Valentine's Day Issue: Special Guest (My Husband)! & What I Cooked Last Week

An Interview With Doug, Rigatoni Vodka, Crispy Baked Chicken Wings, Easy Protein Jalapeño Cheddar Bagels

Feb 14, 2025

∙ Paid

Hi everyone,

Happy Valentine’s Day! ❤️ Today, I’m sharing a special interview with my one and only Valentine—my husband, Doug. (Fun fact: he was my very first boyfriend, so I guess I got lucky on the first try!)

You’ll hear Doug’s first impression of me (spoiler: it wasn’t exactly love at first sight), what he eats when I’m out of town, his favorite recipes I make, and lots more. I can’t wait for you to get to know him a little better!

But first, here’s a recipe for spicy creamy vodka sauce pasta. My mom and I used an adorable heart-shaped pasta from Barilla to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

What I Cooked Last Week! ↓

Rigatoni Vodka

This is one of my absolute favorites. The pasta cooks up to al dente perfection in the spicy creamy vodka sauce. It’s a festive, cozy meal to share with someone special.

Rigatoni Vodka

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You can download the PDF recipe above and watch the video here :)

Crispy Baked Chicken Wings

Maxine Sharf

Feb 13

My husband polished off half this batch within minutes because they were so incredibly good. The key is to coat the chicken wings in baking powder, which draws out the moisture and allows them to get super crispy in the oven. Then toss them in that perfectly balanced, buttery sauce.

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Easy Protein Jalapeño Cheddar Bagels

Maxine Sharf

Feb 13

These bagels come together with just a few simple ingredients, so they’re super quick and easy to make. They’ve got added protein from the Greek yogurt, which gives them that dense, bagel-like texture. This time I made them with jalapeño and cheddar, and I was blown away by how good they are. The cheese crisps up against the pan, and is so delicious.

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Q&A with my one and only Valentine, Doug 💘

A little background:

Doug: I was born in New York, but I grew up mostly in Washington, D.C. I played a lot of sports growing up—soccer, basketball, all the sports!—and also all the video games. For college, I went to Vanderbilt in Nashville. I knew I wanted to go to school in a completely different part of the country, and since my parents wouldn’t let me go to California, I went to the South instead.

I’ve lived in a few different places. In my twenties, I spent a couple of years in Argentina and Colombia, then San Francisco, where I met Maxine. We both moved to New York (separately), and now we live in LA.

And in terms of my career, I’ve always worked at tech startups, from tiny little companies to bigger ones, like Square and Resy. Today I’m the founder and CEO of Safara, a travel startup.

On his first impression of Maxine:

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