A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Breaking Out Our Brights

Happy Monday-after-Father’s-Day-and-Juneteenth. If you’re looking for ways to support more Black-owned businesses allllll year ‘round, Fifteen Percent Pledge and Black Owned Everything both have solid guides built for bookmarking. And, on this week’s podcast: the challenges of getting dressed and making small talk. What else do you want to hear about? Just go ahead and reply to this email.

erica’s things

• Marinating cheese.

• Tripping over these banana-peel safety cones.

• Delighting in a fashion review nearly as much as the work of the designer it’s celebrating.

• Making franciacorta converts out of multiple friends.

• Calling all Brooklynites: Your dose of collective effervescence awaits.

claire’s things

• Slowly but surely eliminating shampoo from my life.

• Giving this spot my stamp of approval based solely on the product categories—but also how delightful do these look, and also they have a great newsletter?! I guess we’re going to Williamsburg.

• Refusing to let a rainy day trap me indoors with a stir-crazy toddler thanks to the genius of this thing.

• Falling for Anne Truitt’s writing and artwork in equal measure.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Pulling Up A Chair

We’re absolute psychos about vacation-planning. To judge for yourself, tune into this week’s podcast episode, and please call us at 833-632-5463 with your tips, tricks, and cuckoo methods for finding the ideal breakfast spot in Santa Fe.

erica’s things

• Buying my first pair of denim shorts in at least a decade. A little loose, a little long, a lot comfy.

• Heralding Harold-ing a Chicago institution.

• Leaning into text-only news outlets when I can’t handle video and multimedia bombardment—NPR for the big stuff, Plain Text Sports for scores and stats (heeey, tennis season!).

• Getting a weekly dose of insight, discovery, and just plain *smartness* from our favorite business publication around. #PARTNER

• Banking this site to scout modernist architectural landmarks all across the U.S. of A. Now I just need a road trip…

claire’s things

• Communing with others who delight in The RealReal deep-dives as much as I do.

• Inspiring my ardently Team Bar Soap husband to switch allegiances.

• Remarking upon how much I enjoy getting hyperlocal news delivered to my inbox—makes me feel more keyed into my community.

• Formally announcing that, friends, I did it. I got a chair-and-a-half (in yellow, of course). And I love it so much.

• Giving high marks to this top for standing up to summer stickiness while still sending that “I put on real clothes” vibe.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Cleaning Our Plates

This week brings Guest Thingies delightfulness from Emma Straub to the podcast, and it also brings a whole buncha outdoor-entertaining recs to Secret Menu. If you want in on that, June new subscriber $ goes to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute and all the organization is doing to support Black trans people.

erica’s things

• Waiting for a TikTok vid to name the aesthetic that Gardenheir absolutely nails.

• Switching thesaurus allegiances.

• Dipping back into the cake eyeliner.

• Pausing every few pages of this to play a song or google a video. An immersive reading experience!

• Imagining the possibilities of woven vegetables.

claire’s things

• Acknowledging an affinity for citrus-based DIYs.

• Giving this the award for fast, easy, and extremely crowd-please-y.

• Reccing a Saturday-night date spot that’ll break you out of your routine.

• Coveting lots of things from The Met Museum shop of all places because they’ve done a v. good collab with design hero Madeline Weinrib.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Phoning Home

What watch to get your partner for a big birthday? How to celebrate a retirement, a second baby, or the milestone of a new home? You had gifting voicemails, and we have answers. Keep those thoughts and queries coming at 833-632-5463, pals.

erica’s things

• Losing it over a phone case—a phone case!!

• Sipping on a super-satisfying, mezcal-based, chile-tinged after-dinner drink made by a five-woman distillery in Mexico City.

• Describing a book about the history of textiles as “gripping.”

• Brainstorming things to marinate/douse/toss in this creamy vegan concoction. In the meantime, asparagus works just great.

claire’s things

• Confirming that the hype is justified.

• Wrapping my head around Are.na—is this how I finally organize all of my random bookmarks, notes, and screenshots in a useful way?!

• Finding much delight in hanging a lampshade from the ceiling.

