so into that: 6 quick things
what to cook for MDW, my #1 book rec for summer 2026, a few great gifts for grads, and more
Hi! How are you? It’s absolutely gorgeous here in Carmel Valley, CA. Yesterday after school I took the boys to the beach with a few friends and had one of those glorious friend hangs where the kids play blissfully and do not require a single fight to be broken up or snack to be shared or wet shirt to be changed and the adults can actually have a complete conversation. It was a blast and has me excited for spontaneous summer days.
This weekend we are headed up to our cabin and I’m excited to get off the grid (there’s no cell service!), play cards, and watch the boys catch frogs. Some friends are meeting us there on Saturday to grill out, hike, swim in the lake, and just generally let our children be feral 90s kids. I’m making the jalapeño bacon pimento cheese that I’ll link below, as well as this Saturday’s charred corn and scallion pasta salad.
What are you doing this weekend? Any plans? Sometimes no plans are the best plans on a holiday weekend. Maybe just cook something fun?
I’m headed to New York next week for some podcast interviews (press for the new book has begun!!), meetings, and to speak at a conference about the future of media! But most importantly, I can’t wait to watch Off Campus on the plane.
Memorial Day Weekend, AKA the unofficial kickoff of summer, is nearly upon us! If you’re headed to a get together this weekend, I have a ton of ideas for what you should cook. There are 40 recipes in there — if I had to choose, I’d make jalapeño bacon pimento cheese pictured above, or farro fattoush. Also FYI, this Saturday morning I’ll be sharing a miso charred scallion and corn pasta salad situation (I’m still working on it!) that’s perfect for Memorial Day (or any potluck, summer picnic, dinner at the baseball field, etc.).
Yesterday I went live on Substack with novelist Annabel Monaghan, who has written some of my very favorite summer/beach reads of all time, including Nora Goes Off Script, It’s a Love Story, and her latest book, which I am declaring my favorite romance of summer 2026: Dolly All the Time. We chatted about her inspiration for the new book (a great story about an epiphany she had after touring some of the gilded age mansions in Newport, Rhode Island) and some of the relationships you’ll read about in Dolly All the Time (caretaking, motherhood, and romantic love). Annabel also told us about the meal she cooks when she doesn’t feel like cooking. You can watch the whole thing here!
My fourth-born son, Tavish, is 10 months old, and we are all disgustingly obsessed with him. I love this age. He is a squealy, squishy, happy, sleepy piglet who can’t be bothered to rise onto his knees to crawl so he just pulls himself around on his arms. A slick hardwood floor and a soft cotton onesie is his peak state. Related to this: I shared a few how-to-raise-your-first-like-your-fourth thoughts on Instagram a few days ago, and the comments section is gold!
My 5-year-old is a self-anointed “Maker” — there are very few moments in a day when he is not actively making something. He’s drawing, he’s cutting, he’s taping, he’s gluing. A teacher told me I should get him a BeaverBot — basically a table saw for children? — months ago and I finally caved. It has completely leveled up his Making abilities. No piece of cardboard is safe. He is a young Donatello — instead of bronze, used cardboard boxes are his medium. It’s pricey, but a very, very cool product and worth considering (or gifting!) if you, too, have a Maker in your home.
After I shared the UNC grad speech last week, a few people wrote asking if we had any graduation gift ideas, and our brains went straight to classic, functional bags. Last year I gave our beloved former sitter (now lifelong friend!) Quinn a leather Cuyana tote ($378) and she takes it to her office in Chicago every day! She has been a really important part of our lives since she was 16 so I wanted to get her something special. This leather tote from Quince ($150) is also such a classic style and would make an excellent gift. And Molly from What To Cook’s 18-year-old neighbor just graduated high school and she is gifting him this monogrammed canvas dopp kit ($59).
We went with an insane multi-colored madras couch in our den (from Schoolhouse, a brand I love that is currently undergoing a change in ownership so sales are paused) and could not figure out the right rug to go with it that would do it justice. We had to replace the rat-poop-covered 90s carpet and found the perfect wall-to-wall sisal, but needed something to layer over it under the couch. And then Lily found… a rug that matched the couch perfectly?! Was it too much?! Was it an insane idea?! Yes and yes. I absolutely love this room and the chaotically cozy energy the rug + couch bring. Jaipur Living has amazing rugs btw, and a bunch are on sale for Memorial Day.
