Sorry, I realized that comments were only open to paid subscribers! I opened them up to everyone, so I hope to hear a little bit about you. Even if I already know you, I’d love to get a sense of what excites you in the kitchen these days. I’ll be taking a break the next couple weeks, so see you back here in September!
Hi! I'm Amalia and I live with my spouse and our two cats in Crown Heights, NY.
My spouse does most of the cooking and I do all of the baking. We love hosting meals for loved ones and it's not uncommon for us to have 7-10 people over each weekend for a delicious lunch or dinner, or both.
We try to use seasonal ingredients when we can, and one of my favorite summer meals is what we call, "Vietnamese tofu". It's a magical mélange of pan fried tofu with tons of tomatoes, garlic, and a dash of fish sauce. The only time we eat this is during the summer, when tomatoes are abundant and at their peak of deliciousness. We even brought it as our dinner to a drive in movie. Everyone should eat it and have their taste buds revel in the umami.
This winter, I want to work on my pie baking skills. I usually limit pie baking to summer, when I can consume as much seasonal fruit as possible. At any given time during stone fruit season, there are 10 peaches on our counter...I haven't made many pies in the winter, but I want to lean into savory pie's and learn how to make a really good vegan pie crust.
What a good division of labor. (Although maybe you need a third person, who just cleans.)
That tofu sounds great, maybe I'll make it tonight. Something about it makes me want to add a splash of coconut milk too.
I usually use refined coconut oil in place of butter for vegan pie crusts. I'm not the biggest pie fan, so I don't make them that much, but I've been thinking of switching up the flour (rye? buckwheat? almond flour?) and maybe that will make me like them more.
Hi! I'm Sarah, and I live in a small Victorian town in southern NJ. I cook for myself, my husband, and our 2 year old. I planted a garden for the first time this year so I have a plethora of all sizes, shapes, and colors of tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapenos, and greens that have been fun to experiment with.
I'm currently growing baby #2, so my cooking has been limited to what my all-day morning sickness and energy will allow this summer. My favorite treat when I'm feeling well is a toasted slice of sourdough with a thick layer of mayo and slices of big, juicy tomatoes sprinkled generously with flaky salt.
My grand plan for the winter is to master homemade pasta. My last two winters have focused on bread, so I'm keeping the carb-train rolling and moving into pasta.
Hi there, I'm Sarah. I live in London, Englang. I cook for me, I cook for my partner, I bake bread for friends and neighbours, and I bake (mostly cakes) with men in a local prison. I hope everyone this summer has an opportunity to eat berries still warm from the sun they grew in.
I've been working on understanding bread and how to make it and that's something I'm going to keep working on into the winter. Right now I'm stuck on using wholewheat flour and maintaining some strength in the dough. I like the flavour, but I'd like a little more volume in my final loaves rather than the frisbees I've been making lately.
Wow, I love how you use baking as this way of connecting to so many different people.
You sound like much more of an expert bread baker than me, so I don't think I'll have much to offer as far as getting lighter wholewheat loaves, but I hope to see what you come up with! I think I've just resigned myself to heavier denser stuff, which I like as well (I want to work on Borodinsky bread this winter) and buying lighter fluffier bread.
Hi! I'm Yonatan. I live in South Carolina and since covid have mostly been cooking for me and my partner. I love cooking for big groups and having folks over and hope I can get back to that soon because it's really refilling.
This isn't super novel but eating stone fruit during the summer is amazing. For most of my life I didn't eat in a way that followed the seasons, and eating an in-season South Carolina peach is incredibly delightful.
This winter I'd like to keep working on cooking middle eastern and south asian dishes. They haven't been a big part of our dinner rotations historically but they're foods we love.
I'm hoping to cook more Middle Eastern as well. I recently got two cookbooks: The Saffron Tales, which is Persian, and Arabiyya, which is Palestinian/pan-Arab, and they both have so many dishes I've never had or heard of (eggplant & mushroom tacheen, a saffron rice cake with vegetable filling!). We're lucky to have some great Middle Eastern stores here, where I get all my pomegranate molasses and dried apricot paste.
Hello! My name is Shana and I live outside of Seattle with my partner and our puppy. I'm usually just cooking for my partner and myself, but I love to cook for 40+ people with my mother and my aunt for big family holidays!
In the summer, I have succotash on repeat - fresh farmer's market corn blistered in a hot cast iron with green beans, sauteed onions, bell peppers, and scallions. Finished with a big knob of butter and plenty of fresh basil or flat leaf parsley, and brightened up with sherry vinegar and optional cherry tomatoes. You can also add anything else that looks great at the market - I love zucchini, but keep it on the side since my partner can't stand the stuff.
