I think I’ve finally cracked lunch!

Lunch: Ugh! I find it weirdly overwhelming and annoying to have to consider it every single goddamn day. I’m very happy to eat leftovers for lunch, but they often run out faster than I expect. And even if takeout didn’t cost a million dollars right now (see also: this perfect TikTok), I don’t live in an area with a ton of great options. And because my energy levels aren’t amazing, I’ve been avoiding buying a ton of ingredients for meal prep that I then don’t end up using—or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, getting way too ambitious, not being able to eat everything I make before it goes bad, and ultimately wasting time and money before falling off again. 

You know how it goes! 

But last week, frustrated yet again at lunchtime and craving a big bowl of healthy slop, I decided to dip a toe into meal prepping…with guardrails. I made a plan that prioritized conserving energy (and saving money) via lots of shortcuts, plus foods that wouldn’t go bad too quickly. 

This was my grocery list:

• One 5-lb. bag of dried brown rice 

• One 18-ounce container of peeled and cubed sweet potatoes

• One 10-ounce bag of pre-washed broccoli florets

• Two 12-ounce bags of frozen Brussels sprouts 

• Two cans of chickpeas

• 2 lbs. of chicken breast 

• All of the ingredients I needed for two different dressings (creamy mustard and tahini ranch) from What Goes With What by Julia Turshen 

I prepared everything over the course of a few hours one morning. First, I got three cups of brown rice going in the rice cooker. As the Zojirushi worked its magic, I…

1. Roasted the chickpeas using a recipe from The Joy of Cooking. (This one is very similar!)  

2. Roasted both the broccoli and sweet potato at the same time in a 425-degree oven (the recommended temp in The Joy of Cooking). I took the broccoli out after 30 minutes and let the sweet potatoes go for 40ish. (My plan was to save the frozen Brussels sprouts for when the broccoli ran out, but that happened after just two bowls, so I ended up roasting the Brussels sprouts the next day.) 

3. Prepared the perfect chicken.

4. Made the creamy mustard dressing recipe, which came together in like 5 minutes. (You can find instructions for making it in the chart here; the proportions work out equal parts mayo, olive oil, and white wine vinegar.)

All of the above, including the batch of Brussels sprouts, was enough to assemble 10 very generous bowls (and still have some chicken left over), an amount I’m very happy with! The bowls were really filling and delicious, and I loved not having to think about what to eat for lunch every day. And because so much of this was passive cooking time—meaning I was able to sit and chill between each step—I didn’t feel totally wiped by it. 

Better yet, I still had plenty of dressing ingredients and dried rice to work with. On Sunday, I bought two bags of frozen broccoli florets and a bag of dried chickpeas (since dried are cheaper/will go further). On Monday, I made new batches of rice and dressing and roasted more broccoli and chickpeas, and now I’m back in business! (The grocery store didn’t have cubed sweet potatoes so I skipped them for now, but I can always add them later this week if I’m feeling motivated. And I actually think replenishing the different components on a staggered/rolling basis sounds like an even easier way to do this going forward.) 

I’m really relieved that this turned out to be a lot easier and more pleasant than I was anticipating! Buying frozen/pre-cut vegetables and choosing prep methods that all basically amount to “dump this thing on a sheet pan with some olive oil, salt, and pepper” made a huge difference—I find washing, peeling, and cutting produce so tedious, and removing that barrier did a lot, both mentally and in practice. And even though I don’t mind eating the same exact thing day after day, I also think it’ll be easy to make small tweaks here and there to avoid any boredom that does arise. (See also: sauce theory!) 🥦

Dinner party trick: Pizza dough focaccia

Ever since watching With Love, Meghan* on Netflix a few weeks ago, I’ve been in the mood to make focaccia bread. Unfortunately, several of my previous attempts over the years have turned out badly. I truly don’t know why—I’m a decent cook and it’s supposedly very easy to make!—but it’s come out cracker-like or fully charred on multiple occasions. Still, I have some time on my hands at the moment, so I figured it was as good of a time as any to try to get it right!

