Reflections on 2024, Part One
Favorites & Bests, Moments & Glimpses--& also one (tragic) photo that encapsulates looking for an apartment in NYC...
2024, as I look back at it, was the year of traveling and moving. I traveled more than usual this year, and several of the trips were really notable, special ones. We moved from Chelsea to Brooklyn, and it was a big move, with lots of stops-and-starts and logistics and feelings.
More than the travel itinerary, though, and more than the move, we began this year in one place--existentially/emotionally/spiritually—and ended in an entirely different place—thank God.
Next week, I’ll gather up all my deeper thoughts and feelings about that inner distance we traveled, but before that, here’s all the bits: the best books and favorite meals, the moments and glimpses that feel quintessentially 2024 to me.
Favorite meals at restaurants:
1. The Hot Papi at Emmett’s on Mother’s Day
It was cool and windy but we sat outside anyway. The kids were happy about the Chicago-style deep dish and Cokes in tall glass bottles. Aaron loved their gluten-free pie, and the Hot Papi is up there for me as one of the best pizzas in the city. That day fell right in the thick of some of the most stressful apartment-searching, so that meal felt like a respite—a delicious one.
2. Cacio e Pepe at Roscioli with my mom
One of the absolute highlights of the year was a trip with my mom to Sicily—we did a food tour with Elizabeth and Sophie Minchilli. I’m a huge fan of their tours and can’t wait to go on another one. My mom and I spent a couple days in Rome before joining the tour in Palermo, and after flying all night and wandering the Campo de Fiore and Piazza Navona in the morning, we had lunch at Roscioli, one of my favorite restaurants in Rome.
We sat in the coziest corner of the wine cellar, and we laughed a lot—part happiness that we finally made a trip like this happen and part jet lag, but no matter the reason, it’s one of my sweetest memories of the year, and certainly if you find yourself in Rome, make that the first place you stop.
3. Dinner at Shukette on our last night in Chelsea
After we did a final walk-through of our seminary apartment and handed in our keys, we went straight to dinner at Shukette. As you know, Shukette is my favorite restaurant in the city, and it was just a bonus that it happened to be right in our neighborhood for all those years. That night’s dinner was delicious as always, and I cried a little bit when we said goodbye to the servers and managers that we’ve come to love over the last several years. We’ll go back, of course, but not as neighbors, and I’ll hold that special night in my heart for a long time.
Favorite meal at home: Tomato Pie
As you know, I’m deep in recipe writing and testing for a cookbook, and this recipe felt like one of my earliest victories. I knew exactly how I wanted it to taste, and all summer I tried different versions. When I landed on this version, I felt so happy and excited.
One of the funny parts of me writing a cookbook is that I rarely use recipes, so I’ve had to learn to keep a paper and pen in the kitchen, right next to the measuring cups and measuring spoons, because guess what? Cookbooks actually have to have clear, specific amounts and directions!
To be honest, I wasn’t sure how much I’d like that part of it. I knew I’d like the creative part of dreaming up broadly what goes in each dish, and I knew I’d like writing the head notes and the pantry guides and the hospitality notes and the menu ideas, but I genuinely wasn’t sure how much I’d like the nitty-gritty how-many-teaspoons? part.
Great news: I’m loving it. It feels like a fun creative puzzle, and the Tomato Pie feels like one of the first recipes I cracked. Also: it’s delicious, and I would like to eat summer tomatoes every day for the rest of my life.
Favorite sunset:
You know I am a sunset connoisseur, that I pull up a chair to the sliding glass windows at the cottage to watch the sunset like movie night after night. My kids tease me that my photo roll is just farmer’s market, sandwich, sunset, sunset, sunset over and over. They’re not wrong, and I do not apologize.
In November, I went out to Santa Barbara to speak at Westmont College, my alma mater, and also to get some quality time with my best friend from college. I’m used to the itinerary from Chicago to Santa Barbara, having done it dozens of times over the years, but wow is it a long day to get from JFK to SB. I arrived at the cute little SB airport sort of bedraggled, and Annette said, do you want to go to the hotel before dinner or straight to the beach? She knew the answer already: straight to the beach!
We sat on Butterfly Beach and I exhaled for the first time in a long time. We’ve watched the sunset on that stretch of beach one million times over the years, and I never, ever get over it.
