What I’m serving at Eat at Joe’s

Hello and hi and hey and salutations and welcome and … I can’t think of any more greetings right now unless I start going into other languages, like the opposite of that goodbye song from “The Sound of Music,” but I want to offer you all of them!

Can you tell I’m excited you’re here? I’m excited to be here, too, because this newsletter represents a milestone in my career and life: After almost 45 years of working in daily newspapers (my first job was at age 15), I decided to take the Washington Post up on its offer of a voluntary severance package (for those who don’t speak corporate, that’s a buyout) to anyone with more than a decade of employment there. (I have 19.)

By the time you read this, I will have handed in my Post ID and laptop, canceled my commuter-benefits card and, perhaps most importantly for this newsletter’s purposes, written my last column about plant-based cooking, called Weeknight Vegetarian.

A lot has happened in the dozen years since I started that column after what I call my “second coming out,” as a vegetarian. (I call it that because I like the Jesus pun — please forgive me — and because my experience reminded me of coming out the first time, with chef friends and other meat eaters saying such things as, “Maybe this is just a phase,” “Where did we go wrong?” and … “You just haven’t met the right meat.”)

On the upside, I got married (you’ll read about him as The Husband), we adopted our son (The Teenager), and took in one, then two dogs and two (both at the same time) cats. I managed to crank out four books, including a best seller and a James Beard Award winner. On the downside, we grieved one dog (Roscoe, aka the best dog in the world) and one cat (Jockamo, aka The Acrobat). I lost my beloved mother at age 92, and one of my dearest friends, Karin, at age 60 (because cancer is a bitch).

Now, my focus is on my career shift — which involves the flexibility to work, well, less, but still do the kinds of things I love. Specifically, I’m thrilled to continue writing about food and sharing recipes and stories, but this time with a community of readers who proactively, affirmatively want what I’m offering.

So let’s cut to the chase. What can you expect from Eat at Joe’s? Every week you’ll get:

• A story that connects my life to a seasonal ingredient or dish.

• My best tips for how to make it delicious.

• Relevant recipes (mostly, at least at first, from my books, and hopefully later original/new ones exclusive to subscribers) and recipe links.

• A rotating feature (each once a month) on new cookbooks; an ingredient somebody I know hates and how I think they could learn to love it; a spotlight on a favorite pantry product; and an idea for making a meal that’s easily adaptable for people of multiple differing dietary preferences.

Oh, and because I’m obsessed with animals, I’m curating a story or photo or social media post that shows just how remarkable dogs, cats and other animals, domestic and wild, really are.

Do you like those ideas? Do you want something I haven’t listed? I don’t care! This is my newsletter! You take what you get! Just kidding: Let me know, and I’ll consider everything. And please, if you like what you read, feel free to recommend me to your friends, colleagues and anyone you think might also want to Eat at Joe’s.

(If you were forwarded this email, welcome, too — you can get your very own copy in your very own in-box on your very own Sundays by clicking below!)

See you soon!