When I looked for a recipe to follow in two different cookbooks I own, I discovered that both Joy of Cooking and Julia Turshen’s Small Victories base theirs on pizza dough. And yeah, I could have made the Joy of Cooking pizza dough from scratch first, as they instruct…but then it occurred to me that Trader Joe’s sells pre-made pizza dough for like $2, and going this route would mean I wouldn’t get flour all over my kitchen, and would increase the likelihood of success. So that’s what I did and it’s turned out perfectly all three times I’ve made it!

I topped mine with Parmesan cheese, herbs de Provence, and flaky sea salt. It was a big hit with the Bolognese this past weekend. My ultimate goal is to serve it in my garden with lemonade, as Meghan does, but I’m taking things one step at a time. 

Like I said, the recipe is from the Joy of Cooking, but this one is extremely similar/should work! (Note: I used an 8 x 8 glass baking dish as opposed to a baking sheet, and only put it in the oven for 20 minutes even though my recipe called for 25.) 

*All of my thoughts on With Love, Meghan are perfectly summarized in these two Substack posts: Spoiler: Meghan’s show isn’t what I thought it would be and Let Her Cook. 🥖

Bags within bags!

Today I’m here to sing the praises of an organizational system I creatively refer to as “bags within bags,” which I’ve been using to keep several aspects of my life organized for the past few months.

I don’t normally carry a very big bag (if I carry one at all), but when I do carry a tote for whatever reason, I really hate having all my stuff just...floating around in it. I don’t want to have to root around for something, wondering the whole time if I remembered to bring it with me; I want to be able to find it quickly and easily so I can move on with my life! This became a problem over the summer, when we started going to the beach regularly. I wanted to be able to easily grab things like chapstick, car keys, hand sanitizer, etc. and not worry about anything spilling or getting lost. So I decided I’d just buy a couple of small mesh travel pouches…but the thing that made the most sense at the time turned out to be a set of 18 (!!!) zipper mesh bags of varying sizes that cost $12.99 on Amazon.

This turned out to be an incredible purchase, which I didn’t really expect. The smaller pouches did exactly what I needed them to do, and the larger sizes (which are really quite sizable) meant I could put bigger bottles of sunscreen or bug spray in their own bag as well. Great! My beach bag problem was perfectly solved! But the mesh bags really began to shine when I picked up knitting again. 

After a few weeks of working on a couple of different knitting projects at once, I realized I needed a better way to corral all my stuff and not have half-knitted sweaters perched on every flat surface. This led me to the baby Baggu bag ($10 from Baggu or Amazon) which is the perfect size for 1–2 knitting projects. (It’s smaller than your standard canvas tote, but bigger than a brown paper lunch bag.) The baby Baggu made it easier to just keep the needles, yarn, and instructions I needed close at hand, and to easily move everything from, say, the bedroom to the living room or up to the roof, or wherever I felt like knitting on a given day.

But I still had the problem of a lot of small loose items (a measuring tape, knitting markers, tiny scissors, crochet hook, etc.) floating around the bottom of the bag. So I pulled out some of the extra mesh bags I had and organized everything in the baby Baggu. The size 9 and 10 needles of varying lengths I was using for one project went into one mesh bag, while the size 4 and 6 needles I needed for another project went in their own — so I no longer had to sort through all my needles to find just the size 9 40 cm circular needles. I put my needle stoppers (which I’ve found are weirdly hard to keep track of) in a small bag of their own, and put my remaining tools in their own bag.

This new system was nothing short of life-changing. 

When my girlfriend and I drove up to Maine last week, we used more of the mesh bags (because, remember, the set came with 18 bags) for all of our toiletries/products, as well as things we wanted to have handy at all times (like phone chargers, contacts, and bandaids). I took the Fjallraven Kanken backpack I bought for the trip with me everywhere, and being able to throw the appropriate mini bags into it depending on where we were going/what we needed was so helpful. And on the couple of occasions when I wanted to take my knitting out with me, I just put the single project I was focusing on into the Fjallraven, and then added the small mesh bag with all of my tools in case of a knitting emergency. 

