How Much Citrus is Too Much Citrus?
This winter is defined by citrus. Every grocery store visit sees me leave with bags full of oranges, mandarins, tangerines, grapefruit, whatever looks best...
Seasons, Stews, and Scotch Bonnets
It’s only January and I’m already anxious for scotch bonnet season. A lot of recipes I’m working through right now (primarily Brazilian fusion from Ixta...
Quality Kitchen Time
Sometimes I want to be in the kitchen more than I want to write about being in the kitchen. That’s where we’re at this week, so lemme just give y’all a...
Fufu Failure Can't Keep Me Down!
Failure doesn’t sit right with me, which you think would make me a bit more naturally averse to cooking and especially of baking. My commitment to following...
Top 5 Cookbooks of 2025
#300
Well, y’all, it happened. On Christmas Eve, I made my 300th new recipe of 2025. It feels absurd not because I’m shocked to have logged so many recipes but...
All Hail Shio Koji & Kampot Peppercorns
Thanks to the looming end of the year, I’m preoccupied with assessing of all my cooking Bests this year. Best cookbooks? Best dishes? Best equipment? Best...
Good Things Come to Those Who Weigh
Until the past few years, my kitchen time was largely spent baking. Various brownies, cookies, and cakes were standard fare with the occasional unhinged...
Food Memories, or Lack Thereof
Lately, I’ve been thinking about how I have very few vivid food memories from the first 30 years of my life. Besides the past couple of years during which...
Cookbook Corner: Kalaya's Southern Thai Kitchen
As the year is wrapping up, I’m reflecting on some of my favorite cookbooks from 2025. Nok Suntaranon’s Kalaya’s Southern Thai Kitchen has unequivocally...
How Do You Say Pecan?
While putting up the Christmas tree this year, “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” came up on the merry playlist. Maybe this is weird, but I used to run to...
The Archive - Part II
I’m not gonna lie to y’all - I am in the depths of mental recovery from my Thanksgiving kitchen marathon and from hosting our cookbook club’s chili cook-off...
This Meal Would Have Killed a Pilgrim
Traditional Thanksgiving food bores me, and I’m not really sure why. It may just be because it’s heavy on simplicity and familiarity; nowadays, I only have...
Recipe Snobbery is Worth It
Seeing as I’ll be musing on the year’s best good eatin’ in this newsletter soon, now may be a good time to better explain my rating system that scales from S...
Trying New Things Won’t Hurt Ya
I have put a lot of new things in my mouth the past few weeks, not to mention over the last two years. I’m not a particularly picky eater. At the very least,...
A Rewarding Obsession
I am obsessed with cookbooks. As in, I regularly have to decide if I need to budget in monthly cookbook funds. Spoiler alert: there’s always cookbook money...
There's a Whole World in my Pantry
I am not a world traveler. I am a creature of habit, and I am happily married to my routines. Home is the only place I want to be most days. That being said,...
The Archive
Of course I keep a spreadsheet of all the new recipes I’ve made this year. Oh, back-up - I record them in my planner first. Well, actually I make the menu...
Turnip Greens & Mountain Dew
I’m nostalgic for turnip greens and Mountain Dew. I was fortunate to have both sets of my great grandparents throughout the bulk of my childhood. My Mamaw...
Cookbook Corner: Scandinavian From Scratch
Y’all know I love a cookbook. So, I thought it’d be fun to occasionally focus one of these things on all the items I’ve made from a specific cookbook. I’ll...