Dinner: A Love Story

🍳 Reminder: Archived content older than four weeks is accessible to paying subscribers only. Thank you for supporting Dinner: A Love Story! 🍅 🍰 ❤️ Greetings friends and a caveat: Just because the title of this newsletter sounds like some kind of montage marking the end of Summer 2026, remember that we still technically have three weeks left of the season, a few weeks left of corn and tomatoes and cookouts and fireflies, so please no talk of braises and casseroles just yet.

Greetings, friends! Two things before we get to your Official Three Things. First a big thank-you to free subscribers who converted to paid last week. It goes without saying that you are the reason I am able to keep the lights on here at Dinner: A Love Story, and I appreciate every single subscription, whether it’s a month or a year or forever.

Greetings friends and a warning right from the get-go: Content for the next week or two might get kinda tedious as I toggle back and forth between tomato recipes, corn recipes, and tomato-and-corn recipes. I refuse to apologize for this — if you’re not having one or both with every meal, you might need to take a hard look at your priorities.

My journal entry on July 7 starts with two words, all in caps — BAD DAY — and underneath is a crude sketch of lightning bolts striking my poor addled head. It was Day 14 of my recovery, so still early on, and in spite of all the advice to rest, relax, and be patient, I pushed myself too hard.

Greeting friends and well, it’s been an exciting weekend. There was not one bluebird spotting but two, and only a few hours after I watched a downy woodpecker do its little dance up the side of a maple tree while I enjoyed my morning iced coffee. Here are Three Things I’d like to tell you about this week. If you love what you discover on this newsletter, or if it makes your life a little better, a little happier, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Greetings friends! Hope you are having a good week. I’ve spent much of mine listening to The Road to Tender Hearts, which was recommended by both Emma Straub and my book-whisperer pal Rory on the same day. (Have you read it? What did you think?) I’m still spending more time than I’d like to lying supine on the couch, but occasionally I’ll venture out to test myself in various scenarios. For instance, a week or two ago, I learned the hard way that I’m not quite ready to sit inside a noisy restaurant.

In the late afternoon, for most of my adult life, I’ve felt an almost magnetic pull to the kitchen. Even when I was working at an office in a real 9-to-5 job, my brain would start drifting towards dinner and dinner ideas, and what I could spin into gold from the contents of my fridge and pantry at home.

Greetings friends, and let me just say how delighted I am that you all shared my enthusiasm for last week’s Orzo Salad. To quote reader/commenter Kathleen: “This was amazingly delicious & my fav thing I’ve made thus far this summer.” I happen to agree, and it’s proving to be one of those recipes I have to pace myself with, because I really don’t want to get tired of it. This week’s bonus recipe for subscribers will be a gorgeous summer-forward soup that is the very definition of easy-breezy.

One of the great things about people sending along food while you’re sick or on bedrest is that you end up eating dishes from restaurants that you never would’ve picked yourself. And by you, I of course mean me.

Greetings friends, I hope you enjoyed your weekends. I don’t know about you, but I’m having a hard time facing my first week in 39 days that doesn’t include a World Cup game. For the past six weeks, the first thing I’d do every morning was take a look at the day’s schedule and plan my day around the matches I needed to watch.