We are who we are and the demons who chased me at 13 are still in pursuit at 51, they are just a little bit slower, perhaps a little bit softer, and not nearly as scary... Wow, I resonated with that.
So lovely to hear about your grandma, and your similarities. This post really made me smile. And that lemon Bundt cake, hello!!
I was talking to my daughters last week about the good news/ bad news situation that the difficult sides of our personality when we’re young don’t go away with age, we just figure out how to deal with them better (hopefully!). If you can’t out run them, you might as well try to get more friendly with them. 😂 And that lemon cake is something that would be very at home in your kitchen.
Yes! This! And also learn healthier coping mechanisms. I spent my teens/twenties basically quite tipsy (or just drunk) to deal with my shyness. I've now learnt it's better to journal it out and have accepted it within myself. As you say, make it your friend! And hurrah to lemon cake 🍋
I am FINALLY catching on a backlog of Substacks and this one didn’t disappoint 💕. I love beef and broccoli together and have never heard of velveting—putting that on my must-try-immediately list. SO looking forward to the Retreat! ❤️
In my next life, I want to have grandparents exactly because of stories like yours! Your grandma seems so amazing. Sounds like you must take after her quite a bit. 💖 Um, velveting ground beef is now something I must try. Crispy bits are the best! Looks so delicious!
I think you and your family would love the beef and broccoli bowls! I'm making them again this week... and maybe the week after that. :-) Grandparents are a gift and I hope someday you are one because you'll be the best grandma there ever was.
Omg, Rebecca, don’t make me cry! I have to read my screen! 😭😭😭 You’re so sweet, thank you! 😍 I do look forward to spoiling Max’s babies, if he decides to have them. They’d be so adorable. In the meantime, I’ll have to spoil myself with these broccoli bowls. Seriously you are such a food wizard!
Thank you so much Mira! I was in the room with my grandma when she died and I don't know if I've ever had such a feeling of gratitude that I got to have her in my life for 41 years. ❤️
Wow, the beef and broccoli and the lemon cake both look AMAZING! I don’t have a real oven in my RV and am craving homemade cake. The lemon recipe will go to the top of the list for the day I finally have an oven again!
If I could, I would bring you a slice immediately! Last summer we lived on our boat for 7 weeks and didn't have an oven. When we moved back into the RV the first thing I did is bake a batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies. I was sick with Covid and I didn't even care, I was just so happy to have my oven back! :-)
What a nice tribute to your grandmother. :) The ground beef and broccoli sounds delish! I’ve actually done something similar with ground beef and baking soda (and letting it sit to “marinate” before cooking)—it’s such a cool technique.
I am completely enamored with this entire newsletter. I will be making the lemon Bundt cake today… At your recommendation months ago I purchased the lemon oil. I couldn’t remember what recipe I got it for…
Kismet.
I am completely enamored with velveting. It is inspiring me to create some sort of velvet cocktail. I have a feeling that there are already cocktails, named the obvious… Velvet Hammer, Velvet Elvis, Velveteen Rabbit… I will keep you posted when I come up with either a variation or a new velvet type cocktail.
I LOVE the idea of a velvet cocktail! That sounds like the perfect thing to do on our next cocktail making LIVE. :-) And I can’t wait to hear what you think of the cake, my lemon loving friend!
Quick question… The snickerdoodle cookie recipe that you briefly mentioned in your newsletter. Your grandmother‘s recipe. Is that on any of your websites or in any of your cookbooks?
Kismetly, Sharon was talking about her love of snickerdoodles this week. I didn’t see it in your Let’s Get Lost The Cookbook- Volume One.
Back to velveting…Your description of the charred pieces on the outside of a Smashburger made me think, wouldn’t you just want the entire Smashburger to be charred and crunchy like this? Couldn’t you just velvet your ground beef and make it like a loose meat sandwich and it’s all those beautiful crispy ground beef pieces?
I'll send you the recipe! They are a family favorite! They were Corey's favorite. He made them all the time after he got his first apartment and used to take them to work. His co-workers loved it.
I think you're onto something with the sandwich idea... I'm picturing crispy pieces of ground beef piled inside a hoagie-style bun, with some veggies (maybe sautéed onions and peppers?) and a really good sauce... Maybe chimichurri sauce or garlic aioli, or both like I love to do with these steak sandwiches: alittleandalot.com/chimichurri-steak-sandwich/
Thank you for bringing a smile to my face on my precious Saturday morning with Coffee. I always look forward to your publication and I've been so busy I haven't been indulging consistently for months. Both the story of your grandmother ( I have your BD in my calendar after I asked you last month the exact date🤣) but the sharing of that amazing lemon bundt cake! You know how I love citrus (every cocktail seems to be based in it 🙄) and yours looks and sounds perfect. I can't wait to try it. I love the science you include...sometimes those nuances we do when we cook but really didn't know the term.
I've been "velveting" apparently for years unbeknownst to my intellectual self. 🤣
Have a great week my friend. I'm so excited to see you in just 12 days!! 🥂🥧🍸♥️
12 days!!!! I can’t wait!!! Thank you so much, my friend. That cake is right up your alley and I’m not at all surprised that you are familiar with velveting even if you didn’t know what it was called. 😂 So excited to see you soon!
Happy, happy birthday, my friend!!! Hope you have a wonderful day celebrating. And honestly, both of these recipes look birthday-worthy to me. YUM!
We are who we are and the demons who chased me at 13 are still in pursuit at 51, they are just a little bit slower, perhaps a little bit softer, and not nearly as scary... Wow, I resonated with that.
So lovely to hear about your grandma, and your similarities. This post really made me smile. And that lemon Bundt cake, hello!!
