this shit rocks no. 50: some stats & smoked salmon dip

The last minute, crowd-pleasing NYE appetizer that you've been looking for!

We’ve made it to the 50th sending of this newsletter (!!!) and the final sending for 2022. Milestones aside, I am admittedly not a “numbers person.” I don’t like spreadsheets or columns or matrixes or any numerical digits period.

However, I’m trying to lean into the discomfort of quantitative data and take a glance back at the year that I’ve had. If you’re curious as to what I’ve been up to when I’m not heavy breathing over my keyboard while writing this newsletter, here are some stats. Not to mention, a lot of this would not have been possible without you all, so in case I don’t say it enough, THANKS! <3

In 2022, I catered 29 events, ranging from birthdays to bachelorettes to baby showers to outdoor barbecues to my very first wedding (AH!). I taught 14 in-person cooking classes at La Cuisine, and taught 11 virtual cooking classes over Zoom. I hosted 3 pop-up dinners in West Hollywood with Sara Frost. I also signed 1 NDA (hehe).

I posted 78 reels, and one of those hit over 11 millions views. The Kitchn tried it out which was very cool and nice of them, too. I made 11 reels for NYT Cooking (manifesting that I’ll get a byline in 2023).

I developed 11 recipes for Simply Recipes and 5 for the Kitchn. In addition, I completed 5 recipe showdowns (one of which entailed making 8 different lobster rolls, a professional highlight for 2022). I worked with some of my favorite brands, including Fishwife, Heyday Canning, Miyokos, Bob’s Red Mill, Leath, and LA’s Original Farmers Market.

I spent 15 days in England (my first time) and 1 day in France (also my first time and need to go back). I was a bridesmaid in 2 weddings and was the bride in 0 weddings. I saw 7 concerts (Dua Lipa, Harry Styles, The Chicks, LÉON, Lake Street Dive/Jack Johnson, HAIM, and Maren Morris). I listened to “Potion” by Dua Lipa 96 times. I had 2 dentist appointments and was traumatized by 1.

I sent 30 newsletters and added a paid subscription tier to my Substack. Remember how I said I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you?!

I’m skipping product recommendations this week (the holidays have me all shopped out) but I’ll be back with more in next week’s newsletter. But please let me know if you received any fun gifts that I should be aware of.

Here’s to a happy new year! And if you need a last minute NYE appetizer, I got you.

Everything Bagel Smoked Salmon Dip

Serves: 10-12

Active time: 10 minutes

Total time: 10 minutes

Any smoked fish dip is a clutch, last-minute appetizer. It requires no cooking and only a few ingredients. And more than anything, it is insanely quick to make. It should go without saying that I am a tinned fish enthusiast, so I usually have most of the ingredients on hand.

I prefer to use my food processor because it does all of the chopping and mixing for me, but if you don’t have one, you could also chop and mix everything by hand. This dip has all of my favorite bagel toppings—capers, scallions, dill, and everything but the bagel seasoning. If you wanted to be extra cheeky, you could serve this with bagel chips.