A Saturday edition

Happy Saturday.

I just returned from a vacation at Palm Heights in Grand Cayman, where we celebrated my 40th birthday. I didn’t open a bank account, but it sounded like a cool thing to do. (Expect a deeper dive about the buzzy destination in the coming weeks. I’ll tell you what the fuss is all about.)

Over the past several weeks the newsletter has been on hyperdrive, with lots of new readers/subscribers joining each week. It’s an absolute joy to think this missive is finding an appreciative reader.

I was lucky enough to be featured recently as a Monday Media Diet at WITI, and then again on Friday, among Colin Nagy’s favorite newsletters.

I continue to welcome new readers who are finding me through other newsletters pointing readers in my direction - thank you to WM Brown Project, Grace Atwood, and YOLO Journal, among others.

Emily Sundberg, who writes my daily must-read newsletter, wrote to include me in a very awesome round-up of food Substackers. I was on vacation, and late to reply (damn!) but being on the radar of folks whose work you admire is a nice feeling.

It couldn’t come at a better time. Spring weather descends. Recent travel has filled my cup with inspiration and ideas. As always, I’m thrilled to share those notions here. My aim with ‘A Small & Simple Thing’ is to show people a way to live well - through cooking at home, traveling thoughtfully, and taking care to find ways big and small to improve a life.

All this is to say I have so much more planned for this project. The weeks before turning 40 on Friday helped me clarify so much about the next chapter and sharing in this medium will be a big one. I am taking my experiences as a restaurateur, entrepreneur, investor, traveler, home cook, parent, and writer, and putting them in play.

We are off to the market and settling into a Saturday at home.

On Monday you can expect a global view of the growing N/A space (after observations abroad), with delicious new products I’d expect to see stateside soon.

I’ll also be sharing my ideal airplane food, as someone who refuses to eat the crap most airlines have on offer. You can make a couple easy things at home that travel well, taste great, don’t smell (important!) and offer needed nutrition when you’re on the go.

Cheers!