I was talking to my daughters last week about the good news/ bad news situation that the difficult sides of our personality when we’re young don’t go away with age, we just figure out how to deal with them better (hopefully!). If you can’t out run them, you might as well try to get more friendly with them. 😂 And that lemon cake is something that would be very at home in your kitchen.
Yes! This! And also learn healthier coping mechanisms. I spent my teens/twenties basically quite tipsy (or just drunk) to deal with my shyness. I've now learnt it's better to journal it out and have accepted it within myself. As you say, make it your friend! And hurrah to lemon cake 🍋
I am FINALLY catching on a backlog of Substacks and this one didn’t disappoint 💕. I love beef and broccoli together and have never heard of velveting—putting that on my must-try-immediately list. SO looking forward to the Retreat! ❤️
In my next life, I want to have grandparents exactly because of stories like yours! Your grandma seems so amazing. Sounds like you must take after her quite a bit. 💖 Um, velveting ground beef is now something I must try. Crispy bits are the best! Looks so delicious!
I think you and your family would love the beef and broccoli bowls! I'm making them again this week... and maybe the week after that. :-) Grandparents are a gift and I hope someday you are one because you'll be the best grandma there ever was.
Omg, Rebecca, don’t make me cry! I have to read my screen! 😭😭😭 You’re so sweet, thank you! 😍 I do look forward to spoiling Max’s babies, if he decides to have them. They’d be so adorable. In the meantime, I’ll have to spoil myself with these broccoli bowls. Seriously you are such a food wizard!
Love these thoughts! And the beef recipe looks right up my alley. Happy birthday to you!
Thank you so much Rachel! If you make the beef and broccoli, I hope you love it as much as we do! I'm making it again this week!
This was so sweet! Thank you for sharing memories of your grandma. Grandparents are such special people in our lives.
And as always, fabulous recipes. I'm in awe of your ability to do that.
Thank you so much Mira! I was in the room with my grandma when she died and I don't know if I've ever had such a feeling of gratitude that I got to have her in my life for 41 years. ❤️
Wow, the beef and broccoli and the lemon cake both look AMAZING! I don’t have a real oven in my RV and am craving homemade cake. The lemon recipe will go to the top of the list for the day I finally have an oven again!
If I could, I would bring you a slice immediately! Last summer we lived on our boat for 7 weeks and didn't have an oven. When we moved back into the RV the first thing I did is bake a batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies. I was sick with Covid and I didn't even care, I was just so happy to have my oven back! :-)
What a nice tribute to your grandmother. :) The ground beef and broccoli sounds delish! I’ve actually done something similar with ground beef and baking soda (and letting it sit to “marinate” before cooking)—it’s such a cool technique.
Yes! That's another technique under the "velveting" category! It makes a huge difference in the texture! And thank you so much, my friend!
I am completely enamored with this entire newsletter. I will be making the lemon Bundt cake today… At your recommendation months ago I purchased the lemon oil. I couldn’t remember what recipe I got it for…
Kismet.
I am completely enamored with velveting. It is inspiring me to create some sort of velvet cocktail. I have a feeling that there are already cocktails, named the obvious… Velvet Hammer, Velvet Elvis, Velveteen Rabbit… I will keep you posted when I come up with either a variation or a new velvet type cocktail.
Happy almost birthday, my friend.
I love that you can immediately elevate anything! I have a vision of stuff dripping down my chin as I take a bite. That’s the best look.
All the best sandwiches are messy. :-)
I LOVE the idea of a velvet cocktail! That sounds like the perfect thing to do on our next cocktail making LIVE. :-) And I can’t wait to hear what you think of the cake, my lemon loving friend!
Quick question… The snickerdoodle cookie recipe that you briefly mentioned in your newsletter. Your grandmother‘s recipe. Is that on any of your websites or in any of your cookbooks?
Kismetly, Sharon was talking about her love of snickerdoodles this week. I didn’t see it in your Let’s Get Lost The Cookbook- Volume One.
Back to velveting…Your description of the charred pieces on the outside of a Smashburger made me think, wouldn’t you just want the entire Smashburger to be charred and crunchy like this? Couldn’t you just velvet your ground beef and make it like a loose meat sandwich and it’s all those beautiful crispy ground beef pieces?
I'll send you the recipe! They are a family favorite! They were Corey's favorite. He made them all the time after he got his first apartment and used to take them to work. His co-workers loved it.
I think you're onto something with the sandwich idea... I'm picturing crispy pieces of ground beef piled inside a hoagie-style bun, with some veggies (maybe sautéed onions and peppers?) and a really good sauce... Maybe chimichurri sauce or garlic aioli, or both like I love to do with these steak sandwiches: alittleandalot.com/chimichurri-steak-sandwich/
Or the cheeseburger sauce for these quesadillas: alittleandalot.com/cheeseburger-quesadillas/
This is a brilliant idea, Robin. I must try it.
Thank you for bringing a smile to my face on my precious Saturday morning with Coffee. I always look forward to your publication and I've been so busy I haven't been indulging consistently for months. Both the story of your grandmother ( I have your BD in my calendar after I asked you last month the exact date🤣) but the sharing of that amazing lemon bundt cake! You know how I love citrus (every cocktail seems to be based in it 🙄) and yours looks and sounds perfect. I can't wait to try it. I love the science you include...sometimes those nuances we do when we cook but really didn't know the term.
I've been "velveting" apparently for years unbeknownst to my intellectual self. 🤣
Have a great week my friend. I'm so excited to see you in just 12 days!! 🥂🥧🍸♥️
12 days!!!! I can’t wait!!! Thank you so much, my friend. That cake is right up your alley and I’m not at all surprised that you are familiar with velveting even if you didn’t know what it was called. 😂 So excited to see you soon!
Happy almost birthday. 🎊
Thank you, my friend!