Tomato Tart with Feta-Goat Cheese Filling

How is one supposed to tomato girl summer in conditions like these??

Listen, it can’t be the start of tomato season AND back to school season AND ALSO I’m getting ads for Halloween décor. Like, they’re just getting good and yet the relentless march of seasonal marketing cycles says, move on from summer, sheep! Christmas is right around the corner! Well, I won’t. Not until I have at least five to seven more tomato sandwiches on the softest white bread, and/or tomato toasts on the chewiest, darkest sourdough I can find.

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✏️ WORDS: “Going Viral Sucks (Even More) Now”

One of my favorite Substacks right now is Embedded. Written Kate Lindsay and edited by Nick Catucci, it focuses on internet culture — everything from the advent of Threads to “girl dinner.” I don’t think we’ve come to a consensus about what numbers constitute going viral online anymore, but sometimes it’s more about the vibes than anything else. You can make a big splash in a smaller online space and get the same high-highs and low-lows that could come with let’s say, a trend that Good Morning America picks up. A few of my videos have surpassed 1 and 2 million views on TikTok and Instagram, and any time it happens, it’s good because that’s one of the only ways to grow your audience on these platforms (which isn’t solely for vanity, it’s a big way I make income). Even if you don’t consider that viral (I don’t know if I do) that fleeting rush also makes my stomach sink every time because I know the exposure will bring out the very worst people in the comments and shares/Stitches/Duets. And, as Kate mentions in this piece, more and more creators are finding that the vast majority of their followers aren’t even seeing their content. These apps seem to only care about exposing users to new profiles and new content to keep them scrolling the “for you” (and not the “following”) section, which kind of defeats the purpose of having an audience at all.

It’s a great read!

Going viral sucks (even more) now

Updates

New on Serious Eats: We Tested 13 Wine Tumblers to Find the Best Ones for Keeping Summery Sips Cold

My review of wine tumblers is up on Serious Eats. We tested which models kept wine the coldest for the longest, as well as which ones were easy to use and drink from. We came away with winners for “best wine tumbler with a sliding lid”, “best tumbler with a non-sliding lid” and “best affordable wine tumbler”. It was hard work, but someone had to do it!

This Week’s Recipe

I’ve been really bad about getting to the farmer’s markets this year. It’s a mix of poor planning and the prices generally being a bit out of range for me, but I’ve also never been one to go searching for ramps or scapes or $15 sour cherries or whatever. If you are, more power to you. So I went to a few stores and bought out the dregs of what heirloom tomatoes they had (because by the afternoon, that section has always been ransacked).

They weren’t bad, but I regretted not getting my butt to the McCarren Park or Union Square farmer’s market earlier this week, because I’m sure those would have been much better. That being said, you don’t have to use heirloom tomatoes for this tart, you can use whatever you have on hand, even cherry tomatoes, just make sure they’re colorful and GOOD.