Sour Cream & Onion Mashed Cauliflower

And some life updates

I’m writing to you on the first Friday afternoon of Spring. I’m sitting on my back deck watching my neighbor build a pergola, a welcome improvement from their blue tarp situation. I just made a big pot of Andy Baragani’s Ash Reshteh soup (BA, paywalled) for the weekend and we’re headed to a friend’s wedding in nearby Piedmont (CA) tonight.

I picked up some plant starts from Flowerland in Albany (CA) the other week: multi-colored pansies, carrots and snap peas and I’m hoping to plant them this weekend. The apricot tree is starting to blossom, and every so often I get a whiff of the jasmine growing over the neighbor’s fence. It’s all very Spring-in-Northern-CA over here.

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Life Updates

Cooking Classes

I’m teaching two upcoming cooking classes at The Civic Kitchen in San Francisco on April 3rd and April 10th. I hope you’ll join me! I teach about 2 NEW classes each month. Find out more info and sign up here.

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Cherry Bombe Jubilee + NYC Trip

I’m headed to NYC in April for

Cherry Bombe

’s annual gathering for women in food. Gloria Steinem is speaking!? Yes, it’s a conference centered around food, but so much more. All the Cherry Bombe events I’ve attended have resulted in new insights, business opportunities and good old-fashioned, in-real-life connections. It’s an investment to attend, but this year feels more important than ever as I continue this new phase of my career.

Read about how I quit my corporate job here:

The Back Burner: Issue #1

NYC Food Recommendations: I lived in NYC for 10 years (2000-2019) but I’m relatively out-of-the-loop when it comes to new restaurants. My BF is coming along, and this will be his first time in NYC. Here’s what’s on my list so far (yes, it’s all food). I’ve starred the places I haven’t been:

• Superiority Burger*

• Hamburger America (my boyfriend’s request)

• Veselka

• Four Horseman*

• Pio Pio (I miss Peruvian food!)

• Scarr’s

• Shuka or Shukette*

• Russ and Daughters Cafe

• Court Street Grocers

• L’Industrie Pizza*

• Mắm*

• Ernestos*

• Big fat Astoria Greek food tour!!! (my old neighborhood)

Where do YOU think I should go - food, shows, events, places? If I get a decent number of submissions, I’ll share them in a future newsletter.

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The Proof Collective

I recently stepped in as director for The Proof Collective, a San Francisco-based, business-building community of women who live, love and work in food. It’s a member-led group, and we host events like cookbook clubs, restaurant meet-ups and even trips to the farmers’ market. It’s my favorite extra-curricular activity, and has resulted in lots of meaningful connections and friendships (sensing a theme here?) We accept new members on a rolling basis, and our next of application review will be on April 15th (or, a few days after as I’ll be coming back from NYC!) If you want to join, sign up here.

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Pure Barre Event

If you live in the Bay Area, I’ll be hosting a pop-up at my local Pure Barre studio in Downtown Oakland on Saturday, April 26th from 9am-12:30pm for class participants. Sign up for a class, then stick around to hang and grab a treat from me! I am a longtime barre and pilates girlie, so it will be fun for my two worlds to collide.

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The Recipe:

I love a mashed potato, but some dishes (and days) call for creamy side that’s lighter in texture. I love serving my Sour Cream & Onion Mashed Cauliflower with classics like meatloaf, roast chicken or saucy tomato shrimp or gigante beans for a shrimp & grits vibe.

It would also be great with this recipe:

Maple Chicken Agrodolce

The addition of Greek yogurt, onion powder and chives brings out the potato chip vibe. Onion powder is highly underrated and makes everything a little more savory. I do think the cream cheese helps thicken up the cauliflower a bit and give it more luscious texture. A little goes a long way

That said, this recipe is quite versatile - play around with the herbs (dill would be great) and dairy (swap the yogurt for sour cream or labne). Tip: ditch the yogurt and thin it out with chicken/veg broth or water and you’ve got soup!