The First Ever Female Foodie Friday (& A Sweet Giveaway!)

Female Foodie Friday Vol. 1

Is anyone else in disbelief that it’s already October 25th? I feel like summer was just ending and now we are almost full-swing into the holidays.

It’s been a busy past four weeks, but busy with the best things possible.

September was a month of Italy, Italy, Italy.

random pics from a 10-day research trip in italy

Going to Italy for ten days to plan our brand-new Cinque Terre/Bologna tour. Preparing for both the 10 day research trip and the fall 2025 tours at the same time. Working out all the little details so that all of the hotels, restaurants, tours, and every tour component were vetted and beyond satisfactory. The tours, by the way, sold out immediately, and even though September and October next year feel far away, I know they will be here in a flash. I am so grateful for every last person who is coming!

With all of this focus on our Female Foodie Tours, I’ve felt like things in my home and my personal life have taken a little bit of the back burner.

My house is a disaster. My car is not much better. And with the excitement and craziness of these past four weeks, I feel like I’m always playing catch up.

Project end of October/beginning of November for me is going to be all about getting my home (and brain) more organized and settling into some consistent routines. I love goal setting and feel de-stressed by accomplishing things, even if they are little tasks like cleaning off the never-ending pile on my desk. Here are some items I’ll be tackling over the next little bit:

• Organize and clean my kitchen, living room, and bedroom (I have a realllly great podcast episode coming out soon with my friend Stephanie from @somewhatsimpleliving that’s all about kitchen organization. You will love it!)

• Clean out the car and get it detailed (I did this for the first time this summer and it was 100% worth every penny- something I’m hoping to do roughly twice a year moving forward).

• Finalize the rest of my 2025 editorial calendar (a form of organizing and cleaning itself, but one that I enjoy)

• Getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night (I’m terrible at this)

• Eating more vegetables and fruits (I’m getting better at this)

• Practicing Italian as I’m winding down each night (s/o to Duolingo)

Project end of October/beginning of November also means I’m dreaming about Thanksgiving already and all of the recipes I’m excited to make this next month, like our cornbread dressing, my aunt’s peanut butter chocolate pie, and my mom’s classic apple and sausage stuffing that is truly TDF.

By The Way (A Sweet Giveaway!)

Starting this Substack is something I’ve had in the works for several months now. To have it up and running is so exciting. Thank you for being here!

To celebrate, I’m giving away 12 (yes, twelve!) sets of both my custom-branded 20 oz. Female Foodie Miir water bottle, and our zippable canvas tote. Neither of these items are available for purchase and I use both of them regularly, because they’re seriously amazing.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Make sure you are a paying subscriber to this Substack (AKA The Foodletter!). If you aren’t a paying subscriber yet, simply click the button below to become one.

2. That’s it! Anyone who enters by the end of the day on Saturday Oct. 26th will be entered to win. I’ll announce the winners on Tuesday’s recipe post (a paid subscriber-only post) and personally pack and send off all twelve packages from my local post office.

If you’re not a paying subscriber yet and you’re on the fence, now is the time! I rarely do giveaways, and the odds are VERY much in your favor. 🎉

Without further ado, let’s move on to the bulk of Female Foodie Friday…

10 Things That Made This Week Great

1. In a series of random events on Spotify, I decided to listen to Kelly Clarkson and had a MAJOR whiff of nostalgia playing A Moment Like This no less than 5 times in a row (I’m sorry, children!). I was immediately transported to a family trip back in 2003 with my Discman in hand on my first flight to Mexico and feeling. so. cool. Not only does Kelly have PIPES, but her highlights and makeup on that album cover were so bold and trendy. I love our OG American Idol.

2. I voted! And I hope that you do too (the state of Washington mailed me my ballot and I turned it in almost 2 full weeks before November 5th- anyone else?!). In the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves, and the only way they could do this is by not voting.”

3. I’m about 1/3 of the way through Ina Garten’s new book “Be Ready When Luck Happens” and it. is. so. good. Listening to it because if I buy the actual book it will never get read, and Ina reading her own memoir herself is just fabulous. Her writing style is effortless and entertaining, and hearing the foundations of who she is today is intriguing and inspiring.

4. Had *incredible* focaccia pizza at Montelupo Focacceria in Portland this week. I’ve tried to recreate focaccia pizza at home more than once but haven’t quite nailed the recipe yet. Will keep trying different iterations and share here once I land in a good great place.

   

5. Sitting in the warmth of the sun coming through my kitchen window on a brisk morning brought joy to my week.

6. Took a quick work trip to Sacramento (haven’t been in 10 ish years?) and found two excellent restaurants: Binchoyaki (A Japanese Sumiyaki aka Japanese grilling!) and Faria Bakery. The Turkish Eggs I had for breakfast from the bakery were just insanely delicious.

   

7. And speaking of Sacramento, the entire purpose of my 36-hour trip was to document the process of how extra virgin olive oil is made from the moment the olives were “picked” (I use quotations because there was no picking just a casual $700K piece of machinery shaking the olives off the trees!) until they were bottled and sealed. This partnership was with Cobram Estates and I can attest that their EVOO is some of the best I’ve ever had.

   

8. This 3-in-1 charging station is something I’ve been looking for for a while! iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch all in one? Sign me up! It was inexpensive, worked great, and arrived on my doorstep in hours (plus it’s 50% off right now!).

9. Guittard chocolate chips were on sale at Safeway ($5 a bag is officially and sadly now a good deal) so I did what any good citizen would do and stocked up. I even grabbed one of the coconut sugar ones which I’ve never tried before- anyone had it?

   

10. Met up with my friends Natalie and Holly from The Modern Proper and made my focaccia and their creamy tomato soup with chicken & vegetables and TBH they were a match made in heaven.

What are you looking forward to this weekend? Getting takeout? Heading to an apple orchard? Sitting around and doing nothing? Would love to hear from you.

Happy Friday,

Brooke