22 early summer recs

Chaotic, because June

What’s that you say? There’s a midday event at school? There are two long weekends during the last month of school? It’s field day? There’s a puppet show? A stepping up? A field trip? A concert? Another field trip? A bake sale? A yearbook to buy? Wishing you luck as you careen towards the glorious season of bedtime-while-it’s-light-out, lots of ice cream, and no predictable schedule.

Assorted recommendations in no particular order:

• This interview with Zadie Smith on BBC’s This Cultural Life. Always with the real talk in the most artfully worded ways.

• Also listen to the interview with Ezra Klein, “Your Mind is Being Fracked.” Very interested in how you train your consciousness towards deep focus and resist what media / content / digital things / advertising / capitalism are trying to do to us.

• The Lauren dela Roche solo painting show at Eric Firestone Gallery on Great Jones Street. Strong channeling of Grecian Urns, mythology, agriculture, women’s bodies. Really a delight to see these IRL. [her IG]

Lauren dela Roche at Eric Firestone Gallery

• The Sonia Delaunay show at Bard Graduate Center. I’ll admit that for some of this show you really need to remember the context and time in which she was making it to appreciate how groundbreaking and multi-hyphenate she was because it feels so modern. But, 100% worth seeing.

• This Romper piece, “Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation Misses The Point,” which I deeply appreciated. Let’s not blame individual parents for the failings of policy and tech companies.

• Watching the French Open. Grand Slam season is my favorite time of year and sorry not sorry but I will probably cancel plans if it conflicts with any of the last few rounds. Rooting in equal measure for Sinner and Alcaraz. Also rooting for Coco Gauff. Sad but not that sad Djokovic dropped.

• Reading:

  • Finished Priyanka Mattoo’s Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones, which comes out June 18th and is equal parts observant, endearing, and very funny.

  • Now reading: Sandwich by Catherine Newman and Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg

  • Have lots in the queue including: Y/N by Esther Li and Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer and The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise by Olivia Laing. Can’t wait for my retirement and alternating playing tennis with reading all the books I want.

• @renadfromgaza, an inspiring 10 year old who is posting beautiful cooking videos from Gaza amidst the war with limited provisions.

• The Vuori AllTheFeels Sports Bra is the sports bra I wish I could afford to replace all the other subpar ones with.

• We are watching Hacks, and it’s as fun as everyone says. Great premise, great writing, well-cast. Only on season 2 though — no spoilers!

• The tofu sandwich with scallion tahini sauce, shredded cabbage, and chili crisp at Radio Bakery. Hard to explain why it works, but an extremely good sandwich experience.

• Paul Mescal + Natalie Portman interviewing each other in the Actors on Actors series from last December, which in light of the latest gossip, is even more fun.

• This NYT Cooking Rhubarb Crisp recipe, which really leans hard into rhubarb, as one should. I did add in a bunch of frozen berries, and added a bit more sugar per the comments.

• Part of my life strategy for eating leftovers at home all the time is you have to have a sauces rotation and then you add them in any combo and it’s a new lunch. In addition to hot sauce and chili crisp, the three to have always in stock and live without regrets are:

  • A pickled topping: chard, fennel, radishes, onion, whatever works

  • A garlicky yogurt sauce: greek yogurt, lemon, salt, pepper, whatever herbs chopped up (or zaatar), garlic, mix.

  • An herby chimichurri-ish sauce: herbs, olive oil, red wine vinegar/lemon, chili pepper, garlic, salt, pepper, blend

• Moving all my Substack newsletters to a filtered tab and then reading way more of them, but only once a day: Settings > Labels > Create “Substack/Newsletters label” > Filters > From: @substack.com > Continue, then this:

• These Rad River Co hats are the best for kids. I recommend the nylon ones. Good colors, good fit, no annoying slogans, reasonable price b/c they’re definitely going to leave them at the playground at some point.

• As I discovered when I rapidly had to use up way too much FSA $$$ at the end of last year, you can buy these giant pump bottles of Goop sunscreen with that moolah. So, we have a literal pantry full of this stuff, which smells very nice and we slather all over the entire fam all summer.

• I’m not in the jellies-for-adults camp, but in the jellies-for-kids camp, the ones from Mini Melissa are well made, and Ada claims they don’t give her any blisters even after a long day and “look amazing on me.” So modest.

• This list of family-friendly non-animated movies for kids, which is a great movie list for summer.

Recs, please: fave summer recipes, especially salads, baked goods, things your kids will eat.