Friday Favorites

Grilled Tri-Tip, nightly routines, Christmas baskets and gift cards

Welcome to Friday Favorites! This quick glimpse of my week goes out to all subscribers. I include a fan-favorite recipe we made in a cooking class, something I’m watching, reading, or listening to, a recent find, and a “win for the week.

What I’m Cooking

This week, I had my last cooking class of 2024. What a great year of cooking with my students and online SITK school members! We made one of my favorite recipes, Grilled Tri-Tip with Black Bean Sauce. The "black beans" in the sauce are a fermented soybean paste full of umami and a deep, salty flavor. To make this on a grill pan indoors, sear the meat well on both sides for about 5 minutes in a hot grill pan. Finish the meat in the oven at 350 (either directly in the grill pan if it’s oven safe or transfer it to a sheet pan) until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees. Tri-tip is thicker on one end than the other, so it's the perfect cut of meat to feed a crowd. You'll naturally end up with some meat that’s slightly more well done, and the thickest part of the cut will be medium to medium-rare. Serve with a kale salad like this one or this one and mashed potatoes or the smashed potatoes in my cookbook. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s recipe: I’m sharing some cookie recipes from our December baking class.

What I’m Watching

I am on a serious show kick! I look forward to my nightly Eucalyptus Epson salt bath, pajamas and sliding into my Boll & Branch sheets to watch a show. I devoured Black Doves on Netflix with Keira Knightly. I was transfixed watching Keira Knightly and happily donated an entire Saturday to binge this show! Luckily, it was the first cold weather weekend in Houston, and I sat by the fire with my laptop and a hot tea to indulge.

What I’m Coveting

I love these Christmas baskets from a local female-owned small business. They would be so cute to package gifts or for kids' small toy wrangling.

This Week’s Win

I'm grateful for a wonderful year of cooking classes. I love my cooking school members, who cook with me online once a month, my in-person Basics students who feel like family, the first retreat group who joined me at Kitchenette Farm this fall and all of you who cook my recipes or use my tips at home.

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Order my award-winning cookbook, Dinner is Done! It includes over 100 weeknight and family-friendly recipes, including chapters on meatless mains, fish and sauces, appetizers and snacks, cocktails, desserts and more. Books shipped from me come signed; we can also wrap them for you! My photographer and cookbook editor created custom wrapping paper from an image in the book. It’s a photo of my grandmother’s recipe book and I couldn’t love it more.