2025 Year in Review: The Alt-Weekly, Issue No. 9, Friday, January 2, 2026 (Patreon)

Notes, News, and Nerdiness from JKLA World HQ

Hello Frienjis! Kenji and Community Vibe Manager and Frienji-in-Chief Erin Kelly here wishing you a great start to 2026.

This is your JKLA World Wrapped: Over the course of 2025, I made 134 posts on Patreon, shared 94 YouTube videos, and uploaded countless Instagram posts and stories sharing my food adventures with you all. 

Since launching our new Patreon tiers in October, we’ve had over 2,000 Super Frienjis and just under 1,000 Cookbook Club Frienjis join us. I am honored that this community of true food nerds has had the opportunity to coalesce here and am looking forward to bigger, brighter, and more delicious things in 2026! 

Cookbook Progress!

Speaking of the Cookbook Club… the community is thriving!

ICYMI: Members of the Cookbook Club play a hands-on role in helping me shape my next cookbook. Every month, members test a brand new recipe that’s currently in development. These Frienjis then share their results and give feedback directly to me and other Cookbook Club members. 

Tomorrow we will share our third test recipe and, if this sounds like your kind of thing, you’re welcome to join the club anytime! You’ll still enjoy all the perks of the Super Frienji tier, along with occasional behind-the-scenes updates, cook-along livestreams, and a dedicated Cookbook Club chat where we can discuss what’s working (and what needs tweaking). Plus, if you sign up with annual pricing, you’ll get your name printed in the final book! 

An International Kitchen

From the Cookbook Club, we know our Super Frienjis come from all over the world. From those that call the PNW their home like me, to those that inhabit Australia, Finland, Colombia, Austria, Thailand, Germany, the UK, Brazil, Canada, and all the spots in-between! Frienjis span time zones, hemispheres, and climates but are brought together in this virtual, international kitchen—and well, I find that just pretty cool.

In the comments below, let me know what corner of the globe you call home. And tell your neighbors I said hey from Seattle!

Looking Back on 2025

This was a special year in many ways, but not one of them would have been possible without your support. Throughout my time working in the food industry, my goal has never wavered: I want to empower you to make your time in the kitchen easier, joyful, rewarding, and delicious. I hoped this community would be a place where that sentiment would thrive, and I have gained so much joy watching Super Frienjis chat, share their food adventures, and ask each other the hard-hitting questions (about the best way to roast a turkey, for example). If you haven’t checked out the Patreon chat for Super Frienjis, head this way!

Some personal highlights from 2025 include:

Meeting the man, the myth, the legend himself, Toshi Kasahara, who invented chicken teriyaki as we know it. You can see our full chat here. I also got to chat with Nouhou of the Seattle Sounders about teriyaki!

Speaking of teriyaki… T-Mobile Park served my Seattle-style teriyaki in their walk-off kiosks throughout the Mariners’ historic season. I even got to throw out the first pitch on the ballpark’s themed Teriyaki Night. (Let me know if you were there and got one of the I ❤️ Teriyaki shirts!)

I worked with some great cooks and writers that I’m lucky enough to call friends. I visited Adam Ragusea in Knoxville while both Sho Spaeth and Padma Lakshmi stopped by my place!

I presented the second season of Tasting Notes in Seattle, La Jolla, and Moab. My live stage show brings musicians and chefs together on stage for a multisensory exploration of food and music. (Stay tuned—next year we'll be in Vancouver, Seattle, and New York)

And, with your help—and the help of Dick’s Drive-In—we raised over $10,000 for Farestart, a Seattle nonprofit that trains and places folks facing barriers into food-service careers.

We also built some beautiful things together. This year I decided to take my years of experience in the kitchen and turn it towards product development, working on some ideas for tools and equipment that I've always wanted in my own kitchen. I couldn't be prouder.

I had the opportunity to work with some incredibly talented and passionate individuals and companies to create products that I hope will help change the game for home cooks . (Read more about why I believe in partnerships, not sponsorships, here):

The Titanium Pro Brushed Steel Cookware Collection from Our Place

The Wonder Oven Pro in Pistachio

The Vonhelmick x Kenji Hand-forged Shi-Toku Knife

The KAN x Kenji Shi-Toku Knife

The Kenji x Hedley & Bennett Egg Apron 

The Earlywood Wok Spatula 

See the full shop on my website! Going into 2026, get ready for a few more surprises to help bring more joy and flavor into your home kitchens.

A fresh start to 2026

With the holiday season now behind us, let’s turn a new leaf (ha, ha, ha) and start the year fresh with some salads! These recipes offer plenty of variety and might just give you a nutritional boost to help you get through these dark, cold winter months. 

Veni, vidi, vici—let’s talk Caesar: 

This old school Caesar pays homage to the original recipe (created by one Caesar Cardini in Tijuana, Mexico). The romaine is served in whole spears and intended to be eaten with your fingers. And, of course, it goes all out with the coddled egg.

But if you’re someone who’s nervous about coddling eggs for the first time, this sloppy Caesar might just be the solution. Here, I purposefully over-boiled my eggs to bring an extra-chunky dressing to life. 

And if you, like me, could talk about Caesar salad for ages (47 minutes and 37 seconds, to be precise), check out the Caesar Salad episode of my podcast, The Recipe with Kenji and Deb.

Green goodness:

Perfectly blanched greens, zesty lemon and creamy labneh come to life in this spring salad.

Reminder: It’s okay to keep it simple! When prepping a creative dinner feels tough, a simple vinaigrette is always there for you, ready to brighten up any plate.

Speaking of… what's the point of a vinaigrette, anyways? I get to the bottom of it in this article on Serious Eats.

Citrus, spice, and everything nice:

Coleslaw is quintessentially summer, but nothing is actually stopping you from enjoying it this time of year. Just make sure you take the following steps to reduce the water content!

Fish sauce belongs in salad. This spicy pineapple and cucumber salad proves it. And this leftover steak thai beef salad proves it again.

This Sicilian winter salad is perfect all year-round, combining fennel, citrus, and toasted pine nuts. 

Happy New Year, Frienjis! 

Here’s to another year of good cooking. Let’s get choppin!