February Dinner Party with Rebecca Blackwell
(2 Cooks 1 Table, a California casual dinner party menu)
Hello from sunny Southern California! If you like tacos, kimchi, seasonal produce, and bright flavors, you’re in the right place.
Every Friday, we chat about California Cuisine recipes that will inspire you, no matter where you live in the world.
Looking for a recipe from a previous newsletter? The Recipe and Resource Index was just updated! Take a look.
Casual Dinner Parties
If hosting casual dinner parties more frequently is one of your goals this year, you will love this new series! Once a month, paid subscribers will receive a dinner party post that includes recipes, conversation-starting questions, and even a Spotify playlist.
The goal: make throwing together a casual dinner get-together super-duper easy!
So many peeps have prioritized “having dinner with friends more often” this year. We all got out of the habit of eating together during the pandemic. And today, even though it is several years later, it seems we are still craving that connection.
Dinner with friends doesn’t have to be fancy, fussy, over-the-top, and perfect. How about a relaxed, wear your favorite sweater, shorts, and flip-flops, and come over for supper kind of night? I like to call that California-casual.
2 Cooks 1 Table
Because I am a fan of so many talented food writers (and I know you are too!), each monthly dinner party includes recipes from a guest chef. We kicked things off last month with the January dinner party with Kerry Faber.
This month, it’s the amazing Rebecca Blackwell ! She is a cookbook author, recipe developer, food photographer, and food writer who shares about her life as a nomad in her newsletter, Let’s Get Lost.
You saw some of her fab recipes in this month’s menu plan, posted a few weeks ago.
Rebecca and I met through a food writer’s group on the Substack platform and instantly connected. She is a dynamo business owner who runs two food websites, writes a weekly newsletter, heads up a product line, facilitates a Mastermind group with 200+ food writers, and hosts supper clubs across the nation, all while traveling North America with her husband in their RV. Plus, she is fun, generous, outgoing, and a spectacular cook!
We met up in person when Rebecca was in San Diego last year, hosting a Let’s Get Lost supper club. Since then, we’ve also collaborated on live cooking workshops and spoken together on a recipe-writing panel discussion for the Write Up Community.
Rebecca is hosting a live Zoom cooking class on Feb 25th at 5 pm PST, and I will be cooking with her! Paid subscribers of both our newsletters are invited to attend!
Sign up here: February Cooking Club.
In the meantime, links to a few of our recorded sessions:
I’ve also had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Rebecca on my podcast. Yes, this was my very first podcast episode ever, from January 2025! Can you believe it? On the show, she shares her passion and experience as a cook and professional baker, lessons learned in writing a cookbook, and what she loves about life on the road.
Full episode is here:
A Gentleman in Moscow (2024)
This month’s dinner menu brings in my February “dinner and a movie” theme and suggests something to watch: the TV movie of Amor Towles’ historical fiction novel, A Gentleman in Moscow.
Because the movie is divided up into an eight-episode Paramount+ series, you most likely will not binge-watch it all in one evening (…or will you?). However! Some peeps at your gathering may have already watched the series or read the book on their own.
As an aside, there is the age-old debate of “What’s better, the book or the movie?” Honestly, to me, it’s comparing apples to oranges. These are two distinct types of media with their own unique ways of storytelling. In this particular instance, I loved the book and liked the movie. They are both good, but in different ways.
For those unfamiliar with the storyline, A Gentleman in Moscow is set in 1922 Moscow, after the Russian Revolution. Count Rostov, the main character, is sentenced to life-long house arrest and confined to the Hotel Metropol. The narrative follows his decades-long imprisonment and chronicles his observations about the hotel staff, guests, and other visitors, as well as the newly formed Soviet Union. Along the way, he gains and loses friends, forms a surrogate family, and discovers truths about himself.
Many scenes take place in the Boyarsky (the hotel’s main restaurant) and the Shalyapin (the hotel bar). Fans of the book and movie have developed recipes and menus from the numerous detailed descriptions of the food, wine, and cocktails enjoyed by the Count.
I read the novel a few years ago with my book club besties. We had a Russian-inspired potluck, and my clever friend Lisa even brought white and red wine, labeled accordingly! IYKYK (If you know, you know).
Rebecca Blackwell also loved the book and was even inspired to recreate some of the dishes mentioned in it. This was the spark that we drew upon for this week’s special menu!
You’ll find Rebecca’s Latvian Stew and stunning dessert, Napoleon Mille Feuille, along with my contribution of Cucumber Dill Salad, Russian-style Caraway Rye Bread, and Elderflower Martini.
Just a heads up that some of the recipes this month require a little more time, but don’t worry, the majority of it is hands-off. Plus, your patience will be rewarded with a delicious meal shared among friends.
And make things easy for yourself: assign a recipe to a willing guest and have them bring it along, turning the dinner into a community effort. Many hands make light work!
Spotify Playlist
Yes, there’s music for your dinner party! To follow A Gentleman in Moscow vibes, a two-hour playlist featuring 19th-century Russian and classical music (including pieces featured in the book and TV series) is cued up and ready for your get-together or to enjoy while prepping dinner.
Conversation Starters
Usually no one is at a loss for words when it’s a gathering with good friends! However, sometimes it is fun to throw out a question or two, either before the meal or just before dessert is served.
Here are two questions that Rebecca and I thought would be fun:
The rest of today’s post is for paid subscribers. You know I’m fond of you all, but once a month, I treat my paid subscribers to a post that is just for them. Won’t you join us?
