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Happiest fall! Today is the official first day of fall, and after spending the week in New York, I’m ready. The temperatures in New York are still pretty warm, but the leaves are turning pretty shades of yellow by the day. It makes me so excited to be coming back in October. I hope the leaves will all be the perfect shades of yellow and orange. I can’t wait!
Rewinding a bit, the last few days spent in New York were great. This trip into the city was with our advertising company, Raptive. To give you some insight on the business side of things, one of our main sources of revenue here at HBH is the ads you see on the website. Raptive manages those ads, among other things. They are an incredibly hands-on, well-informed company. They are very involved in our business, helping us with email, SEO, AI, and even Pinterest.
The panels I’ve been speaking on have been about AI. Raptive started the “Keep it Real Campaign” to try to preserve the human spirit of the internet and stop Google from reprinting creator content on onto their search pages. Big tech companies are using our content without permission or compensation to build AI tools that compete with us. You can read more about the campaign here if this interests you. I’ve been honored to be a part of these panels and have learned so much from other creators as well.
I was back-to-back this entire trip, but it really was an amazing one. I loved speaking on these panels. We hope to continue raising awareness for an issue that will greatly affect so many of us if we don’t grasp it better.
My trip started out magically. We had a press dinner with Snif to launch our Apple Cider Candle. We held the dinner at The Waverly Inn, one of the city’s coziest spots. If you have the opportunity to go, I highly recommend it. I fell in love with the space the moment I stepped inside. And the food was amazing too. It was such a special night filled with wonderful friends and media. I can’t wait for those who ordered the candle to receive it! The 8-ounce candle is sold out but will be restocked soon! You can preorder it now or pick up a 4-wick candle (50 oz). I will say the 4-wick is so special and looks stunning on a table.
Day 2 in New York was spent in meetings. Then, straight into an advertising dinner with the Raptive teams. It was very business-esk yet nice. We went to Medüza, and the Mediterranean menu was so delicious. Everything we ordered came out wonderful. The highlight for me was the tzatziki and warm pita.
Days 3 and 4 were spent speaking on panels, then a yummy dinner at Gramercy Tavern. Coincidentally, this is where we also had our Snif Apple Cider Candle press dinner this week! I get why both chose this tavern!
And that’s about it for this week…enjoy the first week of Fall!
1. Things i’m loving, wanting, and excited to try.
ordering now…the Best Advent Calendars and Best Beauty Advent Calendars to start shopping now. These are so fun! I love an advent calendar.
traveling…Fall Is the Best Time to Visit New England – for a Gilmore Girls fall!
everything in my cart (low)…so many fall selects from Zara. Love this basic knit fitted cardigan and matching mini skirt. They’ve also got a great buttoned knit polo, and zippered jacket. Or this is a very cute cropped jacket.
Lastly, I love their suede kitten heels and kitten heeled ankle boots. I would style them with this ruffled dress.
And I’m restocking my J.Crew cashmere crewneck sweaters, and this one is so good. I also love all the new J.Crew fall arrivals. They do such a good job with their knits! And I thought their fall catalog was super cute too!
listening to…Kourtney Kardashian Barker Gets Real About Boundaries, Her Personal Life, Therapy, Parenting, & Building The Lemme Empire With Simon Huck. Our Snif candles got a little shout-out toward the end of this!
recommending…this Coach Carryall Bag. A perfect semi-affordable designer bag that’s great for fall and will last you a lifetime. I love this bag, and especially in this beautiful maple shade.
loving…this hood scarf for my mom. I know she would love this and get so much wear out of it. How cozy!
shopping…The Best Places to Shop Vintage Online. My favorites are Vestiaire Collective, Fashionphile, and What Goes Around Comes Around.
wanting…brown bags for fall. Love these!
following…Floral design by Molly Ford. Pretty florals in NYC!
everything in my cart (beauty)…I’ve heard great things about this Bio-Collagen Real Deep Mask from Biodance. Have you tried it. On a similar note, I love the Shani Darden Triple Acid Signature Peel. I just restocked this; it’s such an awesome at-home facial.
