As an optimistic kid, born and raised in Brooklyn, I never thought I’d really get sick of the city. The culture is so amazing, the museums, the people, the slice of life you get from just riding the subway somewhere. It was always such a huge part of my identity, being from here.
But things have changed—not just me, but the city itself too. The neighborhood I grew up in—Boerum Hill—has priced me out. The hospital I was born in was just pulled down for condos. My public elementary school now has a French language program and an organic garden. Brooklyn is an adjective, an expectation, a commodity—I miss when it felt like an underdog. (Oh, the nights when I used to beg my friends to cross the river to meet at the Brooklyn Inn!) And now the vitality that used to fulfill me and energize me often feels like a current I am fighting against. It’s exhausting just doing the day-to-day life things: finding a grocery store, doing laundry in basement, negotiating two seats together at a movie, getting into a restaurant. So much competition, so much hauling. I’ve gotten so OLDDDDD.
My dad, looking pretty fed up with the city grind.
I digress. This is all to say that New York is a tough old mare. I love her, but she kicks. Occasionally getting out of town makes my heart a bit fonder.
Renting a cabin upstate, or in CT or PA, is a treat. It’s amazing what a 36-hour escape can do for the soul, even couched with traffic and the 4 flights you have to haul your stuff down and up. Reading, long walks, bananagrams, and naps are always on the to-do list. (Um, you can take the New Yorker out of New York…but she will still have a quiet but ambitious relaxation to-do list.)
Cooking in a weekend place is always part of the equation. Personally, I’d rather have a really good meal that is easy to make, and cooks away while you are playing Shithead and drinking rosé with your nearest and dearest, than an exceptional meal that requires much more time and energy to cook and clean. I say this as a person who loves cooking, obviously, but it’s hard to compete with cards and wine. Why not have your cake [dinner] and eat it too?
A little planning can help a lot. Since you never know what a rented house kitchen will have, I find it easiest to gather a bag full of staples from home and supplement with a few fresh things picked up along the way. (I presume access to a car.) Coming prepared means you won’t have to buy last-minute pricey necessities, like oil and pepper, doubles that won’t fit later into your city fridge and cabinet. And you won’t have to send someone out again when you assess the pantry in the new place, realizing there is no coffee for the morning.
And if you’re clever you can reuse these flexible ingredients to feed yourself all weekend. Mustard used in a chicken roast also flavors/emulsifies salad dressing, maple syrup for a salmon glaze also sweetens overnight French toast, cheese stars in a cheese plate for afternoon Bananagrams but also snazzes up frittatas, salads, and sandwiches. This way you aren’t dragging too many drips and drabs back to your apartment, which, after your time away, you’ll hopefully be excited to live in again.
Packing and Planning for a Weekend Away
A few pantry items to bring from home:
- Olive oil (and butter if you must for toast)
- Vinegar (often balsamic) and/or lemons
- Salt and pepper
- 1 spice (something flexible within cuisines, like ground coriander, or a mix like herbes de Provence or ras al hanout)
- Dijon mustard
- Hot things: pepper flakes and/or a chili paste like harissa
- 1 sweetener (sugar, honey, or maple syrup, though if someone needs sugar for their coffee, you might bring a liquid sweetener too)
- 1 light-colored jam (like fig or quince): a half-eaten jar is ideal, because maybe you'll finish it there.
- A couple of chicken bouillon cubes
- Wine: something to drink that wouldn’t break your heart to splash into food
- Coffee and/or tea
- Optional extras: risotto rice, another grain, pasta, potatoes, herb butter (great for sautéing seafood, making garlic bread, cooking eggs, etc.), cornbread mix
A few fresh things from home or a store:
- Bacon or salami: for breakfast or sandwiches, and starting dishes like stews, chicken dishes, tomato sauces, or soups
- Eggs
- Milk
- Baguette: good for sandwiches, French toast, or cheese plates
- Parm and another cheese
- A couple of apples or in-season fruit
- Onions and garlic
- Cherry tomatoes: for frittatas, sauces, roasted, salads, or sandwiches in a pinch
- Spinach or kale: you can sauté them, add them to soups/sauces, or eat raw in salads or sandwiches
- Proteins: chicken thighs, fish, steak, rack of lamb, sausages, whatever sounds fun.
