it's in god's hands

or something like that...

hi, I’m Garrett! you’ve probably made your way here because you saw me on America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation, and you’re like, hmmm… what the hell is going on there?? excellent question! I’m going to answer that question by asking myself a few other questions and then answering myself, which should get us all on the same page. does that make sense? here’s hoping.

how’d you end up on America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation

I love to cook. I love food. I love to (over) indulge and bring people along for the ride. my dream life is living at a perpetual dinner party at a big table covered with big trays of delicious food and tall candles, drinking too much wine and telling stories and laughing and crying with my friends forever.

I started a supperclub with my friend Lara to try and bring that fantasy to life, and about a year after that, they started casting for ATK: Next Gen, and I applied.

I never thought I’d actually get on the show because who actually thinks they’ll end up on a reality show, but also, I thought, why the hell not? life is short, have fun, etc etc etc.

then, I got laid off from my full-time job (life also comes at ya fast!), and the very next day, I found out I’d been cast on the show. the universe, famously, works in mysterious ways.

how’d you do on the show

I can’t tell you!! I signed a big NDA, and I’m afraid Amazon will shoot me into space on one of those rockets if I say anything. so, you’re just gonna have to watch every Friday for as long as I’m on it to find out!

my friend Alex made this gif the day the trailer came out, and I send it to people at least once a day

how do you feel about being on the show?

I feel crazy, tbvfh! before I’m a cook, I’m a writer. I used to blog for Jezebel, I write a dating column for Them, I’ve written a Modern Love essay, and I freelance for a bunch of other places. I’m no stranger to anonymous people on the internet yelling at me from behind their keyboards, but that doesn’t mean I like it!

hopefully, everyone will love me (is that too much to ask!), but if they don’t, that’s fine too.

I tried out for the show because, probably like you, I often wonder what I want my life to be, and this felt like a chance to try something new. maybe no one will watch the show, and it’ll just be a fun thing I get to talk about with my friends, or maybe everyone will watch the show, and something exciting is about to happen. either way, I can’t wait to find out.

so…. what’s next?

well, this, for now. by ‘this’ I mean this newsletter—sorry if you already know this, but for the most part, you’ll get one every monday (that’s when we’re allowed to talk about those episodes), and it’ll be all about the previous week’s episode. it’ll also have a recipe or two in there—it might be what I cooked that week, it might not be. we love ambiguity!

anything else?

all I’ll say is I had so much fucking fun being on this show. I really fell in love with every single last person there (the people on camera and the folks behind them).

it is a wild fever dream that I was allowed to cook on camera, and although I am consistently playing this real housewives’ scene on a loop in my head, I’m so, so excited for you to see what we got up to this (the first ever!) season.

ok, that’s all love you bye!