Also restocking the Josie Maran Whipped Argan Oil Refillable Firming Body Butter Jar and the Mutha Body Butter (my tried and true favorite). And I’ve yet to try this OSEA Cleansing Body Polish, but I’d like to.
dreaming of going…Lake Garda and staying at the stunning Cape of Senses, a 5-star hotel at Lake Garda. A magical Italian vacation.
cooking/baking…The 60 Most Popular Fall Recipes of 2024.
everything in my cart (high)…really excited about the new Khaite Zoe Patchwork Tote.
listening to…Nish Samantray, Husband and Co-Founder of Arrae: How We Operate Arrae, Hiring and Team Building, Retailers, and More. If you’re starting your own brand or currently running your own brand, this is a highly informative episode.
following…this “Save the Day” Trend. A wellness trend I can actually get behind. A few of my “save the day ideas”. A fresh bouquet of flowers, lighting candles at 6pm, making holiday Pinterest boards (so fun, I really love doing this!), calling mom, and online shopping.
shopping…All the New Trader Joe’s Fall Items. I want to recreate the mini pumpkin spice sheet cake. So cute! Also, I love how excited everyone at Trader Joe’s is for fall!
reading…Apple Picking Guide. I just love a great honeycrisp apple.
2. It’s Fall – all the pumpkin recipes to make.
Fluffy Pumpkin Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Cream Cheese Swirled Cinnamon Pumpkin Butter Bread
6 Ingredient Spiced Pumpkin Butter
Pumpkin Beer Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Brown Butter Pumpkin Tortellini Alla Vodka
Pumpkin Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
3. Amazon Home For Fall.
even more Halloween
4. My first copy of Quick & Cozy!
While in New York this week, I received the very first copy of Quick and Cozy! I can’t believe we’re less than two months from the publication date of November 19th! I’m so excited to share this cookbook with you all!
I want to share some reasons why this book is so special to me.
Let me take you along on the process of creating cookbook #4, Quick and Cozy.
March 31st 2024
I was so excited. I flew to New York ready to work with a team to bring the cookbook to life. With all of my cookbooks, I create the content, write the headnotes and recipes, test the recipes, source the props, and then photograph them all!
Most people work with a team to create an entire book (there’s usually a recipe developer, food stylist, prop stylist, and photographer). Until then, I’d never worked with a team other than my book editor (she edits the book). The plan was to shoot all the recipes in the studio over three weeks. For the first time, I would have a team helping me. They would be sourcing the props, doing the grocery shopping, cooking the recipes, and cleaning up after the shoot. My job would be styling and photographing the recipes.
I was so organized and ready to create the most beautiful cookbook. I was excited to try something new!
Day one and only in studio – Bushwick/Ridgewood
As things often go in life, this did not go as planned. My first and only full day on set was one of my worst nightmares. I was so out of my zone, out of my creative space. Nothing was working; my photos had no sparkle, no magic, and everyone on set knew it. This was not for me; I needed to be the one cooking the dishes and be more involved in the process. I needed to do it all, just as I’ve always done. I also needed to get these photos done ASAP. But I also needed the help; we were already so behind! The publisher needs the photos many months prior to the pub date (often a year), and we were now at April 1!
Spring in New York.
The only choice I had was obvious: I needed to get home. I had three weeks to photograph all 125+ recipes if I wanted this book to be released this year! A fall publishing date was so important to me. This is my favorite time of year and my favorite recipes to share!!
This was an impossible task, and everyone around me doubted I could really get it done with no help at all. My family was traveling and not planning to be home for a whole month, so I was on my own.
But I was so determined.
Something inside me knew I could do it. I had to do it.
I flew home and surrounded myself with flowers to stay upbeat during the cold rain/snow filled Colorado spring days.
And I got to work.
Cooking, cleaning, shooting, writing. It all had to happen. I was tired.
But somehow, I did it, and I created a cookbook I am so excited to share with you all!! I put all my energy into this cookbook, and it’s so good. It has my best recipes and photos yet. I’m so happy I buckled down and was able to get it done.
Quick trips helped inspire me. This was the 1st lifestyle shoot for the book (which I worked with a team to create because these are photos with me in them!).
I had the best team helping me do it.
The salads are so good!
Really, so good!
We landed on a cover!
And you can now preorder!
The drinks are fun!
I stacked a lot of glasses to get the lighting just right….and I must have gone through so much butter.
One last lifestyle shoot at the 11th hour in Austin.
But I had Kristen by my side. She has photographed me for all my cookbooks. Going on so many years together!
I had the best team.
Kristen knows I love dahlias.
We did it!
Final edits.
Preorder here! So happy!
5. This Week In New York – photo recap.
(our Snif apple cider launch press dinner)
(Bryan, me, Simon, Phil – with the Snif founders)
(the 4-wick apple cider is so pretty)
(cake to celebrate)
(it was so pretty with flowers on top)
(a Snif menu)
(this table was so gorgeous)
(The Waverly Inn might be my new favorite in New York)
(fit for filming something special coming soon)
(congratulations to the Popup Florist on your new book!)
