a little of this, a little of that...

just checking in!

Hi all!  

How’s everyone doing? 

A quick reminder that I’ll be teaching this weekend on SATURDAY (not my usual Sunday). Class will be from 2p until 3:30p EST and is all about HOW TO HANDLE YOUR CSA SHARE!

And on Sun. 5/19, I’ll be offering AIR FRYER PREP FOR THE WEEK AHEAD:

I thought it’d be fun to share a few odds and ends from the last few weeks in today’s newsletter. I love tiny details in general (I always want to know what anyone had for lunch, what you listen to when you drive, nighttime routines, and more), so here’s a “grab bag” from me but feel free to fill me in in the comments…I want to know it all!

I just got home from about five minutes in Los Angeles (I’m joking, of course, but it was a very short trip) and got to see so many beautiful trees and flowers and plants every single place I walked:

While I was there, I met a super cool artist named April Bey and got to fit in a very speedy visit to a gallery to see Bey’s work. I can’t stop thinking about the LARGENESS of it all, how unapologetically Bey took over the space with color and texture. Inspiring and just so cool!!!

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Right before that quick trip, I competed in my third powerlifting meet and had a BLAST! The best part was getting to compete with my friend Molly for the first time (if you read my long form essay, you might recognize Molly’s name as she’s who introduced me to my gym and my coach Matt!): 

I placed second in my weight/age group but what I’m really most happy and proud of is how smooth/relaxed/confident all my lifts felt at the meet. It was really cool to walk away knowing I had lifted more than I ever have in all three lifts (squat, bench, deadlift) and still felt like I had more gas in my tank for each one. There really is something to continuing to show up for something daunting and seeing what happens. I have no plans to stop powerlifting, but I’ve decided my next strength goal is to learn how to do exactly one pull-up. I have never done one in my life and think it will feel deeply healing for my inner elementary/middle school self who could never do one in gym class, let alone swing across monkey bars. Here goes nothing! I’m open to tips if anyone has any…

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Some of my favorite things I’ve cooked/eaten in the last few weeks:

1. In Los Angeles, I made three pounds of penne vodka sans vodka for a big group of friends. I finely diced two yellow onions, let them cook slowly in olive oil until they were soft and sweet and a little golden around the edges, added maybe 8 minced garlic cloves, two tubes of tomato paste, and a pint of cream. Lots of salt and pepper, the cooked pasta, and about 2 cups of starchy pasta cooking water. Served with lots of pecorino. Really hit the spot and was easy and CHEAP!

2. After the powerlifting meet, I had dinner with my coach and his family at Dave’s Hot Chicken and just highly recommend the order Matt recommended to me: a #3 (a slider and a tender), HOT, with extra sauce + honey packets on the side for drizzling on top of the chicken. YUM.

3. The $6 ham + butter baguette sandwich from Cookbook in Echo Park. A very skinny baguette with just the right amount of salty butter and very thinly sliced prosciutto. Perfect!

4. A few weeks ago, we did an IKEA-inspired menu for Full Fridge Club (so fun!!) and I particularly enjoyed the Swedish Turkey meatballs I made with Emmet’s homemade cherry jam. The meatballs were the same as the ones in Simply Julia but instead of the sour cream gravy, I did a very yummy cream gravy with onions sautéed in olive oil seasoned with a tiny bit of ground allspice, some whole juniper berries, and lots of black pepper. I sprinkled that with flour, then added chicken stock, Worcestershire sauce for more seasoning, and finished it with a splash of cream. I strained it before ladling over the meatballs. Heaven!

5. Turned in my final cookbook edits the other day and celebrated with an ice cold Michelob Ultra and bag of Cape Cod potato chips in my backyard while our dogs ran around. Very grateful. 

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This Sunday is Mother’s Day which I know is a complicated day for lots of folks for so many reasons, so just sending lots of love out towards everyone and quick nod to my sweet mom who watches all of my classes and makes the most delightful illustrated notes while she watches. Here are some recent favorites:

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A FEW REMINDERS!

• My upcoming cookbook What Goes with What will be out this fall!! As a thanks for being a part of my newsletter, you can get 15% off your preorder at Bookshop.org. Just use code LOVEBOOKSELLERS at checkout (valid through May 24th).

• If you’d like a signed or personalized copy, I’ll be doing those as always through Oblong Books, my local independent bookstore. This is where to order from if you want me to sign a copy or to make one out specifically to you or anyone in your life (signed cookbooks = great gifts). If you pre-order a signed copy from Oblong, you might also get a little special something which I can’t tell you more about right now because it’s all up in the air but I think it’s going to happen and it’s going to be great….sorry to be so vague!!!

• I am filling in for Daniela Galarza, who is on parental leave, over at The Washington Post’s ‘Eat Voraciously’ newsletter through July. If you’d like, you can sign up here (it’s free and you don’t have to subscribe to the paper to get it). It arrives in your inbox Monday - Thursday. Monday through Wednesday I feature a recipe from The Post’s archives and tell you all about it and Thursday I get to feature an original recipe (I’ve been doing a mix of my own and ones from friends, too).

• If you want to hear more about the work I do every Monday with my friends at Common Table (Emmet, Stephen, and Timmy), sign up for

  Full Fridge Club: Dishing It Out
  . It’s a monthly newsletter and contains notes about our monthly menus, queer history from my pal Timmy, and at least two recipes written by me every month for paid subscribers. And more! It’s great!

Alright y’all, thanks for being here. Means a lot! Take good care this weekend.

xoxoxoxo Julia