• Counting down the minutes until I can’t so much as look at these anymore because I’ve consumed too many of them, too often, in too close of a time period.

• Calling all peony lovers in the Philly-adjacent area. (Do not miss the cute farmstand down the street, kay?)

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Watching Paint Dry

Packing! Traveling with a toddler! These are the psychological challenges we’re tackling on the podcast this week, and if you have thoughts on other topics you want us to cover, feel free to reply to this email. We love pen pals.

erica’s things

• Watching Dana Piazza make art ‘til my eyes go glassy.

• Naming this soup mix sick-day MVP. It’s comforting and bold enough to get through to battered taste buds.

• Crying over a time-travel book. Friends, I didn’t see it coming!

• Imagining a bright future for an empty Kikkoman bottle: a hummingbird feeder.

• Applauding my favorite kitchen appliance’s glow-up. If you don’t own one and need an excuse to remedy that…

claire’s things

• Feeling like I’m in-the-know about fashion industry news for the first time in awhile.

• Finding but a few kids’ shows (aside from Sesame Street and Daniel Tiger, obv) that make screentime less guilt-ridden, Ask the StoryBots and Stillwater chief among them. Welcoming other recs!

• Serving up an A+ option for an off-registry wedding gift.

• Coming for the 2010s startup-scene nostalgia, staying for the remarkably clear and candid account of grappling with bipolar disorder.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Cleaning Up

The incense, outdoor furniture, and femme sandals conversation you didn’t know your Monday needed, this week on our Thingies episode with guest Collier Meyerson. If you could use a new podcast that’s gripping—but not true crime!—Collier’s Love Thy Neighbor might be precisely what you’re after, and if you’re in the market for a new books, we have many ideas on that front, too.

erica’s things

• Refining my rag-rug Etsy search to “1960s and 1970s Turkish kilim rag rugs.” Achieving tremendous results.

• Requesting more food content like this food content—the “Ask Digestivo” installments especially.

• Learning about ancient abortion meds (and the murky origins of the Hippocratic oath).

• Sourcing books that take place in a specific locale with just a zipcode search. Thrilled to unearth that Indian-American Muslim teen romance set near my hometown, tell you what!!

claire’s things

• Urging you to snatch up tickets to POTUS now because all the buzz is going to make them hard to come by. (Also: Rachel Dratch and Vanessa Williams on one stage?!)

• Mourning the loss of one of Abbot Kinney’s last interesting spots but appreciating that at least this means they’re now online.

• Remembering how incredible this interview is and that I should probably make a habit of rereading it regularly.

• Getting answers to a question I’ve been asking for yeeeeeears.

• Asking you to stick with me while I pitch you on something highly specific: A minimal briefcase is the ideal diaper bag. It’s the only shape that’s not awkward to slide under a stroller, and it pops easily into any tote. Bonus: A travel potty fits perfectly if you’re at that stage of life. Okay, I’m done. (Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk, etc.)

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Making A Splash

Record players, catalogs, and the mouthful of a term “business hygiene” all show up this week on the podcast, and if you want to know what’s in our shopping carts, how we’re thinking about travel planning, and the swimwear lines we’re into, sign up for Secret Menu. This month’s new-subscriber $ will support the game-changing work of Amazon Labor Union.

erica’s things

• Eating multiple meals from this cookbook in one week, and something tells me that’s just the beginning.

• Experiencing a fair amount of regret over leaving this vase at the store. It’s even better in person, if you can believe it.

• Freeing myself from an annoying task: changing the capitalization of a chunk of text.

• Keeping tabs on how many cans of cherry tomatoes I have on hand at all times. A superior product! Ideal tomato-to-sauce ratio. Much easier to wooden-spoon squish than their San Marzano cousins.

• Introducing you all to Sheldon, my new favorite Jellycat critter (a totally normal thing for a 39 y.o. to have, I assure you).

claire’s things

• Enjoying a wildly satisfying sloughing experience.

• Fielding provenance questions from fellow parents whenever Cam pulls this thing out.

