Fall 2021

When last I wrote, I was getting ready to go on a long camping trip with dear friends. This is an annual trip when this group gets together at an incredible cluster of campsites on the tip of a peninsula on Lake Ouachita in the Arkansas Ozarks. This year was a special treat: we celebrated my best friend's 40th birthday and stayed a few bonus nights at a resort in Hot Springs to soak and scrub away the grime before heading home. It was one for the ages.

I also tacked on a solo excursion to Nashville to visit the Patsy Cline Museum. In early 2020, I booked a gig playing Patsy in a show here in Chicago. It's been postponed and postponed again over the last 18+ months, but it's definitely still dangling on the stick in front of me. I'll blast every last detail as soon as I can.

The museum is incredible, and I highly recommend stopping in the next time you're in Nashville. I learned so much about the details of her life, and I relished seeing all her original stage costumes. She designed them, and her mother made them by hand! I also learned that she collected salt and pepper shakers from her travels. How endearing is that??

These last several weeks have been full of day job work with Urban Accents and Stonewall Kitchen. Fall is serious home cooking season, and we're cranking out Thanksgiving and holiday content at a mad pace. I've already cooked two whole turkeys!

I'm also really excited to share an update to the Black Bear Cookbook project: Becki (my friend and co-author) and I were interviewed by Nova Cunningham on the Denali 360 Podcast! We talked about our Denali origin stories, our long friendship, and our new project. Give it a listen here!

I have been hard at work to get my virtual classes back up and running, and I'm really excited to get back into the swing - I *love* teaching classes. It's really where I fire on all cylinders: cooking, teaching, performing, and encouraging. Seeing the face of a newb baker as they pull gorgeous scratch goodies from their own oven is just so rewarding! There are three coming up before Thanksgiving. Check 'em out here!

I'm also working on getting some of my original recipes posted here on my website. I started where I always start: biscuits. Find it under my new 'Recipes' tab! If this recipe stresses you out, it really might be time to join me for Buttermilk Biscuit Class. I make this process feel simple and intuitive - you'll be making them every Sunday morning!

Thank you for visiting! Please shoot me a line and let me know what deliciousness you're into lately!

Lots of love,

SBT