How many people does your fridge need to feed?
Stephanie: Anywhere from three to 150. Sometimes I cater out of here. Every Wednesday I cook at home, and I always cook some extra for us because I’m already cooking so much.
What do you usually eat for breakfast?
Dave: Cereal or eggs.
Stephanie: I don’t eat breakfast. Dave: She eats whatever we don’t eat at dinner.
Stephanie: True.
Oscar: Cereal or eggs.
Dave: He’ll also eat last night’s leftovers.
Is there anything you eat every day?
Dave: Coffee.
Oscar: Water.
Every week?
Stephanie: Eggs. Our probiotic.
Dave: Potato chips.
Stephanie: Not every day! I’ve been so good, I haven’t had potato chips in so long.
Oscar: Apples.
What item are you forbidden from purchasing right now?
Dave: Right now we’re not eating sweets.
Stephanie: We’re trying. We have fruit instead of sweets. And we’re trying not to have a ton of wheat.
Dave: Although last night I bought caramel popcorn. It was so delicious.
Stephanie: And you didn’t share it?
Dave: I ate it while you guys were sleeping.
Stephanie: Aaaw! He’s getting back at us because my friend Megan made us chocolates and we ate all of those without sharing.
What’s the most delicious thing in here?
Stephanie: A strawberry cake. It’s in the freezer; I always have spare cakes in the freezer. I’ll make a cake for someone and I’ll cook off the extra cake batter. It makes a mini cake. Right now there’s a spare strawberry cake and a spare white chocolate cake.
Oscar: My cake!
Dave: Is the tortilla pie in there? That’s pretty delicious.
Stephanie: It’s like a mac and cheese made with tortillas.
Oscar: Popcorn.
The most disgusting?
Stephanie: Herman who lived downstairs and his wife gave me this huge jar of black garlic—maybe pickled garlic—when they left. I think they made it themselves. I’m kind of sensitive to garlic. It looks kind of pretty but I can’t bring myself to taste it, and I also can’t seem to throw it or give it away. Either that or the liver cleanse my friend gave to me when we were doing a detox three years ago. I never took it. I know it costs a lot of money so I haven’t thrown it away, but I bet it’s nasty.
Dave: Probably the kombucha.
Oscar: Olive paste.
Stephanie: I thought you liked olive paste!
Oscar: No.
The oldest?
Stephanie: There’s a small jar of mango pickle that Oscar’s kindergarten teacher Suma gave us.
Oscar: That was my pre-K teacher.
Stephanie: We loved Suma, so we can’t throw it out. Her mother made it.
Where do you do most of your food shopping?
Dave: The Meat Hook, Fresh Direct.
Stephanie: Good Eggs, which I really, really like. It’s like Fresh Direct but it’s only in Brooklyn. They just started this year. It’s all local, a lot of organic—local farmers, local producers, local bread makers, local prepared foods, local sweets… It started in San Francisco and they’ve been doing it for, like, five months here. They deliver, they don’t take tips, they’re super nice. Also, the little produce store by the 99-cent store, C-Town, Key Foods, the corner store—I kind of run everywhere, because I’ll need one specific thing. Lately I’ve noticed that the fancy bodega by us has everything. It’s nice to know because sometimes I’m cooking late at night and if it’s three o’clock in the morning and I need something, I’ll run over there and they’ll have it.
How often do you go grocery shopping?
Stephanie: Maybe twice a week.
What percentage of your meals do you prepare at home?
Stephanie: 80%, on average.
How much do you spend on groceries each week?
Stephanie: Probably $100? $150? All the shopping for client and jobs is paid for.
Is there anything in here that we would have found in your childhood fridge?
Dave: No, because there are no frozen dinners. There’s ketchup…
Stephanie: I guess the stuff in the freezer? My mom freezes everything. But we didn’t have butter when I was a kid, we had margarine. We had skim milk.
What do you wish you had in here?
Dave: Cake. Cookies. Pie. Brownies.
Stephanie: Ice cream would be really nice. I’m craving sweets rights now. But there’s no room for ice cream in there!
Oscar: Ice cream cake. Strawberries and pineapple.
Dave: Ice cream cake is bad.
Stephanie: You don’t like ice cream cake? I cannot believe that.
Dave is a bartender, and he’s holding Stephanie’s tortilla pie. Stephanie is a chef, and she’s holding a jar of never-sampled homemade pickled garlic she received as a gift. Oscar is a fifth-grader, and he’s holding three bags of popcorn, kept in the fridge to keep them fresh.