If you’ve been online anytime in the past few weeks, you’ve probably seen people speculating about the whereabouts of Kate Middleton, who until last week had not been seen publicly since she was admitted to the hospital for abdominal surgery in January. If you’ve been online since Friday, you have undoubtedly seen the unfortunate news that she was diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy, which is why she has been out of the public eye.

Hello, we meet again! It’s been a minute since the last proper Tuesday Letter (two weeks!) but you must understand that every December I face a wave of absolutely crushing post-Christmas depression which prevents me from doing much else besides laying around eating cereal, screenshotting pictures of men, and watching films that have been in my Letterboxd watchlist for approximately three and a half years. But here we are, for the first Tuesday edition of 2022!

Your series of interviews (with KC and Erin) is really helping shift my paradigm in a healthy direction. I never thought that my writing, which feels like such a solitary, uncharted endeavor, could be in active partnership with others. I never thought of an editor as someone who could be with me in the most solitary spaces. And now that you’ve framed it that way (and sorry, i know I may be mis-paraphrasing in a way that suits me) I feel like that’s exactly what I need.

Welcome to ingredient, where once a month I take a deep dive into some of my favourite seasonal and store cupboard ingredients. This month I’m focusing on Kewpie mayonnaise: the rich, tangy, addictive mayo that doubles as one of Japan’s favourite condiments. For paid subscribers click here for my recipes for a Mortadella Banh Mi Sandwich, my (Not) Japanese Potato Salad, and my Magic Ingredient Meatballs in Lettuce Cups.

I’m currently reading the last of the four autobiographies written by the original members of the band KISS, which was pretty clearly my first favorite band way back in the mid-1970s. I first came across KISS while watching a Paul Lynde Halloween special on TV, and around that same time my friend Scott had the band’s Alive! album and we listened to that two-LP set constantly. I got my own copy and from there I continued to get new KISS albums whenever they dropped.