Magazines, all the pasta, and my comic Vinny
…kinda sounds like my perfect Friday night.
1.
Marvelous Manhattan: The beloved and enduring West Village fixture Casa Magazines, which recently converted into a French Dispatch-inspired newsstand for the film’s premiere last month, has become an Insta-iconic institution of sorts these past few years. Despite its popular social media following, and a savvy, almost aloof-seeming sense of branding, the true essence of the place can only be gleaned from actual in-store visits, and the interactions between patrons and Mohammed Ahmed, the store’s owner since 1994. I go for the smell of printed paper, and always end up buying an armload of foreign magazines.
2.
Agua De Madre is a low-alcohol water kefir and is brewed in small batches…in London (ie, NOT HERE). This fermented ginger and lemon infusion—a flavorful by-product of the brewing process that makes a warming tincture, as well as a base for soups or dressings—is also only available on the other side of the Atlantic. Well, the heart wants what the heart wants, and this devoted kombucha drinker’s heart wants what it can’t have. So is anyone traveling my way from the UK anytime soon? (Duncan…Nick…?)
3.
This is a new online magazine you won’t be able to smell anytime soon at Casa Magazines, but that’s the point. Brownstone Cowboys Magazine is addressing the subjects currently shaping our everyday realities: the environment, sustainability, gender, race, politics, etc., through conversations with creatives who care this !@#$ as much as we all do/should. It’s a reverse-engineered version of the typical fashion magazine, so to speak: “We want to make you think. Then act. And look good while doing it,” the intro states. Too many older outlets are still operating the other way around. (Also, big high-fives for the amazing name.)
4.
Colu Henry’s Back Pocket Pasta* is usually my go-to Bible on the subject of cooking pasta for dinner (the recipes and Henry’s “whatever!” voice just speaks my language), but it’s hard not to feel inspired by the approachable flour-to-final product instruction offered here in Missy Robbins’ beautiful Pasta: The Spirit and Craft of Italy’s Greatest Food. Here’s the thing: I love pasta, and I know I can cook it—decently. But I also know many, many others who can do it so much better: my dad, my friend Andrew G., my neighbor Carlos, to name a few. So I’ll be lugging this gorgeous compendium over their way the next time I pay visits and hope they’re just as overcome with inspiration, too.
(*My right hand also happens to make a cameo in one of the photos)
5.
Vinny Thomas is my new favorite reason to laugh on Twitter and Instagram. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this bit (every time I send it to a friend, I inevitably hit “play” again), and yet I still crack up. The premise is a bit loony, but consider it observational humor, on a global scale.