Best work moment: I signed two book contracts—which means I finally, finally got my act together and finished the proposals I’d been working on for a long time. It also means that over the summer I went to lots of meetings at publishing houses and met so many interesting, smart, talented people.
Ummm, as I’m writing this, I’m realizing that I’ve only told you about the first book, but YES, there’s another one after the cookbook—another essay collection in the same style as my previous books. I’m really killing the marketing side of this, huh? :) These kinds of announcements are apparently not my strong suit, but I’m really excited about both books, both teams, both editors, and I’m so grateful to get to keep making books—that’s the thing I love most in my work life.
Biggest project completed: William’s high school applications
Would you like me to tell you about the application process for public high schools in NYC? Do you have six hours and a Beautiful Mind-style wall of strings and paper scraps and chaos?
The high school application process is an extremely complicated, massively cumbersome endeavor that involves open houses with lines around the block like you’re waiting to get into a sold-out concert, 32-digit random lottery numbers, codes and groups and priorities and districts and auditions and portfolios and essays and…and…and…let’s just say the moment I finally hit “submit” on Will’s application, I wanted to sleep for a week. Henry’s doing college applications right now and they are cake compared to NYC high school applications. Whew!
Person I’m Most Grateful For This Year: Aaron, Aaron, Aaron!
We’ve moved a handful of times throughout our marriage—from the Chicago area to Grand Rapids, back to the Chicago area, then to New York. It has not always been our best thing, and I feel like that’s a pretty common dynamic. Partnership is tricky enough without adding in movers and leases and brokers and all your earthly possessions being lined up on the street, right?
This time around, Aaron was the absolute greatest move partner I could have asked for. A few highlights: the amount of times he went to Ikea in Red Hook, and the amount of cabinets that he built from Ikea in Red Hook. The amount of time he spent on a chat with the Home Depot service department. The amount of time he spent with a tape measure in one hand and a drill in the other—he was a man obsessed with getting us settled here, and I appreciated every second of it.
It seems like with every passing year we’re getting better at partnership, especially at understanding what meaningful partnership means to the other, and really, that’s no small thing. I’m so grateful.
Favorite albums:
Noah Kahan, Stick Season
Gracie Abrams, The Secret of Us
Chappell Roan, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
Waxahatchee, Tigers Blood
Best Books:
I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garden
Big Night by Katherine Lewin
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
(affiliate links)
Best Broadway Show:
Illinoise
Best Party: I can’t think of a better/sweeter/more fun/more celebratory way to send off 2024 than our friend Mark’s NYE party. You know me: I love parties at home, a little fancy but mostly cozy, kids running around and shoes piled up by the front door, lots of wine bottles open on the coffee table, candles burning down, throwing in a stack of frozen pizzas and popping popcorn on the stove if our pals decide to stay beyond happy hour. (I love it when our pals decide to stay beyond happy hour!)
This was…not that. This was black tie at a fancy bar on the 40th floor overlooking Times Square. This was sequins and caviar and a DJ and all our friends looking fantastic. It was spectacular, and as much as I think I’m not a “fancy party in Times Square on New Year’s Eve” person, it seems that perhaps I very much am that kind of person. It felt like the perfect way to say goodbye a year that took a lot out of all of us but ended (literally!) on the dance floor with so many people we love. Well done, Mark, and thank you!
Oh, and I’ll leave you with this: a photographic representation of what it felt like to look for an apartment in New York City in the greatest housing shortage in a decade…
The best thing about this beautiful vista is that was listed by a broker as “private outdoor space.” Let’s pause and let that sink in for a minute, shall we? These three absolutely filthy steps from the street down to an underground apartment have been very aspirationally rebranded as PRIVATE OUTDOOR SPACE.
Oh, could I have a little party in my private outdoor space? Maybe put out some patio furniture?! Come sit next to me with a glass of wine on these gross trash-covered steps! Bonus: we can be eye level to dogs while they pee on the street!
This was 100% my apartment-searching low point.
I guess what I’m saying is that we’re so grateful and happy that we ended up where we did ;) I mean it about the apartment, and I mean it about the year—it was a journey, as they say, but I’m really grateful for where we landed, in all sorts of ways.
More next week…XO—S