The Monday Digest, March 2025
What happened last month on the newsletter, what’s to come, links to articles I enjoyed
This is the extra newsletter you get every first Monday of the month to sum up what I published the previous month and to tell you what you can expect on this one.
As a reminder, here’s what you will find on My Cup of Tea:
The Monday Digest: The first Monday of every month you’ll get a summary of what I sent out the previous month, a sneak peak of what you’ll get the current month and a curated list of latest food articles as well as personal notes.
Every Thursday: a new newsletter on the following topics (a different one each week): 1 seasonal recipe inspired by my Catalan heritage, 1 educational piece on food photography, 1 in-depth essay about the history and uses of a dish or ingredient (mostly focused on New England), 1 personal essay/travel guide/chronicle.
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Exclusive Q&A, Photo Feedback + Downloadable Photo: Every 3rd Monday of the month an exclusive chat will be available for paid subscribers dedicated to answer any questions and to send a photo for me to critique so you know how to improve your skills! Paid subscribers will also get an extra newsletter with: a high resolution downloadable photo to be used as a screensaver or as a print + extra perks!
February’s summary
Last month’s recipe was vegan and historical: Espinacs a la Catalana: Catalan spinach dish with raisins and pine nuts
The piece on photography was the first edition of an exciting new series: Capture the Seasons: Food Photography for Winter
Last month’s food history piece was focused on a New England winter staple that is still very much loved amongst locals. It was a very fun collaborative 2-part piece, in which I wrote about the history of the bread and
shared an original recipe:Recipe: Sourdough Boston Brown Bread (by Andrew Janjigian)
February’s last newsletter was a visual story on my cold start of the year: A Snowy Winter in Boston
What’s to come this March
Thursday the 6th: This month’s recipe is a twist on the classic rice pudding that connects with Medieval Catalan gastronomy, and it’s vegan: Arròs amb Llet d’Ametlla: A -vegan- Catalan rice pudding with almond milk
Thursday the 13th: This is an extra newsletter and a second part to my historical piece on New England Boiled Dinner. I am collaborating with local writer and friend
to show how to corn a beef brisket, just in time for Saint Patrick’s Day: On Corning BeefThursday the 20th: This month’s piece on photography is a fun new one, as I will be critiquing my most imperfect photos for your entrainment and —hopefully— learning: Roasting my Old Photos so You can Learn from my Mistakes
Monday the 24th: The exclusive Q&A for paid subscribers in the chat will be pushed one week so you can ask questions about the photography newsletter if you like. You can also send out a photo you want feedback from! And you’ll receive an extra newsletter with the downloadable photo.
Thursday the 27th: The piece on food history will be on another New England favorite that unites cornmeal and pancakes: Jonnycakes
Thursday the 3rd: I’ll finish this set with an essay on a topic I’ve been thinking about for a while: On Seasonal Recipes
This month I’ll be sharing an extra newsletter (corresponding to the 3rd of April) as the Monday Digest for April is on the 7th — given I always post it the first Monday of the month—.
The usual content of recipe-photography-food history-essay will be shifted a bit as this extra newsletter will be shared on Thursday the 13th. This is so because my friend Lou and I will be working on an article about the technique to corn a beef brisket and will share it the week before Saint Patrick’s Day (17th of March), to give you a bigger picture on the traditional Irish meal. Therefore, after this week’s recipe, you’ll have an extra newsletter and then the rest: the Photography-focused newsletter will not be on the second Thursday of the month but on the third, and everything else will move one week accordingly (including the exclusive Q&A).
Food News
For Undocumented Restaurant Workers, Everything Is in Question - (Jaya Saxena) Eater
Scenes From an American Egg Shortage - (Amy McCarthy) Eater
Newsletters I loved
On Tradwives - (
) From the Desk if Alicia Kennedyprotein worship - (
) AnthroDishLooking for Love (Seasonal Produce) in all the Wrong Places (the Supermarket) - (
) The Good Enough Weekly by Devin K Pope) Skye Food Stories) La BriffePaying for Recipes Reaffirms Their Value - (
) Local Bread Baker‘No one is born knowing how to chop an onion’ - (Charlie Benjamin) Vittles
Fake: Traditional Italian Bullshit - (
) The Other GourmandStop Using Cr**py Passata: A Full Guide to Buying Tomato Preserves - (
) L’AppetitoThe death of blueberries? Quite possibly - (
) TabledPersonal Notes
I have been struggling with the contraposition of something exciting that has been happening in my personal life (cannot disclose yet but hopefully I’ll be able to share soon) and the obscure shift the world has been taking. It’s almost unbearable to witness what’s going on, specially in the country where I am living now. I had had hopes that I may have moved to a place that could make history with a first African American woman as president. Now I am afraid it may make history for something completely different. Dark and terrifying. As Adrien Brody has claimed just a few hours ago when he accepted the Oscar for best leading actor for The Brutalist: “if the past can teach us anything is a reminder to not let hate go unchecked”. Let’s not forget.
Choose which photo you want next for downloading
Choose which photo you’d like to receive next for downloading. They are all spring-inspired to get us closer to the end of winter and the start of greener times.
The tulips are so pretty!
Thank you for including Tabled in your picks - and for introducing me to a number of Substacks I wasn't familiar with!