I ride for you, Dolma Stuffed Greek Chick'n Sandwich

it's a brat summer

Hope you had a great July 4th and that you’re continuing the celebrations through the weekend. Today we’d like to celebrate independence in all its forms, but mostly from men. Kidding but it does feel like we’re living through a somewhat pivotal time that we all might look back on as the brat era.

Today you’ll be getting:

• BRAT analysis

• Guidelines to living a brat summer (and life)

• Dolma Stuffed Greek Chick’n Sandwich

All are equally important! And the sandwich would be great to bring to the beach this weekend, just saying.

stuff my dolma (sorry what)

We’ve previously mentioned our obsession with Charli xcx and BRAT and we’re not the only ones to be absolutely CONSUMED by it - it’s everywhere at the moment. I’m going to riff about why this is because it’s interesting.

Charli is voicing (taboo) things that women can relate to or have felt deeply and she’s doing it lightheartedly. Not that it’s unserious - but the way she’s exposing her most vulnerable thoughts, in a conversational tone, with a club beat behind it - makes it feel more approachable. She’s normalizing having these somewhat intrusive thoughts and contradicting feelings. She’s inviting you to face complex emotions in a way that’s not so heavy. It feels good to express them. It’s a way to process the darker stuff and transmute it. Idk, it’s kind of spiritual. And bratty.

She’s also showing that women can be multi-faceted, which reminds me of this essay I read about how society can’t handle complex female characters.

Charli’s a brat (Von dutch) and she’s also just a girl with insecurities being pitted against other women in the industry (Sympathy is a knife / Girl, so confusing). She’s a party girl (365) and she’s also a 31 year old feeling the pressure of the ‘biological clock’ and wondering if she even wants children (I think about it all the time). She’s hot (Guess) and she’s exploring her generational trauma and escapism tendencies (Apple)!! It’s pretty remarkable.

The cherry on top was Lorde coming on the remix of Girl, so confusing. The original song is about Charli’s relationship with Lorde and how she never really knew if they were friends or secretly rooting against each other.

“Yeah, I don't know if you like me
Sometimes I think you might hate me
Sometimes I think I might hate you”

The industry always compared them. Lorde gets on the remix with an insane verse that squashes their media-amplified beef and ends with her saying ‘I ride for you, Charli” and I’m getting full body chills as I’m typing it!!

charli_xcx

A post shared by @charli_xcx

The internet did in fact, go crazy.

Be More Bratty

I think there are similar reasons why Taylor Swift has taken over and why women are just crushing music right now (Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Olivia Rodrigo, Gracie Abrams). This is not about shitting on men, it’s about women coming together and healing from the patriarchy, so you know what it actually is your fault, men. On that note, here are some things we’re doing this summer to be more bratty. It’s an abstract concept so really anything goes. A few items from this list are inspired by the Cake for Lunch: Summer Ins and Outs (I love lists and theirs is great).

Okay somehow they’re all about getting wine drunk but I’ll double down on that.

Just get out there and be messy, hot, provocative, funny, sarcastic, nostalgic, insecure, deep, smart, empathetic, crazy, shallow, confident, bitchy, vulnerable, carefree, successful, anxious, fun, and annoying.

Hello, goodbye

EVERYTHING IS TEMPORARY! Like this sandwich…because one second it’s there and the next it’s down the gullet (sorry). If you know us, you know that we have an obsession with dolmas or stuffed grape leaves. In order to keep up with our intense need at any given time, we have discovered that Trader Joe’s dolmas are delicious. Taking it one step further, we stuffed them onto a chick’n sandwich and deemed ourselves to be insanely smart because of it.

It’s like if all the best parts of a Greek salad collided with a crispy chick’n sandwich. Aka it’s perfect. No notes!! The recipe is essentially a list of our favorite products plus a cucumber, so it’s very easy to put together and customize to your liking. Get crazy and provocative with it, you brat.

i think about it all the time

Dolma Stuffed Greek Chick’n Sandwiches

Ingredients:

• Chick’n Patties

• Dave’s Killer Burger Buns

• TJ’s Vegan Tzatziki

• Kalamata olives, chopped

• Pepperoncini slices

• Cucumber, slices

• TJ’s Dolmas

• Red onion

Method:

1. Cook the chick’n: Cook the chick’n patties according to the package instructions.

2. Prep your ingredients: While those are cooking, prepare your toppings.

3. Assemble: Toast the bun (optional) then add vegan tzatziki, kalamata olives and pepperoncini, cucumber, chick’n patty, dolmas (3-4), red onion, more tzatziki and the other half of the bun.