Food Friends: Home Cooking Made Easy

Have you ever had one of those meals that you just can’t get out of your head? Do you keep dreaming of returning to that one restaurant? Did you recently discover a recipe that you can’t stop cooking on repeat, because it’s just that good? This week, we're wrapping up 2023 by reflecting on our most memorable dishes – these are the foods that inspired us, connected us to friends, or added a new dis...

What are the best food gifts to give your FOOD FRIENDS during this holiday season?  We’ve got you covered with all the food gifts we love to give and receive from tried and true crowd pleasers to unexpected shippable delicacies. Not surprisingly, some of the best gifts we’ve ever received were from each other. Learn which gift basket always makes Kari squeal when she receives it, and hear wha...

Is there anything better than a perfectly golden, crispy, fried fritter?? This week, fritters are the name of the game: flavorful bites of fried dough or batter, made with endless combinations of ingredients. Every culture in the world has a fritter to offer, and we’re swapping notes about our favorite sweet and savory varieties, while debating what actually defines a fritter. Whether you’re gathe...

Have you ever wondered what it takes to write a cookbook?  Sonya is publishing her first cookbook, “ Braids – Recipes from my Pacific Northwest Jewish Kitchen ,” and she and Kari are talking all about the ins and outs of writing and producing a cookbook. The title, Braids, is a nod to the strands of dough that are woven to create challah bread, but it also harkens to the stories, people, and...

This week we’re honored to share a wise and generous conversation with Javier Lara, a Nahau from Mexico, and program manager of the Anahuac Farm , a part of the Capaces Leadership Institute . This conversation centers on the lessons of reciprocity in farming, land stewardship, cooking, friendship, and community. Javier generously imparts his knowledge on the culinary and cultural significance, ver...

It’s time to celebrate the richness and abundance of the season…with the best part of Thanksgiving!  Warm…nutty…spicy…rich…toasty…we share all our favorite Thanksgiving sides that are sure to please a crowd, regardless of whether you’re hosting or joining a potluck! We’re thinking about fun flavors, contrasting textures, and balancing out your overfilling plate with everything from green bean...

From the simplest weeknight quick stews and stewy dishes, to slowly cooked culinary powerhouses like bouillabaisse, gumbo, gormeh sabzi, and pozole, stews offer us more than just a meal. A steaming bowl of stew is an invitation to slow down, reconnect with family and friends, and linger at the table for a shared experience. With an opportunity for customization, stew also offers each guest to summ...

Is there anything more comforting than baked pasta?? From lasagna to stuffed shells, ziti to spaghetti pie, we’re rounding up the coziest baked pasta dishes that will warm you up all winter. We both share stories about memorable lasagnas, and we’ll discuss our own tips and tricks for making a delicious version at home – with or without meat. We also dive deep into stuffed shells – something Kari’s...

Our shared love of beans is infinite!  This episode explores just a tiny corner of the vast and beautiful world of bean dishes that we each cook at home. Sonya shares the easy, fool-proof steps for her basic pot of beans, and Kari divulges all the details of the satisfying lentil meatballs she used to make for clients (that can also be made ahead, boom!). We also wax poetic about all the ways...

Are you intimidated to cook steak at home?  This week, we’re talking about turning your kitchen into a steakhouse! Sometimes it’s fun to cook an extra-special meal at home, and this episode offers our best tips and tricks for preparing steak (hint: we each do it differently). And since the sides are usually the best part of any steakhouse dinner, we share some of our favorites — from gratins...

This week’s episode takes us on a journey of homemade kimchi and FOOD FRIENDship as we speak to Randall Park and Evan Goldberg about their mutual love of fermented foods.  Actor, writer, and director Randall Park (Fresh Off The Boat, Veep, Neighbors, The Interview) and writer, director, and producer, Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Knocked Up, Neighbors, The Interview), talk about their shared love...

Whether you’re a novice or expert baker, this week we’re offering simple paths to homemade desserts, and share several different recipes that yield sweet treats with minimal effort. Snacking cakes, we’ve learned, come in different flavors and shapes but share one common ingredient: they are unfussy. That means they’re typically made by hand in one bowl, then poured into a cake pan and baked. ...

It’s time to add soups back into the cooking rotation!  This episode is dedicated to all the best fall soups like creamy tomato, roasted squash, and bean + veggie combos like a classic lentil soup, or white beans with garlic, parmesan & herbs…side of crusty bread, please and thank you! We share our best tips for building layers of flavor with ingredients you probably already have in your...