This winter I want to work on preserving the bounty of summer that I currently have stored in my freezer. I've got mounds of rhubarb, strawberries, and wild blackberries just waiting to be made into shelf-stable jams and galette fillings (much preferred to actual pies).
I love this newsletter and this prompt! Thank you, Kate :)
40+ people whoa!! You could do wedding catering ;)
Succotash is a great idea, it isn't something I've ever thought to make (but maybe I've also never had a really good version of it).
Jealous of all those berries, that sounds like a great freezer. And +1 to galettes > pies, I seem to like those more as well. I've been making a lot of frangipane this summer, and discovered that you could make it with any nut (cashews! pistachios!). Just adding frangipane + fruit makes such a nice tart filling (I tried it in a galette as well, and I'm sure there's a way to make it work though mine spread too much).
Hi! I'm Kim, I live in East Los Angeles with my dog. I mostly cook for myself, my boyfriend and for friends. I have family dinner every Sunday with my dear friends and get most of my big cooking in then.
I recently made Carla Lalli-Music's watermelon salad and it was fantastic. I think everyone should try that this summer while watermelons are still gracing us with their presence.
I'm more of a baker than a cook, so for winter I'm looking forward to more laborious bakes, and would love to extend that into cooking. I love to spend a day working on something to eat and share.
Baking-cooking is also great! Like savory pies/galettes. Khachapuri is something I want to try making this winter. Lasagna is also a project-meal that I almost never make, but a friend made me the most delicious one with a red lentil bolognese, so I might try to recreate that.
I love Sunday dinners with friends, we do it a lot less than we used to, but it's such a comforting way to end the weekend. There's nothing as satisfying and peaceful to me as spending all Sunday cooking for friends, cooking as a job didn't change that.
Hi! I’m Maddie. I live in Fort Collins, CO. I cook for myself, my husband, and occasionally my dog. I cook not as much as I’d like, but am finding my groove in the kitchen again after the early days of pandemic pantry cooking kind of exhausted my culinary creativity? I am really enjoying incorporating my small garden harvests into meals lately, especially African fish peppers, which are strikingly green-and-white striped, fruity, and mildly spicy. Everyone who can eat milky things should enjoy some Caprese salad this summer — with fresh tomatoes (pref. both yellow and red) and fresh herbs (basil, oregano, beebalm, sunflower petals). So simple and so delicious. My best friends are vegetarian, gluten-free, and vegan, and I want to work on cooking food that they can all eat this winter. Gluten free + vegan baking is a world I do not understand yet but want to!
Wanting to cook for friends is such a kind motivation :)
All my favorite bakeries these days are gluten free. I've found they often just use more interesting flours than conventional bakeries. I haven't found many light/fluffy recipes like cake or buns that work well gluten free, but things like cookies and brownies turn out pretty well.
Hi! I’m Kelley. I live in Hudson, NY and loved your recent photos from your trip there! I cook for me and my boyfriend but love hosting people for meals of any kind. I moved recently after living in cities (and therefore small apartments) for 15 years so I’m getting used to the benefits of having a garden and a large pantry.
One thing I think everyone should eat this summer is the Melissa Clark corn pasta on NYT cooking. I recommend doubling the sauce and using a full pound of pasta (it calls for 12oz) but otherwise it’s basically the perfect recipe & late summer meal.
This winter I want to work on more quick pantry meals for when I don’t feel like cooking - I’m great at cooking when I have the energy/an hour but tend to order takeout when I only feel like 10 minutes of effort. I want to figure out a middle ground - boxed mixes? jarred sauces? frozen something? Especially now that I have the pantry space I want to embrace some shortcuts and convenience!
We're thinking about moving to Hudson, with the garden and pantry (and maybe even a barn for big parties?) being some of the motivators.
Corn pasta is so brilliant. I love corn purees (my favorite donut ever is this corn cream-filled one from Fan Fan). But I like that this one doesn't even use cream.
I'd be interested to hear what other people's pantry convenience foods are. I have a bunch of Golden Curry blocks in mine. Brooklyn Delhi (she's based in Kingston) makes some really good sauces that you could just pair with vegetables. But admittedly I just eat bread and cheese a lot of the time when I don't feel like cooking. Sometimes I've made a dip out of vegetables beforehand, and that makes it feel a little more nutritious.
