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A note before you begin: If Mother's Day is a tender day for you, the second half of this letter is a Mother's Day gift guide. Feel free to skip it. I'll see you next time.

New York: Come paint! We have a few tix left for our event at Happy Medium this evening. All tix include a copy of my new cookbook, which I can sign and dedicate to you or your mom for you there :)

What does one even wear on a book tour? I’ve been contemplating this all week, and every idea I had got derailed by 40-degree weather.

I went to my first book signing on Sunday at the Cherry Bombe Jubilee, a true full circle moment since I catered Jubilee in 2016 when I worked at Dig Inn. My love proudly sent me on my way with a beautiful pen he bought me, and even took a picture of me and my red pants on my way out.

jacket - pants (I’m XS here) - shoes are old Chanel you can find more here, this was the shirt underneath I intended to wear but it was cold and rainy! Dries clutch is sold out but I found this!

I spent the better part of the weekend planning every detail of the cookbook tour. Going on tour on top of my Ghia CEO duties could be really stressful, but I’m choosing to make the most of it and make it fun, I even snagged a reservation at Chez Panisse! This whole process was a labor of love, from sponsor outreach to route mapping, venue and detail coordination, and calendar syncing. I used Claude a lot to help me in the past couple of months, and I can’t wait to tell you more about that so you all can either do more with the same amount of working hours, or do less and get some of your life back, whichever you choose.

We’re attempting to eat at home as much as possible until going on tour and I have to say it feels so good. This was a bunch of leftovers thrown into a nicoise-ish salad. Yesterday’s ramp pesto even became a dressing.

Promoting something always comes with a lot of internal turmoil, most of which I will spare you. The feeling of holding something it took me two, almost three years to make trumps them all. The truth is, I’m uncompromising and the toughest on myself, and I’m really, really proud of the book. Yes, I found a missing word in the acknowledgments. And there are three images I wish I had reshot. But I’m choosing to believe everyone who told me that only I see these things, and just lean into the warm feeling of seeing my work come to life.

I went to sign a copy at Greenlight Books today, and saw a few people pick it up at Kitchen Arts and Letters this weekend, and it reminded me of the early days of starting Ghia. Butterflies!

I hope I get to meet some of you on the book tour. Details are below!

Tonight! New York Spritz & Paint @ Happy Medium. We have a few tickets left, grab a friend and come hang out. All tickets include a book.

Tuesday, April 28th: Brooklyn 11am Pre-order signing at Books Are Magic, Cobble Hill flagship.

Wednesday, April 29th: New York Private cocktail party for press, hosted by The Infatuation (thanks a million to them for making this happen!)

Friday & Saturday, May 1–2: Los Angeles Two nights of a Riviera-inspired menu at Bar Besito. I’ll be there both nights with lots of familiar faces in the room. Reservations here.

Tuesday & Wednesday, May 5th-6th: SF Speaking at Stanford (!!!), followed by a Ghia Riviera aperitivo at Penny Roma, presented by Soho House. We’ll be opening 10 community tickets this week! Wednesday Author talk at Omnivore Books, 6:30pm. A conversation, a signing, a hang.

Saturday, May 9th: Sonoma Book signing at Cassidy Ranch as part of their Mother’s Day Gift Shop + Strawberry Festival.

Saturday, May 16th: New York Post-tour aperitivo at Buba Bureka with a special collab.

May – Sep: Part II (Hamptons, Austin, Paris, Miami)

The book is, in many ways, full of motherly memories. My grandmother taught me to cook and had a huge impact on my life. Digging through them with my mom, collecting and scanning old photographs, was painful but equally healing.

She was also extremely frugal with herself, but incredibly generous to others. In my teenage years, I worked at a tobacco shop where unsold magazines got refunded by the publisher: we had to detach the cover and send it back, and I got to keep the rest. I loved giving them to my grandma, who loved magazines but never bought them for herself because she thought they were a waste of money. “They get obsolete so quickly.” In retrospect, I wish I could subscribe her to all the magazines today.

Just like her, I spend my Saturday mornings reading with my coffee. Substack has replaced many paper magazines, but the two subscriptions I keep are Bon Appétit and The World of Interiors. Maybe your mom would like one of those?

Watching my friends become moms has taught me that mothers don’t necessarily want more stuff. What they want is time, ease, and to feel like themselves. But these guides are fun to put together, even if a little useless. The last time we managed to whisk my friend Amrit (Spread the Jelly co-founder, mother of them all) out for a girls’ dinner, we paid for her babysitter, and it brought her to tears. Maybe instead of registries and too many clothes babies will outgrow, we should gift our friends a babysitter fund?

Bringing lilac in a pitcher is so much better than pretty much anything else

Higher Dose red light shower head. I love my red light mask more than anything, but it scares the shit out of Adam when I wear it. I am vain and love a moody shower, so I am the target audience for this expensive piece of equipment.
A diamond cover for my Oura ring. I love the Oura for tracking my cycle, but I hate how it looks, so I currently only wear it at night. This would solve all my problems?
This suede blazer. From afar, the brand seemed like a lot of dupes, prices too good to be true (I ordered from Quince once and will never again, and worried this might be similar). It took a little while to come, and the packaging was a bit rough, but I am happy to report the blazer is really beautiful and I would purchase again with-my-own money!

My mom gets all of her wellness recs from Elle France and me, and I love going through my “PR closet” aka the 2 shelves next to my washing machine where I store unopened gifting, to pack goodies for her before flying to France. The one cream that she always requests is Theraplush, a truly magical retinol overnight treatment that will soften cuticles and erase wrinkles on the hands, but I also like to use it on my elbows, knees, and feet. They just launched a mother-of-pearl version specifically for Mother's Day, so that one is going straight to France.
My friends have been raving about this chic thinning hair treatment (Melanie15 for a discount on all Violet Grey).
One of my favorite serums is having a big promo if you get 2 — one for you, one for mom. I use 3 euros prescription retinol and layer with a generous layer of their cream.
No matter where you are, I am begging you not to ship flowers. I have never received flowers in a box that were in good health or brought me joy. It is lilac season, and a quick trip to the farmers / flower market with this $60 jar will be 1000 times better!
This year, my mom requested a radio transistor (for real) - I’m taking recs! Last year I got her an ice cream maker, to use up all the figs in her garden, and it was a real hit. I love the price point of this one, but since everything is bigger in America, if she lived here I would probably get that one.

Melanie

A Book Tour and Some Mom Things

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