Something lovely & joyful from our corner of the world:

I'm writing a cookbook! :)

Here we are, a cold, bright Friday—hello from Brooklyn! After a stretch of warm, wonderful summer weather that extended so late into the fall this year, the weather has finally turned, and it’s full fall here now—pale light, cold air, nights when all we want to do is cancel plans and snuggle up on the sofa.

I’m just back from an absolutely wonderful but very quick trip to Santa Barbara, which is where I went to college and truly one of my favorite places on earth. I spoke at Westmont’s chapel on Monday morning. I’ve done that several times over the years, and each time it’s such a good reminder of how many good things Westmont brought about in my life, how many great friends I made, how much I learned about life and faith and literature and hope—I could go on and on. Westmont is a wonderful place, and it was a delight to be there again.

Another highlight: sunset at Butterfly Beach. My best friend from college picked me up from the airport and we drove straight to the beach for champagne and cheese and the most spectacular sunset—what a perfect way to start a trip in a place that means so much to me!

The next night, I got to visit a friend’s brand new GORGEOUS bookstore in Summerland. Jennifer and I were neighbors when I first moved to New York, and I called her my fairy godmother—she’s a couple years older than me, sophisticated and wise, and she knew everything about city life that I didn’t. And now she’s moved to my tiny college town and has opened the dreamiest bookstore…called Godmother’s! Life is wild, and it was such a treat to see her.

Last night we celebrated a friend’s book launch over delicious noodles at a cool East Village spot, and tomorrow we’ll watch Will play his last baseball game at Pier 40—fall ball is almost in the books. We’re absolutely in the thick of high school AND college applications, and speaking of travel, we have a really fun extended-family trip coming up over Thanksgiving, and we can’t wait.

But before all that, I have news—big, exciting, wonderful I’ve-been-waiting-for-ages-to-tell-you news: I’m writing a cookbook, and it will be in your hands in 2026!

In some ways, of course, this is completely not news…like of course this is what I’m working on—if you’ve been here for even a minute, you know that the intersection of food & writing is my sweetest sweet spot, and that gathering and feeding the people I love is my favorite thing.

Over the summer, my agent Chris and I met with lots of publishers, and there was one with whom I had the most obvious, immediate sense of connection and like-mindedness—actually, it was before we even met in person. The email she sent in response to the proposal made me cry, and I had such a deep sense of being on the same page, of having a similar dream for what this cookbook could be. It was a delight to sign with Doris Cooper at Simon Element, and I absolutely can’t wait to make this cookbook!

The focus of the project is food for gathering, and of course there will be recipes and beautiful photos, but there will also be lots of stories and practical guides, how to’s and a thousand reasons why I believe gathering is so important. Aaron keeps saying it’s a hospitality manifesto disguised as a cookbook, and he’s not wrong :)

You know that hospitality is the deepest part of my heartbeat and vocation, and this book is going to be my very best attempt to help people get over all the obstacles that keep us from opening our doors. I want to make it easy and fun and meaningful, and I want people who feel overwhelmed by the idea of a dinner party or a happy hour gathering to find within these pages the vision and the tools they need to gather without stress or anxiety.

Of course, there will be all the recipes that I make all the time—the chutney cheeseball and onion dip and about sixteen different versions of queso. Soups and enchiladas and tomato pie and Halloween Candy Bar Cookies, of course. Sheet pan nachos and really great lasagna, and a very detailed step-by-step for how to put together a snack platter when you only have a few minutes.

I think you can tell that I’m BEYOND excited about this project—picture me these days testing recipes, writing notes, surrounded by post-its and measuring spoons and an absolute mountain of dirty pots and pans. Picture me walking home from the Fort Greene farmer’s market with my totes full of figs and sourdough and cider, stopping in at the butcher on Smith Street and the wine shop there, too.

Picture me gathering the people I love around our new little table, just like we used to gather in the courtyard—the locations and formats have changed over and over throughout my life, but my heartbeat to gather and feed people is one of the most consistent parts of my life, one of the truest through lines of who I am, and I absolutely can’t wait to fill this cookbook’s pages with beauty and flavor and texture and joy. Okay, back to the kitchen for me!