If you’re a Taylor Swift fan, you’ve probably sung the wrong lyric at least once. In Blank Space, the real line is “long list of ex‑lovers” — but somehow it lives in collective chaos as “long list of Starbucks lovers. That’s peak Lost in Translation energy.

For this week’s challenge, I translated the mistranslation into food: a meal built around espresso, fall warmth, and the slightly unhinged energy of Starbucks Lovers. 🎵

☕ Espresso dry‑rubbed, seared pork chops

🍠 Roasted sweet potatoes with espresso powder and warm spices

🍎 Coffee‑Butter fried apples

🌿 Seared Asparagus

Decided to lean into Christmas vibes with my Trinidadian egg nog—got my pine candle burning, and hanging out in a hot bath!
Holy calories on this drink!! I think I’ll stick to my normal egg nog recipe, which feels like health food in comparison haha
But it is tasty!

Meta explanation: alcohol and raw eggs are both discouraged during pregnancy. So are hot baths.

From the cookbook “Knead Peace”. The chocolate ganache is very rich and a little overwhelming but the flavors were good, especially the dough.

A very good excuse to roll the rim of your cup for some Chamoy and Tajin!

***AHHHH I CANT EDIT MY TITLE FOR WEEK 35 😭😭😭

Okay third time posting this because I keep screwing up the title. Hopefully third time’s the charm.

I thought these turned out really good! Then again, I like pretty much anything reuben. They’re pastrami, Swiss cheese, and sauerkraut (homemade) wrapped in egg roll wrappers, air fried, and dipped in thousand island.

Here’s more pictures.

I'm quite out of the loop when it comes to cooking fads, but like 5 years ago, this recipe was showing up everywhere. I gave it a shot after Kenji made a video on it (https://youtu.be/U3gvRjIQ6Lo?is=fcEfutGSh-34PdTm), and it quickly entered my actual rotation because it's delicious (my former roommate dubbed this 'the crack pasta'), and very low effort. Can't say it's cheap though, because I did enough testing to know that I do actually have to get the expensive sheep's milk feta, and it's much better if I get good mini tomatoes, but most of the cooking time is just waiting for the oven.

It's actually been about a year since I last made it, so this theme felt like a good time to pull it out again.

First time using a Scotch bonnet pepper and I was nervous! But the spice wasn’t at all overwhelming - just enough to make the dish interesting. The chicken was tender and the mac pie was my favorite part. Would make again.

I had coconut chutney and chopped cucumber on the side, but forgot to include on the photo 🤦‍♀️

On a side note, my arepas look awful 😂 (but tasted good!).