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I've avoiding looking back on 2020 and its extreme highs and lows, a year I quite literally started with a broken ass and expected couldn't get any worse (LOL). I'm most proud of growing and nourishing a new, healthy relationship, full of a kind of love I hadn't known before.
I spent years in therapy working to get myself to a place where I'd be able to welcome someone like H into my life. It's my biggest accomplishment of 2020, more rewarding than any byline could ever be.
Now about those bylines, some top hits that defined my work life this year, starting with our love story, which I wrote a little over one month into us deciding to quarantine together! We jokingly call it our Tinderella story. https://njmonthly.com/articles/jersey-living/fall-in-love-pandemic/
Now, I did mention there being some extreme lows. Losing my beloved Mom-Mom in April was one of them. So much gratitude for @arielknutson, who let me write about how making pierogi helped me mourn my grandmother for @thekitchn. https://www.thekitchn.com/grieving-pandemic-grandmother-pierogi-23048304
I wrote about a lot of different drinks for @WineEnthusiast, thanks to my wonderful editors, @laylaschlack, @EmilySaladino and others! Like this one, about how my DNA kit results made me reconsider my own genealogy as it relates to wine. https://www.winemag.com/2020/07/05/dna-kit-wine-family-history/
I loved chatting with winemakers, importers, and retailers who found success in a new wine career later in life. "Nobody is too old to start that journey," one of my sources said. https://www.winemag.com/2020/08/19/winemaker-second-careers/
Another fun one, about the American winemakers embracing hybrid grapes to craft unique rosés. https://www.winemag.com/2020/06/16/future-rose-wine-hybrid-grapes/
Wine-drinking during the early days of quarantine led to exploring new-to-me categories, like white Cab Franc, which I was delighted to learn is becoming much more of A Thing. https://www.winemag.com/2020/12/03/white-cabernet-franc/
Of course, I couldn't avoid the biggest topic of 2020—the pandemic—which I covered by looking at how wine clubs have helped keep wineries (especially small producers) afloat through the year's turmoil. https://www.winemag.com/2020/11/02/wine-clubs-business/
It was a big year for the writing & editing I do at my FT gig, too! I worked with many great writers to steer our daily dining blog away from informal restaurant write-ups, instead mostly covering how the industry was rocked, and how it is/was adapting. https://njmonthly.com/category/eat-drink/table-hopping/
My first in-person, socially distanced interview happened in July, when I was working on this profile of Gary Pavlis, the man who helped but NJ wines on the map. https://njmonthly.com/articles/eat-drink/gary-pavlis/
In early 2020 (approx 37 years ago), I took over the magazine's monthly drink column, where I got to write fun pieces like this one about NJ producers finding success in making piquette. https://njmonthly.com/articles/eat-drink/piquette/
I also got to chat with @juliabainbridge and @jnd3001 about non-alcoholic spirits, which we will certainly be seeing more of in 2021. https://njmonthly.com/articles/eat-drink/zero-proof-spirits/
It's been A Year. But I'm looking forward to 2021 and writing a lot more. (Hello, hire me to do that!)
One final treat of the year: My new website, redesigned by my dear friend @heyjulesjay. (Hello, hire her to do that for you, too!) https://www.shelbyvittek.com/
One final treat of the year: My new website, redesigned by my dear friend @heyjulesjay. (Hello, hire her to do that for you, too!) https://www.shelbyvittek.com/