- Optional extras: berries, mayo, plain yogurt, fresh herbs, veggies for roasting, ice cream
Bare essentials equipment to bring only if very concerned with the state of the kitchen:
- 1 chef’s knife. A bad knife is impossible to overcome.
- A wooden cutting board. This is so underrated. With a plastic or tiny cutting board, I don’t actually feel like I’m able to cook at all, plus it makes that horrible scraping noise. This can also be your cheese plate surface in a pinch.
- 1 cast iron skillet. When the other pans are shitty, you can cook almost anything in this: cornbread, frittatas, steaks, fish, roast chicken, pasta sauce, baked desserts, pancakes, etc.
- Baking sheet. Less necessary than the above, but super handy for roasting veggies, chicken, etc.
Easy mains to make from these ingredients:
- Roast chicken pieces: Pantry chicken (mix together jam, harissa, ground coriander, oil, s&p, sliced lemon, peeled shallots), Mediterranean chicken (tomatoes, balsamic, oil, s&p, garlic, herbes de provence), mustard chicken (mustard, honey/maple, s&p, bed of oiled, sliced onions). Mix all ingredients with some bone-on chicken thighs and bake.
- Rack of lamb, for a vacation-y treat: rub fatty park of the rack with mustard, spice mix, oil, s&p, then press on homemade bread crumbs made from ends of baguette. Roast and deglaze pan later with dissolved bouillon, wine, balsamic, and honey.
- Steak! Sauté an onion on the side. Deglaze steak pan with wine, mustard, lots of pepper.
- Fish: salmon with maple/mustard glaze, or any type of fish with burst tomatoes
- Quick pasta: cook down onions, garlic, hot pepper flakes, and cherry tomatoes; add bacon or salami if you like. For a one-pot dinner, throw in spinach at last minute. Another fav with few ingredients: Italian sausage, garlic, pepper flakes, white wine, kale/rabe, parm.
Easy sides to make from these ingredients:
- Fancy cheese board: parm and other cheese, serve with fruit, jam, salami, honey, baguette
- Roasted potatoes: add garlic, lemon juice (greek style), or the spice mix if you like
- Garlic bread or crostini (brush bread with oil, spice mix, s&p and bake)
- Risotto: fancy it up with canned artichokes or sautéed mushrooms
- Cornbread (honestly, I like Jiffy mix with a can o’ niblets, but you do you; use bacon fat to grease skillet if you have it around)
- Salad with DIY salad dressing
- Sautéed greens
- Roasted veggies, with optional spicy yogurt (yogurt, salt, garlic, spice mix and/or hot pepper flakes)
Breakfasts to make from these ingredients:
- French toast with fruit, quick apple compote, jam, or maple syrup
- Overnight French toast: in a casserole dish, soak bread overnight with eggs, milk, maple, and optional berries, then bake until puffed and golden
- Strata: let bread soak overnight with eggs, milk, grated cheese, something spicy, and whatever other savory items you like: tomatoes, salami, etc.
- Frittatas: leftover roasted veggies, leftover pasta, cheese, spinach, etc.
- Shakshuka: cook down tomatoes and onions with harissa or whatever chili you brought, poach eggs in it
- Eggs and cornbread (with bacon or crispy salami, if you like)
- Hash with leftover roasted potatoes
Lunches to make from these ingredients:
- Grilled cheese: jazzed up with bacon, salami, tomato, apples, jam, harissa, etc.
- BLTs
- Corn chowder, if it's summer
- Egg salad or deviled eggs (mustardy, with harissa, etc)
- Leftover-chicken salad
- Salads: panzanella, grain salad, or spinach/kale salads. Leftover chicken, steak, salmon or veggies are good additions; homemade croutons improve all.
What did I miss? What do you bring when going away for the weekend? Tell all.
