cabbage salsa is real, i promise 😤

plus, a deep dive into american foods I've never heard of

Well, hello!

I hope everyone’s week was nothing short of fabulous and if it was short of fabulous, there’s always next week, right?

The good news is it finally feels like fall time in beautiful Sacramento (this week I had my first I-don’t-want-to-run-today-because-it’s-too-cold-outside moment of the year). Thankfully, I no longer have to cosplay a person experiencing cold weather by forcing myself to wear sweaters in 80ºF weather.

The bad news is it’s getting WAY too dark WAY too early. If any of you live way up north, I’m thinking of you (I don’t know how you do it!!!!). <3

Ok, now time to overshare!!

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There’s more on this later (refer to something I learned), so I’ll spare you the small talk. Allow me to introduce you to my take on the Central Valley of California’s ever-so-popular chip condiment, Cabbage Salsa.

Cabbage Salsa (aka Cabbage Pico)

Ingredients

• 1/2 head of cabbage, chopped

• 4 campari tomatoes, diced

• 1/2 bunch of cilantro (stems included), chopped

• 1/3 cup pickled jalapeños, chopped

• 1 clove of garlic, grated

• juice of 2 limes

• 2 tbsp jalapeño pickling liquid

• 2 tbsp white vinegar

• salt, to taste

Preparation

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well, until fully combined. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, before serving.

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Last Friday, I shared my recipe (only on TikTok) for “Cabbage Salsa”.

Long story short, when I first visited my boyfriend’s hometown in the Central Valley many moons ago, I found that almost every Mexican restaurant served a trio of dips to accompany the complimentary chips that came out at the beginning of the meal: cabbage salsa, beans, and some variation of salsa fresca (see picture below).

As someone who was very unfamiliar with this “Cabbage Salsa” ordeal, I quickly learned that this was a totally normal thing to see at Mexican restaurants in the Central Valley of California (the population is ~50% Hispanic). And considering I grew up just 2 hours away, this was slightly jarring to me. But, this AND the idea that Dutch Crunch bread and Mission Burritos (foods that are very prevalent in the SF Bay Area, where I grew up) aren’t available all over the U.S. was the first time I truly realized truly how regional foods are all over the world, including the U.S.

ANYWAY, this concept (that regional foods are a thing) was difficult for many people to grasp, and one of the most common comments I received (out of 1,400 and counting 🥲) was something along the lines of the following:

All I’m going to say is comments like this one made me look up all of the popular regional dishes in America that I had never heard of. And I learned there are A LOT.

Here are just some of the very regional American dishes you may not know of (I certainly have never heard of or tried them):

• American Chop Suey

• Klobásník

• Dirty Rice

• Rice and Gravy

• Frogeye Salad

• Funeral Potatoes

• Runza

• Livermush

• Beef Manhattan

• Muffuletta

• Garbage Plate

• Burgoo

• Grillades

• Yaka Mein

• American Goulash

Suffice to say that countries are extremely large. Just because you are American, Mexican, or any other nationality, you still might have never heard of every food made in your country.

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I don’t know if I’ve talked about it on here before, but I have a deep love for Gunther’s Ice Cream, here in Sacramento (we visited again this past weekend so it’s fresh in my mind). I’m just going to be bold here and state that I think Gunther’s is my ideal ice cream shop.

I get bing cherry almost every time I go, because the one time I chose to get another flavor, I deeply regretted it (the other flavor was Thai tea and it was delicious, I just LOVE bing cherry). Rating-wise, their ice cream is a solid perfect 10/10 for me. I actually don’t know what would make it better, hence why it’s perfect to me.

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Saltverk sent me their flaky salt and OMG (this is totally unsponsored btw)!

Not only is their packaging so cute and perfect, but the actual flaky salt has more structural integrity than my typical go-to, Maldon. Other flavors worth mentioning are their Birch Smoked salt which could be used on soups, salads, produce, cocktails, and probably so much more??

I highly recommend the brand and will likely convert. BTW they’d make a great gift for anyone who likes to cook or make cocktails (just saying!!!).

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My BF insisted on making my dinner recently (🥲) & it was 🤌/🥹.

Here was the spread:

teriyaki pineapple sausage (top), bavarian cheese (bottom)

He had brought back sausages from a trip to the farmer’s market a while back and froze them (proof that you never know when frozen sausage might come in handy!!!).

I actually HIGHLY recommend stopping by Wolfsen’s (the actual producer) if you ever find yourself in Gustine, California. They have a wide selection of really incredible sausages and they make for a perfect dinner.

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My friends, that’s all for today!!!

These next two weeks will have lots of fun content that I’m really looking forward to sharing (especially on TikTok!!!), SO GET READY!!!!!!!

ILY all and hope you have a fabulous weekend. CHEERS!

💛,

Zoe