Pop Up #3: Fall in New England
as told by April Wu (with photos by Sangita Vasikaran, April Wu, and Yoshihiro Saito)
Arriving in Boston as a freshman, I experienced many “firsts”. One of these “firsts” was an actual experience of fall. As a Californian, my impression of fall consisted of dead yellow grass, occasional cold spells (of 40 degrees Fahrenheit, yes, I know, I’m weak), and trips to the beach to enjoy gusts of crisp icy wind. Here in New England, it occurred to me that fall! Is an actual thing! Leaves turning all shades of red and orange? Rainy days with noticeable puddles that don’t immediately evaporate? The joy of picking a farm fresh apple and biting into it immediately?? I was charmed—entranced, even.
Fall?? In this economy??
I leaned into autumn wholeheartedly—tromping leaves, baking anything and everything pumpkin, and learning how to layer so I didn’t freeze the minute I stepped out of my dorm. Fall in New England became my favorite season.
One thing didn’t change about fall though—community. Fall is the descendance into the holiday season, centered around family feasts, gift giving, and spending time with loved ones.
MINCE is a group that rests upon the core community built around food. We love cooking for others, eating together, learning about each individual’s soul food.
MINCErs thriving in their natural habitat
With this pop-up, we wanted to express our appreciation for the irreplaceable community food creates to you all! And with this blog post, I intend to share how our team came together to bring it from ideation to table :).
Menu ideation is always exciting to me because thoughts bubble to the surface and materialize into dishes from us collectively vibing together.
Then it was time to develop recipes! Feli, Monse and I bonded over our shared love of bread and Claire Saffitz and proceeded to menace an entire bottle of olive oil. The starter was focaccia with roasted vegetables, garlic yogurt, herbed butter, and balsamic vinegar olive oil. Feli had the amazing idea to top the focaccia with water chestnuts, which added a pleasant nutty flavor to the bread.
The main course was multicolored gnocchi in a browned butter and sage sauce, manned by Angela and Michael. I have never seen two individuals so committed to rolling and boiling dough. They roasted potatoes, butternut squash, purple sweet potatoes, and beets to achieve the most beautiful little nuggets of pasta.
Alayo and Joanna took it upon themselves to go the extra mile and make SMOKED CINNAMON spiced apple cider :O!! And, upon experimentation, they discovered that it worked really well with sparkling water!
the first of many appearances of Jacky’s blowtorch
Dessert team was Kelly and Jacky, who created a match made in heaven: poached pears and goat cheese ice cream with a burnt citrus sugar crisp.
I cannot thank the business team enough: from ordering groceries to streamlining the outreach and customer service, they manned everything from behind and in front of the scenes.
Finally, we threw everything together: the business team crafted an amazing room that facilitated the happiest smiles and warmest exchanges over the delicious meal that the cooking team created.
So you see? Just like how it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a team of passionate creative minds to make a truly memorable autumn meal.
