call to a friend about the state of my life before this trip, before the trip, a shot to document that moment. The discretion to shoot in public restrooms went down the toilet, but all in all, we survived and I’m glad it was captured.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, I gave you 302. Plus something to eat, and an exercise / entertainment recommendation.

See you next week.

cory