I'm back, baby

It wasn't over. It still isn't over.*

This newsletter is back by—and this is true—popular demand. The website is not back. Just the newsletter and the ol’ Instagram. Because who am I to deny the people what they want? I’ve deeply missed this, and you.

This new newsletter will be full of the witticisms and recs you came to love. Restaurants (LA and otherwise), recipes, ingredients, cocktails, where to travel, cool stuff I’ve found that you, too, might love. You’ll have two options: a free monthly digest email, which will be a broad breakdown of things eaten, cooked, found, and loved that month. And a paid subscription, delivered weekly, which will be closer to what the To Taste newsletter was in its original glory. (Here’s one and another to refresh your memory.) How much? The cost of a happy hour Prosecco. The first two weeks will be free and then I’ll start the subscription!

If you’re asking why, first of all mind your tone. Second, many friends have requested (to the point of persuasion!) that I pick it up again. They said they miss the newsletter and the ways in which they were #influenced by it. Which made me blush with embarrassment and then sheepishly admit that indeed my favorite thing to do is find awesome, delicious stuff and share it. I really want you to go try the mole tamale I had in a market in Oaxaca City and be like “WHAT, that’s almost too good”. I want it to make your day the way it made mine.

I have carefully and intentionally cultivated (and, yes, genuinely enjoy) a reputation as someone people turn to for food and travel recommendations. For the last 12+ years, I’ve worked as a travel, food, and fashion editor and writer. I’ve spent the last nearly 7 years cooking, baking, eating, and traveling with my son. And outside of work and home, my life really does revolve around finding interesting places to eat and drink and be, trying new recipes, and finding great things that I’ll recommend as if I’ve been hired on that thing’s PR team. This is who I am.

The next logical step is for me to reach my full potential as the traveling Nigella, the female Bourdain, Phil Rosenthal with better shoes. And to that glorious end, I may as well start by bringing back this newsletter.

To whet your appetite, a lightning round of new and current things: Santa Monica’s excellent La Puglia restaurant with gelato that’ll change your life; Istanbul’s stunning hammam Kilic Ali Pasa; these 10-minute peanut noodles, which I do with truly the tiniest amount of chili crisp plus some quickly wilted spinach. Also, Hacks on HBO and Good Luck to You, Leo Grande on Hulu are both absolute musts. If you’re in a reading mood, The Idea of You is the best rom com I’ve read in ages and I finally got around to Patti Smith’s autobiography Just Kids, which is as legendary as they say.

So, share the news! Talk about me behind my back! We all do it, you may as well help a girl out while you’re at it. And talk to me, too. I’d love to know how I can make this newsletter your very favorite one. Send me other newsletters you love and why. You work for me now!

All this to say…omg it’s so good to see you. We should really catch up one of these days. Drinks soon, for sure.

xoxo,

Nicole

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*BONUS: The first 5 people to correctly identify the movie I reference in the subhead above get a free yearlong subscription.