D e c e m b e r

WINTER FEELINGS

IN REVIEW : MAKING CAKE

*A gluten-free Victoria sponge cake with brown sugar buttercream, roasted vanilla plums, and mascarpone*

A long day in the kitchen re-connected me with a deep respect for the food I eat and the people who make it.

I bought Claire Ptak’s “Love is a Pink Cake” at my local bookstore earlier this year and spent a lot of time flipping through it. It could be half coffee table book, half cookbook. The recipes, photography, and overall thoughtfulness of it is splendid — An immersive world that drops you into joy by bringing you back to the essence of simple pleasures. Alone, the book’s bright pink floral cover, neon green liner, and cherub lithograph on the first page was enough to sell me. You know when something just feels so good and it sort of speaks to you? This cookbook.

The book is split into two sections: California and England. Claire grew up in California, so this first part is a beautiful display of the state’s agriculture, farms, and produce through the seasons. The vibe is heavily farm to table, which makes sense, given that part of Claire’s formative culinary experience was at Chez Panisse with the iconic Alice Waters in Northern California. Claire moved to England after meeting and marrying an Englishman (cute!) and opened up Violet Cakes, which I cannot wait to visit one day. This section is laced with beautiful recipes for afternoon tea time and even her iconic wedding cake for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (double cute!) I love exploring different cultures through the lens of food, especially in the eyes of Claire Ptak!

I’ve always been so intrigued by people who work with/in/around food. Sasha Piligian, Roxanne Rosensteel, and Lucie Franc de Ferriere (of From Lucie) are three women who really caught my eye this year. Sasha Piligian is a pastry chef in Los Angeles for shops like Canyon Coffee and Community Goods. Roxanne Rosentheel is a wedding and special-event baker in Santa Barbara doing stunning work. And Lucie (native to France) is a New York City based baker whose cakes just blow me away. All three women source seasonal ingredients from local farmers markets and are so intentional (like Claire!) about their creations.

All this to say, I was so inspired. I got to a point this year where I thought, “Could cake be my side hustle?”

What I thought would be a few cute hours in the kitchen making a cute cake from Claire’s book, turned into a full day of baking chaos and a lottttt of extra buttercream (I think I messed up the recipe). I decided to made a gluten-free Victoria sponge cake with brown sugar buttercream, roasted vanilla plums, and mascarpone. The plums here (which were in season at the time of making) were the star of the show. While I may have had one or two mental breakdowns in the middle of the process, making this dynamic cake humbled me in more ways than one.

When the dishes were clean and I finally tried a slice of my attempted masterpiece, all I could feel was deep gratitude and respect for Claire, Sasha, Roxanne, and Lucie. Here’s to everyone who has dedicated their life to feeding others, creating from their heart, and making beautiful art, edible or not, for the world to see. Thank you xo

COUPLE

"two of the same kind or class connected or considered together,"

from Old French cople "married couple, lovers"

from Latin copula "tie, connection,"

"that which unites two."

"to link or connect, as one thing with another," from Old French copler "to couple, join together,"

Maybe i’ve been single for a little too long, but I’ve been thinking a lot about relationships this year. Couples. Love. Pairs. Twos. The word “couple” dates back to the 13th century, when it meant (and still does mean), “Two of the same kind or class connected together”.

Two, connected together.

More specifically, this year, I’ve been thinking a lot about the individual pieces that come together to form a couple — Are there characteristics of an individual that create a magnetic partnership?

A theme that has come up again and again in my life has been this feeling of (or lack thereof) equality. I didn’t feel like I had much of a voice in my family, and I always felt like my peers were somehow better than me (at flirting, sports, makeup, making friends). This sounds quite ridiculous to say out loud, given that I’ve had every reason, resource, and material thing in my life that, in theory, should have made me feel like I was capable, worthy, smart, love-able, desirable, etc. But that’s just it — material things are never what give us our confidence. As much as we can try to surround ourselves with nice or “cool” things, the feeling of not being good enough will always linger until we, in our own right, feel true, whole, and deserving.

I was reminded by someone a few weeks ago that “equal” does not mean “the same”. You and I, even though, for example, we may be engaged in a creative collaboration, are equals, not because we are the same, but because we are both humans. We are inherently and equally worthy, beautiful and amazing. We naturally (because we are two different souls) bring something different to the table. Both perspectives, being of equal value.

So, going back to couples.

There have been a few top of mind this year. Unsurprisingly, Taylor Swift and Travis Kielce (no shame). Zoe Kravitz and Channing Tatum are another obvious duo. They finally got engaged this year AND had such an iconic Halloween moment. They keep on serving. The third is Kaia Gerber and Austin Butler, a very low key pair, which honestly makes them all the more intriguing. Lastly is maybe pretty niche and random (if you’re not one of her 200k followers @ellaarose) but it’s Ella McFadin and her mysterious boyfriend who I just know as James.

What is it about these couples that have had me absolutely mesmerized this year? There are lots of couples out there. A lot of pairs of lots of different kinds of things. Friends. Lungs. Socks. But there is something about LOVE. Two people together, in love. This emanates a different type of magnetic energy.

I don’t believe that it’s simply the act of joining together, or being a “couple”, that is responsible for this magnetic energy, though. The roots of this magnetism is really the magnetism of each individual. Each equal part. I think what’s really drawn me toward this idea and these 4 couples this year is their energy. Their confidence. Their style. The way they walk together – which can only happen because of the ways in which they hold themselves, as a magnetic, confident, individual soul, independent of each other. Whole & bodied in their own right.