You Are What You Eat, Cecily Upton

Name: Cecily Upton

One small note before we begin: I want to emphasize, in case it’s not clear from my answers below, how much I love pork--in all its tender and fatty or cured and chewy forms. I think it is one of God’s greatest gifts to this planet, which, I suppose, would mean that I don’t worship to the same God as the Jews or the Muslims (and therefore the Christians? This is getting complicated). I say this because, if, as Ganda reckons, you are what you eat, then I am--proudly, gloriously and unabashedly--a pig.

[Swine is divine. -- Ed.]

Occupation: Photographer/Non-Profit Minion/Reluctant Waitress

Borough: Brooklyn

Relationship status:cecily [at] eatdrinkonewoman {dot} com

What did you eat today?

Note: Since it’s 3:30 in the afternoon, I am going to start with dinner last night and work my way towards the present moment.

Clams and sausage from the Greenmarket with scapes from Hearty Roots Community Farm CSA and sage from my fire escape

Sauteed summer squashes with bacon made by my meat-curing roommate

A meat plate with Dario and Mole sausages from Armandino Batali (my new BFF) and Coppa from the aforementioned, well-endowed in the meat department roommate.

CSA salad of mizuna, arugula, and butter lettuce with tomatoes and carrots

Fresh Greenmarket strawberries, blueberries and cherries [Yay summer! -- Ed.]

Pistachios

Lots of Riesling, Vinho Verde and Hendricks on the rocks with fresh lime juice

Coffee from Café Regular with Half & Half (truly the best cup I’ve had in a long time)

Fried green tomato sandwich with Pimenton French fries from Rose Water Restaurant and a taste of their blueberry buttermilk pancakes with lemon ricotta and pistachios

More strawberries and blueberries

More pistachios

What do you never eat?

There’s nothing I won’t try, but I never eat fast food.

Complete this sentence: In my refrigerator, you can always find:

Film. And butter. The rest depends on my mood, my cash flow (or lack thereof) and the season.

What is your favorite kitchen item?

That dishwasher I’ve been dreaming about.

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Marlow and Sons, Prune, Rose Water.

World ends tomorrow. What would you like for your last meal?

Oysters from North Haven Island, Maine

The meat plate at Marlow and Sons, with their tissue-paper thin prosciutto and addiction-forming finnochio sausage

Meatball sliders from Little Owl (or perhaps some braised pork belly)

The ribeye from Prune, medium rare, with extra parsley shallot butter

A salad made with greens from my CSA with lemon and olive oil

A plate of sliced, perfectly ripe, deliciously juicy tomatoes with sea salt and olive oil

A cheese plate with selections from Ms. Anne Saxelby’s shop

A warm, sticky date bun with caramel sauce and crème fraiche

To drink: a Pimm’s Cup, a glass of grapefruity Riesling, a glass of Collezione Ceci Lambrusco, a glass of Neyers Zinfandel, some mead, and a macchiato, in that order.

And then it wouldn’t matter if the world ended the next day, because I would die of a heart attack right there at the dinner table.

See Cecily's photography here. Visit her blog here.