Kate Kassin 🥝
Kate is the editorial operations manager at Bon Appétit, where she works on very fun projects like the magazine’s annual Best New Restaurants list. She also frequently muses about the snacks living rent-free in her office desk drawers (and pantry) and all things matcha, both of which are reasons why this feature is going to be incredibly fun. Kate is a native New York Metropolitan area-er and now calls Williamsburg home.
What is your fridge philosophy?
Keep the fridge full and the freezer even fuller. There’s nothing I love more than a well-stocked fridge—especially after returning from a trip—but I think the power of really good home cooking comes too from a well-stocked freezer: organic blueberries, bread and bagels, a few assorted baked goods (currently already-baked Stellar Eats chocolate zucchini muffins), knobs of ginger, and lots of meat.
Your fridge is always always always stocked with ____.
Eggs, lemons, cara cara oranges, avocados, yogurt of a few kinds, MALK or Elmhurst, and a few fun canned bevs (Ghia, Yuzuco Mineral Water, Strange Water).
Top 5 condiment picks, go.
Sunny Ginger Ponzu Dressing & Drizzle
Fly By Jing Chili Crisp
This Pimenta do Queijo Picante hot sauce I got in the Azores - WHERE can I find it here??
Fine, I’ll open it up to pantry too. Let’s hear your favorite snacks / pantry staples:
Peanut butter: One Trick Pony Crunchy (if almond butter: Enzo’s Table)
Chocolate: Spring & Mulberry, Hu, Beyond Good, Gato Dates (for a real treat)
Matcha: Rocky’s, Matchaful
Nuts + seeds: walnuts, Manitoba Harvest hemp seeds and powder, Navitas chia seeds (+ honorable mention for cacao nibs)
Jovial brown rice pasta
BjornQorn popcorn
Fishwife Albacore Tuna with Spicy Olive Oil + Sardines with Preserved Lemon
Burlap & Barrel Spices (Royal Cinnamon!)
A meal that’s on heavy rotation these days:
An easy protein (outsourced rotisserie chicken, steak, salmon), Japanese sweet potatoes (with miso butter or furikake), and a roasted or sautéed veg. In the summer, a grilled protein with LOTS of grilled vegetables.
Let’s go a little deeper…
What’s the mantra you keep coming back to?
What if everything actually went right?
What products / practices are part of your regular mental wellness habits?
Solo walks
Coffee dates and strolls with friends
Morning matcha ritual
Journal mind dumping or talking to myself out loud
Taking a very deep breath
Leaving myself enough time to have a slow morning and enough time to wind down at night
And your physical?
Soto Method app quickie workouts in my home gym (or in my living room)
Treating myself to a class once or twice a week: Fuze House, NRTHRN Strong (a new must-try and I’m loving both the strength and the sculpt), Barry’s, and reformer pilates (I am non-committal to one studio)
Spencer’s Spa massage a few times a year
What do think is the most underrated part of wellness?
The “free” stuff. Going for a walk in fresh air with nothing in your ears (i.e. no podcast, no music), with your phone in your pocket, with sunshine in your face, and taking a few deep breaths.
And overrated?
All these sugar replacements used for the sake of being “healthier.” I don’t want stevia nor erythritol nor monkfruit nor allulose. Give me the dates, maple, honey, or coconut sugar…or CANE SUGAR!
Picture this: you wake up one morning and feel like shit. What’s your next move:
Rot in bed and scroll on my phone, get up and brush my teeth, drink some Pressed Juicery green juice (maybe), make a matcha (definitely), make some breakfast (likely soft scrambled eggs with avocado on Knead Love sourdough toast), and get outside for a walk. Oh, and probably FaceTime my parents at some point during the breakfast part of that.
Give us your ride or die wellness products:
Aquaphor mini tubes in every bag I own
Evening tea! Currently very into the Doctor Stolberg Rest & Digest Tea
Koala Eco cleaning products
Some skincare: Tower 28 SOS Spray, Youth to the People Superfood Cleanser, Sofie Pavitt Mandelic Acid (a new addition), Tatcha Oil Blotting Papers (a Mom Kassin OG rec)
Some beauty (NOT my domain): Saie Slip Tint
One thing you do everyday that makes you the most YOU version of yourself:
Cooking! Even if it’s just soft scrambling eggs, it feels like the simplest self-care act. Unless I’m traveling, I need at least one meal of the day to be cooked at home.
Whose taste inspires you?!
Melanie Masarin, the stylish founder (and great human) behind Ghia for style and home; Alexis deBoschnek, recipe developer and cookbook author, for all things food and farm life.
The biggest thank you to Kate for sharing this glimpse into her professionally delicious life with us. You can follow her on Instagram and keep up with her latest bites over at a little place called Bon Appétit. Find her fridge favorites and more here.
Feel free to leave a comment or respond to this email with questions you want asked, people you want featured, or anything else that’s on your mind. Don’t be shy, I love hearing from you.
As I’ve said before, all cool girls drink DOCTOR STOLBERG Rest + Digest tea 🟨
kat(i)e squared!!!