january faves
and a link to Monday's cooking demo!
Hi friends, how’re we doing on the fifth and final Wednesday of this never-ending month?!
Thank you to everyone who joined for Monday’s live cooking demo! Many of you tuned in from your kitchen, car, desk, the sidelines of your kids’ soccer practice… it was a blast, and I loved getting to chat with you in real time. In case you missed it, I went live on the Substack app and cooked 2024’s most popular recipe: 15-minute wontons and veggies in curry broth.
Click the image below to watch an excerpt, and click here to watch the recording and get links to the products I cooked with and other recipes I mentioned. Should I do more of these?!
A few weekends ago George and I took a whirlwind trip to Turks & Caicos for George’s cousin’s wedding. It took 15 hours to get there, 18 hours to get back, and we were only there for about 38 hours, but I’d do it all over again for the quality time we got to spend with George’s family. It had been way too long since we’d had that much time with his cousins and aunts and uncles!
A highlight of the trip was dinner at Infiniti at Grace Bay Club with a small group of cousins. Being B-List (AKA not in the wedding party and not immediate family) at weddings is actually kind of the best — for many reasons (including not having to leave the beach at 10 a.m. to go get your hair done), but mostly because you get to explore the area and eat at local restaurants, versus only eating set meals at wedding venues. My favorite dinners are with six people or less because the entire table can actually have one conversation together the entire time without splitting off into little sub-groups. I love a full table talk, especially when I want to catch up with people I haven’t seen in years!
Another highlight was a conversation that about 12 of us got into on the beach one day. Somehow we got on the subject of “what’s something you regret that still haunts you?”
Mine was saying something really mean to someone that I had heard an older, “cooler” (not!!) girl say when I was in the 6th grade. I still shudder every time I think about it. George and several others mentioned missing funerals that they wished they’d prioritized going to, and it reminded me of this
post about how to help a friend through grief.“Walk to a wedding, run to a funeral” is a piece of advice that’s really stuck with me. It can feel awkward or weird to really show up for people in their grief — “did I know her well enough?” “do they want me there?” but ultimately no one is going to think you’re weird for sitting in the back of a church and giving them a quick hug, or dropping off a meal even if you’ve only met them a few times. They’re going to feel supported and loved. Run to a funeral.
We thought it’d be fun to bookmark a few of our favorite things from the month!
Top books:
I am linking to Amazon for all of these books for reader ease, but I have been pre-ordering all of my books through my local bookstore, Olivia & Daisy, for the past six months or so, and it is just so lovely to walk into a store, have a nice little human interaction, and go home with a new book. Amazon is stripping so much human touch out of our lives and ordering/buying books from your local store is a lovely, simple way to re-insert a bit of humanity and support local!
I read Comedic Timing, the latest book from 831 Stories, cover to cover on a recent flight. Oh, to be young and navigating new jobs, shitty bosses, and new romantic interests in New York City! A really fun, fast read. And that saffron tomato pasta he cooks for her on their first non-date date? I wrote a recipe for it, and it’s GOOD. Find it here.
I listened to the dramatized audiobooks of Fourth Wing and Iron Flame to get ready for book three and it was such a fun, enjoyable audiobook experience. There are different actors and sound effects and music, it’s like listening to a show! Now I’m reading Onyx Storm and it’s taking me forever because man, there are a lot of cities and people and dragons whose names I cannot keep track of. Nevertheless she persisted!
I am a sucker for British romances (especially on audiobook, they’re so soothing and cozy to listen to!) and Under Your Spell does the rockstar romance trope perfectly.
From Jillian: I just finished and loved Spellshop — a cottagecore romantasy that was so incredibly comforting and cozy. It felt like a good dream from my childhood — there’s a lot of jam making, spell-casting, and cute talking plants with personalities!
From Molly: I read zero books for myself this month, but I did absolutely crush elementary school-age chapter books with my sons, who can’t get enough of the Dory Fantasmagory series. The dialogue between Dory and her mom, siblings, and imaginary friends is belly-laugh funny, and the author, Abby Hanlon (who’s a former first grade teacher!), perfectly encapsulates the imagination and sibling/social drama of kids age 5 to 9. From Caro: OK, Mattis has been really into the Dog Man series and this sounds waaaay more enjoyable (for me). Gonna check a few out from the library for him!
Top shows:
I started watching Bad Sisters (Apple TV and Amazon Prime) on a flight and it is the perfect mix of humor/suspense/drama/sisterhood!!! It’s about four sisters who murder their fifth sister’s husband because he is an asshole and ruining her life, lol?
