The Action Cook Book Newsletter

Hello! If you’re reading this, I’m already dead. [checks notes] wait that doesn’t sound right Ah! Here it is. Action Cookbook—WHO DID NOT DIE—can now be found at a new home, right here. Whether you’re a paying subscriber or a free one, nothing should be needed on your end—you’ll start receiving emails from my new host site, and subscriptions have been ported over automatically. If you previously read in the Substack app, you’ll need to read via email or web now.

I’ve been attempting to lower the dosage of internet that I consume lately. I’m never going to log off, and while BlueSky remains my primary source for online socialization, it can be a lot, what with…

I have been dying to go to the movies lately. Specifically, I’ve been dying to see the reboot of The Naked Gun, given the effusive praise that’s followed its release from people who I trust unreservedly on such matters. Our usual babysitters have been tied up with back-to-school-and-or-college obligations, and so I haven’t been able to go yet. I think we’re finally going to make it tonight, but the wait has been killing me. In the meantime, it got me thinking.

When you become a parent, one of the first things that you will discover is that you will end up taking your children places. This is inevitable, as leaving them alone is generally frowned upon. They will be happy to go to some of those places, of course, and you will find in time that many of your experiences become richer and more enjoyable when seen through a child’s eyes. There is magic to be found all around us, and a happy child can foster wonder in even the most world-weary adult.

I try not to complain much here; it’s not the energy I want to project first thing in the morning. I want The Action Cookbook Newsletter to be a positive place, a minor respite fro…

August stinks. I don’t mean this in a slangy, pejorative, Jay Shermanesque manner; I mean, it literally stinks. I stepped out onto our back patio earlier this week, and the combination of recent heavy rains, already-simmering heat and stifling humidity had brought forth a rotten smell in the air—nowhere comparable to the hot-garbage smells of my New York City summers past, but by no means pleasant either. I immediately clocked the stench for what it is: a harbinger of the season’s final evolution.

As you’ve most likely noticed, The Action Cookbook Newsletter has been dark the past two weeks. I’ve been blissfully offline for most of that time, …

You wanna know my secret? I simply don’t know how to stop. I launched The Action Cookbook Newsletter a little over six years ago, and since then I’ve published (I think) 833 newsletters here, a number only rivaled in ridiculousness by the fact that some of you have read nearly all of them.

This past weekend, the oldest of my two children turned ten years old. This is a monumental birthday for him, of course—double digits!—and an absolutely rad age to be. Having already had a party for him and his closest council of bros the prior weekend, his requests for the day itself were simple, straightforward and awesome: Waffle House for breakfast, and Jet’s Pizza for dinner.

It’s not Friday, but then again, isn’t it? Tomorrow’s the Fourth of July, of course. I presume that many of you will have the day off, and hopefully you’re doing something fun (or at l…