I’m trying to blog more often, which means letting go of perfectionism and just throwing up a post when the mood strikes me. You know, how we used to do on Tumblr in 2007.
I chatted with an old friend this morning. We were really close in the late aughts/early teens when I lived in Williamsburg and she worked in Greenpoint. We threw random theme parties and invited each other to happy hours on a Tuesday: all the things that you do in your late 20s.
And then, I moved to California, and we understandably drifted. We started doing things you do in your late 30s/early 40s: bake, craft, stay home with a good book, have less dating drama to tell your friends about.
Today, she posted photos of a delicious-looking focaccia she made. So I offered to send her a recipe for the best focaccia sandwich ever, one of my favorite all-time sandwiches that you can only have at home, because the tiny shop that used to make it shuttered in 2017.
I call it the “all-weekend” sandwich (because that’s how long it takes to make if you’re baking your own bread) but its official name is The Scuttlebutt. It was offered at the now-defunct sandwich shop called Saltie, opened by a group of women in 2009 with pedigrees from other food businesses in the neighborhood that made Williamsburg into the food destination that it once was*.
So I offered to send my friend this recipe, and she *immediately* knew what I was talking about. She remembered Saltie. She was thrilled to hear I have the cookbook. She asked me to send her other recipes (which I did).
She thanked me profusely. But really, I’m the one who was thankful. I talk about the Scuttlebutt *often.* Yes, I’m the weirdo who tells people about an amazing sandwich they can no longer have because the shop that no one knew about closed and the cookbook is out of print. It was nice to tell someone about it, and have them know exactly what I meant, and be just as excited about replicating it. I felt seen.
But now that I’m writing this post, and searched for links to include here, I realize that maybe I’m not the only Scuttlebutt maniac? It sounds like it’s pretty much a cult classic at this point. Anyway.. I look forward to eating it this weekend.
*I know I sound crotchety but Williamsburg is no longer exciting to me from a food perspective: far too corporate, far too expensive, basically SoHo. Yes, there are still great bites, new and old, but if you want exciting food in Brooklyn, you need to go elsewhere.
