Morning Brew - 🧑‍🍳 Starting from scratch

Time-saving tools and products we’re really into rn.

Beat the heat this summer with homemade ice pops using this mold tray. The best part of DIY is that when it comes to flavors, the sky’s the limit.

Put your knowledge to the test and stay sharp with visual learning app Lucid. Because no matter how much you think you know, there’s always something new to learn.

🫂 Things may feel heavy right now, and you may not be able to bring your full self to work. Don’t be ashamed to share your woes with a coworker—it may even boost productivity.

“I’m well aware of the fact that I have a very good, best-life scenario. And I’m so incredibly grateful for it. But I think it’s because I took that leap.”

Rick Martínez is a chef, writer, and recipe developer who’s currently living his dream of cooking, eating, and enjoying life on the Mexican Pacific Coast in Mazatlán. Formerly with Bon Appetit, he’s now a regular contributor to The New York Times and hosts shows on Food Network Kitchens and Food52. He also published a cookbook, Mi Cocina, this spring.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Kickoff: “The very first thing that I do is…make coffee. I can’t even make it to the shower without at least one cup. I try to not schedule anything until 10am so that I can kind of ease into my day. I feel like I work pretty much all day, including weekends. I’m cooking, developing recipes, shooting a video, recording the podcast, or I’m in Zoom meetings.”

Follow your passion: “I tried to make cooking a hobby. I hosted dinner parties, took classes, and started a food blog. And the more I did, the more unsatisfied I became, and the more I wanted to do. So I was like, I have to continue in advertising, and I have to be OK with that. I thought, ‘If you're OK with being on your deathbed and having this regret, then fine. But if you’re not, then you need to at least try it.’ You owe it to yourself.”

Leaving Bon Appétit: “It was really weird because it happened so quickly. Everything in my entire life changed once I decided to leave and I bought the house here in Mexico. The day I closed on the house was actually the day that the story broke in The Times about my coworkers and me leaving. I didn’t have a job, I didn’t have income, and I was pretty freaked out. But from that moment on, I started picking up more and more work.”

Crafting his cookbook: “I knew at some point in my life that I was going to be an authority on Mexican cuisine. And then I kind of forgot about it until a few years ago, and I was like, ‘This is my chance to go and do this.’ And not with a goal of being the definitive authority, but just to really understand my family and my heritage.”

Mastering your happiness: “With all the things that are happening in the world right now and in the US, I feel like people are not as happy as they could be. And I honestly feel like it’s just gonna get worse. We really need to be the masters of our own happiness. We need to—to the extent that we can—create little bubbles of happiness in our lives, our homes, and our jobs and just live our best lives. I think we all have the power to do that.”—MW

Your punch list for when you punch out.

Read: No matter what you do or what your profession is, it seems like everyone needs an online presence. If you aren’t posting “inside the life of” videos on TikTok, are you even self-branding right? This piece by Real Life magazine talks about how influencer culture has seeped into professional life.

Try: Decorate your profesh stationery and modernize your business card game with these super hip DIY waterproof stickers.

Drink: Katy Perry wants you to make room for all the eats on your restaurant bucket list this summer with her line of nonalcoholic sparkling apéritifs.

Candid convos with industry icons: Hosted by Brew co-founder Alex Lieberman, the Imposters podcast delves deep into the personal and mental challenges some of the biggest names in biz have faced while reaching their most resounding achievements. Listen to the latest episode here, sponsored by Sakara.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Wondering which credit card is best for you? Ask yourself a few questions: Where do you live? How frequently do you travel? Do you travel mostly domestic or international? Business or leisure? What do you value?

Whether you’re starting with a plastic-free wallet or you’ve tried every credit offer out there, Sidekick turned to food and travel writer Adam Erace for inside tips on finding the card that works for you (and to get his trade secrets to maximize your value and perks!). Here’s what Adam had to say.

Burning questions of our time.

The personality problem

You’re in the break room, minding your own business (read: texting the group chat) when you hear the office extrovert headed your way. Panic! You’re about to get cornered into endless small talk that will somehow bleed into nonstop Slack DMs once you do manage to get back to your desk. Don’t get me wrong. The office extrovert *is* a nice person! They’re just…a lot.

But while some coworkers live in fear of extroverted coworkers, research suggests that being outgoing at work also brings about benefits, raises, and promotions. In remote work environments, where the best bet for standing out in a sea of Slack profiles is having a big personality, extroverts may also have the upper hand.

So what’s the happy medium? Is it possible to be too outgoing in the office? Or do extroverts always finish first for a reason? Send us your thoughts by Replying to this email!—MW

And now, your thoughts on location-determined pay:

“From a company standpoint, I think geography-based pay makes sense. It costs a lot more money to live in places like NYC or San Francisco, and to attract top talent, companies need to pay a certain salary to support those individuals’ [cost] of living. However, if the company paid that same salary to employees all across the country, their bottom line would certainly diminish.”—Jessica

“If I’m doing the same job with the same title and performing the same tasks as someone in New York City while I’m in South Dakota, there is no reasonable explanation for why I wouldn’t make the same salary. If an employer wants to differentiate pay based on location, I think that needs to be either a segmentation of the total salary (like the way the military does it), or it should be a bonus on top of the base salary for people that live in more expensive zip codes.”—Brooke