The Hottest Restaurant is your Kitchen (or Someone Else's)

Cooking with friends: a pitch

During Gentle January, I leaned into activities that I always enjoy but don’t always prioritize like going to the movies and cooking dinner with friends. I’ve kept it up in February and it’s really one of my favorite ways to spend time with people. An open ended hangout is a beautiful thing and while I’ll always love restaurants, it’s nice to hang out somewhere where you don’t have to worry about hogging a table for too long and can save a bit of money.

I’ve done this on weekdays and weeknights and it’s doable either way, though weekday dinners usually start earlier and are simpler. Much like trying some new grocery items or cooking from a new cookbook can liven things up, adding another person to the cooking environment is an antidote to boredom and mealtime ruts, which tend to happen in the winter. Bettina also shared some fun ways she gets meal inspiration here and my cousin Amy shared that she and her friends get together on Sundays to cook for the week (a la the Sunday meal prep classes

Erica Adler

and I used to teach).

Okay, now for some tactics and then we’ll move on to recipes: