New here? Welcome! On the MBSF podcast, we explore how food connects us to our minds, bodies, spirits, the earth, and our communities. In the bi-weekly “Intention Series,” I share ways we can bring gentle focus and deeper connection into our days—both in the kitchen and out.
Hello my dears,
Welcome back to your Weekly Intention series—our final one of 2025. In fact, this will be the last podcast episode until March, when the show returns for a brand-new season. January brings the launch of my book (!!!), and with it a flurry of events and travel. It’s thrilling and, if I’m honest, a little nerve-wracking. But these weekly intentions have been such a grounding touchstone for me, and I’m deeply grateful to all of you who’ve listened, shared, and expanded them into your own lives.
Today’s intention is simple, but it opened something profound in me this week:
I will open to delight.
This intention actually came with some resistance—which, as always, taught me something. The day I recorded I had been awake since 3:30 a.m. I wasn’t exactly in a state of delight. I was tired, cranky, foggy. But I remembered a passage I read from Tamar Adler’s new book Feast on Your Life, where the describes how a cut grapefruit—the color, the glisten, the ordinariness—brought tears to her eyes (I shared the passage here). It became a moment of awe. A moment of the sacred disguised as the everyday.
You can listen to today’s episode right here, or, better yet, subscribe to the podcast in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, or You Tube.
Delight disguised as ordinary life.
That memory cracked the door, just a hair. And suddenly, delight slipped in—there it was, in the cinnamon-spiced aroma of my husband’s coffee, a tiny glimmer that shifted my mood. Once I named it, more moments appeared—small, quiet, ordinary—and each one felt like a little gift.
That’s the magic of delight: it hides in the most mundane corners of our lives. Peeling an orange. Watching a stew bubble. The glow of Christmas lights. Even in seasons of grief or exhaustion, moments of delight can still reach us.
Two things make delight more accessible:
Presence.
We have to be open enough to recognize it and allow it to bubble in.Naming it.
When we say there—that right there was delight—it expands. Not in size, but in feeling. It becomes something we carry with us rather than something we brushed past.
As we head into Christmas and the New Year, I invite you to look for delight not just in the big celebrations, but in the ordinary, personal moments—the ones meant just for you. Invite delight into the meals you’re making, your daily routines, and moments of rest.
If you enjoy today’s intention, please support the show! This ad-free space exists because of community like you. You can help by sharing the episode, leaving a rating in your podcast app, or becoming a paid subscriber for just a few dollars a month. Subscribers get access to the full recipe archive, free cooking classes, discounts on one-on-one sessions, bonus content, and more. Most importantly, your support makes this work possible. Thank you! ❤️
Thank you for being part of the podcast this year, and I can’t wait to see where the next season takes us.
Live this week!
I’d love for you to join Rebecca Blackwell and me LIVE this Friday, December 19th at 12pm ET—we’ll be cooking a recipe from my new cookbook (!!) and celebrating the “in between times”—the small, ordinary delights between holiday celebrations. You can save the date here.
Until then, remember to nourish yourself with intention and love.
xo,
Nicki
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If You Want to Go Deeper
✨ Mind, Body, Spirit, Food—my new book—is available for preorder.
The book is full of practices just like this one: ways to bring intention, simplicity, and presence into your kitchen. Pre-orders make such a difference, and you can absolutely gift one this season with a little “it’s on its way” note. I’ll link to my local bookstore, where signed copies are available.
✨ Winter Retreat at Kripalu (Feb 27–Mar 1, 2026).
I’m beyond excited for this weekend immersion in cooking as a spiritual practice. We’ll gather in community to soften, reconnect, and cook with intention—not as a religious practice, but as a way of coming home to ourselves. I’d love for you to join.
✨ Share the episode.
If someone in your life is feeling the December whirlwind, send this episode their way.