Being far from home/driving for 10+ hours/out all day in a national park for the first time was mildly nerve-wracking, and it was a huge relief to not be stressed about where my car keys, eye drops, and granola bars were. But even when I’m just knitting at home, it’s just been so nice to know where all my shit is.

Get the mesh bags from Amazon for $12.99 and the baby Baggu bag for $10 from Baggu or Amazon. 🎒

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This tinsel is a pretty good way to spend $15

One of the unexpected winners of the at-home birthday celebration I threw for my girlfriend a couple of weeks ago was the pack of metallic tinsely curtains ($15.99 for two silver and two gold on Amazon) I bought.

Each curtain is approximately the width of a door and fairly long/tall, with a horizontal adhesive strip at the top; I put three over the window/door to the terrace, and one over the bedroom door, and they genuinely made the space feel different and celebratory.

In fact, we liked them so much that we got a second pack to use for the “office holiday party” that we had on Tuesday night.

The curtains flutter and reflect light in a really nice way, and you actually don’t need to do anything else to make them shine. But if you want to take things up a notch, you could turn on a mini LED party light. (We used the one that came in a company swag bag my girlfriend received a couple of months ago, but you can get a similar one for $16.99 on Amazon.)

Even though you can see some window showing behind the curtains in these photos, they look great and plenty thick IRL. (But if you wanted to make them appear thicker, you could easily double them up.)

We also kept them up for our “supercouch” (aka air mattress inflated in front of the couch) movie day.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much delight/novelty the curtains provided; in this bleak year, it’s always nice when a small thing actually helps quite a bit. If you’re a New Year’s Eve person and want to do something to mark the occasion while also being safe, or if someone in your household has a birthday coming up, these are totally worth it.

Get the gold and silver four-pack from Amazon for $15.99. (They also come in a bunch of other colors, like this pretty rose gold.) ✨

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Good holiday gift ideas for pretty much anyone

It’s (weirdly!) that time of again: gift guide season. In a year when the things we need and want are so dramatically different than they used to be, and when it feels like both nothing and literally everything has changed since last year, it’s sort of hard to conceive of gifts that make sense for 2020. But making gift guides is one of my truest pleasures, so I’m going to try my best!

Last year, I published three gift guides, which still really hold up, imho. You can find them all here: 

• Holiday gift ideas for pretty much everyone in your life

• Holiday gift ideas for the Everlane-loving, shit-together homebody in your life

• Holiday gift ideas for the well-dressed, blob-loving creative in your life

This year, I’m planning to do a few gift posts, in similar categories as the ones above (plus a couple of new ones). To kick things off, here are the MVPs that I think will work well for a lot of different people! 

Chile Crunch 

I bought this after a reader recommended it last year and love it on fried eggs and toast especially. Think of it as the new hot honey (which was, by far, the most popular item from last year’s gift guides). Get a jar from ChileCrunch.com for $12.80 or from Amazon for $19.75. (BTW, if you’re looking for DIY/edible gift ideas, you can also make your own.)

Danica taper candles

My precious beauties. (More info on why I love them here.) DM me if you’re obsessing over which color to get or wondering how they look IRL; I own…a lot of them. Get a box of five 9-inch tapers from Danica for $18.50. (Bonus pairing: taper holders — Urban usually has good ones that aren’t too expensive.)

Mexican train dominoes

I was first introduced to this game by Terri and I love it so much! It’s easy to learn and is a very good family game (and it only requires two people, so it’s nice for couples who are spending a lot of time at home together). You can find versions at a lot of different retailers, including Amazon ($39.97) and Target ($24.99), and you can get personalized hubs on Etsy which is a nice way to upgrade a standard set. 

The Comfy

This is one of those “as seen on TV” products that absolutely rules. My mom saw it on HSN and sent me a cream one (which is annoyingly no longer available), and I’ll admit I was skeptical at first. But you guys… it fucking rocks. It’s warm and cozy and so soft, and makes life on the couch or in bed so wonderful. (It’s also way better than a Snuggie in, like, every possible way.) Get one for $39.99 from The Comfy (use this referral link to get $10 off) or Amazon.

