Introducing Eating Gilmore

I don’t think you fully understand the magnitude of my Gilmore Girls obsession. I have probably seen every episode of the original run at least 30 times, and the Netflix revival episodes about 4 times each- but we don’t talk about those.

I was first introduced to Gilmore Girls on rerun on what used to be called ABC Family. As any young teen who was home alone for the summer, I admittedly watched a lot of TV. Flipping between Guts on Nickelodeon GAS (any early 00s stan would know) and Lingo on the Game Show Network eventually became tiresome, so I began channel surfing. One scene, in particular, caught my eye. Two young women were arguing about a boy and school and when the argument came to a heated close, they both turned to Macy Gray’s ‘I Try’ in their angst.

Somehow, I managed to catch the pilot episode of Gilmore Girls before watching any other episode, albeit not at the beginning. I was captivated by the relationship between the young mother and her teenage daughter, and like most fans, the quick and witty dialogue hooked me. I tried to catch other reruns that summer but wasn’t able to watch the show in full because that was pre-streaming.

I also was never able to really watch the show live because it aired when I was at dance lessons after school, and we didn’t have DVR at the time. I still watched the occasional episode here and there on ABC Family and followed along with the storyline for the most part. I knew there was drama around Jess, that Rory chose Yale over Harvard, and I can distinctly remember hearing a radio ad for the penultimate episode, “Rory, will you marry me.” However, it wasn’t until college that the obsession really sank in.

For most of my life, anxiety has had a mighty grip on my brain, and as you might expect, college only increased this. On a regular trip to Half Price Books, I spotted the warm golden yellow of the season one DVD collection of Gilmore Girls. I remembered how comforting I found the episodes I had watched, so I made the purchase. Naturally, I blew through the first season quickly, and I returned to Half Price Books to buy the soft blue season two set and the light purple season three. If my ability to remember the colors of each season’s box set this easily doesn’t tell you how much I’ve watched those DVDs, I don’t know what will.

When I got to season four (green by the way) and the college years, I felt more comfortable in my own college experience. By the end of my sophomore year, I had the entire series on DVD and had already watched every episode a couple times through. Any time life became too stressful or my anxiety too high, I would put on an episode of Gilmore Girls. Lorelai and Rory became my best friends when I needed them most. The show was like a weighted blanket for me- it still is.

Netflix announced that it was making all seven seasons available for streaming. At first, I was indifferent because I already had the entire DVD collection, but the ease of streaming and not having to get up to change out the disc every four episodes made binge-watching even easier (Hey, when you’re in a state of high anxiety, even the littlest of efforts is hard). This meant Gilmore Girls was on a constant loop. I’d say goodbye to all the townies at Rory’s Bon Voyage party while Sam Phillip’s special Gilmore rendition of ‘How to Dream’ played in the background, and then almost immediately, ‘There She Goes’ by the La's would be playing as Lorelai gave us the first introduction to Stars Hollow.

It’s safe to say my obsession for Gilmore Girls runs deep. I have a Gilmore Christmas tree, a Gilmore Girls tattoo, I went to two Gilmore Guys Live shows, I’ve won Gilmore bar trivia (team “I had sex, but I’m not going to Harvard”), my dog and I dressed up as Lorelai and Luke for Halloween (you read that right -- I said my dog) and I’m currently making a Gilmore-themed island on Animal Crossings: New Horizons (more on that later). Other than attending the Gilmore festival in October (I can’t attend because that’s a busy work month) or visiting the Warner Bros lot (never been to LA), I’ve pretty much reached the peak of my obsession. Until now.

Like many of you during the Covid-19 quarantine, I’ve looked for new hobbies. I dabbled in candle-making, turned into an Animal Crossing gamer, and tried my hand at mixology. But I wanted a project because who knows how long we’re going to be stuck at home. And this is when the idea for Eating Gilmore hatched.

Let me first share this disclaimer. I am not a chef. I am not trained in the culinary arts. I have never worked in a restaurant. Cooking has always been something I’ve enjoyed, even as a kid, but I don’t claim to have any skills beyond the average home cook. I also don’t really have any blogging experience (Unless you count Xanga. Again, any early 00s stan would know). But as I said, I wanted a project.

So here’s how this is going to work. I am cooking one dish inspired by each episode of Gilmore Girls (A Year in the Life currently undecided), and I’ll share that dish with you. I don’t expect this blog to be far-reaching (maybe I’ll have my Julie and Julia moment) and I can’t promise I’ll make it through all 153 episodes (see above: lifelong anxiety), but I am going to try. What I can promise you is that every recipe will be AT THE VERY BEGINNING of each blog post because there is nothing more frustrating to me than having to scroll through someone’s entire life story just to find a recipe. I’m sorry if that goes against blog rules. I want this to be a fun project and to me, fun is finding the recipe right at the beginning of a blog. And hey, if you want to stay for the rest of the blog post, that’s up to you! The style of cooking will vary from recipe to recipe, but each one will be inspired by Gilmore Girls.

I am not affiliated with Warner Bros, Amy Sherman Palladino’s masterpiece, the Eat Like a Gilmore cookbook, or any other Gilmore Girls entities. I’m a simple home cook who’s obsessed with Gilmore Girls and wants a quarantine project. So I hope you’ll follow me where I lead.