Welcome to The Weekly Recap! A lite Sunday read about my life and food. This email is free and if you are not currently receiving them in your inbox, click that subscribe button:
Today’s newsletter is a special one marking one year of Sunday recipes and rants straight from me to your inbox. If you have been here from the beginning, thank you! If you have joined us along the way, we are happy to have you with us.
My entire life I have felt like a “floater.” Even post culinary school I never knew what I wanted my career to be and I spent many years bouncing around working nanny, assistant, and private chef jobs. I used to get antsy at eight months, seriously eight months exactly, and move on to another gig. With the nature of those jobs, it was never a problem and I just skated, or should I say floated, by. The common thread with these jobs was that no matter what my official job tasks were, I would always find a way to end up in the kitchen.
At the start of the pandemic, I was abruptly closing a business that I had just poured a significant amount of money and time into, and like everyone else I was stuck at home...cooking. I cooked every meal for Marco and me, partially out of necessity but also because we were too afraid to leave the house, and I documented that journey along the way. I have made videos, photographed the process, done extensive amounts of research, taught others how to cook, created tons of meals, and wrote about it all. When eight months came up instead of jumping ship I dove further in with research projects and holiday recipes. During the first few months of this newsletter, when I still didn’t know why I was even doing a newsletter, I promised myself I would do it for one year. And here we are! There have been weeks where I was out of town or procrastinated for way too long but no matter what I sent out a newsletter. One year later I am the proud author of Marcella Cooking Stuff. An added bonus is that this entire year when I have told people what I do, I follow it with “and I love it, I’m so happy.”
I have always loved eating, that was obvious my whole life, but now I’m reminded every day how fascinated I am with the entire food cycle. It starts with a love for nature, animals, and science. Everything about the growing process and how Earth provides us with nutrients mesmerizes me. I am forever intrigued with reactions that ingredients have during the cooking process and why some things work and others just don’t. My biggest infatuation is with the art of eating. To have something be visually appealing is the first step, then the way items combine and feel in your mouth seals the deal for me. Food consumes the entirety of my thoughts and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Being able to share my knowledge with others the past year has felt natural and beyond fulfilling.
Over the last few months, it has become obvious that the structure I had created, in quarantine, was no longer sustainable for the new everyday life. I currently post everything I do in the kitchen on Instagram (stories plus a feed post) and those are followed with a write-up and all of the recipes being sent out. I kept my promise to myself to complete a year of this structure, I am proud to have done that, but it is time for some changes. As I have mentioned in previous newsletters, I have a love-hate relationship with social media. The majority of my daily energy has been focused on posting as much stuff as I can on Instagram. This was done to entertain my followers and gain likes, comments, shares, etc. I found myself creating “content” for the serotonin boost that numbers would bring me. The recent “shadow banning” I received made it crystal clear to me that pumping my energy into a platform that has control over how well I succeed isn’t worth it. More than ever I want to focus on my cooking and connecting with my community to share it. I have moved my newsletter over to Substack as a way to create my own platform and community.
Marcella Cooking Stuff (The Weekly Recap newsletter) will continue every Sunday as a lite food-focused read with personal life inserts. In addition to the Sunday newsletter, I am launching The Kitchen Club right here on Substack. A membership-based online community that provides you with a behind-the-scenes look through my recipe development process and all my recipes. There will be an additional email every Wednesday for Kitchen Club members including recipes and research projects from me (3 recipes + 1 research project per month). In addition to Wednesday emails, Kitchen Club members are able to comment directly on recipes and gain access to member-only discussion threads. This is a way for all of us to connect as a community, to get hands-on, dive deep into the why and how of cooking, and teach you guys the things you want to know.
This past year I’ve pumped out recipes because that’s what my followers on Instagram have wanted. Although I am proud of everything I make, I have struggled with not having enough time to study and work on recipes to get them truly perfect. This fast pace is part of what led to the basic content creating I mentioned earlier. This new format will allow me multiple tests along with plenty of research and writing time to pass on as much knowledge as possible. Quality, not quantity. As for Instagram, don’t worry I can’t log off completely! I am planning to share pictures and videos with you guys like I currently do but I am scaling back significantly.
What will stay the same:
This newsletter. Free subscribers will receive The Weekly Recap in their inbox every Sunday including a life update, articles you need to read, restaurant reviews, recipe inspo, things everybody needs, and animal cuteness.
*Today’s newsletter is an example of what Sunday newsletters will look like moving forward.
What will change:
Moving forward there will no longer be deep dives into recipes in Sunday newsletters. An additional newsletter for paid subscribers will be sent out every Wednesday with one recipe or research project per week.
Our world is changing again and this is a way for me to change with it. I am incredibly grateful for the people that have supported me over the past year and am excited for what’s to come. If something changes in the future we will adjust but for now, this is the new and exciting plan.
The Kitchen Club’s weekly emails start on May 5th. You have two more weeks to sign up so you don’t miss any recipes! You can sign up here.
Please email me if you have any questions about the new format and I can’t wait to see you guys in The Kitchen Club!!
Stuff to Read
Recipe Inspo
Places I Ate
A girlfriend and I grabbed a drink at Parlor this week. This three-story food hall has seven restaurants and two bars. You can bring your kids and have a bite, meet a friend for a casual drink, or watch a game with a lively crowd. It’s a great concept and a place we pop into regularly. At both bars, they have the option to get a bartender’s choice. Just let them know your alcohol of choice and a few preferences and they will bring you something unique and off-menu. 9/10 times the drinks have exceeded my expectations but feel out your bartender. Once I ordered a bartender’s choice from a bartender that looked miserable and I received a lackluster drink.
Corvino Supper Club + Tasting Room, which is on my list of top restaurants in KC, started selling burgers as a late-night bite a few years ago. They grew in popularity and you can now get them at regular dining hours from Ravenous on the second floor of Parlor. We tried the classic burger, tots with bolognese, and broccoli salad (an attempt to be somewhat healthy). The burger was a burger. On the smaller side, which I don’t mind, but I wasn’t blown away. The pickles had a great bite to them and I will always appreciate an inhouse made bun. As a french fry connoisseur with a special love for tots, I was extra excited to try the tots with bolognese. This magical combination of two delicious foods was…good. I could have used a little more sauciness but the crunch on the tots made up for it. Skip the broccoli salad.
There is a mushroom sandwich composed of king trumpet mushrooms, pickles, and crispy cheese. I’ll be back to try that and the big mike.
Thing Everybody Needs
Not kitchen-related this week but so amazing I have to tell you guys about it:
I have turned into a squeegee girl!! *Below Deck reference* I sent Marco to Lowe’s last weekend to get me a squeegee to help dry the windows when I clean them. I was picturing a small one a few inches long like my grandma uses to clean her glass shower door. Oh, no. He came back with a huge 4-in-1 window cleaner and squeegee. I have cleaned every window in our house, inside and out, and am obsessed. If you have large windows (we do) you need this tool for super-fast perfectly cleaned windows.
Animal Cuteness
This picture is from 2015. Every day when I sit down on the couch to write Chaz sits on my chest. Including right now while I write this.
Remember those Salted Hazelnut Brownies from last week? They are going to be the first Kitchen Club recipe and I can not wait for you guys to try them.
See you next week, M.