I'm back 👋
If you're new here, welcome (& thank you for subscribing 🫶)!
Hello friends,
I feel like the only ✨right way✨ to start off this week’s newsletter is by using the following gif (one of my all-time favorites btw) below to illustrate how I feel creeping back into your inbox after a few months…
I’ll admit I’ve been MIA on my newsletter, Happy Hour, but I’m here to stay - we’ll stick with a cadence of 1 email per week…unless?
On Happy Hour, I’ll give you a glimpse of what’s going on in my personal life - both glamorous and unglamorous aspects - as someone would during a Happy Hour outing with their friends. Things like big life updates, awkward behind-the-scenes stories of videos I share, places I travel to, highlights and lowlights, shameful admissions, and inside jokes.
On the real - you can expect a new email in your inbox every Friday at 3:30 PST (my favorite time to go to a restaurant for happy hour)!
Notable Life Updates
I moved back to California for the winter. If you watch my videos on either TikTok or Instagram, you’ve probably noticed the constant change in the kitchens I cook out of - that’s because I have sort of been staying all over the place ranging from the SF Bay Area to the Central Valley and even short stints in Los Angeles (background: my bf works in baseball, which means we move in the offseason). We’ll be moving again in just a little over a month (more on that later - and by later I mean 1 paragraph)…
I got back into running! After I ran a marathon at the end of 2021, I (internally) pledged to stop running for a while. I’m pretty sure I approached my marathon in the most unhealthy way possible, and so much so, that afterward, I was #overit. After my 9-month protest of running, I decided I should probably grow up and get back into doing cardio. I have now come to love my (almost) daily 3-4 mile run, where I don’t look at my pace and focus solely on listening to my favorite podcast or song at the moment. It’s a ~30-minute exercise that burns at least 300 calories, requires no gym membership ($0!!!), AND there’s no commute.
I’m moving to….
All I can say is this was certainly not on my bingo card for life. But I’m so excited to cross off another region of the United States I’ve lived in. We’ll specifically be in a town near Omaha, which I’ve heard only wonderful things about. If you’re a resident of Omaha and you’re reading this, pretty please (with a cherry on top) let me know what your favorite restaurants and things to do are.
Starting in April, I’ll be in my Great Plains era 😙✌️!!!!!!!!
Shameful Admissions
I can’t stop eating canned salmon. Before you judge…hear me out. 1 can of salmon (the kind most people feed their cat) is roughly $2, it has over 30 grams of protein, and it’s enough to really fill you up. All it needs is some Frank’s RedHot and 1 Tbsp of mayo and boom. A <$5 treat. My arsenal of canned salmon accompaniments is as follows (from least to most favorite):
Saltine Crackers - a boring option, but will provide that salty crunch that is always necessary
Salted Rice Crackers - the ones from Trader Joe’s, if you know you know. These are a little less boring, because they have a nutty flavor, but they pair nicely with the canned delight
Quaker Rice Cakes - the best-textured pairing. You just can’t beat it.
Ritz Crackers - art in cracker form
I can’t stop putting almond extract in my Greek yogurt. If you’ve ever wondered about putting almond extract in your yogurt (I’ll put my money on you having never thought about this concept, but just play along, ok????), I am here to confirm your suspicion. It’s actually really good. My personal favorite combination is as follows: Greek yogurt + 1 tsp of honey + 1/2 banana (sliced) + 1/4 tsp of almond extract *chef’s kiss*
Meghan Trainor was my top-played artist on Spotify Wrapped. I do not care to elaborate.
I strongly dislike making sourdough. I was influenced to try making sourdough after I somehow ended up on sourdough TikTok. As someone who loves making (most) bread - french loaves, pretzels, focaccia, pizza dough, banana bread, etc - I thought I would be the perfect candidate for someone who commits time to the sourdough-making process. I was wrong.
A picture of the first (and last) sourdough loaf made by me:
Recipe of the week: Butter Mochi
This is a written recipe I only plan on sharing here. I accidentally frustrated a community (and by “community” I mean 10 people) on TikTok by calling this “Hawaiian” Butter Mochi. Ironically, this is the first time I did extensive research before hitting “post video” because I certainly did not want to be that food content creator who shares a recipe derived from a culture that isn’t their own without understanding its history. Innocently, I wanted to share the treat I don’t think many people have been exposed to (it was introduced to me as Hawaiian Mochi Butter Cake back in cooking school). So repeat after me - this is Butter Mochi, not Hawaiian Butter Mochi 😄
I made 2 batches of it in the same week and here are my favorite ways to eat it:
with coffee in the morning
as a sweet treat at 3 p.m. when you start to feel sluggish
after dinner with a scoop of coconut ice cream
If you make it, enjoy!!!
Meredith’s Spotlight
Since I consider all of you my close-knit community (especially since you’ve gone out of your way to subscribe to this newsletter), I’m going to share one of my favorite inside jokes on TikTok.
One of my best friends, Meredith, who I am 99% confident doesn’t subscribe to this newsletter, and even if she did, would probably not read it, leaves a random comment on most of my TikToks. Her account appears to be just another internet troll, considering her picture is of her dog in the living room and her username is very ambiguous.
I thought it would make this joke 10x funnier to let you all in on this joke, without her knowing so that when you see her comment on my video, you can play along with the absurdity of replying to her comments with more a + b = z comments, ultimately confusing her and everyone else who doesn’t know this inside joke.
To shed a light on her comment behavior in the past month, here are her top 3 funniest and most notable out-of-pocket comments:
3.
Anyway, that’s all for today’s Happy Hour. I loved catching up with you all. If you have any ideas or suggestions for something you’d like to see me make, please let me know. I am always open to your suggestions (I’m one email away)!!!
Love always,
Zoe