• Trying not to take too long deliberating on these always-sold-out and very Harry-Styles-esque sweatshirts that could really infuse some joy into my dressing.

• Stepping out on HDVB with this outstanding creation that is blessedly now part of the grocery line-up.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Forever Emulating Diana Fashion

Attn all ATOT shareholders: Consider this podcast episode our first Guest Thingies Quarterly Report. Or maybe you’re in the mood for a rundown of our party tricks? We absolutely want yours—share them with us at 833-632-5463. Please!

erica’s things

• Satisfying an appetite for spongeware, twisty candles, and wavy terracotta with this very new take on an old country store.

• Baking a one-bowl black sesame cake that tastes much more complicated than it is.

• ​​Looking to join a group chat solely to discuss this book (which I predict shows up in “I have an inner life!” paparazzi photos soon).

• Asking myself, “Do people want to know where I got the cutest little lilac bush that arrived in full bloom?” Well, we’re ‘bout to find out.

claire’s things

• Submitting a late answer to a reader Q about chic footwear for vacations that find you walking miles and miles: These performed well!! (More thorough answer available via Secret Menu!)

• Signing up so fast I nearly broke a nail upon discovering that Oliver Burkeman (he of Four Thousand Weeks) has a newsletter. Does not disappoint!

• Dancing around the kitchen to the tunes of Kishi Bashi, especially this bop…and who doesn’t love a perfect cover?

• Finding the Diana fashion moment for me in this bag.

• Trying to remember the last time an excerpt made me want to run out and buy a book as quickly as this one did.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Serving Looks

We have two listening recommendations today: One is our podcast ep with Laura Stylez, co-host of the unstoppable, untoppable radio show Ebro in the Morning. The other is that program itself, which we guarantee will improve your A.M. mood. Try it tomorrow and report back?

erica’s things

• Adding another quickie word game to my daily routine. Ok, maybe two. All I ask is to never know how much time I spend on these things in total.

• Breaking up the Twitter-ness of Twitter with this glorious feed of tennis looks.

• Spending at least as long googling about this outrageous, wonderful movie as watching it—and I consider that time well-spent.

• Making adorable newspaper homes for the seedlings getting big and strong on my windowsill.

• Guffawing through this essay on an underexplored aspect of the dining experience: pooping.

claire’s things

• Breaking out this thing on day 637 of Covid jail and marveling at how quickly my three-year-old picked it up.

• Installing a plug-in so images stop saving as the dreaded .webp. (I can’t be the only one with this niche-but-infuriating frustration?!)

• Leaning on fonio as an antidote to my quinoa fatigue.

• Navigating weird in-between weather with a fine spring/summer jean.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Pocketing The Prettiest Shells

Wedding season is upon us, and we’re taking that opportunity to zip back in time to our own ceremonies and celebrations on the podcast. If you want our thoughts on rings, we rounded up the jewelers doing the coolest stuff in Secret Menu recently, and signing up gets you full access to the archives. Ooh, and: April new-member dollars go to Native American Rights Fund, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

erica’s things

• Complimenting my kitchen timer on its good looks on a daily basis.

• Paging fellow romance-novel heads (and those who are simply romance-novel curious): this one, you gotta.

• Seeking a term for the secondhand joy you experience from partaking in a gift you give someone—in this case, the record subscription I got my husband.

• Seeing seashells in a new light: as canvases for watercolors. Hello! I mean!

claire’s things

• Going almost twice as long between washes as I used to thanks to whatever magic this mask is working on my hair.

• Shifting my perception of what a stand-up routine can be.

• Calling all Brooklynites in search of a small luxury: Ronny will personally deliver you a crate filled with seltzer in those charming, old-fashioned glass bottles.

• Learning that Marvel used to publish their shareholder reports as comics (!!) and suggesting that snagging one might make an especially great gift for the Stan Lee stan in your life.

