Reverse Engineering the Good Life: Taking Back the Table

When the year began, I made a quiet promise to myself: to be a better steward of what we have. To use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

It wasn't about adding pressure to already full days. It was about adding life back into ordinary ones. About reclaiming the creativity, resourcefulness, and satisfaction that so many generations before us knew by heart.

Somewhere along the way, while trying to explain this longing to someone else, a phrase popped into my mind: reverse engineering.

Not in the mechanical sense — but in the kitchen sense.

What if we could take the things we normally buy — the breads, the sauces, the treats, the meals we think only restaurants can make — and reverse engineer them right back into the hands of ordinary cooks in ordinary kitchens?

What if instead of reaching for it on a shelf, we reached for our mixing bowls?

Reverse engineering food isn't about being perfect. It's about asking new questions:

• Could I make this myself?

• Could it taste better, be simpler, or feel more meaningful if I did?

It's about taking the mystery out of things we've been taught to think are too complicated or too time-consuming. It's about reclaiming skill, satisfaction, and stewardship — one loaf, one jar, one skillet at a time.

In my mind, it's part of a bigger story: taking back the table. Taking back the traditions and memories that were always meant to be made at home, around flour-dusted counters and simmering pots.

On the blog, I have a little corner called Anything They Can Do, We Can Do Better. It's my light-hearted way of throwing down the apron and saying: "Watch me."

I'm not claiming that everything will turn out magazine-perfect. (Spoiler: it won't.)

But that's not the point.

The point is to get curious, get our hands dirty, and reclaim what once belonged to ordinary people with ordinary kitchens.

Bread? We can do that. Salad dressing? Absolutely. Crackers? Yogurt? Artisan pizza? The fancy pasta dishes we only order on special nights out? Maybe even that birthday cake that costs more than a car payment?

We can do more than we think we can.

Sure, there are some things I won't be making from scratch anytime soon (I'm looking at you, chocolate chips). And that's perfectly okay. This isn't about rigid rules. It's about joyful stewardship and creative courage.

So here's the invitation:

• Pick one thing this month that you usually buy.

• See if you can reverse engineer it.

• Make it from scratch. Tinker with it. Celebrate the effort, no matter how it turns out.

Maybe it's your favorite bread. Maybe it's your go-to takeout dish. Maybe it's something simple, like salad dressing, that opens the door to a new way of thinking.

Every time we reverse engineer something back into our own hands, we aren't just saving a few dollars. We're strengthening skills, building memories, and tasting the good life in the truest sense.

I'm so excited to keep sharing this journey with you.

Let's get curious. Let's get flour on our sleeves. Let's take back the table, one beautiful, imperfect, homemade thing at a time.

Anything they can do, we can do better — or at least, we can do it with more heart.

Who's with me?