Hi, Kelley! You might want to check out the new cookbook by Melina Hammer, A year at Catbird Cottage - she's based near Kingston in Accord, and her cookbook includes a ton of flavor-packed sauces and preserves to really amp up any pantry :)
Hi I'm Toni! I live in Manila, Philippines, with my spouse Benjamin and our little dog. My spouse does most of the cooking and I cook when I have to. To be honest, the kitchen scares me. I'm clumsy and can't cook without a precise recipe. It's made me fearful, but reading your newsletter makes the kitchen seem less intimidating place because the way you write about cooking is full of love and generosity.
It's summer all year round in the Philippines, so the food we eat is mostly suited for the tropical weather. Sour, steamed, grilled, boiled, and fresh. Filipino food isn't very complicated either which is probably why it is the only thing I can cook too. This dish called "tortang talong" is my favorite, which is essentially just a grilled eggplant with egg. Grill it over a fire till soft, mash with a fork. Whisk an egg with salt and pepper. Dip the eggplant in the mixture then pan-fry. https://panlasangpinoy.com/basic-tortang-talong-recipe/
I think I'd just like to get more comfortable in the kitchen period. I hope to get there one day. Thank you for your newsletter Kate. You are a joy to read!
Hiya! I'm Iltimas, I live in Bushwick in nyc, I cook for myself and my gf (and occasionally feed kale scraps to my bunny).
I tried making dipping ramen this summer (tsukeramen) which means i have a freezer full of dashi, but I think something people should try is replacing their water with dashi when making rice! Such an amazing aroma and taste, and having grown up with Bengali food it has a nostaglia for eating leftover fish scraps with rice <3. I add a couple dashes of shoyu and supercharge with a heaping tablespoon, of what i guess would be called, a garlic and shallot confit.
Ive fallen off the wagon for cooking at home and in addition to my wallet feeling it, so is my soul. this winter im hoping to get more into making banchan. Figure it might be less stressful to make large batch of one simple side dish and smaller entree that goes along with the revolving door of other banchan than to figure out a big ol entree every other day.
That's a good point, just cooking rice in things other than water is such an easy way to add more flavor. Whenever I'm rehydrating dried mushrooms, I keep the water and then use it for things like that.
That sounds like a good winter food plan. It's sort of like how I cook most of the time. I'm not really making an entree so much as cooking a bunch of vegetables separately and making sauces all the time, then just recombining them into grain bowls or sandwiches.
Hi! I'm Amalia and I live with my spouse and our two cats in Crown Heights, NY.
My spouse does most of the cooking and I do all of the baking. We love hosting meals for loved ones and it's not uncommon for us to have 7-10 people over each weekend for a delicious lunch or dinner, or both.
We try to use seasonal ingredients when we can, and one of my favorite summer meals is what we call, "Vietnamese tofu". It's a magical mélange of pan fried tofu with tons of tomatoes, garlic, and a dash of fish sauce. The only time we eat this is during the summer, when tomatoes are abundant and at their peak of deliciousness. We even brought it as our dinner to a drive in movie. Everyone should eat it and have their taste buds revel in the umami.
This winter, I want to work on my pie baking skills. I usually limit pie baking to summer, when I can consume as much seasonal fruit as possible. At any given time during stone fruit season, there are 10 peaches on our counter...I haven't made many pies in the winter, but I want to lean into savory pie's and learn how to make a really good vegan pie crust.
What a good division of labor. (Although maybe you need a third person, who just cleans.)
That tofu sounds great, maybe I'll make it tonight. Something about it makes me want to add a splash of coconut milk too.
I usually use refined coconut oil in place of butter for vegan pie crusts. I'm not the biggest pie fan, so I don't make them that much, but I've been thinking of switching up the flour (rye? buckwheat? almond flour?) and maybe that will make me like them more.
Hi! I'm Sarah, and I live in a small Victorian town in southern NJ. I cook for myself, my husband, and our 2 year old. I planted a garden for the first time this year so I have a plethora of all sizes, shapes, and colors of tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapenos, and greens that have been fun to experiment with.
I'm currently growing baby #2, so my cooking has been limited to what my all-day morning sickness and energy will allow this summer. My favorite treat when I'm feeling well is a toasted slice of sourdough with a thick layer of mayo and slices of big, juicy tomatoes sprinkled generously with flaky salt.
My grand plan for the winter is to master homemade pasta. My last two winters have focused on bread, so I'm keeping the carb-train rolling and moving into pasta.
So jealous of the garden, someday I hope my summer cooking is dictated by uncontrollable mountains of ripe vegetables.
I imagine your 2-year-old will enjoy this pasta train!
Hi there, I'm Sarah. I live in London, Englang. I cook for me, I cook for my partner, I bake bread for friends and neighbours, and I bake (mostly cakes) with men in a local prison. I hope everyone this summer has an opportunity to eat berries still warm from the sun they grew in.
