Hi friends!

It’s been forever since I’ve posted here on the blog, so I wanted to pop in and say hello, and share some life updates with you all :)

First of all, if you’re not already subscribed, I have a newsletter - The Yellow Table Weekly - on Substack, which is the best way to follow along with me these days. Every week, I send out 2 emails: a weekly Meal Plan, with recipes and a prep plan aimed at busy families who want some help planning out healthy, simple weeknight meals, plus a newsletter with personal stories and life musings, and maybe a recipe or two. These are more like blog posts, and I’m having a blast writing them each week. I’ve been taking a sabbatical from social media (which has been SO nice) so my newsletter has been my main connecting point with my online community lately. I’m sure I’ll be back on social media soon enough, but it’s been nice to have a mental break.

Life, lately, has been very full. My kids, Evie and Grayson, are in 2nd grade and kindergarten, which is really hard for me to believe. I mean, Evie’s writing essays and Grayson is reading books to me. Weren’t they just babies?! We’ve been in Nashville coming up on 6 years, which is also so hard to believe. Most of this blog was written during my kid-free years in NYC, and here I am, a mom to elementary kids in Nashville, TN. Life is funny. But it’s the evolution that keeps things interesting, right?

A few months ago, I had the privilege of working with the amazing photographer Emily Dorio (check out highlights from our shoot here!). She captured some shots of our family eating around the yellow table - something we do every day together, but don’t have any photos of. It is special to this little time capsule of life in this very sweet, but chaotic, season of life. As much as I love to cook, I will be honest: cooking for little ones can be very frustrating. My kids might be slightly more adventurous eaters than some, but there are MANY times I make a meal and am greeted with “YUCK!” or “I’m not going to eat that!!” (I wrote more on this subject here.) I always try to make meals that we can eat together, but I really don’t like basing my menu choices around their bland palates. So when I introduce new foods, I always try to have 1 or 2 other things on the table I know they’ll eat, and there’s always yogurt or fruit to fill in the gaps. Alas, it’s a season, and I just try and remind myself that at their ages, I wasn’t a fan of kale salads or spicy food, and now I love it all. They’ll get there.

Besides cooking for my family, I still throw dinner parties and teach regular cooking classes at The Kitchen, an amazing cookware store in Nashville. But my big news is this: I am planning to open a café later this year in Nashville!! It’s been a dream of mine for so long to extend the sense of community I’ve created around my own yellow table to a wider audience. I know I’ve done that virtually through my blog and cookbook, but I have long dreamed of creating a physical space where people can come to enjoy delicious food and wonderful hospitality. A place for conversation and connection, where life can slow down just a little bit as you enjoy a great cup of coffee, a delicious French crêpe or savory galette, or a healthy salad or bowl of soup for lunch.

I’m basically creating the type of place that I love: cozy French vibes, delicious food, friendly service, big communal table with little bouquets of flowers, and a sunny outdoor patio. It will be called The Yellow Table Café, and will be open for breakfast and lunch. We have been in several months of lease negotiations on a little space in East Nashville…fingers and toes crossed we finalize the lease soon so we can start applying for building permits. !!!

It’s been a roller-coaster and every step has taken so much longer than I ever dreamed. Which is actually a blessing, giving me more time to learn and research and solidify my vision. I wrote more about the waiting process here, if you care to read. I’ll be sharing more on the blog and in the newsletter as I get a better idea of the timeline. You all have been with me since the early days of the blog, and followed along on all the ups and downs of my cookbook journey. So, a decade later, I’m inviting you all along on this next adventure! I’ve never run a restaurant and have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. But I’m a hard worker and really good at figuring things out, and I love bringing a vision to life, so let’s hope those skills come in handy. Ha. (I’m also going to be needing to hire an amazing team in the coming months, so I’ll be reaching out to you all about that soon!)

Thanks so much for reading, and for your support. Sending you all lots and lots of love!

XO, Anna