winston-salem and nyc faves!
snippets from the last few days! plus some flowers that are sparking joy
Hi, how are you?!
The past week has been a very wonderful whirlwind. A full breakdown of our Patagonia trip is coming soon (I can’t wait to debrief), but I need more time to put it together after heading straight back on the road only 48 hours after getting home from that trip. So I’m going to share a few snippets from my time on the road this week!
Over the weekend I was in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where I grew up, to attend the funeral of a very dear family friend. It was a beautiful celebration of life, and also a nice opportunity to be with my people.
My sister and I feel so grateful that we had our first sons within seven weeks of each other, but we're also jealous of sisters who get to be really amazing hardcore aunts — who fly in for birthday parties and FaceTime their nephews every night — before they become moms themselves. I cherished having a few days alone to really play with my nephews as their aunt, since when my boys are around, I'm always busy chasing them/momming in general.
Highlights from my Winston weekend included:
Long walks in the neighborhood I grew up in (my sis now lives in our childhood home)
Takeout salads from Cava (the best chain of all time)
The best tomato pie of my life at Mozelle’s
The life-altering, time-stopping cinnamon roll at Louie and Honey’s Kitchen
A great cappuccino from brand new Copain Bakery
A delicious burrito bowl from one of my faves, The Porch
Lots of loving on my nephews (who introduced me to this version of The Floor Is Lava, which I know my boys are going to be obsessed with when I get home)
On Monday I flew to NYC. I’ve made a map of all my favorite NYC places here!
Highlights of my week have included:
Lunch at one of my fave restaurants in NYC, Shuka (I eat at Shuka more because I always stay downtown, but I think I might love its sister restaurant, Shukette, even more!? Both are so fabulous).
Central Park with my friends Isabelle and Billy and their babies on the first sunny day of (almost!) spring in NYC. Isabelle is one of my dearest high school friends, and Billy is a close friend and fraternity brother of George’s. George and I got married really young (I was 22 and he was 25!) and we had a huge (250 — small by Southern standards, haha!) wedding. Since we were so young, we were the first of our friends to get married and nearly everyone was single. We counted the Sunday after the wedding, and something like 60 people made out over the course of the weekend (with lots of overlap, lol). It is my crowning achievement that Isabelle and Billy met at our wedding, overcame serious long distance (he was stationed in San Diego as a Marine, she was in New York City!), and got married. The REAL kicker?! They had twin girls ON MY BIRTHDAY! I tried to explain to them that I manifested their entire existence but they’re 2 1/2 and didn’t *totally* get it. Someday!!
The cutest snack delivery from my book editor from the female-owned company Stocked by Three Owls. After I posted a pic of my Stocked snacks on IG, so many of you told me that their meals saved you postpartum! So if you ever need to send a little snack gift box or meal to someone in NYC or surrounding areas, I cannot recommend them more highly.
The most incredible massage of my life. I’m sorry to say she only does house calls and isn’t taking on new clients, but several people said The Tox is amazing for lymphatic drainage massages — which is the kind I had — when I mentioned this on Instagram! She taught me that dry brushing (she told me to order this one) really is important for circulation and drainage, dunking your face in a bowl of ice water truly is incredible for puffiness, and cycling hot, cold, hot, cold in the shower is a major lymphatic draining hack. It’s awful but I’ve done it twice now!! Ideally take a handheld shower head and really freeze all of your body parts!
Lunch with my sister Dan Pelosi (we share a book editor and a talent manager AKA mom and dad) at one of my top 5 NYC restaurants, Via Carota. I always let Dan order when we eat together because he likes to be the boss and I cherish any opportunity to not have to make a decision. He ordered a lot of things I’d never tried there before, my favorites being the Castelfranco raddichio salad with a creamy Robiola cheese dressing, hazelnuts, and honey, and the Svizzerina, which is like a steak tartare but formed into a patty and seared on the outside?! It was incredible.
SHOPPING!
Swung by LESET to grab these pants that I’ve been eyeing thanks to MALLY K. GOLDMAN (nothing fits right now so I treated myself to the olive green and navy!). I got my true size and will wear under my belly for now, and more mid-waist when I’m not pregnant.
