Hi Reader,

Welcome to a new Saturday email.

I've been wanting to write an email like this for a long time. My emails usually contain recipes, sometimes tips and links to products I use. But this is a bit different. It's just a personal letter from my kitchen table to yours, once every week, on Saturdays.

I'm imagining that you are sitting at a table and sipping coffee, reading this and nodding along, thinking of the good things from your week as well.

Each week, I hope to share a few good things that happened that week. Stuff that made cooking better, or stuff that just made the week better. It could be a book I cannot put down, a podcast I want to recommend, a small thing my toddler said that reminded me why I do any of this. Maybe a story behind a recipe. Sometimes a trip I am planning or just got back from.

And I would love it if you could share back.

If a Saturday email is one too many for your inbox and you just want the recipes, that's totally fine, just click here and I'll keep you on the list but stop sending these emails your way.

I was inspired by my friend Toni at Plant Based on a Budget, who does a weekly good-things round-up with her readers. She mentioned doing it became a forcing function to track the positives in her week. That resonated withe me so much, especially at a time when there's so much hard stuff around us. So I am trying it here too.

Three good things this week

The Indian Consulate announced on May 14 that Indian (kesar) mangoes were finally coming to Costco. Within hours, every Costco in the Puget Sound area was sold out. I had given up. Then my husband walked into one yesterday on a regular grocery run and stumbled into a restock. I have not been this happy about a fruit in years. It's just such a bite of nostalgia, and I'm so grateful to my husband for thinking to look.

A reader emailed me about my Indian Spice Cheat Sheet, and one line made my whole month. She had been cooking a handful of Indian dishes for over a decade, and once asked an Indian grocer about using Indian spices. He sternly told her, turban and all, "Always put the spices in last." Which, of course, is not what the recipes say. The cheat sheet cleared it up for her. I cannot stop thinking about that grocer with the very confident, very wrong advice. There is a whole essay in there somewhere.

I have also been re-reading Quit by Annie Duke this month. It is about knowing when to walk away from something, which sounds simple and is not. Duke is a former poker champion turned decision researcher, and she makes the case that we are wired to stay too long in things (jobs, projects, recipes that are not working) because quitting feels like losing. Feels particularly poignant in this chapter of life where my husband and I are both asking existential questions about life, careers, and all the messy in-betweens.

Hit reply and tell me one good thing from your week.

It can be a recipe that worked, a small thing your kid said about dinner, a podcast you cannot stop thinking about, anything.

I read every reply, and the best ones could make it into next Saturday's email (with credit, if you say it is okay).

By the way, if you made it down this far, I would love to know your name - click here and just add your name (or hit reply and let me know) in case it's not already filled out, so I can stop addressing you as "Hey there!" in my emails.

Toodles,
Shruthi from my kitchen counter, 8:42am