On My Plate: Noreen Wasti
We ask friends of Brightland how they use our olive oil, vinegar, and honey to enhance the everyday.
Brightland’s Chef in Residence Noreen Wasti is an accomplished recipe developer, food stylist, and self-proclaimed snacker. We recently sat down with Noreen to hear about the meals, small bites, and rituals she enjoys during her downtime between work for clients.
7:00 AM
I wake up everyday by 7 and am immediately thinking about coffee. I wish I was one of those “hot water and lemon” in the morning types of people, I am not. I am one of those “but first coffee” people and it’s not necessarily for the caffeine jolt, but it’s just a ritual I truly enjoy. I brew at home on a small, but mighty espresso machine. I’m still learning and I always have a 6 ounce espresso with steamed whole milk. I change up my beans quite often and today I’m brewing up a Guatemala from Harken Coffee. The notes are vanilla wafers, orange, and marshmallow. It’s just a moment of quietness before I start my day.
8:20 AM
A handful of walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and almonds.
9:30 AM
After some movement, quick emails, and getting all of my work goals in order for the day I’ll have breakfast and that’s almost always toast. Today I’m having a thick slice of toasted sourdough pullman bread from She Wolf Bakery. I like a fully loaded avocado toast with chives, microgreens, jalapeños, aleppo pepper, flaky salt, and a big glug of LUCID lemon olive oil for a lemony bite. It keeps me full for a couple hours while I work. I also have a spoon of peanut butter
1:00 PM
I am recipe testing a pasta dish for Brightland today, so I end up eating a bowl of that. Since I am almost always cooking during the day, I eat a lot of random scraps from whatever is leftover. This pasta has garlic, lemon, burrata, and pistachios along with Brightland's new CASTELVETRANO olive oil, it’s so good!
1:30 PM
I make another coffee — the cure for the midday slump.
2:15 PM
I’m starting to feel a little hungry, so I put together a small cheese plate with some grapes, almonds, figs, and manchego — a couple of drizzles of Brightland California Orange Blossom honey.
4:15 PM
I’m a snacker and just need to have another snack to make it to 5, so I quickly cut up a Persian cucumber and drizzle it with PARASOL citrus Champagne vinegar, a little ALIVE olive oil, a sprinkle of togarashi and flaky salt. Some crunchy chickpeas and spicy mochi rice nuggets too, as you can see I lean more savory > sweet. I munch on these while I finish up some work.
5:45 PM
I try to eat dinner by 6 when I’m at home. It’s ramps season right now (!!!) and I’m making the most of it while I can. I sear some ramps in AWAKE olive oil and add them to a big plate of cannellini beans. I mix in a few glugs of ZEAL wild ramp vinegar, grated garlic, salt, and pepper. Shaved parm and a big drizzle of ARDOR chili olive oil on top for some heat. I added in some toasted sourdough bread chunks in there too, bread is my best friend. It was really satisfying and tasty.
7:00 PM
I end the day with my TTTT, which stands for treats, tea, and TikTok. I have a dark chocolate covered date and a hot cup of peppermint tea. I add in some fennel seeds, a couple cardamom pods, with a little drop of Kauai Wildflower Honey — it’s really soothing. I’ll scroll TikTok for a bit (or more), watch a little Jeopardy, and will do some content editing on my phone.
10:00 PM
I try to start winding down at 9 and sleep around 10. Goodnight!