• Hanging out in the comments section of this wonderfully service-y (and nostalgia-inducing) IG.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Having A Taste For Tang

Do we have thoughts on buying things? Boy, do we. A discussion of in-person shopping, souvenirs, uniform-dressing, and the made-in-America of it all on this week’s podcast. Also: If you didn’t catch our bonus episode, brought to you by the team at Nyssa, the game-changers behind the brand have so many fascinating thoughts on women’s bodies and the things that don’t get discussed (and the products that don’t get created!). Of course, we want to hear any “praise and polish” you have.

erica’s things

• Seeking an ume plum fix here, there, everywhere.

• Marveling at the comedic *and* emotional chops of this show.

• Calling all job-hunters: What a gift theSkimm’s paid-leave database is (especially considering what these policies reveal about the culture of a workplace).

• Looking forward to my chores so I can resume listening to Sabaa Tahir’s hard-but-hopeful book, which I’ll call advanced Y.A.

• Telling the wavy mirror to skooch: The wavy chair stole your seat.

claire’s things

• Harboring an insatiable appetite for knowing how other people use the internet.

• Congratulating babies on finally getting access to way, way better formula options.

• Having one of those “wow, this is so, so special” dinners at Dept of Culture Brooklyn.

• Feeling like it’s rare that I’m stopped in my tracks by a tile pattern these days, but this one did it.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Looking For Something To Hold Onto

More home trends! The JLo stories we can’t get out of our heads! Come join us for this week’s podcast episode. It’s a great one for taking yourself on a nice spring walk. If you end up listening on Spotify, leave us a little rating there, huh?

erica’s things

• Rooting on a sports bar in Portland, Oregon.

• Never tiring of charming + niche famous-roommates content.

• Soundtracking my morning with something I didn’t know my life was missing: heartland country.

• Snuggling up to the brilliance of cruelty-free sheepskins.

claire’s things

• Spending time with Sha’Carri.

• Expanding my sense of what a podcast can be: This one feels like part interview show, part creative exercise, all excellence.

• Feeling grateful to Courtney Martin for surfacing the oh-so-relevant-right-now term “political performance anxiety” and giving it the context it deserves.

• Finding too much satisfaction in the fact that risotto (notoriously laborious and tedious!) is now one of my easy-breezy weeknight go-tos.

• Imagining the potential of these wonderful things to upgrade the back of a door…or the knobs of an Ikea dresser?!

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Threading The Needle

Oooh, do we have a Thingies episode for you: This week, we’re chatting with Véronique Hyland, the author of Dress Code: Unlocking Fashion from the New Look to Millennial Pink and a writer whose takes we always, always want. If there are guests you want to hear on the show, how about responding to this email with your thoughts?

erica’s things

• Experiencing the unexpected pleasure of beaded Vans.

• Shaking up bfast with a bag of these in my freezer.

• Finding enough material for a dozen mood boards from two issues of a 100-plus-year-old Viennese mag.

• Recreating one of the world’s greatest fried apps in my oven.

• Getting so much 1) entertainment and 2) education about Deaf culture from this book and this interview with its author. Pre-order this gem, I tell ya!

claire’s things

• Channeling my nervous energy into needlepoint.

• Relieving my bathroom sink of the burden of a thousand bottles.

• Keeping this sucker in my purse in an attempt to reapply SPF with at least half the frequency they say you should.

• Applauding anyone who leans hard into a theme, especially when that theme is oysters.

• Hunting for the perfect dhurrie and finding some strong candidates here and here.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Using All The Emojis

We need to get out of our heads, and if you do too, we have a long conversation about carving out time for creativity on today’s podcast (also featuring shame and guilt—and positive emotions, even!). And: This month’s Secret Menu new-subscriber $$ is headed to World Central Kitchen, which is feeding Ukrainian families both fleeing and staying in their country and providing meals to those hit by natural disasters in Brazil and Madagascar.

erica’s things

• Welcoming this excuse (any excuse, really) to be much lazier about garlic-chopping.

• Giving an absolutely ridiculous pill bottle pride of place on my desk.

• Cementing women in STEM as one of my go-to fiction genres—right next to campus novels—after reading this gem.

• Revisiting a flared yoga pant—high-waisted and cropped this go ‘round, but still!

