Navigating relevancy and creativity (ft. a cake)
By several measures, I am not a relevant person. I don't watch reality cooking shows (no, not even Great British Bake Off). I did not make sourdough starter during the pandemic. I do not like macarons. I did not eat soufflé pancakes in Japan (they aren't that good, guys). I
Eat a Pastry, Eat the World: My Interview on the Experience Explorer
A conversation with experiences expert Christina Herbach about the intersectionality of desserts, design, and exploring the world more deeply.
A Personal Celebration of World Nutella Day
Today is World Nutella Day! It's a silly day, in the way that Ice Cream Day is a day and Chocolate Chip Cookie Day is a day. There are more foods than there are days in a year, so a food rarely gets to claim a day as its own,
Recipe: Nutella-Swirled Banana Bread
One of my golden rules of being a pastry cook is to never, ever be too good to make banana bread. No matter what level of baking you're at, you can always learn something from banana bread. It's a pastry that's stupefyingly easy, frustratingly difficult, and endlessly versatile. If you
Travel Guide: Andalucía, Spain
I was physically incapable of rushing in Spain. Maybe it was because we visited for two weeks, as the generous holiday policies of Europe allowed us to do. But mostly, it seemed due to the very nature of Andalucía, a region that after eight hundred (!) years of Moorish rule, seems
Fine dining isn’t at a crossroads because of Noma. We are.
Since the announcement of Noma closing, several articles have been written touting its accolades, innovation, and alleged toxic workplace. These discussions spawn nostalgia and clickbait headlines, but they aren’t focused on what I believe is the most important fact—Noma closing isn’t changing the food world that much.
Recipe: Nutella-rum galette des rois (or de reines)
I'd never made a galette de rois before because well, I'm not French nor religious. In California, these galettes were uncommon, and as of the last two years, 6th Jan has bleakly become the anniversary of the attempted coup of the American government. In Europe however, the 6th Jan retains
2023 ins and outs, and some newsletter updates
"Ins" and "outs" felt less serious that resolutions and more realistic. Or maybe I just want to be Gen Z—playful with language instead of succumbing to the millennial urge to take everything very seriously.
A recipe for puff pastry, and your life
Good pastry derives from a good recipe. Great pastry relies on a good recipe plus a cook's intuition on how to use that recipe. How do you know when the dough is mixed enough, wet enough, dry enough, supple enough? How do you really know when it's really ready?
Pumpkin Everything, Everywhere, All At Once
As a Californian, fall in London is strange. I come from a land without seasons and therefore without a sense of time. For my whole life, I relied on something else to signal that fall had begun, which doesn't exist in London—rows and rows of canned pumpkin.
Diwali, chai ganache, and questioning tradition
Every since I started hosting Diwali dinner parties, I wonder what all millennial children-of-immigrants wonder: Am I doing it right?
Does wedding food matter?
What happens if wedding food isn't an experience? What if the food is just that—food? Sustaining, necessary, straightforward food. What sort of memory do guests now have about a wedding...about our wedding?