why is there so much granulated sugar in my pantry?

I’m slowly emptying my fridge. Every spare inch of cabinet space in my kitchen is crammed with errant bags of flour, sugar and brown sugar. I won’t cook again until next week, and I’m worried my KitchenAid’s motor might be overwhelmed by the task ahead. Read on to find out why.

… sous vide lamb. Just about everywhere I turn these days, someone is hating on sous vides. I can’t count the number of podcasts I’ve listened to and articles I’ve read in which some food person I admire has named the sous vide the most useless kitchen appliance or copped to throwing theirs in the trash. That’s why I’m dropping my voice to a whisper to tell you: I actually really like my sous vide.

Was it relatively expensive for a device I only use every month or two? Absolutely. But that money is spent, and the sous vide box takes up relatively little space on a high-up shelf where I’d never dream of storing anything essential — so I’m not seeing a lot of downside, especially when I’m almost always pleased with what I pull out of those water baths.

One of my favorite butcher counter exercises is this: I check out what’s on sale and buy the cut of meat I’m least familiar with. The other day, that was a butterflied leg of lamb. “One pound!” I announced to the butcher, as if I had any clue what I was talking about. I went home, did a bit of Googling and came across this Serious Eats recipe, which I loosely followed. (I served the lamb over basmati rice with red pepper and onions.)

And, well, whoa. The plate I handed my husband made it look (and taste) like I’d spent actual time and energy laboring over our meal. I had not. I actually edited a story while simultaneously, absent-mindedly cooking. That’s a win.

… cake. So much cake. Never have I had more I wanted to write in this section and less that I’m actually prepared to write. Some of you caught on when I dropped a few hints on Instagram over the summer, but in case you didn’t: I’m making my own wedding cake. Actually, wedding cakes, plural. I started with some of the fillings — ganache and compote and candied hazelnuts and all kinds of other accoutrements — last week, and the actual cake-baking will commence Wednesday. Wish me luck, and stay tuned for more writing about this project, which I have not yet started to regret.

many citruses were charred