• Momentarily losing myself in Bahati Simoens’s paintings.

claire’s things

• Applauding Atelier Narcé—have not seen anything that feels this ~fresh~ from the jewelry world in a long while.

• Falling down a Kaiyo hole.

• Eagerly anticipating new releases of immensely delightful and weirdly satisfying emoji portraits from this gal and this guy.

• Letting the comments section of this post nudge me out of my cooking rut.

• Campaigning for national distribution of Brothers Products. I don’t want to travel to the West Coast just for their chipotle hummus and spicy pickled veggies, but I’ll do it if I have to.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Embracing A True Concept Cookbook

Exuberant home trends. Recs upon recs from Rumaan Alam, the author of Thingies-worthy novels. Beauty stuff that actually does what we want it to do. We sure have some top-notch podcast episodes in store for you—and if there are other topics you want us to dive into, WBASAP. Someone recently said of our podcast "everything is nice in here" and we're hoping to keep that up for your sake and ours, since things are feeling quite the opposite outside of here. <3

erica’s things

• Trying in vain to imagine a greater fate for the contents of leaked emails than a cookbook.

• Switching to a plastic-free laundry detergent situation that gets the job done quite nicely.

• Digging the work of Azzah Sultan, who combines fabric and oil paints and blows my mind when she does.

• Revisiting Gap’s heyday in every medium possible. After fragrances come playlists, right?

• Shining a light on this brilliant solution for dealing with a ceiling fixture you can’t stand.

claire’s things

• Telling most everyone I talk to about this piece of NYC history, retold in a way that I can’t stop thinking about.

• Naming a new favorite kid’s mask for our new KN95-only era.

• Experiencing a rare moment of appreciation for poetry. Try this to start?

• Feeling like I’ve been sleeping on a very major pantry staple…mixed with mayo on a sandwich or salad? Come on.

• Approaching spring purging armed with the ultimate guide.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Slurping Our Weight In Soup

Robes, shopping memories, and some tremendous Thingies from Val Monroe, the wise and warm force behind the How Not to F*ck Up Your Face newsletter—all coming at you on the podcast! If you have thoughts, we sure do cherish a voicemail: 833-632-5463 (< that’s 833-OFAKIND because never forget your roots).

erica’s things

• Throwing together a soup that looks extremely boring but isn’t. Double the beans and greens. If you want!

• Marveling at the absolutely delightful insanity of these Italian jacquard rugs.

• Losing it over this nineties crossword book. (See also: this eighties crossword sweatshirt.)

• Getting a weird amount of joy from this outdoor thermometer. Next up, a rain gauge?!

claire’s things

• Realizing I’ve been sleeping on the fact that one of the more interesting home-goods shops in the U.S. also has e-commerce. Need new knobs? How about a housewarming present? An off-registry wedding gift?

• Tapping into the magic of sweet potato butter, which has substantially elevated everything from my kid’s PB&J to my own cheese plate.

• Recommending Wahala to anyone who felt And Just Like That did not quite scratch the itch they were hoping it would.

• Being that person who asks a random coffee shop where they buy their paper napkins because, wow, aren’t these just so chic?

• Wishing I’d had this to read when I was struggling to decide if I wanted to be a parent

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Hanging With The Queen Of Hearts

Looking for some feel-good entertainment? A plan for dealing with the fraught nature of planning? A trip down scent-memory lane? We have podcast episodes ready and waiting. For many more thoughts, get that Secret Menu membership—this month’s newbie subscription dollars go to Plan C and its efforts to provide universal access to abortion pills.

erica’s things

• Experiencing a smidge less angst over February drear thanks to this emoji weather map.

• Tracking unprecedented levels of belt-bag innovation. Please see this and this!

• Anointing amatriciana my Winter 2022 comfort food. (It says “V-day” if ya ask me. Speaking of…)

• Raising the bar: Turns out, it’s possible to make Alice's Adventures in Wonderland even trippier.

• Having more fun with my knives.

claire’s things

• Pointing you toward something extra, extra special for your Valentine, Galentine, and Palentine chocolate needs. (Hurry, it's always sold out, but they just restocked.)

