A few public service announcements in light of the breaking news:
Donate to Planned Parenthood. Donate to the United State of Women, both doing work on abortion advocacy.
In better news, kids under 5 can get vaccinated. Make an appointment!
Starting this afternoon, we’ll be fairly nomadic for a few months with a wedding followed by moving around to visit family, patchy childcare, and take a much-anticipated trip to Portugal. Leaving you with a long list of seasonal’ish recs.
Summer recs for the kids:
Bike season: This 16” Trek Precaliber bike that I got off Park Slope Parents that Julian’s going to crush this summer. It can be a balance bike, pedal bike, or ridden with training wheels.
Activity Books: Ada has preemptively asked me if on our plane ride to Lisbon I can present her with “three surprise activities.” LOL. For this, and many other long trips, I got the Kids Awesome Activity Book by Mike Lowery and the Herve Tullet Draw Here book. Other good choices include On the Plane Activity Book, the Jumbo Pad of Brain Teasers, the Brain Quest workbooks and card decks, and for younger kids, Taro Gomi’s Playful Puzzles for Little Hands.
For drawing: this 5x7 cardstock instead of bigger notepads. Portable and perfect postcards. These blank flipbooks are also a fun, time-consuming project.
Bug spray: Herbal Armor is my favorite effective-on-my-fam natural insect repellent for kids (and adults). I also recently discovered (thanks to my dermatologist) about Sarna, which is the best non-fragrance-y anti-itch lotion I’ve found (way better than Calamine lotion). Leave it in the fridge and it is even more soothing when cold.
Snack containers: I’ve loaded up on a variety of reusable snack containers for the summer. We use the silicone stasher bags throughout the year, but they’re not great for things like fruit, so i’m also trying out these stainless steal leakproof containers.
For the grown-ups:
Podcast episodes: The last two episodes of You’re Wrong About are both so great. The most recent is a deep dive on Martha Stewart —a real treasure trove. The one before it, The Dyatlov Pass Incident, is about a 60+ year old incident in which 9 experienced Russian hiker/skiers mysteriously die in a mountain pass. It’s about outdoor anxiety, and narratives created around tragedy in order to justify our own feelings. Also loved Angela Garbes talking to Terry Gross on Fresh Air about her new book, Essential Labor.
Other podcast recs: A24 Podcast (Actors/musicians interviewing each other about their craft), Broken Record (deep convos with musicians), Wild Boys (serialized drama about two mysterious boys who appear in a small town in Canada, Decoder Ring (debunking pop-culture mysteries), Life Examined on KCRW (science, philosophy, faith), Maintenance Phase (unpacking food fads), Summer of Gold (story of the ‘96 Olympics), and Talk Easy (amazing longform interviews).
Playlists: Slow Roads has some great playlists for a run/drive on Spotify (including a mushroom playlist). You may know Slow Roads from their excellent IG account.
Best summer lunch: A quick and perfect lunch that I’ve recently rediscovered is a crunchy tuna salad. My go-to tuna is Tonnino packed in olive oil (also great with the smoked salmon from Fishwife). Add in some crunchy chopped things like cornichon, fennel, radishes, sugar snap peas, some green herby things like parsley, scallions, chive, or arugula, and a little mayo, mustard, and black pepper. Extremely satisfying.
Summer recipe inspo: I’ve been getting a lot of recipe inspo from Julia Turshen’s newsletter (am eager to take one of her home cooking classes) and the Three Things newsletter from Jenny Rosentstrach.
Towels: Mollusk Surf Shop makes some really great beach towels (pricier) and always rec having a turkish towel in a tote for the unexpected summer water encounter. Baggu, Peace Cloth, and House No 23 also make beautiful towels.
I’ll be posting on a lighter more ad hoc schedule over the summer, so see you soon, maybe next week, or the week after that.