Hello! Let's Get to Know Each Other Better.

A little bit about me!

Hello friends and readers! Let’s get to know each other better!

I live in Los Angeles with my husband, two kids and our cat. I’ve lived here for almost 20 years (!) but I still feel like I’m adjusting to Southern California. I grew up in Washington state and went to college in Portland and Seattle before moving to San Francisco to attend culinary school for a year. I was 26 years old and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew I loved food and cooking.

I realized pretty quickly that the frenetic pace of a restaurant kitchen was not for me. So instead, I started my career by pushing a cheese cart around a fancy restaurant, which led to becoming a cheesemonger which led to becoming a wine seller and wine buyer, with occasional stints waiting tables, catering and managing a restaurant.

When I had kids, I was more than ready to exit the food industry. I wanted to be at home, but I still wanted to cook in some way. I also wanted to write, but couldn’t quite figure out how to make a living doing it.

It seems obvious now that I should have started a food blog, but food blogs were barely a thing in 2010. I landed my first food writing and recipe development job as a “cheese specialist” for About.com. Soon after, I was hired as a recipe developer for a popular Paleo website. A decade after culinary school, I had finally found what I loved doing in the food world.

In 2019, I finally launched my own food blog. I also started working as a recipe development consultant for SANS Meal Bars. These are still my main gigs, along with publishing this newsletter.

This newsletter began as a way to promote my work on Kitchenskip.com and build a friendly community without having to rely on social media. I know that social media is “essential” for bloggers, but I’m a happier person when I’m not on social media. I have no desire to post endless food photos or film myself dancing around my kitchen. It’s just not for me.

The whole point of working for yourself is that you get to call the shots and do what you love. And what I really love doing is writing this newsletter!

So, What’s Next?

I now have a paid subscription option for the Kitchen Skip newsletter.

Writing a newsletter is a lot of fun, but it’s also a lot of work and takes more time than you might think. The Internet has conditioned us to expect free content, but behind all of that content is a freelancer like myself who is trying to make a living.

Creating and sharing recipes is my job, it’s not a hobby. I’m able to offer free recipes on my food blog, Kitchenskip.com, because I earn money through advertising. On Substack, there is no advertising, so paid subscriptions are what make it possible for me to create and share content week after week.

What exactly will I get with a paid subscription?

For the price of one cookbook ($35/annual membership) you get an entire year’s worth of new recipes!

Paid Subscribers get my weekly Thursday newsletter PLUS

• Two bonus recipes each month, one easy family dinner recipe and one side dish or snack.

• Full access to the constantly growing collection of bonus recipes. It’s like a virtual cookbook, just for you!

• Monthly meal plans and meal prep inspiration, plus occasional extra newsletters about reading and parenting.

Can I still read the newsletter for free?

Absolutely, a free newsletter with lots of great content will continue to arrive in your inbox every Thursday. If you can’t commit to a paid subscription, there are other ways to show your support. You have no idea how happy it makes me when someone hits the heart button at the end of a newsletter! You can also share the weekly newsletter with your friends or leave comments, which are both really appreciated.

Visiting my food blog, Kitchen Skip, is also a great way to show your support.

Thank you for reading and for supporting my work! I can’t wait to get to know all of you even better.

xo

Jenny