Onto the food!

Solyanka is soup and to hear the author/Valentina tell it, it's one of those dishes born of necessity: You need to use things up before they go bad.

Schreck describes it has being "salty-sour" and having "too much meat and also pickles."

And, yeah, the recipe is very much a "what's in the fridge" type of recipe. There's a little of everything in there.

I, uh, don't think I'll be trying this one.
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It's a really sweet essay! This is the first one to make me tear up a bit.

Valentina apparently passed away many years ago and would tell the author during arguments, "I will haunt you!".

Like it's a bad thing for a loved one to hang around after they're gone. At worst, it's bittersweet.

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I was half right. The essay is short, but Schreck is a playwright, which is a kind of author.

The essay details her relationship with a Russian woman named Valentina that she met while she was teaching English in Siberia.

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FWIW, I don't think Olive Garden or Applebee's deserve most of the grief they get. They're FINE. Not amazing, but, not super objectionable either.

That's my lukewarm food take and tangent, I guess.

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The recipe for this essay is a joke recipe on how to heat up a can of spaghettios. I approve.

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And how do we get over a breakup? With comfort food, of course!

Specifically by reclaiming the comfort food you were dumped over!

Specifically Specifically with a shittier version of said comfort food: spaghettios with meatballs.

Again, I really relate. All of my childhood comfort foods are "shitty". I grew up in a very rural area. Going out to eat at a mediocre chain restaurant was a big deal and also really the only option. So I get cravings for, like, Olive Garden.

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We also have my favorite line in the whole book so far: "I'm sorry about your boyfriend and the meatball."

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Anyway. Poor Andrew has himself a nice breakup depression. Even more so when he finds out his ex is dating a marketing guy.

I can relate. A few years ago, I got dumped with the same stupid line and he started dating a coworker shortly after, and I didn't eat for a week. It also forever ruined the perfume I was wearing during the dumping.

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Unfortunately the author takes this opportunity to get weirdly shitty about the appearances of the people eating around him.

Like, yeah, they're couples and he's getting dumped and it's meant to demonstrate the negative headspace he's in, but there are other ways to do that, and it's not cute.

While I'm complaining, this essay also has an aside about how unique and special NYC is and