At-home Escape Room

This is such a clever way to recreate something that really can’t be done in our current pandemic reality! Get it from Uncommon Goods for $50. 

Wild One dog leash

This leash is such a beautiful color and it makes me happy every time I use it. (There are also several other colors that I’ve spotted around the park, and that are also lovely.) It’s also durable and easy to clean. Get it from Wild One for $58, and pair it with the coral poop bag carrier ($12) for a very cute vibe.

Yeelight smart color-changing bulb

I talked about this in my lighting post and, since then, a couple people have let me know they bought one and love it. Get it from Amazon for $29.99.

Joy of Cooking

I swear by this classic cookbook; the authors use Wirecutter-esque rigor to develop truly great recipes. They released a new version in 2019, and it’s a good gift for new cooks or more experienced cooks who have never gotten around to buying this classic. Get it from Bookshop ($36.80), Amazon ($20.91), or your favorite local bookstore.

The Tushy

Fun fact: I regularly included a Squatty Potty on my BuzzFeed gift guides and it always sold extremely well. Obviously, anything hole-related is a “know your audience” gift, so use your best judgment here. But if you’ve already given a Squatty Potty, the Tushy is the next frontier, and while installation is not necessarily as easy as they make it sound — it really depends on your toilet, I think — it’s very doable and worth it in the long run. Get the classic on sale for $89 (normally $109).

Clip-on mini ring light

The current reality of very little daylight + lots of video calls makes this little guy a rather nice thing to have around. (I have one and use it regularly.) You can also clip it to your phone for nice selfie lighting. Get one from Amazon for $13.99. 🎁

More 2020 gift guides: Gift ideas for the design-minded kitsch-loving somebody in your life, gift ideas for cozy types who are always just vibin’, good gift ideas for people who want to cronch on something delicious, good gift ideas for the sweet, smart, fun, and cool youths in your life, good gift ideas for anyone who wants to look, smell, or feel nice, and good gifts and stocking stuffers under $30.

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Go on, live a little — get yourself the giant pasta-shaped garlic peeler

When my girlfriend bought this giant fake piece of penne from GreatBigStuff.com — along with some bowtie pasta pot grippers — I expected it to merely be decorative. That alone would be great! But much to my delight, it’s also a surprisingly effective garlic peeler.

Peeling garlic by hand is a fairly annoying task, and putting it in a plastic tube — that, it cannot be overstated, looks like a giant piece of penne — and rolling it around is a nice alternative that doesn’t take up a lot of kitchen space.

I highly recommend it! Get it from GreatBigStuff.com for $19. 🍝

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I would lay down my life for this Hobonichi Techo planner

I’d been thinking about buying a Hobonichi Techo Cousin planner ($35.04) for two years, so I finally decided to go for it this fall. It’s just such a good planner, and after four years of dot journaling in a Leuchtturm notebook, I’m ready for a little change! I ordered my Hobonichi Techo Cousin back in October, and I’m legitimately looking forward to January 1 so I can start using it.

Here’s the deal with the Hobonichi Techo, from the website:

The Hobonichi Techo is a planner notebook created by staff members of the website Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun, shortened as Hobonichi. Techo (pronounced “tetch-oh”) is a Japanese word for a planner notebook. We also describe the Hobonichi Techo as a Life Book; it demonstrates the planner notebook’s versatility and freedom that accommodates every user’s unique personality and lifestyle. It first came out as a 2002 edition, which was created when the members — who weren’t professional planner designers — decided to get together and create a brand new kind of planner that they would actually want to use themselves. There are 18 years of history behind the current book. New varieties have appeared over the years in response to customer requests, and all the techos improve every year based on these requests and feedback. New cover designs are released every year so that using a Hobonichi Techo carries an extra sense of excitement and enjoyment. In recent years people from all over the world have begun to use the techo — there are now over 780,000 users worldwide!

I was able to look at several different Hobonichi Techo planners back in late 2017, and the Cousin was my personal favorite. (It was also my favorite of all of the planners I looked at in 2017, and I looked at…a fuckton of planners that year.) It’s more guided than a dot journal — but not annoyingly so — and really nails both form and function.

