Tell Them I'm Dead
(aka The best excuse. Ever.)
1.
JAM SESSION: Thank you et merci to my friend Anna P., who came over recently with a jar of delicious, umami-slap-you-in-the-face Fam Jam. This aptly-named, sweetly-sour condiment derives from a family recipe containing chili peppers, onions, apple cider, and I’m here to tell you that I’ve done ample taste-testing for everyone in advance. It partners up spectacularly with sharp cheese, bloomy cheese, creamy cheese, goat cheese, super-stinky cheese (basically all the cheeses), as well as eggs, frittatas, white pizza, and on open-face sandwiches and toasts. And since we’re all probably salivating over cheese right now, here’s an expert’s guide to cutting and pairing them all. Yes, ALL. WARNING: Maybe don’t watch this in bed because you’ll likely get up and make yourself a snack at 10:30pm.
2.
Too Many Blankets, Not Enough Beds should be the name of my secondary Instagram account. But hey! I’m restraining myself from buying this new one by Brooklinen, made in collaboration with Pendleton—which I’d probably just want to frame anyways. The bold primary colors and graphic lines remind me of the designer Massimo Vignelli’s iconic NYC subway map, but with the added benefit of keeping you warm at night. A little bit of art and soul...
3.
SNEAKY FEET: Maybe it’s a backlash to the ugly sneaker trend (see: Balenciaga, Nike Superreps, Yeezys…), but there’s a growing number of emerging sneaker and tennis shoe brands that seem to be trading on their discreet, almost generic-looking aesthetic, rather than any uniquely defining aesthetic at all. But aha! They haven’t gone entirely unnoticed, hence this mention. Alongside AllBirds, there’s now Cariuma, Atoms, and JAK…and yes, perhaps several others I haven’t yet discerned.
4.
A good girlfriend and I recently celebrated our late summer birthdays with a dinner date at Saint Theo’s in the West Village. The food, a regionally-diverse collection of Italian dishes, was decadent and filling, our wine was the perfect, zippy complement, and the electricity in the room was almost tangible. We loved it all, but I was especially enchanted by the dining room’s deep green interiors, the ornate, painted tin ceiling and the swirling Venetian glass globe lamps, among other aspects of this very chic space. There’s no place like home, but when it comes to the merits of dining-out, here’s one very attractive example. PS— Another green dining room I love and miss dearly: Polo Bar…and oh, those popovers!
5.
What are we watching tonight? Unsurprisingly, given the glut of awesome television and movie choices streaming these days, there’s been a growing number of algorithm-based sites to help you decide just that. Several newsletters ago, I mentioned Movie of the Night, not to be confused with this new platform: A Good Movie to Watch. Had either existed twenty years ago, I probably would have saved a month’s worth of hours spent pacing the aisles of Blockbuster.