I've been giving a lot of thought lately to how I want to live this year. And the word that keeps popping into my head is community. I am craving deep community and authentic, life-giving friendships. It's not that I need new friends - I'd just love to see the ones I have more often! Life in NYC moves so ridiculously fast that if I'm not intentional, weeks and months can go by and I don't see many of the people I hold most dear.

So in the spirit the yellow table, I've decided to reinstate a tradition I started in Nashville many years ago: the mid-week dinner party. Honestly, "party" is too formal a word. I'm talking about having a few friends over to share a pot of soup or a big bowl of pasta. The sort of one-pot meal you can make in advance, or throw together after work. Everyone brings a bottle of wine and you sit around the table and just catch up on life.

I've realized that having a big dinner party every few months is the wrong approach. This year, I want to have smaller, more frequent gatherings, and keep them casual. And, given that I'm recipe-testing like crazy right now, I need help eating all of this food!

If community is something you're craving, I'd love to invite you all to join along and host your own mid-week gatherings in the coming weeks and months. Starting this weekend, I'll be sending out a newsletter with everything you need for next week's dinner: a menu, recipes, AND (my favorite) a question from The Proust Questionnaire that everybody can answer around the table. I'm a sucker for these sort of group questions at dinner parties because it draws everyone into the conversation – even the ones that tend to be shy. (If you're not already signed up for the newsletter, you can enter in your email on the side of this post.)

Though we're all hyper-connected these days via social media, I find we're less connected than ever to the people who are actually in our lives. I am making table time with the people I love a top priority this year, and I hope you'll do the same. OK gotta get head to the grocery...I've got friends coming over in a few hours!!