I highly recommend going to the Cousin’s About section and clicking through all of the different tabs to see/read about the features, because there are a lot of them! But here are some of the things I like about it, if you’re curious…

Size

The Cousin (the A5) is the biggest of all of the Techo planners, but isn’t huge…it’s 5.8” x 8.3”, so it’s fairly close in size to the Leuchtturm I’ve been using for years. It is the perfect size for me.

If you want a smaller planner, the original Hobonichi Techo (A6) ($20.02) is also good. (You can also buy the original on Amazon.) I actually bought the original by accident because I got confused when I was placing my order. (One way to remember which one is which: the Cousin is the big one, much like Cousin Greg is the big one on Succession.) While the original is perfectly nice (and my girlfriend is happy to take it off my hands), I prefer one with more room to write on each day, aka the Cousin.

The paper

Ugh, this notebook. I just love it! The paper is super thin and smooth and feels so luxurious. The journal also has layflat binding (which means it will easily lay open/flat on your desk).

Image: Hobonichi Techo

The cream-colored cover is lovely, and even though it’s super lightweight, it’s surprisingly durable. (I tried bending the corners of the sample one I received, and couldn’t.) You can also buy a cover for it, but I didn’t go that route; instead, I bought a mesh pouch at McNally Jackson to transport it in.

There are different colors of ink used throughout the journal (the daily pages for each month are printed in a different color, for example) but the colors still feel fairly neutral. Also, a lot of the grids and other details are designed to be guidelines that you can only see up close (similar to the dots in a dot grid journal), so those are printed in a fairly light ink.

The page design

So, the big difference between this planner and the dot journaling method is that the Cousin is pre-printed. So, the pages come with dates and other information already on them, and each day gets its own page. There is also a year-at-glance view, monthly calendar pages, a spot for goals/tasks each month, weekly pages (with an hourly breakdown that I like a lot), and then the daily pages. This isn’t ideal if you want to be able to write really long journal entries some days, or to add in a new spread about, say, your favorite books wherever you feel like it. But it’s great if you want something convenient that is kind of doing the work for you, and/or you don’t mind when your journal or planner bosses you around a little bit.

I tend to be way too picky to enjoy pre-designed daily pages, but in this case, they are designed so well and so thoughtfully that I really like them. There’s an hourly breakdown on the left side of the page if you want to use it (but that’s easy to ignore), and then there is space on the right where you can list tasks/to-dos. (There is also a light “invisible line” down the middle that you can use to separate the two if you want to.) And there is space at the bottom for journaling/notes. You can also use the daily pages as a sketchbook or regular journal…like, you can just kind of easily write or doodle over the printed page designs if you want.

Features

The Cousin has several thoughtful/cute touches throughout that I love, including the moon phase on each daily page; subtle color tabs for each month of the year; a mini monthly calendar every two pages; and a “warm up page” at the beginning where you can reflect on the past year/set the tone of the new year. In the back of the notebook, there is blank graph paper; a “Favorites” page where you can document your favorite songs, movies, books, purchases, etc.; and a “My 100” page that you can use for anything you want (wins, top moments, goals, favorites, etc.).

Another thing people seem to love about these planners is that they have a quote on each page. This is actually not my thing, but it’s sort of moot because in the Cousin, all the quotes are in Japanese, so I can’t read them.

Shopping

I will say that the Hobonichi Techo website is a tad hard to navigate, in part because there some choices to be made: you have to figure out which planner you want, and whether you’d like the week starts to start on Sunday or Monday. You can also buy the Cousin Avec, where you get two notebooks that each last six months instead of one notebook for the whole year. And if you want to pick out a cover, there are a lot of options.

Once you make your selection, you’ll get routed to a different interface to purchase, and you’ll have to make sure it’s all in USD. It’s also not the most user friendly, but it’s also not prohibitively difficult to use. And both notebooks I ordered arrived very quickly (especially considering that they were shipping from Japan).

