New prof pic, new site name, newsletter!

Welcome to the first edition of Snacks, my weekly newsletter THAT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COMING. All caps, because it’s been…too long? Way too long.

So what can you except from Snacks? First, you’ll get a newsletter every Sunday at 9am ET rounding up all my recipes, content, and links in one place (we’re one day late this week…because I wanted a cute lil’ launch day on Instagram) This is big for me, since I tend to do different content on different platforms, so I want to have a one-stop-shop for anything you want to cook.

I’ll also share a few weekly favorites (podcasts, articles, products etc.) at the end of the newsletter. This means in the first newsletter of each month I’ll share my book + cookbook for the month, and my review of the last month’s (and that’s what’s included in this newsletter, yay!)

Now onto the exclusive stuff:

Every now and then, I’ll use this newsletter to share exclusive recipes that are just whipped up in my kitchen - pretty enough to take a photo and put them on the internet, but usually things that don’t have a whole video. These will come in real time, and the full recipe will go right to your inbox. Look out for a kale risotto coming your way this week…

Now that housekeeping is done, let’s get into the first episode (sorry…newsletter) of Snacks!

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This week’s round-up!

• The full break-down of how I store and keep my herbs, video here

• A recipe for the easiest 10-minute Anchovy Sizzle Beans, recipe here, video here

• A summer corn & cherry salad with aleppo pepper that will make you rethink raw corn all together, recipe here, video here

• And my famous blueberry cookies! Recipe here, video here

Favorites!

My East Fork Pottery. I know, I know, I’m late to the game. But I have been eating everything out of these bowls and I cannot get enough. The sturdiness, the aesthetic, the colors - it’s all there. My kitchen has never looked this amazing and my oats haven’t either.

I also have become fascinated with the “Make Instagram Instagram Again” movement, which is less of a movement and more of a meme. Basically, people want to see photos of their friends again, you can read more about in this WSJ Article. And yes, as a creator I think of this entirely differently than a consumer, but I can’t help but totally understand where the movement is coming from. I’ll always say the best part of having both Instagram and TikTok is that social media is no longer a monopoly, and users have a choice. But now that apps are mimicking each other, it feels like the variety is slowing going away, and tbh, I’ll always miss the idea of having a platform that is static-images only. And what I also think is interesting in this situation is how Instagram’s response strategically chose to ignore certain opinions, making me wonder: who really has the power when it comes to social media? It’s interesting, and I’d love to know your POV.

Book Club

I used to be a horrible reader, horrendous. So now I *try* to read one novel every month, and/or cook out of one cookbook each month. In July, I read Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and picked up Salad Freak by Jess Damuck.

Lessons in Chemistry started slow, but after getting into it, I absolutely devoured it (no pun intended). This book starts as a romance, but quickly turns into a much more complicated story as Elizabeth Zott goes from chemist, to on-air television cook, to an unintentional activist for women’s rights in 1960’s America. It’s a light read with a twist ending I never saw coming, and I can confidently give it 3 stars (which is good! I just have a whole system - my goodreads is a sacred place).

And Salad Freak - ugh. A whimsical, colorful, delightful cookbook that I knew I would love as soon as I saw it. Every recipe is creative, fresh, and easily adaptable to fit your pantry. I cooked from it multiple times this month when I just had a few ingredients lying around. You can support a local bookstore and buy it here.

August’s books

I’ve heard raves about Miss Metropolitan by Carolyn Ferrell, and I finally broke down and bought Molly Baz’s Cook This Book. Stay tuned for next month when I’ll give full reviews, and feel free to purchase/rent out your own to read along! Shall we start a book club? 👀 👀 I’m open to your thoughts!

And that’s it for Snacks! It was a longer one this time, but I’d love to hear your thoughts. My dream for this newsletter is for it to have a comments section that is more of a ~conversation~, as well as be a round-up. And in the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe ;)