Autumn’s abundance is upon us and we’re back in our podcast seats! Summer corn, tomatoes, and eggplant mingle with a new bounty of crisp apples, juicy pears, and orange-fleshed winter squash. It’s a literal cornucopia, and we’re here for it. As we head into the kitchen and turn on the oven again, we’re ready to explore the explosion of sweet and savory flavors that define this season. We share the...

Thirty-two episodes ago, we began this podcast with one goal: to spend more time with one another. Our conversations celebrate the beauty of home cooking through our friendship, and we both feel a deep sense of pride in the content we’ve shared. Through our weekly collaboration on this podcast, we’ve learned more about each other and home cooking, and feel a deeper connection with one another desp...

This week we’re planning a FOOD FRIENDS adventure… Kari is headed to Portland to visit Sonya!  We’re celebrating the finale of our first season with two special episodes. This week’s part one and it’s a very real conversation we decided to record on the fly as we made plans for Kari’s visit. We talk about all the ways we hope to spend our time together. Will we cook together? Will we dine at...

What are our favorite handheld meals?  Empanadas! Samosas! Piroshki! Borekas! Burritos! (to name a few!) This week we’re talking all about our favorite portable foods. We start with piroshki, the handheld pastry that Sonya recommended to Kari when she visited Seattle a few years back, then cross cultures to explore empanadas, samosas, onigiri, and borekas. We also explore the world of burrito...

Summer is the time to take your meals outside! Whether you’re heading to your local park, the beach, an outdoor concert, or any other warm-weather gathering, this episode will guide and inspire you to cook and eat deliciously. Family reunion at the park? We love fried chicken and all the classic sides like potato salad, with a few twists. If you prefer pasta salad (or are a skeptic, like Sonya), w...

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear “veggie sandwich?” Sprouts? Avocado? Grilled asparagus???  If you’ve never had a great veggie sandwich, you’re missing out! Not to worry, we are here to recount the many veggie sandwiches we’ve loved, including ones we create in our home kitchens. In fact, we shared a veggie sandwich on our very first friend date — it was a perfectly cri...

Juicy, sweet, dark & jammy…we’re talking about the arrival of summer berry season! There are so many ways to enjoy summer berries, and in this week’s episode, we try to recount all the ways we love to eat them. Juicy strawberries piled on top of a rich poundcake? Yes, please! Classic strawberry shortcake with flaky biscuits and freshly whipped cream? Count us in! We reminisce about the berry d...

What’s your favorite kind of pie… Fruity and jammy? Cool and creamy? Savory?  Kari and Sonya start the show off by talking about their favorite classic summer pies from peach to berry and explore delicious variations like crostatas, galettes, hand pies, and even a simple ice cream pie. Then, we invite Danielle Bell to join us and share her extensive pie-baking expertise with our listeners. Da...

This week we’re talking about deli salads: egg salad, chicken salad, coleslaw, broccoli crunch salad…and more! At Sonya’s restaurant, Beetroot, the deli case was the focal point of the kitchen, churning out classics like egg salad and tuna salad in addition to personal favorites like beet salad. In her home kitchen, Sonya likes to keep at least one type of deli salad on hand for a quick snack or o...

A good sheet pan is an essential piece of equipment. In this episode, we talk about what we mean by sheet pans, where to buy a good sheet pan (we’ve had ours for 10+ years), what we cook on our sheet pans (spoiler: you can cook ANYTHING on a sheet pan), and even how to clean a sheet pan (those dark edges are a badge of honor!).  As usual, we share (and debate) all the different recipes and me...

Strawberries! Rhubarb! Peas! Cherries! Turnips! Artichokes! Melons! OH MY!! Prime farmers market season has arrived! All over the country, local markets are opening up as we march into spring and summer, creating an opportunity for us to connect with and learn from the folks who grow our food. This week we’re sharing our tips on how we approach our weekly farmers market ritual. Where do we park, d...

What’s the worst thing that can happen when you try a recipe and it fails? In this week’s episode, we share stories from our most epic fails, from gloopy risotto to an ill-fated Beef Wellington. Everyone has an off day, even us chefs! How do we recover when we have a bad day at work?  We’re sharing insights from our worst kitchen flubs, both from our days working as personal chefs to more rec...