TL;DR: The Hobonichi Techo Cousin planner is super elegant and well-designed, and I am very excited to start using mine in January! Buy the 2020 Cousin for $35.04. 🗓

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Holiday gift ideas for pretty much everyone in your life

I recently read an article about the proliferation of gift guides on the internet that asserted that no writer or editor really likes making gift guides. This…is not true!!! I fuck with creating gift guides on a deep spiritual level, which is why I’m spending my Sunday putting these together. Please, I’m begging you, let me help you choose gifts.

This is the first of three gift guides I’m going to publish on Just Good Shit this year; it contains the all-around greatest hits that I think would make good holiday gifts for men or women; people you love but also people you don’t know super well; and people who are fairly hard to shop for. I own and/or have gifted pretty much everything on this list.

Mike’s Hot Honey

This was my go-to gift in 2018; it’s unique, delicious, and costs less than $10. Buy it on Amazon for $8.48.

Anomia

One of my favorite new party games! Buy it from Amazon for $13.99.

A pretty salt box

I own this (in the Artichoke color) and have gifted it; it’s an elegant way to store kosher or Maldon salt and keep it handy on your counter. (Very useful when you make a lot of chickpea pasta.) It comes in several other colors; buy it from Amazon for $25.49.

1000-piece vintage pencils puzzle

I love puzzles as a gift, and this one is very fun/good (I own it). Buy it from Amazon for $16.39. If that design isn’t doing it for you, check out Galison puzzles and Mudpuppy puzzles; those are my two favorite brands. I’m also a big fan of a puzzle mat ($12.99 on Amazon.

Heat Holders socks

These socks are GLORIOUS; they are incredibly thick/cushy/warm. They come in 29 colors/styles; buy them on Amazon for $15.99 a pair.

Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House

I will never get sick of this book, which is basically a home ec encyclopedia that I’ve been raving about for the past two years now. Get it from Amazon for $13.53 or find it at a local bookstore via IndieBound.

The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters

Another one of my favorite books/gifts from the past couple of years. Buy it on Amazon for $19.69 or find it at a local bookstore via Indie Bound.

A bee hotel

Bee hotel are actually good for bees, and make a nice addition to a garden/outdoor space. Buy one from Amazon for $19.97.

Compression socks

These are a good gift for runners, travelers, nurses, teachers, and basically anyone who is on their feet all day. Even my mom — who is very hard to shop for — is a fan. Available in 10 colors; buy them from Amazon for $16.67.

Mint tea tree toothpicks

Another one that I've written about! These actually look fairly elegant and would be a good stocking stuffer or gift to buy in bulk for coworkers or other groups. Buy them from Amazon for $6.74.

An electric blanket for the car

I’ve given this blanket as a gift a couple times now; it’s a good one for people who live in colder climates and drive a lot. Buy it from Amazon for 19.95.

Beeswax wraps

I love these! They smell great and feel really lovely, but are still practical and affordable. They come in four colors; buy them from Amazon for $15.

Rosehip oil

This is a such a great all-around skincare product that feels really luxurious and works for a lot of different skin types. Buy it from Amazon for $13.95.

And a 6-ft charging cable

This is a super practical gift that makes a great stocking stuffer. Buy one from Amazon for $7.99. 🎁

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The best things to do with your mom when she visits NYC

I have a treat for you today: Terri is back! This post was borne out of a conversation I was having with a few coworkers about things to do with moms when they visit NYC. My main contribution was “I just ask my friend Terri” because it’s true — she’s truly the best when it comes to NYC recommendations. My coworkers immediately clamored for Terri’s list of mom recs. (“Terri, drop the album” is an exact quote.) She graciously obliged, which brings us to this list! —Rachel

Photo: Callum Chapman on Unsplash

My mom likes to visit New York. A lot. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, and two of her daughters and two grandchildren live here, so yeah, you could say she’s a New York stan. To be honest, I think she’d be perfectly content if every visit consisted of nonstop bonding time with her daughters and grandsons, punctuated by a few visits to Bloomingdale’s and more than a few plates of chicken parm. But! I love activities, and I love my mom, so I find distinct joy in thinking of new, fun things to do with her that make her say, “New York has changed so much since I left, I love it! Do you want a Twizzler?”

