Brian Ransom, our beloved digital intern, is not from the East Coast, and so we occasionally amuse ourselves by making him try, for the first time, things like burrata, korean pears, and smoked salmon.

Yesterday, he told us that he had bought himself a chestnut, but that it had been very difficult to peel. We asked if he had … eaten it raw? He had. 

Turns out, today’s “Cooking with Sybille Bedford” post includes a recipe for roasted chestnuts. Hence, this exchange:

On Friday, December 1, 2017, at 11:13 A.M., Brian Ransom wrote:
Posted!

On Friday, December 1, 2017, at 11:20 A.M., Nadja Spiegelman wrote:
But did you read the recipe for chestnuts?

On Friday, December 1, 2017, at 11:26 A.M., Brian Ransom wrote:
No need.

My recipe for chestnuts.

One: buy a single chestnut.

Two: peel said chestnut for forty-three minutes.

Three: eat the chestnut and try to tell your brain to shut up about the flakes of chestnut shell tasting like pencil shavings.

Four: wonder why you know what pencil shavings taste like.

Five: self-actualize.