I also got the La Ligne Colby pant (which many of you have informed me is “The Jennifer Lawrence Pregnancy Pant”) and I am 100% obsessed. I took my regular size, so if you’re between sizes, size down. I wore them all day Tuesday with the oversized button down that I always love but am really wearing nonstop during this pregnancy. So comfortable and I feel very chic in it.
I got some fun yellow Adidas, a great new Buck Mason button down (I sized up), and the suede shirt jacket that I’ve been eyeing from Sezane for years.
I went to an influencer event hosted by ShopMy and felt like a dinosaur — I was the oldest person by like 10 years haha! None of them had even heard of Substack! Gen Z influencers apparently still use SnapChat? Mind blowing intel.
Then went to dinner with my dear friends Jane, Sally, and Sarah at Bridges, a buzzy new restaurant that lived up to the hype. Special kudos to the lemongrass king crab and Comte tart.
I am writing this as I get glammed up (I used GlamSquad and it was so easy to book, the hair and makeup person showed up on time and was wonderful, and it was $150 for both services, right in my hotel room) for an appearance on a talk show (I can’t say which one yet!). We tape today and it airs on March 25 — I'll let you know when.
And tonight, I am going to see George Clooney in Good Night, and Good Luck on Broadway! My bff Lily was supposed to go with me but her entire family has norovirus so in ultimate turning lemons into lemonade fashion, I now get to take my godmother, who happens to also be in town from Tennessee!
I’m very, very excited to get home to my babies tomorrow and back to a bit of normalcy. I’ve basically been on the road since we left for Patagonia on February 23 — I’m missing my bed and my beastie boys and my kitchen!
Molly here: Flowers have been catching my eye all week — in real life (the trees are blooming and it’s sunny and 75 degrees here in Charleston today!!) and online. I know from last week’s comments section filled with extraordinary ordinary things that we’re all very into early signs of spring right now, so I thought I’d share a few floral moments that have sparked joy!
There’s a florist up the road from my house that sells $1 loose stems just a little past their prime (I bet most florists do this?!) and they’re my favorite $5 treat. I got some this morning to reward myself after getting all of my children up, out of bed, and where they needed to be when they needed to be there, ha! Anyone else’s fam still struggling after the time change?!
I love this perspective from Kristen Griffith VanderYacht via the Drew Barrymore show. I think I need his book for springtime flower arranging!
This daffodil arrangement by Kristin Ellen Hockman stopped me in my tracks (and prompted me to invest in a set of floral frogs).
How sweet is this “pocketful of flowers”?
Later this week Substack is hosting Grubstack, a virtual food festival you can tune into from wherever! At 1:30 p.m. ET this Friday, I’ll be going live with deb perelman of the smitten kitchen digest for a fun chat about food and life. It’s open to everyone — all you have to do is download the Substack app (if you enable notifications, you’ll get an alert right when we go live). I hope you’ll join! And you can see the rest of the Grubstack schedule here.
What to Cook began 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.
thai-ish steak and noodle salad, 2024
My Hillstone Thai Steak and Noodle Salad dupe is SO GOOD and would hold up well in the fridge for days. We just added it to the index of meal-train recipe ideas because WTCer Kathryn pointed out that iron-rich foods like steak are especially great for postpartum moms!
30-minute pork and kimchi CYOA bowls, 2023
This kimchi pork is addicting. If you’ve made the recipe as written but haven’t tried the sweet potato riff I share in the headnotes, this is your cue!
roasted harissa chicken and sweet potato bowls, 2022
A classically delicious meal, with flavorful chicken + roasted veg + greens + fancy garnishes. I also teach you how to do a restaurant-quality saucy swoop here!
shortcut shakshuka with feta, 2021
With this recipe, you’re 15 minutes away from an exceptional weeknight meal. Shakshuka is also a fabulous option for a fancy/celebratory brunch at home!
Last but not least: congrats to Becca and Ashley, who won the One Trick Pony giveaway! Check your DMs, Molly has sent you a message.
Cava is the best - would love a few knockoff cava fav recipe ideas!
Although gender is fluid these days I’m thinking Dan is your brother and not your sister. Love your recipes and cookbook!