warm weather is upon us!!

Hi! Carmel Valley schools are operating on a half-day schedule all week, and we’re in the middle of an extreme heat wave, so it feels like a mini spring break before real spring break is upon us in April. I know a lot of your kids have spring break this month (my friend Mary Pell is visiting from North Carolina right now for her daughter’s spring break!), so today we’re sharing a few spring break-related things, should it be on your radar right now, too.Whether or not you’re in a spring break time of life: spring as a season will be official on Friday! To celebrate, Saturday’s new recipe includes my favorite spring vegetable, asparagus, but in the meantime, we wanted to share our team’s personal favorite super-springy recipes from the archives to welcome the new season. And lest you forget: there’s a whole “spring” section in the What to Cook recipe index — along with many, many more categories based on cook time, protein, and mood. If you’re ever needing inspiration for dinner, let the index be your guide. Also worth noting if you’re a Substack app user: we are VERY happy to report that the WTC index is pinned again under “posts” when you’re on the WTC homepage within the app. The pinned posts went missing for a few weeks but they’re back, baby!Caro’s: sheet-pan spring salmonThis is perhaps the springiest weeknight dinner recipe I’ve ever written. Dilly sauce, asparagus, roasted potatoes, and salmon with lots of lemon… it’s so fresh and delicious. It’s also both gluten- and dairy-free as written and is delicious served either right out of the oven or at room temp, so you could cook the entire meal ahead of time, let it cool, and store it covered in the fridge. Bring it out 30-ish minutes before dinner to let it come to room temperature, then dig in! It’s a total crowd pleaser. There’s an even simpler version of this meal — it omits the potatoes — in WTC the book on page 40! Jillian’s: crispy artichoke and chicken saladArtichokes are one of my favorite spring vegetables! This is a good-all-week salad that combines roasted marinated artichokes with chicken that you marinate in the artichoke brine, a can of white beans, kale, homemade croutons, and the most addicting, springy lemon-Parm dressing out there. I typically eat vegetarian and highly endorse the mushroom vegetarian riff that Caro suggests! Molly’s: roasted asparagus farrottoI cooked this meal one day last week after the time change and it was a perfect springy experience. I sipped a glass of white wine (the same wine I used later for the recipe!) while the asparagus and farro roasted away in the oven and the evening sunlight (!!) poured through the windows. It’s VERY tasty, and Caro’s asparagus-roasting hack in this recipe — you cook it on an inverted pot lid! — always makes me feel like a pro. Do you have a favorite springy WTC recipe?!Whether you’re traveling this season or not, these “vacation house” meal plans will get you in the springy and/or spring break spirit! Version one + version two. I’m taking my older boys on a very adventure-heavy spring break trip with Lonely Planet Journeys (formerly known as Elsewhere, the travel company that sent me on the Camino and to Patagonia!) next month. It’ll be my first real trip with kids that isn’t a plop vacation by the pool/beach — we are going to be making our own chocolate from native cacao! Snorkeling in cenotes! Exploring ancient ruins! We are all so excited and grateful for the opportunity.That said, my typical spring break plan is to go somewhere that I can plop in front of a body of water (pool, beach, lake, etc.) with the kids, and have easy access to a house or hotel room with all the creature com