I've been working on understanding bread and how to make it and that's something I'm going to keep working on into the winter. Right now I'm stuck on using wholewheat flour and maintaining some strength in the dough. I like the flavour, but I'd like a little more volume in my final loaves rather than the frisbees I've been making lately.
Wow, I love how you use baking as this way of connecting to so many different people.
You sound like much more of an expert bread baker than me, so I don't think I'll have much to offer as far as getting lighter wholewheat loaves, but I hope to see what you come up with! I think I've just resigned myself to heavier denser stuff, which I like as well (I want to work on Borodinsky bread this winter) and buying lighter fluffier bread.
Ah, I'd be very interested in trying your Borodinsky recipe - that's one of my favourite breads!
Hi! I'm Yonatan. I live in South Carolina and since covid have mostly been cooking for me and my partner. I love cooking for big groups and having folks over and hope I can get back to that soon because it's really refilling.
This isn't super novel but eating stone fruit during the summer is amazing. For most of my life I didn't eat in a way that followed the seasons, and eating an in-season South Carolina peach is incredibly delightful.
This winter I'd like to keep working on cooking middle eastern and south asian dishes. They haven't been a big part of our dinner rotations historically but they're foods we love.
Hey Yonatan, nice to hear from you again :)
I'm hoping to cook more Middle Eastern as well. I recently got two cookbooks: The Saffron Tales, which is Persian, and Arabiyya, which is Palestinian/pan-Arab, and they both have so many dishes I've never had or heard of (eggplant & mushroom tacheen, a saffron rice cake with vegetable filling!). We're lucky to have some great Middle Eastern stores here, where I get all my pomegranate molasses and dried apricot paste.
Ooo, I'll have to check those out! Thanks for the recommendations!
Hello! My name is Shana and I live outside of Seattle with my partner and our puppy. I'm usually just cooking for my partner and myself, but I love to cook for 40+ people with my mother and my aunt for big family holidays!
In the summer, I have succotash on repeat - fresh farmer's market corn blistered in a hot cast iron with green beans, sauteed onions, bell peppers, and scallions. Finished with a big knob of butter and plenty of fresh basil or flat leaf parsley, and brightened up with sherry vinegar and optional cherry tomatoes. You can also add anything else that looks great at the market - I love zucchini, but keep it on the side since my partner can't stand the stuff.
This winter I want to work on preserving the bounty of summer that I currently have stored in my freezer. I've got mounds of rhubarb, strawberries, and wild blackberries just waiting to be made into shelf-stable jams and galette fillings (much preferred to actual pies).
I love this newsletter and this prompt! Thank you, Kate :)
40+ people whoa!! You could do wedding catering ;)
Succotash is a great idea, it isn't something I've ever thought to make (but maybe I've also never had a really good version of it).
Jealous of all those berries, that sounds like a great freezer. And +1 to galettes > pies, I seem to like those more as well. I've been making a lot of frangipane this summer, and discovered that you could make it with any nut (cashews! pistachios!). Just adding frangipane + fruit makes such a nice tart filling (I tried it in a galette as well, and I'm sure there's a way to make it work though mine spread too much).
Hi! I'm Kim, I live in East Los Angeles with my dog. I mostly cook for myself, my boyfriend and for friends. I have family dinner every Sunday with my dear friends and get most of my big cooking in then.
I recently made Carla Lalli-Music's watermelon salad and it was fantastic. I think everyone should try that this summer while watermelons are still gracing us with their presence.
I'm more of a baker than a cook, so for winter I'm looking forward to more laborious bakes, and would love to extend that into cooking. I love to spend a day working on something to eat and share.
Baking-cooking is also great! Like savory pies/galettes. Khachapuri is something I want to try making this winter. Lasagna is also a project-meal that I almost never make, but a friend made me the most delicious one with a red lentil bolognese, so I might try to recreate that.
I love Sunday dinners with friends, we do it a lot less than we used to, but it's such a comforting way to end the weekend. There's nothing as satisfying and peaceful to me as spending all Sunday cooking for friends, cooking as a job didn't change that.
Hi! I’m Maddie. I live in Fort Collins, CO. I cook for myself, my husband, and occasionally my dog. I cook not as much as I’d like, but am finding my groove in the kitchen again after the early days of pandemic pantry cooking kind of exhausted my culinary creativity? I am really enjoying incorporating my small garden harvests into meals lately, especially African fish peppers, which are strikingly green-and-white striped, fruity, and mildly spicy. Everyone who can eat milky things should enjoy some Caprese salad this summer — with fresh tomatoes (pref. both yellow and red) and fresh herbs (basil, oregano, beebalm, sunflower petals). So simple and so delicious. My best friends are vegetarian, gluten-free, and vegan, and I want to work on cooking food that they can all eat this winter. Gluten free + vegan baking is a world I do not understand yet but want to!
