The Week In Recommendations 12.11.24

It's party season and gift-giving season, baby!

This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter about cultural obsessions from your Internet BFFs Emma and Claire. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Our latest subscriber post was about the Netflix rom-com “Our Little Secret”! An episode about Ballerina Farm & the Martha Stewart doc is coming soon. Rich Text is a reader-supported project.

Claire has been reading… 📖

Not much this week! Unless you count “Who Would Win? Monstrous Mammals,” a surprisingly long anthology of picture books about who would win in pitched battles between large animals. My son brought this book home from the Scholastic Book Fair, and now we all know how thick the skin of a hippopotamus is and what the practical value is of a lion’s mane in a fight, because he insists on having it read to him almost continuously throughout the day. “Walrus vs. Elephant Seal” is a particular favorite of mine – it’s a best of three contest.

I also enjoyed Patrick Redford’s Defector blog on the Hawk Tuah crypto pump-and-dump fiasco (God, I can’t believe I understand that series of words), which takes aim at a collapsing culture in which everyone’s best hope is to get their bag some way, somehow – if not through influencing then through scamming or gambling. As a content creator who once dreamed of working in book publishing or at a magazine, I felt every word of it.

Edward Ongweso Jr’s newsletter this week about the many dimensions of AI skepticism also spoke to my anxieties as a creative, and was really illuminating for my thinking about how AI can be fake and real and shitty and terrifyingly effective all at the same time.

Emma has been reading… 📖

Y’all I’m sorry. My brain has been failing me lately, which means that I am STILL RE-READING “Iron Flame.” But I did also just start Kaliane Bradley’s “The Ministry of Time,” which I have heard raves about, so I will have something else (hopefully intelligent) to say about fiction soon.

Claire has been watching… 📺

“The Later Daters” and “The Ultimatum” season 3, as we’re gearing up for some Netflix reality show tapings. “The Later Daters” is a low-drama docuseries, which admittedly isn’t my favorite type of reality dating show — I like something structured, something competitive, something a little bit toxic — but it has some winning characters, and the relationships between the daters and their close friends or family make for even richer and more compelling TV than the dates. “The Ultimatum” is having an unfortunate “everything falls apart” season, à la “Love Is Blind” season 5, which is sapping my enthusiasm for the show. Still, I love a wild gimmick and a set-up that guarantees drama.

Emma has been watching… 📺

The new and final season of “Somebody, Somewhere.” I’ve loved this quietly powerful story of Sam’s (Bridget Everett) return to her hometown of Manhattan, Kansas since it premiered a few years ago, and this last season is just as sweet, full of longing, and sad in a deeply human way as its previous seasons. It’s truly a show that cracks your heart wide open, which is why I end up all weepy nearly every time Adam and I watch an episode before bed.

Photo Credit: HBO

Emma has been listening to… 🎧

The latest episode of Normal Gossip, in which our dear friend Kelsey McKinney hands over the reins to the new host, Rachelle Hampton! I love gossip, but I also love seeing the incredible, creative, joyful things that my friends build and put into the world. It has been so cool to witness Kelsey create something that can go beyond her, and Rachelle is the absolute coolest, so I have zero doubt that Normal Gossip will absolutely thrive in its new era.

Claire has been listening to… 🎧

Like Emma, I had so many feelings while listening to the new episode of “Normal Gossip.” I’ve fallen off podcasts before because of hosting changes — personality is everything with unscripted or host-scripted shows — so it’s obviously bittersweet when a host you love as much as we love Kelsey moves on. But the new episode, featuring Rachelle telling her first gossip story to Kelsey, was extremely good and funny and I laughed a lot throughout. (It also made me realize that so many of the podcasts I listen to and participate in really are just that meme about two dumb bitches telling each other “exaaactlyyyyy.”)

