Hi! It’s Atara. Welcome to Pree’s first edition of “Fruit Salad”: a series from Pree where we start with an idea or curiosity and then gather our favorite finds around it. Think of it as a little rabbit hole of inspiration, with a delicious assortment of people, places, objects, stories, and other delicious discoveries.
Allow me to share what’s been on my mind lately… I’m in my community-building era (although maybe I always have been, hence Pineapple!).
Since sharing our story about losing Pineapple last week, four different business owners have called me to share their own experiences of building, selling, and/or grieving businesses. It reminded me how much of ourselves we pour into what we create, and how powerful it can be to discover that an experience we thought we were alone in is actually shared.
Beyond Pree, I’ve been pouring a lot of love into Saplings, a neighborhood group I started to bring young families together in my Baltimore neighborhood. It’s gotten me thinking about the largely invisible labor of community-building, so much of it done by women, for free, amidst already full lives. Last weekend, I went to Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, with friends I’ve made through this very group. Eight adults and eight kids in one house. Total chaos and profound joy. We made tacos, white chocolate pancakes, and s’mores, drank Martha Stoumen and Old Westminster wine, and watched the sunrise courtesy of our 5 a.m. wake-up calls. There was something wonderfully restorative about sharing the work of caring for our kids, surrounded by nature, with good food and good company in abundance.
I’ve been thinking about community building through the lens of Shabbat dinner too, which, if you know me, has been something of a decade-long obsession. In a world where dinner with friends takes three months and a Doodle poll to coordinate, I find it pretty ingenious that such a ritual of togetherness is built into the calendar, weekly. And because food is my favorite way to gather people, I need to share what will be on the menu for Shabbat this week: fennel chicken soup, kabocha squash bread, challah, cider-braised chicken, and charred cabbage with mustard and hazelnuts.
All told, I’m realizing that community takes many forms. Sometimes it’s vulnerably sharing a story that makes someone feel less alone. Sometimes it’s sixteen people sharing a house (and childcare). Sometimes it’s making dinner on a Friday night. Different expressions of the same thing: being connected. More of that, please. In my own life, and through Pree.
xo, Atara (co-founder of Pree)
Judee Sill’s Lost Angel documentary.
I love her cosmic, mystical folk music, and even more fascinated by the artists who never quite made it. Give me a complicated, under-appreciated genius over a meteoric rise any day.
My desert island condiment. I eat it with eggs almost every morning and sometimes go to bed excited for breakfast because of it. Bonus lore: Hex founder Meaghan lives in my aforementioned Baltimore neighborhood.
Kabocha squash bread:
A nice twist on pumpkin bread and I think more flavorful. Kabocha has a deeper, nuttier sweetness that makes for an especially good loaf. This is my campaign to give winter squash its due. I love this recipe. I subbed kabocha squash puree for pumpkin and used gluten free flour.
Gardens:
I’ve fallen down a gardening-content rabbit hole. (Alex Rooted is a favorite). Is it the looming apocalypse, the price of groceries, or some primal urge to put my hands in the dirt? Unclear. Either way, I’m suddenly very invested in other people’s vegetable gardens.
Eating at Home by Trinity Mouzon-Wofford
A cookbook that’s a philosophy of living and a collection of recipes, complete with hand-drawn illustrations by her husband, Issey. I love Trinity’s approach to everyday cooking: thoughtful, thrifty, nourishing, unfussy, and deeply personal.
I’ve been very excited about these colorful, eccentric glasses, handmade by glassblowers in Murano, Venice. They’re a modern take on goti de fornasa, the drinking glasses traditionally made from leftover molten glass at the end of the day. I love that something so playful has its roots in such an old, resourceful tradition.
My friends, what have you been into lately in the wide world of women, food and the earth? Share with me please here, as I’m always looking for inspiration:
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