• Feeling simply devastated that I missed a gallery show of artist-designed toilet-paper holders. Thank goodness there are pictures.

• Sending some nourishment to a friend going through it.

• Praising a podcast that sits at the intersection of all my interests, both intellectual and inane. The perfect keep-you-company-while-you-do-chores listen.

• Remembering the absolute genius and joy of Wikki Stix. What. A. Product.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Mending Our Sweaters

What’s been going on on the podcast lately? We have some top-notch recs—Thingies!—from Kelly Wright of Yuns and Harling Ross Anton of, well, the internet plus we’ve got an acknowledgement of how much we enjoy acknowledgements sections. If you’re scrolling through the archives, may this list of our top eps of 2021 be of service.

erica’s things

• Considering cutting out passages of this novel to read over and over (and over) again. I’d be remiss not to add: THE COVER.

• Surprising even myself with how much joy this Bi-Rite x Bittman citrus box delivered.

• Bragging about this chock-full-of-wisdom podcast Claire and I produced for Jenni Kayne Home. Guests include Leanne Ford and Sophia Roe, and the hits keep coming.

• Admiring this freakishly charming take on journaling that, sad for me, I lack the skills to execute.

• Remembering that, ah yes, this stuff makes nails look great without any fuss. It’s best layered haphazardly once-ish a week-ish.

claire’s things

• Reclaiming a moth-eaten favorite sweater thanks to these geniuses.

• Finding so much to love about the concept of a soup mother.

• Eyeing some very good options for an impending upgrade of Cam’s room and discovering plenty of things I’d like for myself (hi and hello) along the way.

• Stocking the freezer with Thin Mints and Tagalongs ℅ Troop 6000, repped by girls in NYC’s shelter system.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Memorializing What We Wore—Or Aspired To—In 2021

Last year, we remembered what a joy it was to get dressed...at least some of the time. These are the 29 things that made us feel compelled to put on leaving-the-house clothes. Also: a podcast discussion of online shopping tips and a Secret Menu installment on the versatility of oversize men’s shirts.

our things

• Flagging a first “we can go places now?” purchase for when that time comes: a Flat Fifteen bag.

• Amassing a collection of perfect lil tanks that cut a cute figure under a sweater (they do that neckline-peeking-out thing) and are primed to take center stage come summer.

• Tying on this wee scarf, which warms your neck without needing to be squished into a coat and never gets caught in a gust. A dream!!

• Snoozing in a cheeky number.

• Swooning over the perfect bridal looks at Kamperett.

• Stocking up on Deiji Studios for summer.

• Lighting up over Rachel Antonoff’s prints—the food ones specifically. Olives on a skirt, prawns on PJs!

• Experiencing a sudden yearning for colored-glass jewelry and blaming these clear earrings, this amber pendant, and this color-shifting ring.

• Noticing the lampshade trends—patterns, pleats!—coming for hats...and liking that far more than anticipated.

• Committing to little bags and eyeing these. And, ok, these, too.

• Having more FUN with a robe than previously thought possible.

• Finding a perfect jean short after years of trial and error—size up once or twice, unless you’re doing hot pants summer.

• Rocking an anklet with those denim shorts.

• Pondering whether matching sandals are over now. These! These!

• Landing on a signature sunglass frame...if that’s a thing? Sure, it’s a thing.

• Nodding, nodding: Yes, Ring Pop jewelry is a natural extension of the color-happy look happening just about everywhere else.

• Wearing these three days in one week and planning to repeat as necessary for as long as this humidity sticks around.

• Resenting the look of the Apple Watch slightly less thanks to the best band around.

• Deciding it might finally be time to become a house-shoe person.

• Wondering if this is when it’s time to succumb to the penny loafer trend.

• Feeling like you could plan everything you wear for the rest of the year around these earrings.

• Apologizing to everyone who hoped the tie-dye trend was done because these strongly suggest otherwise.

• Stocking up on a very good tee.

• Trusting these geniuses to make some magic out of jewelry collecting dust.

• Wrapping up an extended search for cozy boots that aren’t Uggs with a shearling-lined Wallabee.