Claire has been buying… 🛍️

So many birthday and Christmas presents for our soon-to-be five-year-old: a battery-operated Brio train, a Guardian bike, a Hot Wheels racetrack, a plastic organizer tub to fill with fresh markers and gel pens, and so many Yoto cards and books. This month is killing me; seriously, move mountains to ensure you do not have a December baby. I also got a painfully cute and very high-quality sweater onesie from Hanna Andersson for the baby to wear on Christmas.

I also received some of my personal Black Friday purchases, and I have bad news – so far it’s all been great. I love my new Dyson (I vacuum almost daily now).

Even worse, I decided to try both the Quince dupe of the Dagne Dover neoprene weekender AND the Dagne Dover original, and though the Quince is a great bag, the Dagne Dover seems worth the extra cost to me. Firstly, it’s available in a significantly bigger size, which is still petite enough to qualify as a weekender bag but capacious enough for a week-long trip. I usually don’t use my duffels as a second bag for airplane travel these days; instead, I’m cramming in my toiletry bag, hairdryer, and enough clothes to last me for a week with family. Secondly, it has more interior pockets, shoe bags, etc. to make packing easy. I’d go for the XL Dagne Dover if you really want to haul everything you need for a trip in one bag, but the Quince if you’re looking for a supplement to a rolling suitcase or an overnight bag. I went with olive green in both, and now I’m tempted to keep them as a set.

Emma has been buying… 🛍️

A party dress, party tights and party accoutrements for the holiday party I throw annually at Ama Raw Bar with my friend Liv. A tradition that started on a lark post-Covid vaccination has now become a night I look forward to each and every year. There’s something so very sweet about gathering a whole lot of people you adore and admire, forcing them into a contained space together and then watching friendship magic happen. No! Better! Feeling! (Also, shout out to Moa Vodka for really turning the night up a notch, and to ZBiotics for making sure that it didn’t turn up *too* many notches.)

Also, my Black Friday purchases continued to roll in. My chocolate/espresso brown obsession has continued (so much so that I created a whole themed gift guide like an insane person, but I digress), and I am thrilled with my Quince silk maxi skirt in Hot Fudge and my silk pants from Madewell in Dark Carob. I also feel legally obligated to rave about these amazing — and very well-priced — leopard calf hair Aqua booties from Bloomingdale’s!

Claire has been making… 🧶

Sheet pan grilled cheese, my latest unoriginal innovation in getting food ready for my entire family at the same time. On cold days, I always find myself wanting to offer grilled cheese and tomato soup to my kids when we troop back in from the park at lunchtime. But then I have to stand over the stove for 20 minutes flipping sandwiches while everyone else eats without me. Enter: the sheet pan. I looked up a recipe, which advised baking them at 450 for about 10 minutes, flipping after six. DO NOT make the mistake I initially made of putting them on a cold pan lined with parchment paper. They need to crisp up on hot metal to get that trademark grilled-cheese char. Now I preheat the sheet pan with the oven, then put the mayo-slathered sandwiches on when it’s hot enough to sizzle. They’re all done at the same time, and they’re fairly indistinguishable from a pan-fried sandwich. We usually just throw in a bunch of cheddar, but you can do a blend of cheeses, a bit of jam or sliced apple, deli meat, or any upgrades you wish. Perfect for dipping in tomato soup.

Emma has been making… 🧶

Papaya breakfast bowls! Adam was recently in San Juan for a few days, and went to our favorite cafe, Regina — if you’re ever in Puerto Rico, I highly recommend popping in — for breakfast. When he returned to the mainland, he kept raving about their breakfast bowl, which included granola, nut butter, papaya chunks, and queso fresco. So obviously now our fruit bowl is full of ripening papayas.

Photo Credit: Cafe Regina PR / the kind waiter at Vinegar Hill House

I also made… the trip to my front door to retrieve a Santa Fe BK breakfast burrito (a truly elite hangover food) from my dear friends Kate and Tim the morning after my bachelorette dinner. Did I go a little — or a lot — too hard? Did I stay in bed until 4 p.m. on Saturday? Absolutely. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. A 10/10 night, no notes. (Shout out to best buds Liv and Katelyn for planning it.)

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