eating slowly with someone you love. The time a dish carries with it, from your mother’s kitchen to your own, with every creamy, salty bite.
Recently, I invited my friend and neighbor over for a porch happy hour. I owed her a thank you and, more than that, I missed her. I made a fresh loaf of sourdough, along with good butter and Maldon salt. We nibbled on apples and olives. We talked about work and parenting and whatever was on our hearts that day.
It wasn’t a dinner party or a themed event. It wasn’t even an Instagram story. But it was enough. It was the kind of evening I wish I could bottle, or wear like a favorite sweater.
In the end, maybe food trends are like fashion trends: They’re fun, fleeting, and sometimes a little silly. But the pieces that last, the little black dresses and worn-in jeans of our kitchens, are the ones that remind us who we are and where we come from.
A perfect skewer. A warm loaf of bread shared at twilight. A family-favorite cheese ball in a vintage bowl. The kinds of things that never go out of style.