• Finding a regular degular pair of jeans that look and feel good. No small miracle.

• Adding to the very short list of appealing lingerie lines.

• Discovering the unmatched luxury of a cashmere socks. These are great and are regularly on sale.

• Applauding all the colorful and FUN beaded jewelry that’s happening—some highlights here, here, and here.

podcast

Online Shopping Tricks ‘n Tips...and Ending Vacation Early

How do we wrap up vacation? How do we shop for clothes on the internet? Well!.

secret menu

It’s Really So Good: Oversize Men’s Shirts

The return of in-person interactions has brought about less social dread than I anticipated but way more Kilimanjaro-size piles of clothes on the bed. It’s hard remembering how to get dressed. What I would do well to remember before dismantling my closet as a daily practice is that oversize men’s-style shirts—sleeves rolled, collar splayed, tuck frenched—are a consistently correct answer, one that solves for what has quickly become my chief fashion anxiety of late: feeling overdressed. Big button-downs are a safe haven, trusty fallbacks that have served me in nearly every stage of my personal style (including and especially during pregnancy and breastfeeding). They look great with jean shorts, gold hoops, and ballet flats, all staples of my summer wardrobe. They work in fabrics for every season and occasion—silk, oxford cotton, flannel, linen! And between Kahlana Barfield’s truly inspired take on the theme, Lucy Chadwick’s long-running dominance of the sport, and Phoebe Philo’s imminent return (what cuffs!), they feel very fashion right now. Some of my current favorites are from the shirting experts at Alex Mill; this particular style is begging to be thrown over your bikini for Italian Riviera vibes. So’s this one from AYR, in a cut people swear by. If you aren’t already in possession of a perfect denim or chambray version, that’s a problem worth rectifying. And for those with a knack for thrifting and vintage, the category is downright rife. Perhaps you could set an alert for Tom Ford tuxedo shirts on The RealReal, peruse Charvet on Ebay, or cruise Etsy for some classic Ralph Lauren? If the hunt is not your thing, keep an eye on the picks from the experts at Na Nin and Desert Vintage. Have fun. Go big—as in, a size or two bigger than you think, even. And direct your post-pandemic angst somewhere other than your outfit. —Claire
 

There’s more where this came from in our Thursday Secret Menu emails—join the fun.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Salivating Over The Best Food We Made Last Year

You know, 2021 definitely wasn’t our best year in cooking (hello, burnout), but these 20 recipes won our hearts...against all odds? A food-related podcast and a taste of Secret Menu follow!

our things

• Suggesting that you need neither a pressure cooker nor salmon to take advantage of this A+ recipe, which is really all about the outstanding sauce.

• Roasting daikon in curry powder and instantly regretting not roasting more daikon in curry powder.

• Fulfilling a decades-long dream of drinking tikka masala sauce as if it were soup.

• Putting pepper and cheeeeeese in oatmeal.

• Utilizing this method of roasting a whole cauliflower with much success (and a lot less fuss than some of the alts). One note: Throw the greens in the pan alongside it!

• Putting together a simple and satisfying meal that requires two skills: the ability to set a timer and to boil water.

• Jumping on the air-fryer bandwagon with glee (nudged by the discovery that the Instant Pot transforms into one). Second to chicken wings, brussels sprouts are where the method shines, and you can adapt pretty much any roasting recipe.

• Tackling—quite successfully!—an ingredient that’s always seemed intimidating: baby artichokes.

• Doing so little but achieving so much with this shrimp recipe. (You could sub out the greens for rice or really anything that’ll soak up the sauce.)

• Feeling pretty damn self-satisfied after whipping up tamago.

• Putting veggie scraps to extremely satisfying use.

• Pleasing a crowd with a pretty asparagus presentation.

• Nodding fervently at the notion that “cabbage can be a star” (and nominating this gingery concoction as a dressing for your slaws, too).

• Contemplating keeping hard-boiled eggs in the fridge always just to make this sauce/dressing/condiment.

• Giving Lipton a run for its money with this extremely good vegan onion dip that serves as a nice hummus alt.

