A no-spend week of pastina, shakshuka and pantry alchemy Published May 12, 2026 10:30AM (EDT) Refrigerator (Ashlie Stevens ) A version of this essay first appeared in  The Bite , Salon's food newsletter.  Sign up for early access to articles like this, plus recipes, food-related pop culture recommendations and conversations about what we're eating, how and why. I spend a lot of time thinking about how to tweak everyday foods until they feel like slightly better versions of themselves. To that end, we just wrapped our “Basics Made Better” series over on “ The Bite ,” which focused on exactly that: taking dishes that have quietly become part of many of our de facto repertoires and shifting them, ever so slightly, into new territory. Augmenting a humble cinnamon coffee cake with plush ricotta and floral cardamom. Coaxing extra fudginess out of brownies with coffee , without sacrificing the requisite crinkle top.…