You wanna piece of me?

By Julia O'Malley

How does a person grieve the news that Maya Wilson, our principal recipe writer, will be stepping away from her weekly column to focus on her new restaurant project, Addie Camp? I’ve gone through some phases: shock, sadness, dip eating and, finally, pride. I have been her fan since she was a mama of little kids, writing recipes on a modest blog out of Nikiski. Now look at her: She’s got a cookbook and her own restaurant kitchen to run. And, she’s dropping the mic with a beautiful almond-ricotta sheet cake today. Good luck, girl, can’t wait to see what comes next.

Meanwhile, I’ve been wrapped up in a little experiment of my own this month, giving up drinking just to see how it feels as part of Dry January. And I’ll tell you what: It feels noticeably great. Though, I will say I’m a little tired of La Croix. That led me to do a little roundup of a few places you can order a festive non-alcoholic drink off the bar menu. There are actually a good number with well-considered mocktails. (Sober bar crawl, anyone? I’m down!) And Spenard Roadhouse shared a recipe for a tart basil-grapefruit number you can make at home.

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Also on my mind: soup. It’s that time of year when we are all looking for recipes that are healthy and thrifty. In a tribute to Maya, I’d like to share some of her many awesome soup recipes, including chicken and rice, minestrone, split pea with ham and pasta e fagioli with moose.

You will all be very happy to know that when I asked last week about this hot Tang drink that I remember from my Alaska childhood, I was inundated with recipes for what’s known as “Russian Tea,” a mixture of powdered tea, lemonade, Tang and spices. I’m now thinking about ways to make that super Alaskan flavor into an updated recipe inspired by it. How would you do it? A hot cocktail? (We could call it the Tanqueray Tang-ini! Astronauts will love it!) A Tang cheesecake? Tang toast?

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Here’s hoping your Tang is hot, your mocktails are festive and your sheet cake is the dreamy one below.

ALMOND RICOTTA SHEET CAKE

INNOCENT LOVE GRAPEFRUIT-BASIL SPRITZ

Julia O'Malley, an Anchorage Daily News editor, is working on a book at the Anchorage Museum about how Alaskans eat. You can sign up to receive our weekly Alaska food newsletter, "How Alaska eats," in your email inbox by visiting adn.com/newsletter. Find more classic Alaska recipes here.