Friday Eating & Reading

What I’m eating and reading this week…

Hot take: Winter fruit salads are better than summer fruit salads! Especially when they look like this one from my everyday cooking hero Sarah Carey.

A new book column called “Group Text” from DALS-favorite Elisabeth Egan, all about what to read with friends. Whoever made that call deserves a medal.

What my kids are baking: The Karlie Kloss “Secret” Family Recipe for Toffee. (I’d add a little more salt and maybe use dark chocolate, but overall, not bad!)

I love this so much: Last January, this woman resolved to throw a dinner party every month. (And she succeeded.) I’m waiting for someone to release the study that concludes people who cook with and for each other are, like, 64% happier than those who don’t.

Taste Atlas is my new favorite time-suck. Favorite feature: Type in any city or region in the world and it tells you what its signature dishes are.

Quit Like a Woman: The radical choice to not drink in a culture obsessed with alcohol. Has anyone read this? Would love to hear thoughts.

My Uncle Doug swears this Bialetti Pasta Pot (its lid doubles as a strainer) will change your cooking life.

A little late on this one, but obviously, I devoured Melissa Clark’s Meat-Lover’s Guide to Eating Less Meat. (Plus: a handy vegetable roasting chart that I didn’t know I needed until I had it.)

Book Update: As I plug away on The Weekday Vegetarians, I’ve been experimenting with veggie burgers, and I think I finally nailed it. This one above is built on a foundation of pinto beans and mushrooms. Stay tuned! Also, ICYMI, I’ve been using a lot of vegetable stock. There are one or two storebought brands I don’t mind, but a few weeks ago, using whatever was left in my CSA bag, I made my own, roasting the vegetables first. It made such a difference! You can find more details and instructions here.

What Else I’m Up To: For my gig over at Cup of Jo, I wrote about chocolate mousse (gorgeous photo above by Alexandra Stafford) 12 pieces of essential cooking gear, Netflix infidelity (intrigued?), and raising readers.

From the Archives: We’re going to have some frigid weather this weekend, in other words, there’s no better time to bust out Bugiali’s Minestrone. Golden rule: If there’s a fire going, it’s minestrone weather.

Conspicuous Culture Consumption: Just Started Dear Edward, like everyone else in the world; hearing some hype about this book, due out in a few weeks; Who else binge-watched Cheer? (Oh man, Jerry!); And apropos of nothing: I’ve never heard a Lizzo song that isn’t a great running song, particularly this one.

Tell Me What’s Up: What are you making? What are you reading? What are you excited about?

Have a great weekend everybody!

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