Spring, Snacks and Turning 31

Week 14 Snackagories

Apr 05, 2026

Yesterday felt like the first real breath of spring in Western NY.

We were at my in-laws for Easter, and at some point in the afternoon, the weather shifted. It got warmer — a drastic 40 degrees warmer. I was sitting on the porch, no jacket, no rushing, just letting the sun hit my face. We made it through winter was my only thought.

I brought a few things to share: Peanut Butter Reese’s Egg cookies, Mushroom biscuits, and Easter carrots. Dinner felt like the first tastes of spring: lighter, brighter, playful. Spring cooking to me is about cooking for flavor and enjoyment, not out of survival or necessity.

I love this time of year for many reasons, including my birthday. I’m an Aries baby, and my first Birthday fell on Easter. It hasn’t since, but I think that’s why I look forward to spring so much. It’s quite literally the time of year I was born.

I turn 31 on Tuesday, and for some reason this feels like more of a turning point than 30 did. I think 30 came with a lot of pressure to have it all figured out. 31 feels quieter. More grounded. Less about becoming someone new, more about trusting who I already am.

I’ve been thinking about what this past year taught me, and the biggest thing I keep coming back to is:

It’s not that serious.

Not in a dismissive way. Not in a “nothing matters” way.

But rather, the things I used to overthink, spiral about and hold myself back over, aren’t nearly as big of a deal as I used to make them.

No one is thinking about me the way I think about me.

Positivity and presence will take me further than perfection ever could.

And most things — especially in the kitchen, but also in life — can be figured out as you go.

This year, I leaned into that more than I ever have.

I experimented more with food. I stopped trying to follow everything perfectly and started asking, what if I just tried it my way? I’m someone that often needs to have a plan. I challenged myself to let go of the plan and just start. That’s how my “better than Boursin” broccoli rabe situation ended up happening on the fly. That’s how snacks become systems. That’s how something simple starts to feel like something of my own.

With Niknack, I’ve been practicing the same thing.

Showing up before I feel fully ready.

Sharing half-baked ideas online while they’re still forming.

Letting it be imperfect and real and evolving.

There are still only a handful of people signed up for my first Snack Attack event.

And I’m doing it anyway.

Because this year taught me that waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect response, the perfect version of myself… isn’t the point. The point is showing up. The point is doing the damn thing. The point is building something that means something, even if it starts small.

Especially if it starts small.

Today, I’m back in the kitchen experimenting. My line up is a little chaotic, a little ambitious and very me. Cooking is feeling different than it used to. There’s less pressure to get everything right. More trust that it will come together.

That’s the energy I’m taking into 31.

I don’t have it all figured out, but I’m showing up anyway. With snacks in hand and a little more trust in myself than I had last year.

I’m building something I care about, one snack at a time.