(a dinner with Raptive at Meduza)
(the kebabs were delicious)
(chocolate brown nails from Majestys Pleasure)
(dinner at Gramercy Tavern)
(the happiest)
6. Inspiring Me – a fall table.
Getting excited for Thanksgiving!
(source)
7. Favorite Links I’m Loving.
15 Best Hotels in Upstate New York for Leaf-Peeping This Fall
12 Secret-Menu Starbucks Fall Drinks That Are Way Better Than a PSL
Addison Rae Wakes Up Every Morning and “Immediately” Puts This Lipstick On
5 Signs You’re Eating Too Much Sugar
A Guide to New York City’s Best Bookstores
Are “Coolcations” the Future of Travel?
5-Minute Tasks That Help Me Make Better Use of My Time
How to Organize Your Pantry Once and for All, According to a Pro
How to Remove Pilling From Clothes
Exactly What I Buy At Costco on a $200 Monthly Grocery Budget
8. New Falls Styles to Shop.
boots for fall
cardigans
9. This week’s Dinners + Weekend eats.
Monday: 30 Minute Crispy Thai Peanut Chicken Ramen
Tuesday: Pretzel Chicken Fingers with Spicy Honey Mustard Sauce
Wednesday: 4 Cheese Roasted Garlic Alfredo Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
Thursday: Skillet Crispy Cheese Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Friday: One Pot Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo
Saturday: Iced Apple Cider Caramel Oatmeal Cookies
Sunday: Pull Apart Parmesan Sage Butter Brioche Rolls
This post was originally published on September 22, 2024
Thank you for sharing about the process of making your cookbook. Very interesting and I enjoyed reading about it. That’s a lot of hard work! Do you ever get a vacation? (A non-work vacation 😁). You’ve seemed very busy all year. I appreciate you sharing everything that you do. Ads or no ads, I think it’s great.
Hey Holly,
Thanks for your kind message and reading today:) Of course, happy to share the process with you all! Lol I do need to a vacation, it’s hard for me to relax, but will look forward to some down time around the holidays! Thanks for being here:) Happy Sunday! xT
For us at altitude, I’m glad you wound up making all the dishes for cookbook at home – adds confidence that they will work here. Thank you.
Thanks so much, Anita! I hope you love the cookbook just as much as I do! xT
So excited for your new book! She looks like a beauty! Xx
Thanks so much, Kelly-Jane! Hope you are having a great weekend:) xT
It’s so great to see you’re speaking out and doing this “keeping it real” campaign. Not just with AI, but with filters and photoshop it’s so hard to even know what’s real and people are just rearranging their face and bodies in photos and videos using (multiple) filters and apps. I hope you continue to use your voice for what’s right and speaking out on things like this more often!
I agree, Annie!! I wish ALL influencers would stop using filters. Tieghan, as part of this campaign, do you plan to stop using filters? I hate to call you out on this because I’ve followed you for years and love your recipes (I have all of your cookbooks), but i would love if my three teenage daughters can come of age knowing that skin has texture. You put so much effort into your skincare, I’m sure you still look amazing without them.
Thanks so much, Annie! Yes, totally agree with you, it’s a bit much! Thanks for reading today and have a great Sunday! xT
Im so glad you agree! In that spirit maybe post the unedited photo at the top of this post or using less filters (maybe just 1 instead of multiple to start if going cold turkey is too much for you) when you do your Instagram stories? The change starts with you!
Can you ask Raptive to be more conservative w so many ads, especially the pop up ones? They really distract from your writing and are annoying.
Hey Jeff,
Yes, thank you for your feedback! Have a great Sunday! xx
I’ve tried 3 recipes of yours that didn’t turn out and I followed them to the letter. I printed off the recipe from this site. In the panel, are you saying that your recipes fail because “big tech companies” somehow changed the words on your own site and so users struggled to make them successfully? Because that’s not the reason the meatballs i tried fell apart, it’s because you didn’t use an egg to bind them. That’s not the reason the Ramen dish i tried had very little flavor, it’s because your recipe wasn’t good.
Not everyone is using Chat GPT to find recipes. Good luck continuing to deny you’re not the problem.
Wow the question here is what are so angry and mad at. I’m sure its not the meatballs. I hope you do the work you need to do on yourself!
Louise, wouldn’t you be upset if you bought ingredients for 3 different recipes, only for all 3 of them to either fail or be underwhelming, flavor wise? And wouldn’t you be upset if the only response you got from the recipe creator was “oh no! What did you do differently?” when I did nothing differently from the recipe. Food is expensive and not all of us can afford fails. For every person here that claims to never have a losing recipe from here are 5 more with epic fails, all blame laid at their feet instead of hers.
