Feast Mode: a soft launch into a garage bakery and Thanksgiving planning

Preparing the table, prepping the apps, and otherwise savoring November.

Friends, hi!

I spent a good many minutes this weekend sitting outside, soaking in the incredible fall breeze and watching the leaves shower down from the oak trees in the front yard. The dogs sit at the far corner of the yard, also staring up at the trees locked in a standoff with the squirrel that taunts them daily. Similar staring, but I’m in it more for the tranquility.

I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit on my feet lately (saved, as always, by my Dansko clogs), prepping doughs and fillings for The Bakehouse Texas soft opening this Saturday. I’ll have fifty bakery boxes ready for pickup, plenty of coffee, and all the smiles. I can’t wait to see how it goes (and how it grows).

This dream was a big part of the plan when I bought this old house in Bellville back in the spring of 2024, and it’s incredible to see it finally come to life. Also a bit overwhelming but… we have to start somewhere, right?

This week has been a mix of planning for what’s next and pausing to sit in the now. I hope you find a good moment to do the same. Take your coffee outside, watch the leaves shower down, and just sit. It’s as good a time as any.

Now, a few things to carry into the week!

Thanksgiving Appetizers (Yes, I Will Ruin Your Appetite)

I still need to Google what day to take the turkey out of the freezer to thaw and reminding myself to dry brine early this year… but you know what I do have locked in? Thanksgiving appetizers.

I’m not above ruining your appetite on the big day, which is why I send everyone home with leftovers in cute containers, mmkay??

Here’s what I’m putting on the appetizer table this year (to start):

• Sausage-Stuffed Dates - swimming in warm tomato sauce and baked until bubbling and irresistible. A little sweet, a lot savory, addictively good.
• Muffuletta Deviled Eggs - the New Orleans twist no one sees coming but everyone immediately understands.
• Salty Whipped Ricotta - served with crisp carrots, radishes, and snap peas because… balance! And also because the turkey is still very much cooling before carving.

✨ Little Gems from Around the Internet

Just a few things that made me pause, smile, and get after that ‘save’ button:

• I had to save this cardigan hack that makes a sweater sit perfectly at the waist because I would never remember how to arrange the buttons on my own. This is simple but genius!

• I can’t help but think that Jeni’s Pistachio Macaroon Ice Cream would be an incredible companion to Dad’s Sweet Potato Pie. Something in my TasteBrain just feels it.

• These DIY Paper Stars would be so fun in gold and silver (or black and white??). Dreamy, twirly, hang-them-from-the-ceiling magic. I’m determined to make a cluster of them above the Thanksgiving table. Ambitious. We shall see.

An Interview with Maureen Abood of Lebanese Baking!

I am so excited to feature Maureen Abood - a chef, writer, and beloved voice in the world of baking - for her gorgeous new cookbook Lebanese Baking: More Than 100 Recipes for Sweet and Savory Baked Goods. Maureen’s work, deeply rooted in her Lebanese-American heritage, transforms phyllo, rose-water, pistachios and za’atar into celebrations you can bake at home. Perfect baked alongside a cup of hot cardamom coffee Let’s get into it (with a giveaway at the end, of course)!

Let’s start with the origin story. What was the spark that made you think, Yep, this cookbook needs to exist?

Two big sparks: Over the years, as I looked for Lebanese baking recipes, I was not finding what I needed in the books in my extensive library, or in the many recipe cards or even the people in my life. What I really needed was one great book that covers all of the recipes in detail.

Also, when my mother passed away five years ago, I bumped up—no, slammed against!—the inescapable sense that we cannot let our baking traditions pass with the passing of our Lebanese elders. These deserve to be captured, taught, and handed down in a meaningful way.

What’s the recipe in the book that people will come back to over and over again?

Talami bread, hands down. This is home in bread form! It’s a light, airy, soft bread that is the most requested recipe I bake from anyone who has ever eaten it.

Marry, shag, kill: buttercream frosting, whipped cream, jam.

Marry buttercream frosting. Shag jam. Kill whipped cream.

What’s a cooking or baking hill you’re willing to die on?

Rolling pins must be ball-bearing style.

We’re going to a dinner party with a recipe from your book?

Lebanese Baklawa Diamonds made with toasted walnuts and clarified cultured butter (if you can find La Beurre Bordier for this, you will have to fight everyone off with a stick).

What’s the most chaotic recipe in the book? The one that makes you feel like you’re running a restaurant... alone... with a toddler hanging onto your leg?

Homemade phyllo dough. There are two options: the wet method or the dry method. The dry method requires an insane repetition of pulling apart thin layers of dough, dusting all layers with cornstarch, restacking and rolling again. Each time you roll the stack of layers, you must stop before you think you should so that the layers don’t meld into each other. It’s very hard to stop rolling because the dough stretches so beautifully as you roll!

What’s a kitchen task you secretly love that everyone else seems to dread? (Do you enjoy shelling pistachios or organizing the spice drawer alphabetically?)

Polishing copper. It’s almost as satisfying as kneading dough. Wiping away patina to reveal that bright glory beneath is like a metaphor for all of the renewals we so need!

What’s the most you recipe in this book? The one that feels like your signature in edible form?

Pistachio Cupcakes with Strawberry Rose Buttercream. As much as I love delving into traditional Lebanese recipes, I love drawing inspiration from our hallmark ingredients and creating something fresh. Plus I’m a sucker for pink and green.

What’s your current cookbook crush? What are you dog-earing, gifting to friends, or quietly obsessed with lately?

I’m crushing on Dorie’s Anytime Cakes—it was just released and I’m already in deep on the cakes I’ll bake for the holidays and beyond. Coffee Chocolate Chunk Bundt anyone?!

Time For A Giveaway!

Maureen loves polishing copper and making (chaotic-in-the-best-way) homemade phyllo.

💬 To enter to win a copy of Lebanese Baking:
What baking task do you secretly enjoy that everyone else thinks is unhinged?

(Open to U.S. residents only. Giveaway ends Thursday, November 20th. Winner will be notified over Substack message. )