Compostable face masks, Basbas (bye...), and the Gospel according to Cher
Best news I’ve heard this week: Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy is coming back with its season #2 debut on March 13th. Who wants to go to Venice???
1.
As a kid, one of my favorite lines to quote from a movie was, “In time you'll drop dead, and I'll come to your funeral in a red dress!” I loved a leveling, one-sentence insult, and this one from Moonstruck, especially, stuck with me through the years, both for its force, and somewhat tellingly, how it conveyed the symbolic potency of fashion (of course my mom had to explain the ‘red dress at a funeral’ thing). Also, the line was delivered by the one and only CHER. This recent interview with The Cut makes me want to watch Moonstruck all over again, if anything to see if the rest of the film has held up as well as she has.
Extra credit: Other great interviews with legendary grand dames of acting and performance (courtesy of New York Magazine), that I enjoyed as much as this one: Anjelica Houston (2019) and Kathleen Turner (2018), both incredibly accomplished women who have seen and lived long enough to not give a !@#$ anymore.
2.
I’m headed to Paris for fashion, friends and food next week. Normally I don’t have much free time to do more than hit my favorite spots, check in with close friends, and walk wherever and as often as I can. Usually I listen to podcasts while I stroll, but I’m excited to try out this new travel app featuring self-guided GPS audio tours, a trove of restaurant, bar, and shopping recommendations, and all other sorts of insider-y gems.
3.
Hierbas, a local liqueur made from herbs native to the Balearic Islands off the eastern coast of Spain, is sort of like a Spanish apéritif and digestif in one (really just depends on when you’re drinking it!). I only recently learned about hierbas as a category of spirits after trying Basbas, a really tasty blend of anise, soft sage, rosemary, and a hint of citrus, that I’ve been sipping on straight, and sometimes with soda. The recipe’s been around for centuries, but it’s finally available stateside—and in a really chic, Gothic-inspired bottle design, too.
4.
Speaking of quick sips…I don’t know why I didn’t pick up on the brilliant ‘freezer batch cocktails’ method a hell of a lot sooner, but it’s a concept I won’t soon forget. (Gen: Get the Negronis mixed up and ready for my visit!)
5.
I didn’t realize until yesterday that the vast majority of masks we’ve all been wearing these past two years—not even the paper-y thin surgical ones, nor the K95s—are biodegradable. Masuku daily masks, which were in development for three years, are the world’s first fully-compostable daily face masks, and you’ll recognize them by their orange rubber earloops (future status signifiers, I’m predicting).