With Love, Airie Op Ed & My Life| My Thoughts on Meghan, Duchess of Sussex's "With Love, Meghan" & How It Resonates w/ Me

I have had so much fun binge watching "With Love, Meghan" this week on Netflix (it premiered March 4th). Her special is a great encapsulation of modern soft living a la Martha Stewart. In a nutshell, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex invites friends and famous guests to a beautiful California estate, where she shares cooking, gardening and hosting tips.

I was not sure what to expect coming into watching this because it has been met with such controversy. To my surprise, I enjoyed the show and lot and it was shocking how much we are alike when it comes to what I call housewifery. As a result of the success of her ability to share her easy cooking and hostessing tips, people are really embracing Meghan's simple recipes, gardening techniques, gift making and hostess ideas and cocktails. While a lot of people have deemed the show "un-relateable" and even not authentic, I did not feel this way. There were so many things shown in the series that I already do in my day to day life, so many recipes, cooking techniques and a lot of the cookware she used I also own. With exception to the amazing mountain views everything else is accessible to me and the biggest luxury is just having the time to execute this level of planning and hosting.

Well, I thought about how I have been doing just that here on my website Fashiontolive for over a decade. So, I have put some of my favorite photos from past posts in one place to show off some of my best work. These posts are always posted once a month under the "City Life Vlogs". There, you can find my recipes for dishes that I make through out the month. You can find any home decor, cocktails and gift ideas that I come up with. You can also find items I have purchased, reviews, ass well as yoga.

Meghan herself is quoted: “The only thing better than eating food is making food for someone and watching them eat it with delight,”

I have said this so many times.

I consider myself a homemaker and cooking for people is one of my main joys in life. I love cooking and hosting. When my husband looked at our current house he came home and he said, "you will want this house, as soon as I saw the kitchen, I said Air is going to love this".

I am able to cook such awesome meals because my husband always joins me in the kitchen to be my Sous Chef. His knife skills are way better than mine and he's a lot faster also! So I am free to make a plethora of dishes and he loves that because he is always eating well!

There is almost no recipe I wont try. I specialize in cooking Southern Soul Food & American food because that is what I grew up eating and its what my family eats; everything is also gluten-free because I have Celiac Disease. It also is now understood to me since my "Who do you think you are journey" it is Gullah Geechee cooking as well as passed down from my own family matriarchs unknowingly.

But, I love cooking foods from other countries!

I love the challenge!!!

COCKTAILS:

Making cocktails is something that I really got into for the aesthetics. I enjoy plating and that got extended to making cocktails. I would also host for the holidays and I would plan all these elaborate meals and then have no drinks for anyone. So it has really been an evolution for me.

HOME PROJECTS:

TABLESETTINGS

In closing, I found the series to be a breath of fresh air that helped me to forget about the news and doomscrolling. At this point, I am like where is the recipe book because I would love to add it to my growing collection. Living a soft life is totally attainable as long as you make time for the small things. I thought that her tips for how to get things at a low price were great (the 20.00$ balloon/air machine), anyone can have a chicken coop and source their own eggs if you have the proper zoning and permissions, and her use of all of her crops is fantastic. I have been wondering for years now, "what can I do with carrot tops" and wondered if they are even edible( and taste good) and she gave us a nice carrot pesto dip.

Her quote definitely resonates with me “Just because you can’t do all of the things doesn’t mean you can’t do some of the things.” I remember about 14 years ago I was added to a weight loss and healthy eating group and when I shared a healthy salad dressing recipe in which I made the salad dressing from scratch, I was decimated for it by women who said they didn't have time for all that.

I, on the whole, make my salad dressings from scratch most times (especially back then because I had just found out I was a Celiac). This resonated with me because since the mid 2000's I have always had a focus on eating clean healthy foods as much as possible. Even when I had no money for food I found a way to buy vegetables and meat and I made the time to cook healthy dinners (while going to school and working two jobs) even if it was just one meal a day.

You can find small pockets of joy in the little things even something as simple as making a salad dressing from scratch!

Some things that I hope to try from her series are:

Ladybug crudités

The salted Branzino

Lavender oil towels

Personalized gift bags (of any kind)

Yogurt parfaits with jam

Popped dry corn ( I already do this, but I didn't know you could use any dry corn).

Personal mason jar margaritas

Making my own dehydrated fruits

I hope you enjoy below more of the amazing things that I have done on this very blog, it is my everyday life. I also give credit to my husband because if he didn't cut all my veggies and help this obviously would be much harder. On the whole, I cook very simple meals, but I have taken the time to showcase the simple meals aand the ones that took more time and make me proud.

INTERNATIONAL FOODS: