What’s inspiring your cooking right now?
I’m always inspired by where I am in the season, what’s showing up at the market, what’s peaking. From my kitchen in New York, I’m constantly flipping through cookbooks and watching cooks around the world on YouTube, from the mountains of China to small towns in Italy, or old travel cooking shows. Japanese cooking and its flavors continue to teach me, and I’m forever drawn to lesser-used herbs, spices and vegetables. These ingredients carry history and stories with them that are really interesting to me.
Go-to weekday meal?
I don’t really have one dish I’m loyal to, but if I’m pressed and hungry, it’s usually pasta. It’s fast, I always have the basics on hand, and I feel like I’ve cracked the code to making good pasta dishes. Lately though, my true snack craving has been a simple sliced apple or pear salad with peanut butter and other elements. I plate it nicely and take it to the couch to eat. One day, I was out of apples and low on peanut butter, so I scraped up the bottom bits in the peanut butter jar and added CAP Beauty coconut butter to it in equal portions with a little avocado oil that was enough to make it smooth and drippy, then spooned it over sliced persimmon and topped it with rose vinegar (or use lemon with a few drops of rose water, maple, olive oil and salt. I wasn’t prepared for how good it was.
What’s your morning ritual? / What rituals help you stay grounded?
My mornings shift with the seasons. In summer, I love walking to my local coffee shop for an espresso and a chat with a neighbor. In winter, I stay home and make coffee in my moka pot or brew black tea—Smoked Earl Grey from Bellocq has been my favorite. On weekends, or when I don’t want caffeine, I make kukicha, a roasted twig tea from the green tea plant, iced or hot. It's nostalgic for me from my days as a young cook working at Angelica Kitchen where they always had a giant vat of it warmed.
I always make myself breakfast. I’m most hungry earlier in the day, and I take the time to arrange a simple plate (persimmon salad for example)—fruit, porridge with maple and a dusting of CAP Beauty Matcha or Hojicha. Even on busy mornings that small act of care helps set the tone. Please check out my hojicha pudding, a great winter morning breakfast.
Lately, I’ve been journaling with Wilde House Paper, a journal accompanied by an online site with seven-day prompts, journal journeys, paired with images and quotes. It’s become a grounding ritual, and committable from the act of receiving your daily guided journaling emails. Because each practice lasts just seven days, it feels doable, almost like an assignment, rather than an endless new spiritual commitment.
Skincare is another daily practice my mother instilled in me at a very early age, the trio regimen specifically. I still follow it today and I'm a big fan of CAP’s. A splash of cold water, a mist and a deep moisturizing, letting everything absorb. I actually only fully wash my face at night, mornings are softer, more gentle. When my skin is especially dry I love Monastery's Attar, I’m truly obsessed with this product. I’ve always used Marie Veronique, I’m a die hard fan but have started to use others recently.
A kitchen tool you can’t live without?
Aside from my knives, a microplane that I use constantly for garlic, cheese, or grating fresh ginger on my fruit plate or in tea. Next would be a mandoline; I love shaving white sweet onions for winter salads. I’d also have to say my rice cooker. A plus since we don’t own a microwave, the rice cooker has become the easiest, cleanest way to warm leftovers—fast and mess-free. Something more unexpected: my fruit and vegetable stands. They’re functional tools that allow fruit to breathe as it ripens, prevent produce from bruising under its own weight, and bring a sculptural, artful presence to the kitchen counter.
What’s a technique you wish more home cooks embraced?
Using everything. We waste so much without realizing it. The end bits of vegetables? Save them in a freezer bag and make broth. It’s the easiest, most essential thing a cook can make, it’s literally what you get for free from your cooking. Once you have broth on hand, it transforms everything: rice, soups, stews. And nothing is more comforting when you’re under the weather than a pot of good broth. The same principle applies to vinegar. Limp vegetables, soft fruit, scraps from apples when making apple pie, leftover juice or wine, all of it is perfect for making vinegar. I created a vinegar-making calculator to help make the process simple and approachable.
One ingredient you always keep on hand — and why it’s essential.
Olive oil, it becomes the sauce to anything and everything when you just want to keep things simple. Another is fish sauce. It’s my secret salt. It adds far more than salinity, it adds depth and umami. I use it everywhere:dressings, sauces, even pasta dishes.
Your dishes are always so beautiful — how do you approach plating at home?
Plating is part of the joy for me, it’s intentional, they say we eat with our eyes first so, make it delicious too. I think a lot about space on the plate: whether to leave room for things to breathe or to take the food right to the edge of the plate. I’m always considering juiciness too. Does it want more olive oil, a little acid, maple syrup, or even a drop of rosewater for something sweet. Since my plateware is mostly neutral that helps by not interfering with the food. I avoid the classic red–green–yellow food color trio. I don’t garnish with anything that isn’t part of the dish. I do love an exaggerated herb garnish when it makes sense, looks good and gives the dish freshness and bite, something that acts as a flourish while adding real flavor or depth. I share lots of finishing and flourishes for plating in my book, Bright Cooking and in its companion newsletter Bright Cooking School.
What’s a dish that challenges you — and why do you love making it?
Fish. It goes from raw to overcooked in seconds, so you have to meet it exactly where it wants to be. When you catch it right, it’s divine. And sourdough — because it’s a balance of nurturing and neglect. A little care, a little surrender.
Any kitchen rituals that make you feel more creative?
Starting with a clean surface. This is your workspace, make it beautiful. I clean as I go. In my journey the best cooks are always clean cooks. And exceptional cooks are smart and wise about cooking and don’t make excess mess for the porter to deal with. Going to the market is a huge creative spark. Buying seasonally forces you to think differently, to ask, What can I do with this? And being mindful of food waste pushes creativity too: Can this become vinegar? Broth? Could I use it in the next meal? How can I use the last bits in the fridge to make something? Waste not want not is the mother of invention.
How do you keep meals interesting when using the same staples?
Shop one thing that's seasonal, and cook from a craving,
Favorite restaurants in New York right now?
A burger at Corner Bar during happy hour.
Cervos.
Scarr’s Pizza.
The wonton soup at Wu’s Wonton
The egg burrito at Dimes Deli
Newcomers to the neighborhood, Lei’s Wine Bar (see image below) and Sunn’s are both so special.
What’s a simple way someone can bring more mindfulness into cooking or eating?
Ask yourself what am I craving. Start there… Develop that conversation with yourself, it’s never failed me.
After a long day in the kitchen, how do you reset or take care of yourself?
Wash up and hit my comfy bed then I catch up with the world on TikTok.
How do you balance work, creativity, and downtime?
Honestly I love time alone. It's when I recharge and dream about all the things I want to do with this life.
What tools or practices help you feel your best?
In the summer I swim, in the winter I try to get to the baths & steams or skip town and head south for a good chunk of beach time. It's all about being in water for me.