If your mom is planning a visit to New York, you may be wondering what to do with her that isn’t too touristy (or too fussy), but still feels fun and special. Luckily, I have a large data sample, and I’m not afraid to show it. Here are some favorites — you could easily apply these activities to any family member or friend that’s visiting, but know that these have the Carol Pous seal of approval: 

1. Go to Governor's Island.

   I love Governor’s Island, and so did my mom when I took her there (my dad did too, FWIW). It’s a cheap ferry ride to get there, and on a nice day, you get incredible views of the city, lots of places to bike around (get a got-dang SURREY if you know what’s good for you), food trucks, historical buildings, and usually some kind of fun event — they do the Jazz Age Lawn Festival there. Do it!!!!

2. Stroll along the Dumbo riverfront (aka Brooklyn Bridge Park).

   This is perfect for a nice day. You can see the carousel and an amazing view of Lower Manhattan, walk around the really nice waterfront and surrounding neighborhood, and eat at the new Time Out Market, which has a ton of popular New York spots and a rooftop that looks right out onto Brooklyn Bridge.

3. Visit the Tenement Museum.

   This is less of a museum, and more of an experience, but if you want something really powerful and meaningful to do, this is it. You can choose from several different stories (Irish immigrants, Jewish immigrants, Puerto Rican immigrants, Chinese immigrants, etc.) and then go inside the actual places where they lived and worked. You have to book at least a few days in advance, but it’s so worth it, especially if your mom loves history and family stories. I’ve also done the Lower East Side food tour through the museum, and I highly, highly recommend it.

4. Eat dessert.

   Do this literally anywhere?? Veniero’s and Ferrara’s are classic, old-school Italian bakeries where you can sit down and have a little coffee and some ‘zerts. I also like Serendipity, Caffe Panna, and Two Little Red Hens.

5. Go to Bloomingdale’s.

   Are there three Bloomingdale’s within a 10-minute drive of my parents’ house? Yes. Is this still my mom’s number-one favorite thing to do in the city? Also yes. It’s a New York institution, and I think my mom loves Bloomie’s so much because growing up, she couldn’t afford to shop there, so now it’s a never-ending treat that she can partake in while also eating a Magnolia cupcake (because of course there’s a Magnolia Bakery in a department store).

   However, I highly recommend skipping Magnolia and instead stopping by 40 Carats on the seventh floor, kind of hidden near the linens — you can get the delicious fro-yo in the to-go line, or you can do what my mom and I do, which is have a full sit-down lunch (I recommend the carrot soup, the pretzel bread, the three-salad combo, and any special that comes with a side of fro-yo). Overall, Bloomie’s is almost more of an activity than a shopping spot. Although there is some great shopping there, too.

6. Go to the Met.

   I mean, duh. Every visitor should go to the Met — it’s great. My mom particularly loves the Costume Institute exhibits, but the Met has everything from Egyptian artifacts to an entire Frank Lloyd Wright living room. There is something for every mom!

7. Eat a “cute” brunch.

   My mom loves doing “special things with her girls” (I have three sisters), and cute brunches are pretty high up there. Any place will do, but some tried-and-tested favorites are Friend of a Farmer, Friedman’s, Sadelle's, Westville, and Bluebell Cafe.

8. And go to a cozy dinner.

   The same cute brunch rule applies to cozy dinners. Some favorites that really play into the cozy factor are Supper (get the chicken parm and the hazelnut panna cotta) and Cafe Katja (get the Austrian meatballs).

9. Walk around the Union Square Farmers Market.

   We rarely buy anything, but there’s great people watching (big plus for Carol), and there are usually free samples (even bigger plus for Carol). 

10. Shop on Fifth Avenue by Flatiron.

    If you and mom want to go shopping, and it’s also a nice day out, this is your best bet. It doesn’t get slammed with tourists like Soho, but it has almost the exact same stores (Gap, J. Crew, Madewell, Anthro, Zara, H&M). Plus, you can walk over to Madison Square Park after and get Shake Shack and people watch.

