Rachel Antonoff’s Grub Street Diet

“In a way, food is my entire life,” says the designer Rachel Antonoff, whose collections are recognized for his or her daring, food-focused graphic prints: fruits, prawns, olives, Jell-O molds, seafood towers. “It’s the thing that I look forward to throughout the day, all day,” Antonoff continues. “At night, I fall asleep really excited for coffee in the morning. When I travel, it’s about food.” And so after all her work would mirror that unbridled meals enthusiasm: “I think it’s so nice when your clothes can be like a little bit of a bumper sticker and just give a nod: ‘This is something I’m into.’”

Thursday, June 23
Waking up, for some motive, is a torture each single day and at all times has been for me. I examine my waking-up course of to being on a extremely giant ship and it’s too giant to return into the dock, so it’s important to board a smaller ship to get to the dock. It’s a complete course of, many alarms. I dragged myself off the bed round ten, which feels early for me, I’m embarrassed to say.

I began the day, as I do most days, with a stroll to Joe Coffee with my canine, Lafitte. We — Lafitte and I — reside in Brooklyn Heights, and the neighborhood misplaced its thoughts with pleasure after we obtained a Joe. It’s the Studio 54 of the neighborhood or no matter membership reference is much less dusty.

Lafitte and I are uniquely suited in our pursuits and hobbies in that we each take pleasure in consuming, sitting, and minimal bodily exercise, so a stroll to Joe and again is actually all we each want. He loves to look at TV. It’s exhausting to inform if he has preferences — I’m the one with the opposable thumbs within the relationship, and I do know I’m projecting — however I’ve began to depart Sex and the City on for him after I go away the home, and he perks up when he hears the theme music and runs to the sofa. If I am going out at evening for a number of hours, I’ll go away him on season one, and I’ll come again and he’s on season three. He’s actually been plowing by means of.

He can be an extremely sluggish walker as of late, so the four-block journey to and from Joe takes us round half-hour, give or take the variety of his pals we encounter on the best way. My Joe order was an iced cortado with an additional shot and barely much less milk than regular.

I’m a fairly constant and boring breakfast particular person; it’s virtually at all times shredded wheat with blueberries and entire milk. Between the espresso and cereal, the quantity of entire milk I’m pounding is actually gross.

I’m nonetheless largely working from dwelling. That was a extremely nice discovery for me over the pandemic: I work higher at dwelling. We had our sadly named “BM,” which is our “Week Behind Meeting.” (On Mondays, we have now “WAM” — “Week Ahead Meeting.”) I don’t know, we used to name these “WBM,” however now it’s simply BM, that are normally on Fridays, however this week, it was on Thursday. We’re engaged on spring ’23 designs proper now, which is actually enjoyable. We reviewed prints and mentioned silhouettes, which print ought to go into which skirt, type of a paper dolls sort of factor.

Lunch didn’t occur, however I bake continually, so there’s typically some type of baked deal with round. Today, it was blueberry scones. My mother despatched me the recipe, which I feel was in a synagogue cookbook from the ’70s from Burlington, Vermont, the place she grew up — like, “Elma Bloomberg’s Blueberry Scones.” I had some leftover whipped cream from a Key-lime pie I made the evening earlier than, so I tossed that on and added some blueberries, and it felt like a decadent afternoon snack.

Dinner was thrilling: I went to Razza in Jersey City with my pals Matt and Frank. It felt like an thrilling factor to do, to go to Jersey City seeking this pizza. And oh my God, it’s unreal. The proprietor and chef, Dan, is actually an artist. It’s simply wild. And he’s additionally so into the science of it, so he’s telling you about these butters they make — I can’t even parrot what he stated as a result of that’s how little I perceive it, but it surely’s like, “This one we injected with this enzyme, and that one we reduced with this, and this one the cows only ate grass.” Another factor about Dan: He will style check my baking, which I deeply respect as a result of he’s an expert, And I really feel as if that’s like asking a screenwriter to learn your script — it’s annoying. So anytime I am going there, I convey him no matter is presently on the menu, which implies this time, I introduced him a Key-lime pie.

We had strawberry salad, bread with butter (six varieties, all made at Razza), and three pizzas. Our favourite was the Di Natale, with raisins and pine nuts, which Dan described as trail-mix pizza. We additionally had a ton of orange wine and left stuffed and completely happy.

