A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Staying Toast-Y

Happy Cyber Whatever Today Is, everyone. Should you need a post-holiday-weekend decompression session, we have a Thingies episode with Kate Lindello brought to you by the delightful, indie-focused resale site she founded, Noihsaf Bazaar. Two neck-warmers make a showing! 

erica’s things

• Filling a hole in my heart the exact size and shape of the restaurant Prune with this anchovy-y cabbage.
   

• Pitching the audiobook of Alicia Keys’s memoir to anyone with ears and a heart.
   

• Marveling at the ingenuity: a bread shelf, available with or without butter and jam.
   

• Eating a bag of these—think if Swedish Fish got a culinary degree—as an afternoon snack. OOPS.

claire’s things

• Finding a silver lining to having to shlep to the Downtown Brooklyn Apple Store: empanadas worth the pain of a Genius Bar appointment.
   

• Thinking about stuffing a stocking with a wedgie.
   

• Wondering why Murphy tables aren’t everywhere.
   

• Spending too much time finding ways to offload old baby stuff and wishing this had been around when I needed it.
   

• Making plans to get festive this weekend. 

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Seeking Magic In Mushrooms

Gift guide part 2, coming atcha! If you have thoughts of your own to share—about what to get a feisty MIL or anything at all, really—join our ~shiny new~ Geneva! (It is similar to Slack…but won’t make you feel like you’re at work.)

erica’s things

• Begging the streamers to give this driving instructor a reality series yesterday.
  

• Feeling like I’m in a commercial every time I bust out one of these trash bags: How can something (home-)compostable be so strong?!?!
  

• Prescribing a comfort Google: baby owls napping.
  

• Spotting an ornament you could decorate a whole tree around.
  

• Delighting in pretty much everything about this essay collection, but especially the footnotes.

claire’s things

• Mourning the bonkers demise of the once-greatest NBA jerseys.
  

• Ogling winter fruit. (In so many forms, in fact.)
  

• Receiving a reminder that some things are classics for a reason—Exhibits A and B, submitted as noms for your kid’s holiday list.
  

• Figuring that at this point in my life I’d seen every type of makeup product there was, but this one feels different, in a good way.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Sorting Through Sweaters

Today’s the day: Our first gift-guide episode of the season has landed. If you can’t wait ‘til next week for more, dig into the installments from Christmases and Hanukkahs past.

erica’s things

• Poring over vintage Mexican dripware.
  

• Telling ya what: The ideal NYC group celebration—for bdays, holiday hangs, outings with visiting family—stars Korean BBQ + private-room karaoke at Insa.
  

• Asking if there’s any product better suited to the advent-calendar economy than washi tape.
  

• Digging into disability and design, with cameos from Lewis Miller, Oxo, and cruise control.

claire’s things

• Giving the babies in my life the gift of incredibly cute tushes.
  

• Learning about all the buzzy biz trends from Emily Sundberg (she of “hot girls drink whole milk now” fame).
  

• Standing by my commitment to alpaca sweaters because they simply do not pill—Cordera has an especially good selection right now, and this one’s a fave.
  

• Doing some light font-stalking.
  

• Feeling pleased to have a term to assign to one of my superpowers.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Holiday-Meal Prepping

This week on the podcast: our favorite expat Jamie Beck, whose incredible book An American in Provence is out tomorrow and whose Thingies are delightfully on-brand. Also, as we’re heading into the holidays, oooh, do we have some Secret Menu goodness up our sleeves. If you want in, November new-member subscription money goes to HIAS, a Jewish American nonprofit that aids refugees of all religions, ethnicities, and nationalities.

erica’s things

• Hoping to see Bára Prášilová’s work in Bazaar in 3, 2, 1. (The hair stuff!)
  

• Contemplating ripping out my baseboards.
  

• Having even more fun with this craft kit than my friend Cam did.
  

• Digging into the very useful term “anticipatory grief.”
  

• Encountering a turkey baster that’s ready for a good time.

claire’s things

• Having a surprisingly visceral reaction to this music: comforting, work-friendly, and—stick with me here—reminds me of kids’ TV shows from the eighties in the best possible way. (Adding this to my watch list.)
  

• Protecting breakables from toddler elbows with a hack picked up from earthquake-zone dwellers.
  

• Stocking up on a favorite cold-weather running accessory.
  

• Backing something special for the tweens.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Rolling With It

Happy Halloween, guys and ghouls! A costuming-themed episode is coming for you on the podcast today. Beware!

erica’s things

• Fancying up any grilled vegetable with a hearty pour of this.
  