She’s definitely got issues. T. was wise to just politely cut her off and not engage further. Sonya is clearly mentally unstable.
Hi Sonya,
Thanks for your feedback and giving the recipes a try, I’m sorry to hear they aren’t working out for you. It might be best if you find another food blogger that you enjoy better:) Everyone has different tastes and methods of cooking…sounds like you just aren’t enjoying my recipes and that’s totally fine! Wishing you all the best! xx
I appreciate learning more about the behind the scenes of shooting the cookbook and I can only speak for myself, but I would love to know more about the behind the scenes of the recipe development-how you get inspired and work through how to bring your ideas into the kitchen, how you test and vet the recipes and techniques, and how you arrive at the final version. Things like, do you try to use quantities of ingredients so there is less waste (using all of a 15 oz can of instead of just a little), etc.
I would love whatever details you’re willing to share! AI can be daunting, what are your own worries about how it can impact your blog and business?
Very interesting panel with Raptive! So from what I’m understanding, AI is the reason why the phyllo mozzarella rolls didn’t work for most folks?! That’s crazy to think about! I didn’t realize that most readers follow AI instructions as opposed to reading your site directly.
Did you test the AI version as well? Is that why you needed to spoon the cheese back into final recipe as well?
Love your elegance = preserve 🕊️
Thanks Gloria!
Hi Tieghan,
What, do I understand correctly and in three weeks you had to do on average of 6 recipes per day to cook, style and shoot? How, I mean just how? I honestly don’t know how you did that. That is like every two hours another recipe to bang out…
If you read this, will this cookbook only have cup measurements or also metric ones?
Hey Jenny! Some of the recipes I had previously shot before while I was in the testing stage. Some recipes also dragged on past the allotted 3 weeks! I didn’t do them ALL in just 3 weeks, but it was close for sure. I am sorry I should have done a better job clarifing. A lot of very long days in the kitchen regardless. Let me know if you have any other questions. Thank you!
If you fired your recipe developer do you still have someone that helps you test the recipes? I’d love to order the book but I’d love to know if all the recipes were throughly tested before investing in another cookbook. I love HBH and most recipes are a hit, but there have been too many misses recently so I’d appreciate any additional context on the testing process that goes into producing a cookbook. Thanks!
Hey Erin,
Thanks for reading today. I did not fire my recipe testers. I had 2 testers for this cookbook, plus friends and family testing recipes too! Each recipe has been tested multiple times by at least 2 people other than myself! Hope that helps you and let me know if you have ANY other questions. Thank you and I hope you love the cookbook! xx
Such an interesting creative process! Was the entire team that was hired still compensated fairly for the work that ended up being canceled? Is that something that your publisher would have taken care of? It would be very sad if all of the hardworking talent that had contracts to help bring your book to life ended up out of work so suddenly 🙁
Hi Dana,
Yes, everyone was paid for their time. We made sure of that! I felt horrible canceling and letting everyone down, but it’s what I needed to do to create a well written cookbook. Let me know if you have any other questions. Thank you!!
Since you are speaking of advertising. Your site has more ads than any other blog I visit. It is sometimes impossible to even scroll, today I couldn’t scroll thru the NFT page without it kicking me back to the top of the page multiple times. At one point three different animated ads were on my screen. I get this is how you make money, but there has to be a better way.
Hi Tori,
Thanks for reading today and sharing this feedback with us, we will take this into consideration! Hope you are having a great Sunday! xT
Yay fall! Loved reading about the process of your cookbook! I’m so glad you decided to do what felt right to you! I think the magic of your work is because so much of you shines through it! Every step of creativity, from the cooking to the jar stacked lighting, to the coziness of your mood is apparent. Stay true to you! 🙂 Thank you for another lovely Sunday morning read!
Hey Ramey,
Happy Sunday, thanks for reading today:) I’m glad you enjoyed reading about the cookbook process and appreciate your kind words! Have a great day! xT
I love your site and recipes so please don’t take this as a negative. Since you mentioned your advertising team, I have noticed a large increase in ads to the point my Ipad (a new one) locks up or slows to the point I sometimes don’t get all the way through Nine Favorite Things. Maybe fewer animated ads would be more effective. Thank you for your content and excellent cooking skills.
Same here
I have the same problem – thank you for bringing it to their attention.
Thanks so much for the insight Georgana, I will pass this on to our Raptive team! Hope you are off to a great Sunday! xT