What's Up, Pussycat? - 13
Natasha Pickowicz on her dream one-piece, ladies' bathing ponds, and hands-off cooking projects
Welcome to What’s Up, Pussycat? Where we ask grown, self-possessed women to tell us about the various ways they access pleasure and enjoyment.
If you don’t know who Natasha Pickowicz is you’re in for a treat. Literally!
Natasha is a baker, a chef, and a community organizer. She’s a four-time James Beard Foundation Award finalist, and author of the book More Than Cake: 100 Baking Recipes Built for Pleasure and Community (named best cookbook of the year by just about everyone).
Next week her latest book, Everyone Hot Pot: Creating the Ultimate Meal for Gathering and Feasting will publish.
During Covid, Natasha organized bake sales to raise money for local non-profits and organizations. These bake sales have since turned into huge affairs, and raised over $300K for various nonprofits. I think in this moment when so many of us are feeling horrified at what’s happening in this country, and wondering how to be useful, Natasha is forever modeling how to take one’s skills, whatever they may be, and be impactful on a local level.
Also, every time I remark on something she’s made, she says “it’s so easy!” which, as a person whose cooking skills begin with making coffee and end with boiling eggs, I really appreciate.
Below, Natasha tells us about the hair cream she’s addicted to, the therapeutic benefits of a purring cat, her dream one-piece red bathing suit, and shares one of my favorite plans for how to spend $500. Sign me up!
Three Pleasurable Words To Describe You
Generous, open minded, passionate
What’s The Most Enjoyable Thing You’ve Done This Month?
Baked mini blueberry muffins at my parents’ home in San Diego, where the kitchen is big and spacious (they have so many suburban creature comforts: a dishwasher, a garbage disposal, a walk-in pantry…). Baking there always feels like a true luxury. Afterward, I dropped off the still-warm muffins to the guys at Chino Farms in Rancho Santa Fe, and they gave me a giant box of warm strawberries, cherry tomatoes, and blushing chicories, most of which I ate in the car ride on the way home, while blasting Deftones’ Around the Fur (I almost exclusively listen to the bands I loved in high school when I drive in my home town, I highly recommend it). Southern California in January is intoxicating and dangerous.
Best Beauty Advice? (Favorite Beauty Or Make-Up Essential?)
I don’t own a hairbrush or a blow dryer and get my hair cut once a year, which is how I justify using the Oribe Supershine Moisturizing Hair Cream. I have really coarse, dry hair that gets frizzy outside, and just a tiny amount really helps with softness and shine—and I’m addicted to the clean scent.