End of Year Wrap Up
A good bologna sandwich and a commitment to be truly From the Hip
“You know, it’s called ‘From the Hip’”, I said to my friend as we sat in Robert’s Western World, the only good thing still left in Nashville, listened to some Sunday night Honky Tonk, watched the elders dance and split a bologna sandwich. I was desperately trying to figure out how to get back to this newsletter and she mentioned that her favorite Substack contributors were folks who just used it as a casual yet articulate space to connect, not simply allowing themselves to be overburdened by the pressure of performance in an era where there is hardly any time to restore and become re-inspired in solitude.
I love this idea. It seems so nice. It would, however, require me to get over my desperate reliance on a good editor and finding a way to squelch how a single published typo keeps me from loving myself for approximately six to twelve hours. It’s something I am working on.
I’ve also been very busy. I have a new and exciting appointment and workload for the New York Times as the newest columnist for Eat in the New York Times Magazine. You can see my first column on becoming finding your way toward becoming a recipe writer and my early, baby pastry chef days, with a recipe inspired by the meticulous and brilliant Paul Bertolli over there. While you’re at it, you should also check out Chef Bertolli’s whip-smart newsletter (with his brother Anthony) called Notice! Subscribe here - you won’t regret it.
As far as me, my column next week for the NYTs has something sweet that I hope you’ll love -a nod to the past and a hopeful impetus to start a new holiday tradition for those you love. Every fourth-ish Sunday you can find me there, alongside inspirational writers such as Ligaya Mishan, Yotam Ottolenghi and the truly delightful Eric Kim. It’s a nearly overwhelming honor to be the fourth on that list of names.
Speaking of Ligaya Mishan, she just published this impactful essay When Women Artists Choose Mothering Over Making Work: Why does the act of stepping away from a creative vocation still have the power to shock? - which has addressed some rather important details that have clunked around in my head for the last twenty-three years as a mother and then, eventually as a wife, one who, albeit, never had the financial choice of turning my back on work in order to be fully absorbed in motherhood or my “art” but one who sure as hell did what she could to remain in step with her higher calling as a writer, no matter the job, no matter the vocation, hoping It would not abandon me outright for someone more worthy. Mishan writes, “ .. we are still in thrall to the idea that in motherhood there’s a quality apart, an essence of the animal, a call to the blood; that when a woman has a child, she finally understands her reason for being on earth. That this can be true makes it no less of a burden.” and proceeds to dismantle a great deal of mythology surrounding what motherhood and being artist all at the same time may or may not mean in the larger scheme of things. I plan on reading it a few more times this week - it is that impactful. I can remember calling my father from a swing while my seven year old son ran amok with a neighbor friend, holding sticks up to the sky and pretending they were lightening rods and taking turns being electrocuted and gyrating and falling to the ground and laughing and laughing and laughing so hard. The joy was palpable. I was utterly in love with my son and with that moment. Yet. I was sobbing to my dad over the phone on the swing. I did not believe I would ever be allowed to write. While all this exhausting and wholly consuming beauty (and intense, nonstop work to feed and protect that beauty) was in front of me, I could not understand how anything would be left for this thing in me that felt so inevitable. My father in all of his infinite wisdom simply said, “if it’s inevitable, what are you so worried about?”
This is me being casual. How’m I doing?
My friend also mentioned, as we sat at Robert’s, that lists are good. Is this true? They feel like they might be. I like making them. I like reading them. So, in the spirit of my friend likely being right about every damn thing under the sun, I would like to start with some books that I humbly believe you should spend summa that hard earned money on for holiday gifts for yourself and your friends this year. This list is not exclusive, just what’s on my mind at the moment. Just buy all the books! Maybe! :)
This year I was so pleased to join Rose Wilde in launching her new book Bread and Roses, a very smart book from a savant of a woman - she used to be a civil rights lawyer! - who knows a whole lot about process and a whole lot about grains (complete with baller illustrations by Stacy Michelson that help visual brains like mine work through new information.) I am inspired by her in so many ways, none the least because she is has such an active practice in baking and activism. If you’re ever in L.A., you should head to Red Bread and check out all that Rose has built.
Adeena Sussman has a new book! Shabbat: Recipes and Rituals from my Table to Yours, came out early this Fall and it features so many of Adeena’s precise and friendly recipes for you to build your Isreali recipe box with. To my mind, Adeena is a GREAT technician. SO many usable skills in all her recipes. Really learn a lot every time I read her work.
Adeena Sussman’s Shabbat / Photo Credit: Author’s Website The warm and lovely Erin Jeanne McDowell has done it again - a new cookbook but this time about savory baking. Grab ANY of her cookbooks (The Book on Pie is formative and will be the historical textbook on Pie for generations) but her newest one is Savory Baking: Recipes for Breakfast, Dinner and Everything in Between and you should either start or add to your collection. At the rate she’s going, we’ll all have a full library of dozens of books of her great brain and skills on every page.
If you’re interested in learning about sourdough baking, or are already experienced and need some new thoughts and methods, do not miss Tara Jensen’s Flour Power!
I’m realizing I’m bad at lists because I keep writing novellas about each thing, going to do better.
Biscuit Queen Erika Council published a book this year: Still We Rise: A Love Letter to the Southern Biscuit with Over 70 Sweet and Savory Recipes !
“Still We Rise is a tribute to the glories of flour, butter, and buttermilk baked tall, tender, and flaky. Erika Council is the founder and head baker of the renowned Bomb Biscuit Company in Atlanta, Georgia. The granddaughter of legendary soul food chef Mildred (Mama Dip) Council and a teacher and activist who cooked and baked to support the civil rights movement, Erika knows all about the power of the persistent biscuit.”
Photo Credit: The Ekus Group
Last but not least! I’m linking you to my little company’s website so you can see what we are up to over at Rêverie in 2024. Hopefully you can travel with us sometime - I had a really IMPORTANT time with our first guest chefs. I cooked for our guests with Naomi Pomeroy and Ellen Laing in the Loire Valley and then Melissa Martin and Anne Churchill in Grasse, a small town in the French Riviera. I look forward to going into much more detail about these trips (there is too much to say) - especially about the food and the processes - but for now, here is a highlight reel. These aren’t the professional photos - you can check those out on the website and on our Instagram. These are just my own from my phone to share my own little glimpse into my time there with these wonderful humans. It served me so well being around these no bullshit women. Some real good things were said and done. It’s so important to seek and find the people you are from the same planet as - lifesaving stuff. More on that soon!
For now! Check out our 2024 calendar - which includes two bakers I’ve already mentioned here. We’ll be baking with Tara Jensen and Erin McDowell (in the Loire Valley and Toulouse, respectively) as well as Nina Compton in St. Lucia and Trevor Moran in Ireland. We are BEYOND excited to bring folks overseas for another year to cook and eat and cook and eat and drink a little wine in between.
Ok!
Thanks for being here and thanks for the long-haulers who are still here! You guys are champions. Real MVPs.
See you next Sunday/Monday - I really wanna dig into some holiday cookie business (the cookie recipes I have! Let’s get into it!)
So, once a week, I’ll see you here. I aim to be casual and (mostly) articulate. With a recipe every once in awhile.
Love and rockets,
Lisa
Putting Cruze Farm buttermilk on the international map in NYT magazine???!!!
Bring it, Lisa. Your thoughts, your recipes, your recommendations. I love it when your words pop up in my inbox. 💜