• Revisiting nineties pager-speak.
  

• Surprising myself by how often I read Dua Lipa’s newsletter.
  

• Finding a local florist in a city besides my own without opening nine browser tabs.

claire’s things

• Getting my ballot ready.
  

• Combing through a very good inspo repository.
  

• Letting Cam have his Hockney moment with this wildly impressive (and equally adult-friendly) app.
  

• Celebrating happy hour.
  

• Adding another menorah to the mix.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Saucing Pasta

The new It sweatshirt and worth-it bedding, coming at you this week on our Thingies episode with Recho Omondi. Also, belatedly: This month’s Secret Menu new-member $$ goes to the NYC-based food-security org West Side Campaign Against Hunger, if you’ve been looking for an excuse to sign up.

erica’s things

• Searching all the big resale/vintage sites at once.

• Declaring Nora McInerny a national treasure.

• Calling all Zillow freaks: Here’s the game for you. (Is the NYT Real Estate section making acquisitions?)

• Alerting you to the calendar that always sells out. Fast.

• Eating too many of what my stomach considers Portuguese Hi-Chews.

claire’s things

• Embracing the magic of adding lemon zest to tomato sauce, alongside 99 other bits of culinary sorcery in this book.

• Predicting (hoping?) striped sofas are the new velvet sofas.

• Trying to figure out a way to work this into the newsletter because it’s the perfect tofu. (Consistency of halloumi! *Actually* doesn’t need to be pressed!)

• Daring you to tap through this without contemplating a move to Montana (to become an artist, of course).

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Hoarding Cord

We have much to tell you! 1) Margo Price (yes, that Margo Price) is on the podcast this week, sharing her sometimes-witchy Thingies and talking about her new memoir. 2) It’s that time of year: We are soliciting descriptions of your hardest-to-shop-for loved ones for our fourth-annual holiday gift guide podcast episodes. Email us, DM us, leave us a VM at 833-632-5463, consider our various inboxes a welcome outlet for your anxieties.

erica’s things

• Finding myself in the target demo of the cool antacid.

• Imagining a world where I fill a room with corduroy poufs (for kids, technically…but who cares).

• Getting my most trusted NYC weather report from a Twitter account.

• Enjoying the story of this artist nearly as much as the music of this artist.

claire’s things

• Discovering something NFL-related to care about.

• Stopping mid-scroll to ogle a wood-paneled fridge.

• Finding myself quite absorbed in a narrative podcast for the first time in awhile.

• Playing with the party-planning app all the kids are using.

• Falling for a lot of women who have all fallen for the same no-good guy.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Cutting It Out

A Guest Thingies episode, for your pleasure, at your leisure! This week, we’re chatting with Jessi Hempel, author of The Family Outing that itself is out tomorrow. If you haven’t heard about this memoir yet, this won’t be the last time.

erica’s things

• Thinking long and hard about friendship generally, male friendship specifically.

• Picturing months of warm bevs sipped from these wee cups.

• Transforming a plane movie into a date-y experience with a headphone splitter.

• Revisiting the grade-school joy of choosing my own adventure.

• Petting everything this menswear line makes. Believe me when I tell you it all feels as nice as it looks.

claire’s things

• Clocking allllll the cool-kid running brands.

• Delighting in the discovery that the family of Henri Matisse has a design house that is churning out cutie candlesticks and covetable wallpaper.

• Heading uptown to see a fave IG artist IRL.

• Buying these for my kid but consistently consuming at least half the box myself. So good.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Stepping Right Up

May this newsletter’s contents be the Jibbitz to the holes in your Monday, and may this podcast give you the Jibbitz explainer you never knew you wanted.

erica’s things

• Telling the dogs and cats to scoot out of the spotlight: The rabbits demand hutch innovation.

• Counting on this woman to make me FEEL THINGS about surfing.

• Internalizing 66-year-old fashion advice.

• Considering a Change.org petition to get one of these in my neighborhood.

• Squishing this between between Heathers and Cruel Intentions in the teen-movie canon; needing you all to watch (and read this) so we can discuss.

claire’s things

• Finding a convo between Jane Fonda and Jenny Holzer to be just as wonderful as I’d expected it to be.

• Clocking the latest in design-forward pre-fab homes.

• Admiring some things I can’t afford but can absolutely appreciate, made from vintage designer scarves and toweling by a 25-year-old gal and her 88-year-old biz partner. The charm!

• Admitting I didn’t foresee sparkling yuzu juice becoming something I’d develop a real craving for. But here we are.

