“On our 10th anniversary, we should get a canoe,” I said to Kev just before getting married. Here we are, living in the land of 10,000 lakes on our 10th anniversary, and a canoe seems like the most accurate prophesy as to where life would take us. We were living in Dallas at the time (a canoe-less place), getting ready to move to Chicago for his graduate program when I said this. I’m not sure where the canoe idea came from.
Read more
When Hal (age 4.5) goes to the library, she adds books to the bag as if she were the first person in line at a bustling estate sale. First come, first serve. We always manage to go to the library at an off time, so her biggest competition is a nearby baby gnawing at the corner of a board book. I cut her off when the bag gets too heavy to hold. She scans the books, and we’re back in the car before the leftover air conditioned air feels like heat. Read more
We’ve made it to Week 4, the final week, of meal planning with The Minimalist Kitchen. Thank you for cooking along! It’s funny, this book is a cookbook, yes. But’s it’s also a resource guide, with the recipes standing in as teachers (delicious teachers) showing your how to make your pared down, minimalist kitchen work to its fullest potential. If I had a dream, it would be that dinnertime would feel really doable, and that the kitchen might produce more joy (and food) than frustration. To that end, I’ve focused on super simple weeknight dinners this week. Read more
I’m home from The Minimalist Kitchen book tour, and as amazing as it was to travel and talk about this labor of love, it’s so, so good to be home. Home is where I’m happiest. Home is where we make homemade dinners. At the Q&A portion of an event, someone asked, after having mentioned that we’ve lived in a lot of places, which region held my favorite restaurants. Maybe it was because I was missing home, but I said that my favorite meals to eat are the ones we make at home. Of course, we like to go out to eat here are there (here’s my favorite restaurants in Minneapolis), but we’re always most satisfied from a homemade meal. After being home for a couple days now, I stand by my answer—home is where the dinner table is. The one that has stains and indentions from Hal’s art projects and last nights dinner. Read more
Cheers to the simple things. I signed almost every book this way. Telling you this makes it sound cheap. Though I hope it’s not. Words matter. And these 5 words matter greatly to me. I thought a lot about what I might write. Permanently. In pen. Can I tell you how terrifying it is to write in a book that’s not yours? Are you sure you want me to sign this thing, I kept thinking to myself. That’s beside the point. Read more
The Minimalist Kitchen has been out for 12 days! Seeing it out in the wild has calmed so many of my anxieties. It’s been incredible to see you making over your pantries to feel more organized and less frustrating. It’s been incredible to see you making recipes from the book. Not only making the recipes, but making them yours, with the things you have on hand. That’s the same way I find myself cooking, too. I say this throughout the book—please don’t consume my words like a prescription. But rather, use them as a framework. And you’re doing it. Maybe it’s selfish, but I get to learn from you in return when you use this book this way. So, thank you.
Meal planning is a subject I tackled, reluctantly, in The Minimalist Kitchen. My design background taught me not to stop until form meets function. Having one without the other is just something pretty to look at, much like a pile of recipe ideas without the ability to integrate them into the week. But the difficult thing about advising on meal planning is that our lives look so vastly different. What works for one person, might not fit into the lifestyle of the other. There is one universal truth though. Mom-friend after mom-friend said the same thing. “Oh my gosh, 5:30 (dinnertime) arrives by surprise everyday. Like I didn’t know it was coming.” Getting to the dinner table is a seemingly universal struggle. Read more
First things first, I am not fancy despite the presentation of this Blistered Peppadew Cauliflower, which can be served straight from the sheet pan or cast iron skillet, like we do on pizza night. I’m not fancy, and this was confirmed last year at an event held at my house, a blogging event. “We’ll send a private chef if you have some friends over.” That was an easy OK. It was all great until the appetizers started rolling out. And then it got really awkward. Read more
