Taameya, tahini, Tuscany

Good afternoon, folks, and happy almost-weekend — just one more day to go. In today’s issue, we sit down with Lulu’s Kitchen’s Alia El Askalany and see just how much a taameya sandwich can tell you about a person. For a pop-up in Beirut, she turned its ingredients into a salad, which sums up what she does through Lulu’s Kitchen: start with something rooted in memory, take it somewhere unexpected, and invite people to the table. We talk to her about pop-ups, culinary retreats, olive oil, and why opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant isn’t in the cards — at least for now.

Elsewhere in today’s issue, we read Kelly Bishop’s memoir, The Third Gilmore Girl, a good pick whether or not you’re in the yearly Gilmore Girls rewatch club. With every league on break, there’s no sports roundup today.

Onto the headlines…