• Locating the step stool (slash side table, slash extra seating) of my dreams.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Getting Saucy

Calling all current and future Dusen Dusen fans: We have the downright iconic Ellen Van Dusen on the podcast this week delivering Thingies greatness. Also, if you’re into this newsletter and want more that deliver on the style ‘n shopping front, keep scrolling for five that have filled the voids in our lives left by DailyCandy, Lucky, Racked, we could go on.

erica’s things

• Reading other people’s (absolutely mesmerizing) mail.

• Digging into the story of Slim Pickins and what it means to be the country’s first Black-owned outdoors retailer.

• Spritzing myself with what I can only describe as an elegant, nuanced version of Gap Dream and having Michelle Pfeiffer’s perfume line to thank.

• Rolling my eyes at the glut of seasoned salts that have hit the market…then sprinkling this one on, oh, everything.

claire’s things

• Learning a new-to-me term: gastrodiplomacy.

• Experiencing a breakthrough in my endless pursuit of the perfect tiny, lightweight umbrella.

• Absolutely, positively ruining myself for all other soy sauces. (This is also transcendent.)

• Bookmarking this genius tool for our next road trip.

• Getting a head start on chili season with this—in an Instant Pot! With ground chicken! Couldn’t be easier.

A Thing or Two We’re Doing Besides Rolling Up to a Meeting

Friends, it’s good reading weather, and if you’re interested in romantic fiction—and/or our interest in it—we have a podcast episode for you. In other heart-swelling news: This month’s Secret Menu new-subscriber $$ goes to BEAM, a cool org that helps underserved students study advanced mathematics.

erica’s things

• Combing the racks of a perfect-for-me vintage shop: interesting, organized, and low-stress—heyo.

• Sticking out my tongue when onion-chopping has me tearing up.

• Supporting Serena’s—and, of course, Qai Qai’s—evolution.

• Coveting an office chair, for the first time in my 39 years.

• Flipping through back issues of Gourmet.

claire’s things

• Bookmarking this useful thread in case I’m ever silly enough to sign up for another long-distance race.

• Sporting a very-shiny-but-not-at-all-sticky lip.

• Delighting in other people’s drama—this book’s got at least as many twists and turns as the internet had on offer last week.

• Adding another spot to the source list for Cam’s back-to-school look.

A Thing or Two We’re Doing Besides Looking for Rips in Our Sofas

Stroll don’t scroll! Organized whimsy! Grandma sayings! Wouldn’t you like to know what any of that means? A podcast episode awaits. We also have a mountain of archived content now available to Secret Menu subscribers, including issues of this newsletter dating all the way back to 2012 and every last installment of the fan-favorite “What Are the Cute” feature (which: if you know, you know).

erica’s things

• Falling in love with a platform for…brand guidelines.

• Putting a little salt in my water on the sweatiest days.

• Eyeing visible mending for furniture and floors. See also: Todd Oldham’s perfectly ridiculous bedroom walls.

• Counting on this crew during weeks when I don’t get it together to hit the farmers’ market. Respect a business that sells Zingerman’s pimento cheese!

claire’s things

• ID’ing my West Coast destination sandwich: the falafel wrap at Amara Kitchen.

• Admiring the most genius styling of a shirt sleeve I think I’ve ever seen.

• Nodding along vigorously—pain is not noble!

• Continuing to be a sucker for all things matchbook.

• Firing up the “Send to Kindle” button instead of leaving the same 13 tabs open in my browser for weeks on end.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Having Georgia On Our Minds

What do we love? A Thingies guest who makes a strong case, and this week, we’ve got D.S. & Durga founder Kavi Ahuja Moltz pitching us on packing playing cards for vacation and wearing socks in the summer (but not with sandals—don’t get it twisted). If you’re into these eps, have you listened to Rumaan Alam, Laura Stylez, and Harling Ross Anton?

erica’s things

• Sorting through the origins of the Trapper Keeper (which is currently avail in the *most* Saved by the Bell–era motifs imaginable).

• Drinking Wisconsin wine at two cool Brooklyn restaurants in one week. I know three’s a trend, but…

• Coming late to this Tressie McMillan Cottom essay on Dolly Parton. In a word: wow.

• Longing to visit Georgia (the country), and this design studio and its hotel group are to blame/thank.

• Chipping away at a classic, with the aid of an app.

claire’s things

• Bowing down to the only woman who can get my kid to take a deep breath. Sorcery!

