We Got Engaged

A walk in the woods, a buttery gold ring, and some happy news

Today’s letter will be a brief one to share that Teo and I are engaged! He proposed on Thursday, on a late-morning walk in the woods behind my parents’ house in Vermont — more specifically on a big flat-topped rock my family likes to call Simba’s Rock. Although I suspected he might propose on this Vermont trip, I wasn’t sure when, and it didn’t cross my mind on this particular meander through the woods. There was such a warmth to the moment, and an absence of performance (I was, for example, unshowered, wearing a black t-shirt and bike shorts covered in Liesl’s downy fur). And it meant so much to me that it happened in Vermont, on the very plot of land I’ve loved since I was a little girl. We spent the rest of the day lounging around the house and calling friends and family, and ended it with the perfect engagement-day meal at our friend Leo’s barbecue stand at the Jericho Farmers’ Market.

We’ve known for a long time now that we’re life partners, but it’s still such a joy to make it official with a buttery gold ring and to tell our loved ones that we’ve found the person we want to spend the rest of our lives with.

I wanted to share about our engagement here, since this newsletter has followed the entire arc of our relationship. The Dish began in September 2021, when I embarked on a 12-week course at Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland. Teo and I had re-met the summer leading up to that course, and there was a sense between us that our connection could turn into something real. But he lived in Montana, and I was moving to Ireland for a few months, so it didn’t make sense logistically. By visiting me in Ireland, and later moving back to New York City in part to be closer to me, Teo demonstrated that he felt as strongly about me as I did about him. The Dish has followed that journey and everything that’s come since — five years of a relationship that will become a marriage.

Thank you for reading The Dish, supporting my creative life, and following my story as it unfolds.

Love,
Phoebe