Wanting to cook for friends is such a kind motivation :)
All my favorite bakeries these days are gluten free. I've found they often just use more interesting flours than conventional bakeries. I haven't found many light/fluffy recipes like cake or buns that work well gluten free, but things like cookies and brownies turn out pretty well.
Hi! I’m Kelley. I live in Hudson, NY and loved your recent photos from your trip there! I cook for me and my boyfriend but love hosting people for meals of any kind. I moved recently after living in cities (and therefore small apartments) for 15 years so I’m getting used to the benefits of having a garden and a large pantry.
One thing I think everyone should eat this summer is the Melissa Clark corn pasta on NYT cooking. I recommend doubling the sauce and using a full pound of pasta (it calls for 12oz) but otherwise it’s basically the perfect recipe & late summer meal.
This winter I want to work on more quick pantry meals for when I don’t feel like cooking - I’m great at cooking when I have the energy/an hour but tend to order takeout when I only feel like 10 minutes of effort. I want to figure out a middle ground - boxed mixes? jarred sauces? frozen something? Especially now that I have the pantry space I want to embrace some shortcuts and convenience!
We're thinking about moving to Hudson, with the garden and pantry (and maybe even a barn for big parties?) being some of the motivators.
Corn pasta is so brilliant. I love corn purees (my favorite donut ever is this corn cream-filled one from Fan Fan). But I like that this one doesn't even use cream.
I'd be interested to hear what other people's pantry convenience foods are. I have a bunch of Golden Curry blocks in mine. Brooklyn Delhi (she's based in Kingston) makes some really good sauces that you could just pair with vegetables. But admittedly I just eat bread and cheese a lot of the time when I don't feel like cooking. Sometimes I've made a dip out of vegetables beforehand, and that makes it feel a little more nutritious.
Hi, Kelley! You might want to check out the new cookbook by Melina Hammer, A year at Catbird Cottage - she's based near Kingston in Accord, and her cookbook includes a ton of flavor-packed sauces and preserves to really amp up any pantry :)
That's a great suggestion, thank you so much!!
Hi I'm Toni! I live in Manila, Philippines, with my spouse Benjamin and our little dog. My spouse does most of the cooking and I cook when I have to. To be honest, the kitchen scares me. I'm clumsy and can't cook without a precise recipe. It's made me fearful, but reading your newsletter makes the kitchen seem less intimidating place because the way you write about cooking is full of love and generosity.
It's summer all year round in the Philippines, so the food we eat is mostly suited for the tropical weather. Sour, steamed, grilled, boiled, and fresh. Filipino food isn't very complicated either which is probably why it is the only thing I can cook too. This dish called "tortang talong" is my favorite, which is essentially just a grilled eggplant with egg. Grill it over a fire till soft, mash with a fork. Whisk an egg with salt and pepper. Dip the eggplant in the mixture then pan-fry. https://panlasangpinoy.com/basic-tortang-talong-recipe/
I think I'd just like to get more comfortable in the kitchen period. I hope to get there one day. Thank you for your newsletter Kate. You are a joy to read!
Hiya! I'm Iltimas, I live in Bushwick in nyc, I cook for myself and my gf (and occasionally feed kale scraps to my bunny).
I tried making dipping ramen this summer (tsukeramen) which means i have a freezer full of dashi, but I think something people should try is replacing their water with dashi when making rice! Such an amazing aroma and taste, and having grown up with Bengali food it has a nostaglia for eating leftover fish scraps with rice <3. I add a couple dashes of shoyu and supercharge with a heaping tablespoon, of what i guess would be called, a garlic and shallot confit.
Ive fallen off the wagon for cooking at home and in addition to my wallet feeling it, so is my soul. this winter im hoping to get more into making banchan. Figure it might be less stressful to make large batch of one simple side dish and smaller entree that goes along with the revolving door of other banchan than to figure out a big ol entree every other day.
Hey Iltimas, I didn't know you had a bunny!
That's a good point, just cooking rice in things other than water is such an easy way to add more flavor. Whenever I'm rehydrating dried mushrooms, I keep the water and then use it for things like that.
That sounds like a good winter food plan. It's sort of like how I cook most of the time. I'm not really making an entree so much as cooking a bunch of vegetables separately and making sauces all the time, then just recombining them into grain bowls or sandwiches.