• Admiring a clear-eyed commitment to a very Luca Guadagnino sensibility—come on with the denim jacket for your cigs.

• Wishing I were in NYC to catch this, which is supposed to be amazing…also thirty bucks, 70 minutes, without an intermission in sight!

• Adopting a niche habit: listening to earnings calls. IDK, friends. Boring in just the right way?

• Eyeing a chic line of canvas totes of the ilk that used to sell out instantly at Of a Kind.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Gving You The Scoop

May we discuss after-dinner candles, founder memoirs, Shakespearean riffs, and walnut larb? We may, friends, we may. Ooh, and for those of you tracking the second-kid convo we had on last week’s podcast, we have much more insight—from our listeners!—here.

erica’s things

• Getting the sports book I never knew I wanted from Taylor Jenkins Reid. It happens to be timed extremely well for those of us processing Serena-related news, too.

• Falling way too hard for a tortoiseshell cabinet knob.

• Googling frantically for the S02 release date of this exuberant show.

• Marveling at the perfect fit of a phone cable in a Lego figurine’s hand: It’s like this little guy wanted to assist with cord-organization this whole time!

• Considering silver jewelry for the love of this line.

claire’s things

• Lusting after lace pants, of all things.

• Wondering if everyone else is as enthusiastic about David Marchese’s interview column as I am. It is extremely good! Protect it at all costs!

• Reporting from the frozen-treats frontlines: This stuff is great.

• Trusting myself juuust enough to do a brow trim on my own and realizing it grants me a few more weeks between shaping appointments.

• Making a habit of filtering all my favorite newsletters into my primary folder—this one and this one are recent transplants.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Listing Our Favorite Foods

This week on the podcast, our thoughts on plant-sourcing, second kids, and slackers (<< looking at you, Jordan Catalano). We’ve been getting incredible voicemails lately (and playing them at the end of episodes!), so if you want in on the fun, give us a ring at 833-632-5463.

erica’s things

• Entering my ice-pop era.

• Getting into gaming, at least in the context of this glorious novel.

• Spending a moment at the intersection of pet loss and Mariah Carey.

• Feeling Midwestern as ever.

• Brainstorming what foods I’d have painted on pants. Luxardos and Zapp’s and, and, and?!

claire’s things

• Responding to all the DMs we get seeking wedding-dress advice with some ideas.

• Following this one for A+ insta stories analyzing how we interact with images ~these days~. Here she is on the Vogue war in Ukraine coverage.

• Tracking plaster’s big moment and witnessing what its level-up looks like.

• Getting as much (maybe more?) out of this as my son has, I think.

• Finding the humor and humanity in fan culture.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Keeping This Short

It’s Thingies time on the podcast with photographer extraordinaire Noah Kalina! Both toilets and TVs make a showing. It also might be time to try out a Secret Menu membership if you haven’t done that—August new subscription money goes to Operation Backpack, which gets school supplies to NYC kids living in homeless or domestic-violence shelters.

erica’s things

• Getting closer and closer to making “Sheryl Crow fan” my entire personality, and this is at least partly to blame (It’s streamable, too.).

• Investigating the boundless potential of a Saltine pie crust.

• Hopping aboard the Olaplex train: The humidity of the last couple weeks put this stuff to the test, and let’s just say my hair fared better than the rest of me.

• Considering the connection between minimalism and assimilation.

• Keeping tabs on this dinner-party series and that dinner party-series, both the work of impressively charming founders.

claire’s things

• Buying a pair of these for my husband, who loved them so much he promptly turned around and bought two more. Short of the summer!

• Finally succumbing to the Better Things hype after hearing about it for years. Wow, the catharsis.

• Watching the NYC Dept. of Sanitation attempt to come for the TSA’s throne. Keep trying, buddy!

• Realizing that the best Aperol Spritzes…don’t have Aperol.

• Receiving some very good shopping recs.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Putting Little Vases Everywhere

We bring you an addendums episode of the podcast this week—and also a rave review of Milan (yup, the city). Should you want to know our dozen-ish favorite things to do/see/eat there, this Thursday’s Secret Menu will deliver.

erica’s things

• Learning of the existence of white lavender; wanting to grow white lavender.

• Adding “bias-cut” to my search terms after finding two stellar summer dresses by one brand: this and/or this, depending on your strap and fabric preferences.

• Realizing just how much I rely on Grammarly to catch my typos—it stopped working on my comp for a few days, and the fact that I can’t spell “occasion” to save my life was on full display.

• Making the most of teeny zucchini.