From Molly: I’m currently watching the OG Gossip Girl (Netflix) and it’s highly entertaining to rewatch it at a stage in life when Rufus is the hottie rather than Dan. The flip phones, the outfits, the music — it’s taking me back to the 00s and is all so enjoyable. Minus Chuck Bass, he still sucks. From Caro: One time I shared a very tiny elevator in SoHo with Chuck Bass (the actor who plays him…) on my way to get a Brazilian wax. Again, oh to be young in New York City.
Most worn item of clothing:
I’ve been really into the Sézane Max Shirt in white with my initials in red embroidery. The initials are very subtle and somehow not too preppy and I just feel polished and classically cool in it.
From Molly: I’ve worn this cropped sweater (in both cream and stripes, thanks to Nuuly) nonstop this month. I’m 5’2” and have a hard time finding crops that are actually cropped but also aren’t TOO cropped. This one hits right at my natural waist and is super cozy.
New things we tried:
Everyone has been asking if I’ve been doing something new with my hair since I started using this Josh Rosebrook hair mask once a week about six weeks ago. It makes my hair soooo soft and not at all greasy.
From Molly: “Tramp” class (at Jane Do, for anyone who lives in or visits Charleston — there are a few in New Jersey too)! It’s a choreographed cardio class on a mini trampoline with great music and dim lights. It’s legitimately FUN, and I’m completely out of my head the entire time (which is no small feat these days).
From Caro: Oh, your trampoline class made me remember that I went to a barre class last week for the first time in years and wow, it was so hard and such a great workout!
From Jillian: I’ve been buying some pricey fire cider (a tonic of apple cider vinegar steeped in a bunch of anti-inflammatory foods) as a way to try and give my family some immunity fighting power during all these winter illnesses and decided to make my own instead! Here’s the recipe I used — couldn’t be any easier!
Favorite eats and drinks:
I cannot stop eating this egg salad-y situation.
This tomato soup recipe has a pretty genius technique (if I do say so myself), where we reduce (AKA simmer until it evaporates and thickens up) the milk before adding the tomatoes and my secret tomato soup ingredient: sweet potatoes. It’s really, really freaking good and I am lucky to have a freezer full of it from recipe testing.
From Jillian: I’ve been going strong with my at-home matchas! I bought a steamer/frother and it has upped my latte game so much. It can also make cold foam when I’m ready to switch over to iced lattes! From Caro: I just this moment returned from Jillian’s house where she made me a matcha using this powder and frother and it was SO GOOD. And I’m not a matcha girl! She used almond milk, a drop of vanilla extract, and a little maple syrup to sweeten it!
From Molly: I’ve gotta give it up to the saucy chicken and cabbage satay bowls. I made it without coconut milk because I forgot it at the store and it was still a 10/10.
SO many of you entered the 831 Stories giveaway earlier this month — we want to keep sharing the Comedic Timing love now that it’s officially out in the world (its pub day was yesterday)! Comment with one of YOUR January highlights to enter to win1 a copy of the book plus an 831 Stories graphic T and trope hat! We will randomly select two winners next Tuesday, 2/4!
What to Cook launched in December 2020, which means there are more than 200 recipes in the archives. To help you cook through them, let’s revisit what we cooked this week over the last few years.
1. one-pot thai-style rice, pork & green beans, 2024
A very flavorful and delicious rice, meat, vegetable meal! It has chicken satay vibes… did anyone cook this recipe after we shared it in the “loved this? try that!” section the other week?!
2. pork chops with apples and polenta, 2023
Ooh this is a good one. It incorporates polenta, a gluten-free grain that is so creamy and wonderful, and a cut of meat (pork chops) that we don’t cook with as often as others here on What to Cook. It’s a very impressive 30-minute dinner that could absolutely serve as a special-occasion meal should you need one in the coming weeks (like for Valentine’s Day).
3. one-skillet sausage and mushroom cassoulet, 2022
I feel like this is a sleeper WTC recipe that deserves a spot on your dinner table! It’s VERY customizable — check the comments section for all the ways WTCers have made this using whatever they had on hand.
4. 30-minute pork lettuce wraps with coconut rice, 2021
If you haven’t made this one yet, you must — if for no other reason than to taste the sauces. I love a lettuce wrap but I usually thinly slice the lettuce and throw it in a bowl with the rice, meat, and sauces.
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Finally doing an embryo transfer after two hard years of infertility! Still waiting for results, but I’m proud of the work my husband and I have done on our marriage during this challenging chapter.
Your book recs are the best. I always immediately go to my Libby account and see if my local library has the goods!