Friday, June 24
Lafitte and I did our morning Joe Coffee routine adopted by the shredded-wheat-with-blueberries routine. I’ve been on a shredded-wheat kick for perhaps six months. Before that, it was Cheerios. Before that, it was cream of wheat. I actually undergo phases.

We’d executed the conferences we’d normally do on Fridays the day earlier than, so it was virtually a time off. I had an interview that went lengthy, after which I had my first haircut in two years. I’d been slicing it myself the entire pandemic, and it was going effectively till it wasn’t. I’ve gotten worse at it. I began off robust, after which all of the sudden per week in the past I used to be like, I don’t suppose I’ve a single strand of hair that’s the identical size as one other. I made a decision it was time.

During the haircut, I ordered the salmon miso bowl from Warude with rice and avocado and this kale–Brussels sprout mixture. I found this not too long ago and have been going fairly exhausting on it. For lunch, I’m both going within the route of Court Street Grocers or Shake Shack or one thing I can simply get out of the best way fast. But this factor is nice: Someone else has thought it out totally for you, after which you may simply shove it in your mouth and be executed. I like Court Street Grocers a lot — I get the Turkish Delight there — but it surely actually does sort of convey the day to a halt.

I used to be preoccupied all day as a result of I used to be doing a Q&A with Jenny Slate for her film Marcel the Shell With Shoes On that evening, and public talking makes me extremely nervous.

There had been really two of Q&As. There was one at Lincoln Square AMC, after which there was one other one on the Angelika. It was enjoyable as a result of we hadn’t seen one another shortly — I wrote 1,000,000 questions after which didn’t use any of them, and we ended up simply having a pleasant dialog, and it was straightforward and beautiful.

Afterward, we met up with our good friend Mae and ate on the Crosby Hotel. We shared artichokes, popcorn shrimp, salmon — it was an enormous salmon day for me — hen, ice cream, and wine. I actually love a chilly wine on the finish of the day. You know whenever you’re at a restaurant and the glass is sort of frosty? That’s what I need.

I preserve that means to get educated about wine as a result of it’s so odd to know so little about one thing I actually love and appear to have particular opinions about. From what I collect, I like chilly, crisp, and “mineral” white. And I do know everybody’s been into orange wine eternally now, however I’m simply not over it. If I pour myself a glass of orange wine at evening, I’ll say to the canine, “Bring in the skin contact, bring in the funk.” Then I snigger and he does nothing, clearly. He goes again to Sex and the City.

When I obtained dwelling, I did some tipsy baking, or slightly, I made double-chocolate-chip peanut-butter cookie dough and separated it into balls and put them within the freezer earlier than mattress.

Saturday, June 25
I obtained up round 10:30, after which I did the factor you’re not purported to do: scrolled my cellphone till 11. I’ll spare you the Joe-then-shredded-wheat bit.

I knew I used to be having a Saturday evening out, so I simply sort of hung across the neighborhood after that. Lunch was some carrot sticks and a few Grape Nuts, that are a day cereal to me. And I made repeated returns to the fridge for “a bite” of my most up-to-date Key-lime pie.

I’ve at all times been a baker, however a few 12 months earlier than the pandemic, I positively kicked it up a notch. I used to be going by means of a breakup, and it was the primary Christmas-Hanukkah interval wherein I’d been single in perhaps a decade, so I made a decision to lean into it — keep dwelling, watch films, and bake. Then the pandemic occurred, and I actually went all in.

For me, baking is like being in a lab. I’ll hone in on one recipe for a month, and I’ll attempt 50 totally different variations which can be barely altered. And then I do style exams with my once-willing, now-less-willing family and friends. They’re all so irritated. Right now, I’m on Key-lime pie. I’m very self-critical generally, and that is the very first thing I’ve made the place I really feel like, Okay, I might perhaps promote these. I don’t know why that’s my go-to commonplace — it’s good for as soon as in my life to simply have a passion. It’s grow to be type of like a social factor for me. I actually take pleasure in a side-by-side style check, and I feel different folks do too. When folks come over, I give the pies names, and I’m like, ‘Do you prefer Bob or Judy?’ And then we have now a prolonged dialogue about Bob and Judy’s deserves.

In between bites, I did some work. I actually like engaged on weekends as a result of I do know nobody is likely to be making an attempt to achieve me. I’m not going to be on the hook for one thing.

