Iām thrilled to moderate a discussion with TikTok star and cookbook author @thisfellow about his new cookbook, Retro Recipes, on June 3rd, 2026 @bindingagents !
š«Pictured here is the Family Skillet Dinner from Retro Recipes featuring one of my favorite mid-century food stuffs: ā”ļøSpamā”ļø. Bobbyās thoughtful adaptions of often maligned comfort foods really make these recipes shine.
š«ÆJoin us for a rollicking and nostalgia-heavy conversation about how modern America learned to cook and eat! There will be egg creams to enjoy and plenty of discussion about various foods suspended in Jello. Dig out your most retro outfit from your vintage closet and join us for a memorable night out! Grab tickets via the link in my bio.
š«š«Æā”ļøš«Æš«
#bobbyhicks #retrorecipes #retrocookbook #bindingagents #phillyevents
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Look into the future and what do you see! Itās Krys Malcolm Belc, his wonderful new memoir, dear Binding Agents, and me. š½ļø
Iāve been wanting this book since before Krys even started writing it and I implore you and your loved ones who eat and/or cook (thatās everyone) to come and see us on Tuesday, 6/30!
Register at the link in my bio or youāll have 7 years of overworked dough. Why RISK IT. šŖā
We were last joined by acclaimed writer and award-winning chef Gabrielle Hamilton for a conversation on her new memoir, Next of Kin, alongside award-winning restauranteur Ellen Yin.
Thank you to our lovely sponsors, @tenangorum , @gdilisiimports and @bindingagents ! Thanks to everyone who joined us for the special event and for the opportunity to gain deeper inside into Chef Hamiltonās story. #memoir #chef #phillychefconference
A morning of wellness, nourishment, and good company.
Join us Wednesday, May 20 to celebrate the launch of sabrinarudinās debut cookbook Healthy with a Side of Happy ā a Q&A session with Sabrina, moderated by Fran Costigan (@goodcakesfran ), and surprises from a few of our favorite local women-owned wellness businesses. In partnership with @almaacupuncture , @bindingagents , inflow, and @reapwellness .
Limited spots available ā get your tickets via link in bio. Complimentary for hotel guests.
What an incredible evening for Chef @saengdouangdara ās cookbook release and talk in Philly! Special thanks to @bindingagents for hosting (still a few copies left, some signed so hurry and get yours), @sunnyskitchen2002@vientianebistro for catering the yummy Lao snacks and @catzuella for moderating the talk. Weāre grateful to those who got tickets & came out (we see you Chef š), apparently our stop on the book tour was the first to sell out! Congrats to Saeng on ALL of your success!
š We have our winner for the The Lao Kitchen giveaway! Congrats to @tri_sarah_thomps ! Canāt wait to celebrate with you tonight. Weāll see you at @bindingagents this evening to chat with Chef @saengdouangdara and get your hands on your brand-new copy of his cookbook.
For everyone else joining us, see you at 6PM for an incredible evening of food by @vientianebistro , stories, and community! š±š¦š
#TheLaoKitchen #LaosInTheHouse #PhillyEvents #LaoFoodMovement
Bit of being a tourist at home this week. Highly highly recommend Jackieās @streatsofphillyfoodtours which we thoroughly enjoyed today. We ate our way through south philly including my fav @biedermansphilly plus isgros, dibrunos, Angeloās and a cool new cookbook shop called @bindingagents Weāve done food tours all over in our travels but never right here at home! Also visited the @constitutionctr including their new exhibit, for an author event with @sarahmisgur discussing her excellent new book āLast branch standingā. You can hear her with David French on their biweekly podcast advisory Opinions. This PSA brought to you by the city of brotherly love!
end of april slogs, sweets, savory sidequests, sights, sauna seshes, and support, among many other things that make this life (and my belly) a full one
#sloggingtosweets #running #trailrunning #girlswhorun #training
A few weeks ago we had the absolute pleasure of attending a cookbook club potluck hosted by Binding Agents based on our Palate Palette series!! It was so thrilling to see our books come to life and taste the dishes that everyone chose to make and share with the group. To have so many folks embrace our vision with such gusto made us smile. Bravo Philly! Thanks for a colorful and delicious evening.
#palatepalette #bindingagents #cookbookclub
I wanted to share a few favorite independent bookstores ahead of @indiebookstoreday tomorrow, April 25!
Indie bookstore day started in the early 2010s when I was a bookseller at the now closed @chestercobook and it was magical from the start. Seeing indies busy with excited shoppers, exclusive merch, special tote bags and editions from your favorite authors. Itās all great.
Thereās so many reasons to shop indie if youāre able. And so many ways: at a local bookstore, online at @bookshop_org (or many indies have active online stores post pandemic), at @librofm for Audiobooks. It helps devest from Amazon in one of the categories it has most damaged. While itās shopping, itās mindful and supports authors and publishers you choose to support as well as friends and neighbors and young people in your town. So, itās also fighting the evil parts of capitalism and consumerism.
Amazon doesnāt pay taxes, in fact it hurts the economy in numerous well-documented ways. Your local indieās taxes go into your local economy and pays workers who eat and shop and also pay taxes in your local community. So youāre kind of also supporting your favorite cafe next door, in the kind of trickle down economics I can get behind.
And who doesnāt want to go to a big fun party for bookstores! I go with my family, we get a little breakfast first, then we come home and read our books. Make a day of it!
Bookstores pictured:
@inkwoodnj in Haddonfield, NJ
@patatgiovannisroom LGBT-focused bookstore supporting Philly AIDS Thrift in Philly
@bindingagents cookbook store in Philly
@book_and_bottle in St. Peteās, Florida
@flyleafbooks in Chapel Hill, NC
@mcintyresbooks in Chapel Hill, NC
@kissandtaleromancebookshop in Collingswood, NJ
The @happinessrpt found that how often you share meals predicts life satisfaction almost as strongly as income.
But here's the thing ā most of us aren't sharing meals with people outside our own household. Not because we don't want to. Because there's no infrastructure for it.
One of our pilot participants wrote about this experience for @ediblephilly . She swapped homemade meals with a stranger for two months ā and walked away with a real friendship.
Ellen and Adel were strangers when they started. That was the nature of our early pilot with @bindingagentsphilly . But here's what their experience taught us: the meals weren't the hard part. The trust was. And trust came faster because they were already part of the same community ā even if they hadn't met yet.
That insight shaped how Second Helpings (formerly Potluck) works today. We don't match you with strangers. We match you within communities you already belong to ā your school, your neighborhood, your faith group ā so you're starting from a foundation of shared trust, not a leap of faith.
Ellen was nervous at first: "What if they made something way better than me?" Adel's take: "We were both just making ourselves something we're going to eat anyway and then making an extra portion. It was so low pressure."
The pilot ended. The friendship didn't. And the model got better because of what they showed us.
Read Ellen's full essay ā link in bio.
#SecondHelpings #EdiblePhilly #MealSwap #Philadelphia #BindingAgents #GetMoreThanSecondsBack #DinnerTastesBetterWhenItsShared
