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Happy New Year!! One of my favorite traditions is my annual recap. Give this a read for a look behind the scenes, and I’m sharing some personal updates too!
Check out the 2024 and 2023 recaps if you missed them.
A good year
This past year was another productive one. True to form, we can’t stay still very long, so we’ve got another big project in the works here at S&L that I think you’re going to be very excited about. But more on that later! I’m happy to say that 2025 included a whole bunch of new and delicious recipes (more than 100), fun food-related travel, and more exploring in Vancouver.
Website highlights from 2025
- This year marked a very special milestone because 2025 was S&L’s 10th anniversary. We celebrated all year long by hosting cookbook and merch giveaways, and it was so much fun designing the new merchandise! We’re so proud of what we’ve built.
- S&L continued to experience steady readership this past year, with tens of millions of lovely visitors creating our recipes.
- The top recipe published in 2025 was this Creamy Hamburger Potato Soup, and the most popular recipe overall was this Chicken Piccata (published in 2022).
- Our debut hardcover cookbook, Salt & Lavender: Everyday Essentials, which was published in 2024, has exceeded our expectations. We are so happy that our wonderful readers have been enjoying it so much. It was such a thrill to see it in the Vancouver Public Library as well!
- My sister reimagined our free e-book, so if you haven’t subscribed yet to our weekly newsletter, you can do so here to receive it.
- And we finally got on the air fryer train, with some great recipes like my Easy Air Fryer Chicken Breast and Air Fryer Salmon Bites. There will be more next year!
- The nice folks at Google featured S&L here in this interview, and we had the pleasure of being their guests at the BC Technology Impact Awards gala. I absolutely did enjoy eating a midnight Big Mac from the 24-hour McDonald’s afterwards on the stairs of the library. Just regular Vancouver things.
- We’ve been kinda sorta active on Threads if that’s your thing.
A serious note…
- In the face of AI, we need your support now more than ever. As a reminder, all S&L recipes are created, tested, and photographed by me, a real human! My sister, also a real human (I think. jk) writes them up and does all the research and analytics.
- As always, S&L will never use AI. This will never change. Like all of you, I have AI fatigue, so you can rest assured S&L is 100% human powered.
- What can you do to support us? Every like, comment/review, share, and word-of-mouth recommendation is incredibly important and so appreciated!
Vancouver updates
- Vancouver continues to be an amazing city to live in. I’m delighted to now have a membership to the aquarium, finally went to Kits Beach, and I can’t say no to Nook or Cactus Club for good eats! Yes, I’m basic. My friend Beth also came to visit me, and I’m always so excited to show off the city to her.
- Maybe the best local event this year was Apple Fest at the UBC Botanical Garden. I eat an apple every morning, and it was so fun to dork out and learn about my favorite fruit and try some new varieties. And let me tell ya, the fall foliage was stunning.
- My sister attended Picklefest and absolutely loved that. A highlight was the pickle tater tots. Maybe a future recipe here??
Cookbook #2
- Big news. Yes, a follow-up cookbook is in the works! We have sent off the manuscript to the external editors, and in the new year we will begin the design process.
- It’s going to be similar to Essentials, bringing you more easy, comforting meals without obscure ingredients or complicated instructions. I would say that the process is smoother than the first time around by virtue of knowing what’s in store, but the sheer volume of work doesn’t change! If you’re curious about the inner workings of writing a cookbook, we wrote about that here.
- The projected release date is fall 2026. Follow us on Instagram or in our newsletter for updates as it progresses.
A few travel updates
- Regular readers know that travel is one of my passions, primarily because it involves enjoying food from other places! Most of the S&L team took part in the Tastemakers Conference in Las Vegas. While it was fun to meet other fellow recipe creators I’d never met in person before but have known for years, I spent a lot of it holed up in my hotel room with a horrific stomach bug. Such is life.
- A Phoenix trip turned into a road trip through California and up the coast back home. The scenery was gorgeous, and a highlight was staying at the amazing Headlands Lodge in Oregon. I would stay there again in a heartbeat.
- I also hopped across the pond for the first time in many years, and I got to visit the motherland (I was born in Glasgow), which was so cool. Other standouts in that whirlwind trip include wonderful German food in Frankfurt, bacon butties in London, and meeting my beautiful cousin Celeste and her family for the first time.
- My sister talked me into going to Chicago again (her favorite city in the world). Twist my arm. It’s such a fabulous food city. Gimme a steak from Gibson’s any day! And Daisies had some of the most incredible pasta I’ve ever tasted. The Museum of Ice Cream was very cute too.
- I always love to connect with my fellow bloggers, so I stayed at my friend Danae’s house (Recipe Runner) in Denver for a short trip. We loooved the duck bao buns at Linger.
- Hawaii was beautiful but had a bit of a snafu with my sister tumbling down the stairs and badly spraining her foot. But there were poolside drinks to be had at least! Shoutout to Dr. Mai Tai for helping with the healing.
And finally…
- I turned 40 in June, and I’m totally ok with that. I had a worse existential crisis in my 20s, to be honest. I had a bad cold for this birthday. It’s all good.
- I’m now obsessed with Calico Critters. They’re just so cute. Yes, I’m regressing.
- I just want to shout out my good friend Isabel’s Chocolate Chip Cookies, which are the best you’ll try. She also makes incredible sourdough and homemade meatballs! This absolutely warrants a mention as a highlight this year.
Thank you!
I want to thank all of you, my regular S&L readers, for your support and trusting our recipes and following along. Every star rating, review, like, and share is so appreciated. I love seeing photos of what you make, and it means the world when you tell a friend about Salt & Lavender. Wishing you a prosperous (and delicious) 2026!
XOXO,
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