11. Hang in Central Park.

    You already knew this, but it really doesn’t disappoint. Spread out a blanket in Sheep Meadow, bring some bagels from Ess a Bagel/Brooklyn Bagel Cafe/Murray’s/Zucker’s, sneak in some wine, and sit and watch the world go by.

12. Walk on the High Line to the Whitney or the Vessel/Hudson Yards.

    I know, I know, I said these weren’t touristy ideas, but I low-key love the High Line when it isn’t wall-to-wall people. I like sitting on one of the lounge chair thingies or walking from one end to the other; it’s just a great, scenic activity. Chelsea Market is also a really great place to stop along the way (go to Cull and Pistol and get anything with seafood).

13. See a Broadway show.

    But if you want to get cheap tickets, go to the TKTS line in Lincoln Center or South Street Seaport (not Times Square). The TodayTix app and Stubhub are also faves for getting last-minute discounts. [Rachel’s note: Every season, I just wait for Terri to tell me which show to take my mom to and her rec is always correct. My mom loved Something Rotten and The Prom. On her next visit, we’re seeing Derren Brown’s Secret.]

14. Take a ferry ride!

    You can do the whole shebang and on a proper Circle Line tour, or you can pay $2.75 and take the NYC Ferry. (Either to go to a destination or just to be on a boat for a bit — it’s very nice up top.)

15. Check out Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty.

    Again, this is kind of an obvious one, but worth mentioning. (The ticket includes both locations). If you want to save money, the Staten Island Ferry is free, and offers great views of the Statue of Liberty as you sail by. 

16. And take in the botanical gardens.

    Pick with either the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx, or the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. They’re lovely when the cherry blossoms are in bloom, and NYBG does some awesome exhibits like the Chihuly installation, but you can’t go wrong with either. I am freaky for botanical gardens!!!!

Thanks, Terri! By the way, here are my personal recs for moms (or really any out of town visitors): Brooklyn Flea; The New York Transit Museum (which was originally a Terri rec); the Staten Island Ferry; shopping at Flying Tiger, Fishs Eddy, and Books Are Magic; walking the Brooklyn Bridge; brunch at Miriam; and any food hall type places (like Smorgasburg, Chelsea Market, or City Point). I also recommend just hosting a house party/inviting your friends to come over to hang out/eat/drink/play games with you and your mom. —RWM ✨

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Extremely good shit: McLeod Farms peaches

As you may know, I’m not a fan of summer. But one way I’ve been making it more bearable in recent years is by ordering a box of peaches from McLeod Farms, a South Carolina operation that came on my radar several years ago when I lived in Houston.

These peaches are awesome in the dictionary-definition sense of the word. So juicy, so fragrant, so special. Every bit of them detaches from the pit so easily and cleanly, it’s genuinely remarkable. Getting a box of them delivered has become one of the highlights of my summer.

But you don’t have to take my word for it! Here are some of the things my friends have had to say about them:

“This is truly the best peach I’ve ever eaten.”

“I should have eaten that in the bathtub.”

“That was obscene.”

“I should not have eaten that in public.” (I heard this more than once!)

The peaches go on sale every year in the late spring. They are sold by the box; you can either buy a box of 14 (for $48) or a box of 28 (for $78), and when you order, you select the week you want them delivered. (They ship in June, July, and August. Also, shipping to NYC is free, but I’m not sure if that’s the case everywhere.)

These peaches aren’t cheap, which is, for me, part of what makes them so special; I make a point to really savor them (I always try to enjoy at least one while sitting outside), and to share them with friends who will appreciate them.

Oprah once said* something to the effect of “you can find God in a perfectly ripe tomato,” and I think about this whenever I eat one of these peaches. (And, yes, then I obviously have a minor existential crisis about climate change and my own mortality. It happens at the beach, too! Summer is great!!!) They are just…sublime.

*I am fairly certain it was on the final page of an issue of O Magazine that I read like a decade ago, but I have never been able to track down the exact quote, so this could be entirely made-up!!! But if Oprah didn’t say it, then I will: You can find God in a perfectly ripe summer fruit. ✨

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