Let's cook dinner together Dec 10th!

Thank you for supporting "Open Sesame!"

This week was BOOK LAUNCH WEEK for my debut cookbook Open Sesame!

Thank you SO much to everyone who bought the cookbook, came to the Seattle launch event, sent me a sweet message, posted about the book on social media & put up with all of my Instagram posts! I am feeling the love and I don’t take any of it for granted.

Honestly, I am not fully comfortable with all the self-promotion — I don’t want to bore you by continuously posting book stuff. But, alas, this wee little book must be marketed and in 2024 publishing house marketing funds are scant, and social media is free. Thanks for sticking with me!

Got the sesame seed nail art I’ve been dreaming of since I signed the book deal!

To thank you for buying Open Sesame, you’re invited to a live Zoom cook-along — together we’ll make one of my favorite recipes in the book (and one of my favorite meals, period) Basil-Lime Pasta with Sesame Chicken Bolognese. The bright, herbaceous sauce gets its creaminess from cashews (it’s dairy free!) and the ground chicken is seasoned with the greatest umami hits: soy, sesame oil, tahini, garlic and fish sauce. (There are sauteed string beans in there too — we must eat our veggies!)

My friend who recipe tested this dish says it’s now on her family’s weekly menu — her husband’s favorite! Every time I serve it, people eat seconds and thirds.

We’ll also make a super-easy Chocolate Tahini Magic shell, so have a pint of ice cream handy!

There are two ways to get the Zoom link to the cook-along:

1. Leave a review of Open Sesame on any online purchasing platform (such as, but not at all limited to, Amazon). Fill out this form, showing proof of your review, and we will send you the Zoom link!

2. All paying subscribers to this newsletter get access to the link (keep an eye out for it in a separate newsletter post) & a copy of the recipe in case you don’t have the book yet :)

We’ll meet on Zoom on December 10th at 6pm PST & the video will be recorded in case you can’t make it but want to watch another time.

I have a bunch of book events coming up in the PNW — come out and say hello!

If you’re in Seattle, pop in to Halfseas, the cutest little wine bar in the Ballard neighborhood (across from and owned by the Brimmer & Heeltap folks).

Monday, November 25th 6-8pm, free! (so many restaurants are closed on Mondays, so where else are ya gonna go??)

It’s an open house, so stop by whenever! We can have a chat, you can get a book signed, and they’ll have my Falafel-Spiced Tahini Deviled Eggs with Crispy Chick Peas (pictured above) on the menu!

For 50 years, Ken Burns has written, directed and produced historical films for PBS on a wide variety of topics, from country music and baseball to the Vietnam War and the Brooklyn Bridge. His latest, Leonardo Da Vinci, premieres on Cascade PBS in two parts on Monday, November 18 and Tuesday, November 19 at 8:00 p.m.

On this episode of YLM, Ken tells me the EXACT moment he decided to become a filmmaker, a tragic childhood story that led to a successful career.

Ken lives in a teeny tiny town in New Hampshire, where he is a silent partner in the village’s best restaurant. The Restaurant at Burdick’s serves both a dish named after Ken & the meal that he would choose as his last.

If you’ve already listened to the episode, you can hear more of my interview with Ken on The Leftovers!

I’m subscribed to Dan Pashman/The Sporkful’s newsletter & I always immediately scroll to the bottom of the page to read about what he and his staff are eating, reading and watching. So today I’m in a copy cat kinda mood:

What I’m watching:

Last night I finished up the Martha Stewart documentary on Netflix. She is a fascinating, mysterious creature. It was the first time I’ve heard her talk about what it was really like in prison. It’s definitely worth watching!

What I’m eating:

Last night I made a batch of Roman Noodle from my friend Caroline Wright’s soup cookbook, Seconds. All the recipes are vegan, they all use water instead of broth, and she comes up with the most creative combinations (I tested half the recipes, so I feel confident calling her a flavor coaxing genius!).

If this soup came up on a dating app, I would swipe HARD NO. On paper, the combination of ingredients look SO weird, but in reality, it is addictively delicious. I’ve made it many, many times.

The soup starts with frying crushed peppercorns and Szechuan peppercorns in coconut oil with four bundles of scallions and 10 cloves of garlic. Then comes the slurry of nutritional yeast, lemon, tamari and arrowroot starch. There is coconut milk. And escarole. And frozen peas. And…spaghetti?

SO WEIRD! SO GOOD!

What I’m loving:

Riding my bike! I bought an e-bike over the summer, after years of wanting one, and it was the best decision. It brings me a ton of joy, I use my car less & it’s made running errands fun. I rode it two hours round-trip just to return a a single library book — any excuse to ride it!

If you’re in the market, I have this one & have been happy with it. It’s on the less expensive end (they seem to always be having a huge sale), it only weighs 39 pounds (many e-bikes weigh twice as much), it has a built in alarm (a rare feature), front & rear lights and a bell, it’s cute & has 5 levels of power + several gears. This isn’t an ad, just a personal recommendation. (I hate that I have to say that — everything is an ad these days, isn’t it?)

What are you eating, watching, reading and loving??

XO

Rachel Belle