• Wondering why homemade ice-cream cake is not more of a thing. A (very easy) hit!

• Unlocking the secret to shucking oysters with ease: grilling ‘em first. (Put this on them after—and on many other things also, probably!)

• Remembering that an all-time favorite salad comes via a pasta chain in St. Louis (iceberg optional).

• Becoming those people who fire up the Weber in a puffer with the newfound knowledge that grilling pizza is at least six times easier than it sounds like it’d be.

• Tucking into this Instant Pot miso risotto at the end of the week and barely remembering what it’s like to have Friday-night plans.

podcast

What Healthy Comfort Food Means to Julia Turshen. And a Snack Taste Test!

If you’re not already a devotee of Julia Turshen and her cookbooks ,well, consider this your initiation into the fan club. We’re talking with her about “healthy” and “comfort”—loaded food words, for certain!—and because we’re geniuses who knew this topic would make us hungry, we’re starting things off with a snack taste test.

secret menu

Chews You can Use: Affogatos

When having people over for dinner during those pandemic valleys when it feels responsible to do so, I can’t be bothered to think about dessert. It just feels so...fussy, all of a sudden. Like, can’t we just relish the joy of being in one another’s vaccinated company without having to think about *courses*? But should the mood strike once the plates are cleared, I know I always have ingredients for an affogato, which requires the exact-right amount of effort: dumping a shot of espresso over a scoop of vanilla (HDVB ice cream, obviously, or Talenti gelato if you’d like to hew Italian) in a cute cup, and calling it a day. I’ve got those Nespresso pods raring to go, but a stovetop (Alessi?) Moka would serve you well here, as would instant espresso, possibly a decaf version so as not to eff with the sleep hygiene of your guests. 

And you can always zhoosh if you so desire—doctor up the ice cream with olive oil and sea salt, add a big ol’ dollop of barely sweet whipped cream like they do at Caffè Panna, or sub the coffee for matcha as is the 29B Teahouse way. For me, the point here is something a little special with absolutely no effort: just the power of two really good ingredients combined. The only twist on the classic that I’m really compelled to DIY is Eric Kim’s take that he calls an affogato Americano, which is fast-food coffee and soft serve united for something that sounds plenty worth the highway exit. —Erica
 

Chews You Can Use: The Recipes that Made Whole30 Manageable

I did Whole30 in January 2021 and have a lot of mixed feelings about it, many of which I spoke to at the top of this podcast episode. I’m hesitant to endorse it, but I did find benefits: I did not discover any food sensitivities (to cop a favorite line from the Poog podcast: I tragically do not have a gluten allergy), but I was reminded that what I consume impacts my mood and energy levels immensely, something I’d lost sight of. I did find enough recipes to make it manageable, and I’m even keeping some of them in the regular rotation. My caveat here is that the world of Whole30 recipes is littered with cringey blog titles and outdated aesthetics, so suspend your judgment if you can. This tikka masala soup spoke to the part of me that questions why the ratio of sauce to chicken is not more generous when ordering Indian takeout. I made double batches of this orange hoisin sauce to freeze and found it goes just as well with shrimp as with chicken. I also used Whole30 as an excuse to finally get an air fryer—specifically the lid that transforms your Instant Pot into one—and was impressed by how nicely green beans, brussels sprouts, and potatoes played with it. I’ll never go back to cooking buffalo wings any other way. And, speaking of: I was highly suspicious of this buffalo chicken chowder but have made it multiple times now and am wondering what other dishes deserve to have blended cashews mixed into them. This coconut cauliflower soup had already been a staple and played a big role, along with other “regular life” meals that happened to be compliant, like roast chicken and frittatas. The final takeaway I’ll offer is not a recipe so much as a confession: I’d been needlessly turning up my nose at cauliflower rice for years (along with zoodles, which do deserve my scorn, it turns out), only to discover that there’s a reason it’s become such a thing. It’s quite nice, especially mixed with sauteed onions or a squeeze of lime. —Claire

There’s more where this came from in our Thursday Secret Menu emails—join the fun.