I’m writing a book!!!!!
😭 it was a big summer for dreams coming true
Hello!
It has been way, way too long, but I promise I’ve got a good excuse! I’m writing a book! And the best news is that’s not even the excuse (actually, the best news is that I’m writing a book, but more on that in a minute).
The reason I’ve been extremely MIA is that I spent this past summer opening up a restaurant. It was, undoubtedly, the second coolest thing I’ve ever done (the first coolest is that I’m writing a book — did I mention that?). You may or may not have heard me go on and on and on about it because many of you are here from Instagram, but just in case you haven’t, you can catch up here and here.
I’ve got a lot to say about my summer at the roadhouse, but I’m saving most of that for, you guessed it, the book (I’m gonna be done being annoying about that in just a moment, I swear to god) — but here’s what I can say. It was the hardest, most rewarding, most exhausting, most beautiful thing I’ve ever done.
For the first time in my life, I got to design my own menu, manage my own kitchen, work with some of the most incredible farmers and produce I’ve ever seen — and I did it mostly, entirely by myself. I built speed racks and tables and also put together costing sheets and inventory — there is so much math in the world, it’s crazy! I don’t know that I’d ever do it again, but I can say that I wouldn’t trade it for anything — a wild ride and a dream come true.
Speaking of dreams coming true……… the book!
While I was up at the roadhouse, in the middle of a very busy prep day, my agent wrote me saying there was an email in my inbox that I might want to stop and read, and literally holy fucking shit was she right. I had two pots of sauce on the stove, ice cream churning, and tomatoes roasting in the oven, and I almost burnt everything (except for the ice cream) because I started crying immediately and didn’t stop for about two hours.
I’m still actually ill-equipped to talk about just what this means to me, but what I can say is that there isn’t another thing I’ve wanted more in my entire life. I started writing when I was very young — I found safety and friends and love in the aisle of book stores and in books themselves and I always dreamed that one day I’d get to put my own book on one of those shelves, and, well, in just about a year, I’m finally going to get to to do that (if you think I’m crying again… you’re right).
Dinner Party Stories will be a collection of essays about my life, about food, about falling in and out of love, and all the ways I have been able to make sense of the world in my silly, big, little life. It’s going to come out through Beacon Press, an incredible publishing house that I will love until the day I die, in early 2027.
And because of how books work, I’ve got to have it all written by January 2026 (it takes about a full year from when a book is written for it to be ready to print) — for those of you who might not have spent the summer creating costing sheets and may therefore be a little rusty with quick math, that means I’ve got three-ish months to write the rest of this book.
So! I will, sadly, still be less present here than I maybe would have hoped to be, but I’m going to do my best not to abandon you entirely, I promise! I will deliver new, fun, gorgeous little recipes when I have them, book updates when they’re available, and other fun little bits of things I have to share along the way.
In that vein, here’s a fun recipe for brown butter corn ice cream I developed for the roadhouse — even if it’s not exactly peak corn season, I still think it’s worth giving it a go. And, if you’re looking for more writing from me, I also have a new column at Eater SF — here’s the most recent one, my two cents on how to make a city a home.
Oh, also, here are a couple of playlists I made at the roadhouse that got me through more than one 16-hour workday.
OK I’M DONE I SWEAR!!!! (and I also swear that my next one of these won’t just be another link-a-palooza)
Thank you thank you thank you for being here, I’ll talk to you soon, I promise!!!!!!!
xo,
Garrett