My pals from Razza and I had been going to see John Mulaney at Madison Square Garden, so we met up at the Knickerbocker earlier than and had martinis and Cosmopolitans and snacks. There might need been olives; I do know I had fries dipped in mustard. I like the Knickerbocker. It’s very old-school cozy.

I’m not a present particular person, actually. For something that’s standing, I’m five-foot-one, so I can’t see something. This was seated, which was nice, however Madison Square Garden to me, simply generally, is like, Oh, God. It’s very intense. I’ve had COVID twice now, the second time a month in the past, and I’m not a type of people who find themselves like, I simply had it — I positively can’t get it once more. I don’t suppose we all know shit about this! But I’m on the level the place I’m sort of reintegrating myself. Pretty a lot the whole lot I’ve executed previously month has been like, This seems like a super-spreader occasion. But I assume that’s simply what we’re doing now? I don’t know. I’m going with it. The present was nice.

We had been purported to go to Don Angie after, but it surely was too late. We needed to have pizza. We went to NY Pizza Suprema, and Fred ordered a sampling of issues, which was enjoyable as a result of I actually love hors d’oeuvres as a meal. He obtained a mushroom slice and a grandma slice, after which all of us obtained plain slices, and I had a Diet Coke.

Sunday, June 26
I did the Joe routine, however I ditched the shredded wheat for a sesame bagel with cream cheese from Black Seed. I do know they’re purported to be Montreal fashion, however that doesn’t imply very a lot to me. I simply love them. I feel they’re good — an ideal bagel.

I had my pricey good friend Paul’s birthday celebration that evening, and I used to be actually enthusiastic about doing a comfy sport evening. And additionally there was going to be Little Cupcake Bakeshop cake there — we’d not too long ago had it collectively and liked it — and any occasion I’m going to the place I do know there’s going to be cake is thrilling.

Until then, I slept. I labored. For lunch, I threw collectively a haphazard kitchen-sink salad. I’m a horrible cook dinner. I do know salad isn’t cooking however nonetheless. Cooking just isn’t for me. I actually respect the scientific nature of baking. The freedom that comes with cooking I think about can be enjoyable if what you made tasted good, however that simply doesn’t occur to me. Ever. My brother says with love that the perfect factor I make you’d nonetheless at the very least take into account sending it again in a restaurant, and that’s completely correct.

I headed over to Paul’s home early to assist arrange a bit. They had me manage a crudités platter, so I snacked whereas I labored. It’s been so lengthy since I’ve been to a sport evening that I forgot how a lot I prefer it. Apparently I’m very aggressive. We performed Celebrity. We performed Mafia. We performed Pictionary, which I believed was essentially the most enjoyable. We had been all amazed by how good we had been, after which we noticed later that we had been taking part in Child Pictionary. It was “Scissor!” It was superb. Once we realized, we did a number of rounds of the grownup model, and it was a lot tougher.

There was Table 87 pizza for dinner. I want you to know I don’t normally have this a lot pizza within the span of 4 days. There had been additionally salads, which nearly nobody touched, and there was rum-and-pineapple punch — I positively had an honest quantity of that.

We additionally had two desserts. One was yellow cake with chocolate icing, and the opposite was yellow cake with vanilla icing. He actually had wished a chocolate cake with vanilla icing, however for some motive they only wouldn’t make it. For me, the yellow cake with chocolate frosting was the standout.

Monday, June 27
We had been again on our shredded-wheat bullshit.

Get prepared for one thing actually fucked up: Lunch was bites of Key-lime pie and extra shredded-wheat pie. It was the identical bowl — only a refill that was delayed. It was a busy work day, and that’s simply what was occurring!

For dinner, I met my pals Logan and Ana at Roman’s, which is certainly one of my favourite eating places within the metropolis. We sat exterior and had the fava-bean dip — which if you happen to haven’t had it, let me simply say, “Run, don’t walk” — in addition to an exceptionally nice salad, a ricotta squash toast, spaghetti with breadcrumbs and anchovies, and English pea ravioli. It was all heaven. I really feel as if there are locations the place you may have an awesome meal however you gained’t take into consideration the meal later. And Roman’s is the sort of meals that I’ll take into consideration. Like that fava-bean dip — I crave it.

I additionally introduced them a number of the cookies I’d began earlier within the week. This recipe is actually good like three hours after baking. The cookies are nonetheless scorching on the within, however they’re crispy on the surface. I attempt to preserve them frozen till I do know I need one. It’s so good to simply pop a cookie within the oven everytime you need it.