#16: You're now getting de-influenced 🌀

Backyard lettuce, an Ethiopian platter, the joy of plastic eggs

I know by now I’ve fooled you all into thinking my life is incredibly glamorous—filled with buzzy pop-ups, fancy dinners and me slow motion laughing (cackling) while I drink a glass of chilled rosé. So, it brings me no pleasure to come here and report that I had a very normal and boring week last week.

I try to maintain a certain level of integrity while writing this very popular newsletter. I don’t go out of my way to “create content”. But still, there’s a certain amount of panic that sets in when I realize I don’t have anything insightful or new and exciting to write about. There’s pressure to conjure up a meal or an experience to feed my precious readers.

I’m not an influencer nor am I trying to become one, but I imagine the pressure is the same. Constantly churn out new content to feed the algorithm or DIE.

I recently saw a reel from a local influencer (will not name names) who was showing how she batches her OOTD content by shooting multiple outfits in one afternoon. This struck me as insane.

For anyone who isn’t familiar, OOTD stands for outfit of the day. As in, one singular day and one singular outfit. Shooting three outfits in one day to cover multiple days worth of content??? This is deception at the highest level and I’m reporting you to the Better Business Bureau.

I tell you this sad parable because it’s representative of where we are as a culture. Reality is irrelevant. All that matters is churning out content. It doesn’t even matter if the content is an illusion.

Food influencers are some of the worst offenders. Who among us hasn’t seen the reels? “POV: You found a secret speakeasy in the basement of a hospital”. You know there’s no way some of these places can be good. And the influencer might have had an absolutely terrible time but they’d never admit it, because doing so would render their content unusable. So they package it up and sell it to you as an experience, with quick pans and cheese pulls and smoke wafting off an old fashioned.

This is the kind of bullshit that makes me want to walk into the sea. And in this short (and strange) edition of this week’s QCH, let me just say, fuck that.

I didn’t find any hidden gems or have any mind blowing dining experiences last week. I don’t have a timely listicle or a thought provoking essay about Charlotte’s food scene. My goal here was (and still is) to have fun and share the reality of my eating and drinking experiences in Charlotte, not to churn out or batch content.

Last week, I spent time with family and friends and I enjoyed a lot of meals without taking pictures of them. I also spent time outside, started reading a new book, and tried to spend less time doomscrolling. It was all relatively uneventful but it was nice.

Keeping up with the pace of the world right now feels like running on a hamster wheel of death and maybe we could all use a reminder that it’s actually ok to have a normal, boring week. It’s ok to give yourself permission to slow down. It’s ok to do things that bring you comfort. It’s also ok to rest and do nothing at all.

In the spirit of no illusions, here's a very real list of what I consumed last week that will definitely not go viral, but did bring me joy.

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5 things I consumed this week in Charlotte (& Asheville)

1. Lettuce (free) from our backyard garden. This is one of many “hauls” we’ve used for salads over the past few weeks. It’s pretty thrilling stuff and I mean that genuinely even though it’s coming off as sarcastic.

2. Veggie lettuce wraps ($14) and Chicken w/ Mixed Veggies ($14) from Boading. It was my dad’s birthday last week so we celebrated with Chinese instead of JJ’s Red Hots *cries*. I do kind of love Boading though and it’s been in Charlotte since 1993.

3. Homemade baked penne, garlic bread and salad at a friend’s house. Highly recommend making your friends dinner and sitting around outside. Very “live, laugh, love”. Will be returning the favor soon.

4. The Passport Platter ($35) from Enat Ethiopian. I always say I’m going to try this spot in Optimist Hall and I finally did! I’m not familiar with Ethiopian food and was a little intimidated but it was so good. Everything was super flavorful and I was obsessed with the Fosolia. This platter was GIANT.

5. Black cod ($34) and a Smoked Olive Martini ($16) from The Admiral. Popped over for a quick night in Asheville and had dinner at this West AVL spot. The entire vibe of this place is on point. It’s dimly lit like an old school steakhouse and just the right amount of kitschy while still being cool. Also, the crispy skin on this cod was elite.

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I’ll leave you with one of the major highlights of my week, which was watching our friends’ toddlers look for plastic Easter eggs in their backyard. The eggs were empty (a genius move) but still inspired hours of entertainment.

c u next tuesday,

the hag herself

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All of the food and drinks reviewed in QCH are paid for by the author. This newsletter does not feature any ads or sponsored content.