Thoughtful Gourmet Blog

A red squeeze bottle of O'Foods gochujang chile sauce

Steak is my family’s ideal Valentine’s Day meal. It’s the perfect meal for parents of young children or anyone, really. This year, we are spicing it up with gochujang.

The I Don't Want to Cook Book, cover, by Alyssa Brantley

The subtitle says it all: 100 low-prep, no-mess recipes for your skillet, sheet pan, pressure cooker and more! Even with a broken oven, these recipes were easy enough that I could make most of them work.

coal-roasted Oxheart carrot with XO sauce at PRESS

I eat out a lot. These are the 13 dishes that made the cut to land on my Best Bites list of 2024.

A bottle of Henriot Brut Soverain Champagne amidst other bottles of non-vintage champagne

Pop a cork on a delightful sparkling wine – Champagne, Prosecco, Franciacorta and American sparkling wines all hit my list – before the year runs out.

Ume plum liqueur bottle in front of a purple box

I am back, with my third annual guide to the best liquid treats and fun booze-adjacent ideas that can be brought to a party or delivered to someone’s door. I sampled every item on this list. While my palate is not the same as yours, I stand behind my boozy gift ideas for 2024 as delicious and exciting options to offer anyone (of drinking age) on your list.

Christina's 2024 gift guide for food leads off with dandelion chocolate-nutcracker-bonbon-collection-inside an evergreen tree with a red bow and a nutcracker

For my 2024 gift guide for food lovers and all things food, I sourced foods and food gift boxes from the West Coast, with one exception.

Each of these 19 cookbooks, released in 2024, is a journey, a trip to tantalize your taste buds. My list is personal – I choose to focus on chefs based in the American West where I live, in New Jersey where I grew up, and others around the world whose cooking inspires me.

the cover of Marcella's Italian Kitchen cookbook features eggplants and red peppers on a vine and a purple and white cover

The 1986 classic, updated and republished in 2024 with recipes from the doyenne of Italian cooking in the United States by Hazan’s husband, Victor, looks and feels much like the original.