Welcome to Episode 5 of  With Love & Butter, a chef’s podcast on dating & relationships and the food & drinks that get us through it. Today we’re talking about my Close Friends on Instagram and the huge role they played in the #CourtingCourtnee journey, how they held digital and IRL space for me to process and the romance of having a platonic community.

To re-engage with dating and love, OUT LOUD... it's been freeing. The hashtag #CourtingCourtnee is me defining my ideas of romantic love... but in community. And I am so thankful to the Close Friends. The experience has been humbling and bittersweet. We laughed together so much more than cried. We shared hard truths and so many opinions. I feel ready to walk into love, softly this time. To choose it. And it is because of them that I feel empowered to do so.

All cocktail, meal and wine pairings can be found with the full recipes on courtneefutch.com/podcast

Today's Cocktail: Strawberry Basil Gin Champagne cocktail with Black Pepper

Today's Recipe: Burrata & Basil Breakfast Pizza

Today's Wine Pairing: Dry Prosecco

Today's Song Pairing: Paper Thin by Lianne La Havas

The accompanying "All is Paired" playlist can also be found on Spotify and Apple Music.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4rNDcdzryJQAxZuFOsV4i7

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/all-is-paired/pl.u-e98lG89F9zz4lD

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/courtnee-futch/support