Since Tav was born in July, I’ve been consistently using Nutrafol’s postpartum hair growth supplements. My hair feels strong and full, and I’ve experienced less shedding than I did in the years following the birth of my first two children (I used Nutrafol after the birth of my third son, too!). Nutrafol is the number one dermatologist-recommended hair growth supplement out there, and it targets the root causes of postpartum thinning, like hormonal changes and nutrient depletion. They have non-postpartum hair growth supplements available, too! Click here to get $50 off the first 3 months or $106 off the first 6 months for all formulas.1
Every week, we dig into the What To Cook archives to see what we were cooking this time in years past — the recipes worth bringing back into your rotation. Here’s this week’s lineup.
1. lemon basil pasta, 2025
This is the pasta you make when you want dinner to feel special but you don’t want to try hard — at all. An egg, fresh lemon, Parm, and basil make it creamy and bright, and it’s ready in 25 minutes. Make the lemon-Parm crunchies while your water comes to a boil. They’re optional… but not really! Try them once and you’ll never go back.
2. easy-but-fancy summer grilling menu, 2024
If you’re in the mood to cook out this MDW, here’s a full summer entertaining menu I wrote along with my friend Gaby Dalkin. You’ll make grilled Brie with grapes, chicken Caesar sliders, and strawberry jargaritas to start, followed by cheese-stuffed burgers and a grilled Caesar as the main event. Wrap it all up with my blueberry PB crisp straight off the grill! As always with my entertaining menus, there’s a make-ahead plan of attack so you can cook it all with zero stress.
While we’re talking grills, I am a Weber girl — I have had and loved both the Spirit and Genesis. While she was here last week, Molly from What To Cook was also singing the praises of her new Kenmore grill, which is a really great price point and currently on sale. She says it took a few semi-frustrating hours to assemble, but that it was well worth it because it works like a charm!
3. lemony brown butter shrimp rolls, 2023
Connecticut-style “lobster” rolls with shrimp instead! These are ready in 20 minutes, only dirty one skillet, and taste like a splurge. To make them, you’ll poach shrimp in nutty brown butter with lemon and garlic then pile it high into a warm brioche bun. It’s the kind of dinner that makes a regular Tuesday feel like a vacation. Best served with salt and vinegar chips for an easy, summery meal!
4. sheet-pan greek chicken and potatoes, 2022
This is a dinner that basically makes itself — all you have to do is throw some marinated chicken thighs onto a sheet pan with sliced potatoes and fennel. The chicken comes out golden and crispy, the potatoes soak up every bit of those drippings, and the roasted, jammy fennel will convert any fennel hater. Finished with feta and fresh dill, it’s just a perfect weeknight meat-and-potatoes dinner.
5. mango peanut chicken salad, 2021
This was our first-ever salad-for-dinner recipe on WTC, and it will make you a lover of dinner salads (or meal-prepped good-all-week lunch salads!) if you aren’t already. Shred a rotisserie chicken, chop/slice up some mango, cabbage, and mint, and shake together a nutty, gingery peanut dressing in a jar, and you’ll have the freshest, most craveable dinner on the table. It comes together faster than you’d think, and the leftovers hold up beautifully in the fridge.
Lots of giveaway winners to celebrate today: 10 WTCers (Katie, Nisa, Kelsey, Megan, Jordan, Rosemarie, Quinn, Sarah, Kate, and Alexis) were DMed by Molly from What To Cook via Substack earlier today — hope you all enjoy June Baby as much as we did!
And we’re so excited for India, who won the LP Journeys giveaway! She replied to the LP Journeys team and said that, after having to cancel her honeymoon in 2020 due to the pandemic, she and her husband, “will use this trip as a chance to finally get a honeymoon and to celebrate everything else that our marriage has brought over the past six years.” Makes me so happy!!! India, please let us know where y’all end up going!
If you’ve been thinking about trying Nutrafol, use this link to get the sale price.
Love the couch/rug combo!
This kids saw is incredible!! Maybe niche but I remember you also recommending a stem building toy for kids from a teacher, maybe a year ago. Do you remember this??? Any idea what it was? Mine are like a year behind your kids 😂