Join My Free Substack Live, 8PM ET Hey Reader, I’m going live on Substack tonight at 8 PM ET, and I’d love to see you there! This is only my third one in about a year, so it’s a rare treat to hang out with all of you in real-time. ☞ JOIN ME @ 8PM I’ve got a lot to share, including: A first look at several upcoming cookbooks I have advance copies of—I want to make sure these are on your radar! We’ll also be diving deep into St. Patrick’s Day prep. I’m talking about my favorite recipes and,...
2 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, In our home, frying is less about food and more about ceremony. It starts with the sizzle—that anticipatory crackle that makes everyone within sniffing distance wander into the kitchen “just to check.” The One pretends he’s concerned about the mess, but the moment that first golden something hits the paper towel, he’s hovering with a fork like a hawk in bifocals.Growing up, fried food was both my grandmothers' love language. Vovo Leite could turn a humble piece of food into a...
6 days ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, Every winter, I find myself measuring the season not by the temperature but by the smell of what’s baking. When I catch that first whiff of butter caramelizing at the oven’s edge or cinnamon coaxng me from my desk, I know I’ve found my purpose for the day. The One calls it “productive procrastination,” but I call it therapy... with snacks.There’s something almost holy about standing in a warm kitchen while the world outside skulks around in 50 shades of gray and sadness. Mixing,...
7 days ago • 5 min read
Hi Reader, There was a stretch of time—somewhere between deadlines, travel, and my noble attempt at Pilates—when 6 p.m. hit like a betrayal. Dinner? Again? Didn’t we just do this yesterday? That’s when I learned the art of the preemptive strike: a little chopping here, a sauce made there, something marinating while I’m answering emails and pretending not to snack.Now, I treat weeknight dinners like a magic trick. The One walks in, the house smells like I’ve been cooking for hours, and all I...
10 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, After Valentine’s Day, I crave the antidote to all that candlelit, two-fork intimacy: a noisy, elbows-on-the-table, gravy-splashing family meal. The kind where you can’t hear yourself over the chorus of “pass the potatoes,” and someone inevitably uses a dinner roll as a pointer during an argument about politics or football—or both.When I was growing up, those family-style feasts were the great equalizer. You could show up grumpy, triumphant, or in full teenage angst, but once the...
12 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, When I was a kid, the days before Lent were treated like a culinary Olympics in our house. My mother would declare, “We’re cleaning out the freezer,” which translated to every cut of meat known to man sizzling, braising, or roasting at once. The kitchen looked like a Renaissance banquet—steam clouding the windows, the table groaning, me stationed nearby with a dinner roll in each hand like a linebacker ready to carb-load for Jesus.Even now—decades after Papa and Mama Leite went...
14 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, The One likes to tell people that the first meal I ever cooked for him was “French-ish.” Which is a polite way of saying I served steak au poivre with enough cracked pepper to fumigate the apartment. The smoke alarm sang, the windows flew open, and we ate on the fire escape with our wine balanced on the railing. But here’s the secret: he still remembers that dinner twenty years later—not because it was flawless, but because it was ours.A romantic dinner for two isn’t about...
17 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Years ago, The One and I agreed to skip Valentine’s Day—no gifts, no dinner reservations, no grand gestures. Naturally, by 8 p.m., I had chocolate melting on the stove and he was pretending not to notice the champagne chilling in the fridge. Somewhere between the whisking and the teasing (“You said we weren’t doing this!”), the night turned into one of those quietly cinematic moments—two people leaning over the counter, sharing spoonfuls straight from the pan, laughing like we’d...
19 days ago • 2 min read
Oh, to be young, thin, and moderately attractive again... Hi Reader, Food has a way of saying things we’re not always brave enough to say out loud. Especially on Valentine’s Day. I know, I know. For some, this week is all hearts and flowers. For others, it’s just a Tuesday (or an excuse to buy half-price candy on February 15th). But whether you’re cooking for a partner, hosting a "Galentine’s" dinner for friends, or just treating yourself to a damn good steak because you deserve it, food is...
21 days ago • 3 min read
