365

Today I'm cooking to celebrate a milestone.

I used to teach pie baking workshops every November. At the beginning of each class I’d have my students introduce themselves with some info about their skill level, interests and why they’d come. I’ll never forget one woman in 2017ish who told me, this was my New Years resolution; I wanted to bake one thing per month.

I was instantaneously blown away by how non-forced her goal was. Truth be told, I’d never even heard of a resolution quite so accessible. Up until then I had kind of assumed all ambitions were achieved through willpower! force! extremes! The idea that slow and steady could actually win a race got under my skin and when I conceptualized this very newsletter, I couldn’t help but remember her, the woman who changed my life with a single sentence. I knew the topic, schedule, and volume of writing must feel incredibly organic in order to succeed.

Cook Where You Are is not a financial success (at least..not yet?). But it is by far the longest, most consistent project of my entire life and I adore working on it. I’ve written a fun little blurb about what I’m cooking for dinner nearly every weekday since February 2024— as of today, that’s 365 posts and approximately 85,000 words. I basically wrote a whole book! To celebrate, what else? My favorite vegan mapo tofu. Jasmine rice, charred green beans and a grapefruit Spindrift on the side. Box mix brownies for dessert.

Cheers to ease, to dinner, to sharing what we love.