Sparks of joy in January
Goals, fixations, and being unafraid
Hi and happy Sunday! One of my 2025 goals is to film more culinary content in the new year. I figure I’m always cooking and making delicious food so why not share it with the world and attempt to monetize it just a little bit? I’ve been talking about doing this for some time now—I even started my Substack in part to put off making cooking content for social media. I’ve always enjoyed writing and I have even been photographing my food since before the term “phone eats first” made it’s way into our vernacular. And yet, filming and editing videos has never come naturally to me. I was never the kid making YouTube videos, or even watching them. I never downloaded Vine. I still don’t even have TikTok. But I do love Instagram. It was first designed to share photos, something that doesn’t intimidate me as much as videography does, so it makes sense that I’m more drawn to this platform.
I dipped my toe into the culinary influencer water by making a food Instagram—another thing that I had been talking about for forever but never actually executing. Maybe I’m just scared of flopping? Anyway, I started posting my favorite food photos—not too often but whenever I felt like it fit my own made up bill. But here we are in 2025 and I have decided to stop being afraid of not being perfect off the bat or flopping and just to do the thing that I have talked about on repeat for well over a year now. I’m diving head first into the water, starting with filming my private cheffing gigs. I even brought my mighty little tripod to my client’s apartment so I could film my process. I decided that I would figure out how to stitch everything together into a neat little reel later. And you know what? I did figure it out. With the help of my friend, Mia, who graciously gave me a Masterclass on CapCut (the video editing app). It wasn’t the most perfect, seamless reel that has ever existed but it wasn’t half bad. There are improvements to be made for sure but, in my humble opinion, it was a successful jumping off point. Once I understood how to use CapCut, the whole filming concept didn’t seem nearly as scary anymore. I guess success is really is just a series of baby steps. And I must admit, I’m actually really enjoying filming on the job now. Wow, those are words I truly never thought I would say.
Since I’m telling you all this in such detail, I may as well give myself a little plug, too. If you want to see more of my food content, I would love for you to check out (and follow!) my Instagram!!
Now onto the food!!!!!
I want to share some food-related things that I’m currently hyper-fixated on and absolutely loving from the first two weeks of January!
Egg fried in sage, fennel seed, and Aleppo pepper on toast with a shmear of labneh—I have made this every single day for the last week and I am nowhere near sick of it. I’ve always loved to fry my eggs in sage because fried sage is the best. But I recently saw Justine Doiron post a video from her cookbook, Justine Cooks, making eggs fried in sage and fennel seed and I thought that was totally genius. I add a little Aleppo pepper (or you can use red pepper flakes) to give it a teeny tiny kick. It’s also essential to fry the bread in the pan and spread a light shmear of labneh on the toast before topping it with the fried egg.
Every. Single. Dish. At Theodora in Brooklyn—Mollie and I had dinner here the other night, after it being on both of our lists since they first opened about a year ago. The restaurant is from the team behind Miss Ada (also in Brooklyn), which I ate at a few years ago, while working at Misi, with my mom. I believe they had recently opened and I had heard good things so we walked on in without a reservation. When I tell you that we were stunned by how delicious everything is, I’m not exaggerating. I still think about their sweet potato hummus often. So, I knew Theodora would blow my socks off in the same way and I was not disappointed in the slightest. We had red snapper ceviche with fried pineapple (need this again!!!), za’atar kubaneh, pita with this amazing smoky hummus, honeynut squash with blue crab and parmesan foam, steelhead trout with tzatziki and greens, and smoked whitefish croquettes. I HIGHLY recommend going here asap! Also, speaking of great menus, another 2025 “intention” of mine is to use more restaurant menus as inspiration for my own client menus. I’m finding recipes online to feel kind of stale and uninspiring and I find a lot of joy in taking fine dining dishes and “home chef-ifying” them. Aka making them more approachable for your at-home dining experience.
Sumo oranges—While these are nowhere near a “new” phenomenon, every year that sumo season rolls around I feel a little giddier. They’re like the bright light that we all need when it’s so cold outside my body is permanently numb. I have eaten one as a snack every single day since I first saw them in Whole Foods and I highly encourage you to do the same. Give yourself a little spark of joy this winter.
Japanese sweet potato curry—Another perfect recipe from Justine Doiron! I saw it and immediately had to make it. I love the idea of Japanese sweet potatoes but I find them a bit challenging to make well. And let tell you, simmered is the way to go. I believe the starchiness of the sweet potato helps to thicken the soup and it’s just a wonderful, velvety texture—the way curry should be every single time. I roughly halved the recipe and still made enough for 3 dinners. But I more than happily ate it 3 days in a row (and honestly would have eaten it even more times). I used baby spinach instead of bok choy, added seared tofu for a little protein, and added soba noodles that I wanted to use up (but honestly they were so unnecessary). It’s really easy make. It’s really quick. And it’s really comforting for these frigid days.
Jeweled rice—I’m really drawn to this version of crispy rice’s rustic appearance. It doesn’t have to be perfect in the way that tahdig does when you flip it over and pray that the crispy bottom didn’t stick to the pan and it looks picture-perfect. To make this dish, you spread a layer of par-cooked rice on the bottom of a Dutch oven with lots of melted butter, top with a saffron-y mixture of onions and dried fruit, and finally pile the rest of the rice on top along with more saffron water. This simmers on the stove, covered, for about 30 minutes so that the bottom layer of the rice gets really crispy but the rest is soft and buttery. The dish is finished with a mix of nuts (pistachios, pepitas, pine nuts, hazelnuts, etc.) that are toasted in more butter. It’s truly all of the jewels in one pot!
Turmeric pickled veg—I have a strange love for pickled cauliflower. I think it’s the way that is softens slightly in the pickling liquid while still having a crunch and added texture from the curd (aka the compact head of undeveloped flower buds). For a dinner the other night, I used a recipe from the Kismet cookbook and pickled purple cauliflower and fennel with turmeric, white vinegar, sugar, and garlic. Since the cauliflower was purple and the liquid was yellow from the turmeric, the colors mixed together to create a kind of block color with yellow, pink, and purple!!!
