Salt, Ink, & Soul
Writing on food, family, and identity
“I write so that our food, our struggles, and our stories are never forgotten, but carried forward as legacy.”
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Felix the Fox Collection
Gentle adventures from the Whispering Woods — stories of courage, friendship, and resilience for children, and for the adults who read beside them.
Latest Post
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The Echo I Didn’t Expect: Kendrick, Taylor, and the Sound Between the Lines
First, let me say this plainly: I am a Kendrick Lamar fan. Not the surface kind. Not the playlist kind. The kind who listens to the whole album, in order, Who waits for the videos. Who digs through lyrics like scripture, pausing, rewinding, sitting with bars like they were written for my memory alone. His music…
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Can’t Slow Down: Lionel Richie and the Memory That Belongs to Me
I did, in fact, listen to Can’t Slow Down again. But the truth is, I didn’t need to. The moment the first notes played, it was less about sound and more about memory. Because there are albums that remind you of a time, and then there are albums that are the time. This one didn’t gently carry me back.…
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I’m Learning
As I’ve said before—and as most of my close friends know—I’m just now beginning to like my birthday. That might sound small. But to me, it’s seismic. You spend enough years pretending your day of birth is just another day, and eventually, you believe it. You teach yourself not to expect anything; over time, even…
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The Gift I Never Asked For (Except One)
My birthday is tomorrow. I don’t dread it, but I don’t celebrate it either—not in the way most people do, not in the way I’ve learned people expect. That probably says something about me. I imagine it always has. I didn’t grow up with the kind of birthdays that get remembered in photo albums. There…
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This May Sound Like I’m Angry
This may sound like I’m angry. That’s because I am. I’m angry about food. But not just food. I’m angry about what gets buried with it. What we let slip through our fingers. What we protect so fiercely that we never get to pass it on. Some recipes in families are so tied to memory, and…
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“What We Remember, We Keep-Alive”
I had been working on the newest book in my Culinary Crossroads series, where Jamaal was supposed to return home—to the States and the old South. I thought it would be simple. A return to where it all began. A pilgrimage from the polished kitchens of Manila to the front porches, fields, and kitchens that shaped so…
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