• Soaking up Korean art and design by way of this ecomm gem. If you don’t know where to start, I suggest Seoyen Choi’s mini vases.

claire’s things

• Living in an ideal summer pant.

• Praying to the food-media gods that someone publishes the recipe for the walnut larb from Good Night in Woodstock, New York. Until then: very much worth making the trip.

• Thanking the universe for giving us Mira Jacob and all of her wisdom—this time about aging. (It’s from a package on turning 40, which answers so many of the questions we raised in this pod ep, including the fashion one.)

• Marveling on a near-daily basis at how much I love Descript for podcasting…and oohing and ahhing over what appears to be a game-changing new video feature.

• Adopting blender muffins as a Saturday-morning routine that Cam is so invested in he’ll probably be able to make them himself soon enough.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Taking A Closer Look

A Guest Thingies treat for y’all this week: We’re chatting with Lauren Sherman, the chief correspondent at The Business of Fashion and the host of The Debrief, a podcast that’s making us feel more in-the-know about the big fashion news than we have in years. Ooh, also: Do you need some new reading material? You can browse all our book recs in one Bookshop.org place.

erica’s things

• Anticipating the rise of the after-dinner candle as a category, and this is the perfect one.

• Strategizing a transition from Goodreads to Italic Type—an important step in the de-Amazon-ification of my life.

• Participating in baseball season by way of a TV show. Let’s put Kylie Bunbury in more things, let’s relish 10 eps of Mark-Paul Gosselaar as an aging catcher.

• Gasping at this egg-floating trick for making at-home sorbet.

• IDing the optimum art for those with an interest in both surveillance capitalism and Polly Pocket.

claire’s things

• Stumbling upon a treasure trove of travel guides specifically focused on shopping and sourcing. Yes, please!

• Giving an oral book report on Margiela’s years at Hermès to anyone who will listen after pulling this off a shelf at our Airbnb. (Yes, I bought my own copy.)

• Impressing everyone from my toddler to my dinner guests each time I transfer a pack of these from the freezer to the oven.

• Coveting a v. good collab (all made from vintage scraps)—is it too early to start buying holiday gifts?

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Rocking And Rolling

This week’s podcast: a very summery grab bag—we’re talking cookouts, flowers, and shorts that have legs. This month’s Secret Menu org: Midwest Access Coalition, which helps people traveling to, from, and within the Midwest access safe abortions.

erica’s things

• Requesting more hotels like this little one and this medium one.

• Struggling to understand exactly how/why this spray works but being clear on one thing: My skin hasn’t gotten red or irritated since I started using it.

• Expanding my veggie-baked-good horizons with this spinach stunner, a revelation for any carrot-cake or zucchini-bread heads.

• Unearthing a natural podcast companion for my little neighborhood walks.

• Reporting from the stuffed-animal frontlines that a real cute, huggable alt to a weighted blanket has arrived.

claire’s things

• Feeling rocked by a doorknob DIY.

• Daydreaming about this stupidly simple summer pasta.

• Turning my kid’s economy airplane seat into something resembling a flat bed.

• Applauding this list of alternatives to Uline—if you ship stuff at scale, it’s worth weaning yourself off them.

• Staying put inside my romance-novel cocoon, where this one deserves special notice.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Putting Together The Pieces

We prepped this newsletter a couple of weeks ago before we both left the country for a minute, and, well, it turns out not being in America when it breaks your heart doesn’t make it hurt any less. If you need to give your brain something different to think about, we’ve got some getting-older talk on the podcast, and we’re guessing some of you have thoughts on the subject. From your mouth to our voicemail: 833-632-5463.

erica’s things

• Doing a cute napkin fold.

• Needing—needing!—to experience Megumi Shauna Arai’s textile art in person.

• Grinning over so many things about this cookbook—the voice, the vibe, and, most of all, the section on ice-cream toppings. Magic Shell + Utz Potato Stix = genius.

• Tapping a statement nail (as in, the kind you hammer into the wall).

claire’s things

• Nodding, of course I was going to fall for artwork described as “small-format quilts.”

• Coming for the curly-hair inspo, staying for the very good vintage vibes.

• Knowing I shouldn’t be surprised that the makers of *the* best tortilla chip also do a top-notch jarred salsa. (Sidenote: I am very into making chilaquiles at home these days! Dump salsa and chips in a pan, and then fry an egg in it. What could be easier?)

• Filing away this handy app to use when making plans with my GF loved ones.

• Congratulating lovers of the famous-person-falls-for-normal-person romance-novel trope: You have not one but two great new options on the scene.