Last week, we used a Western Mass camp drop-off as an excuse to explore the Catskills (right across the MA/NY border) and had the nicest 48-hour mini vacation. Scribnerโs Catskill Lodge was our home base and if youโre local, I canโt recommend it highly enough. (Ask about their mid-week discounts if you can swing mid-week.)
Read of the week: How Goopโs Haters Made Gwyneth Paltrow a $250 million Company. (So many amazing moments in here, Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a genius.)
One American familyโs struggle for student loan redemption.
The Promise of Vaping and the Rise of the Juul.
Since Phoebe went paleo, weโve eaten a lot of almond butter in our house. Iโm pleased to say the verdict is in for the best one out there.
Whatโs Seth Godin reading these days?
Three frozen desserts for summer: Grown-up Banana Bon-bons; Ice Cream Cake Roll; No-Bake Oreo Dessert.
Look! The Organized Home interviewed me about my favorite gadgets.
These gingery rice noodles are so on next weekโs dinner line-up.
Uh, why didnโt anyone tell me you can get Magnoliaโs Banana Pudding delivered right to your door?
The reviews for Eighth Grade are so good. (Have you seen it?) Need to wait until everyone is home from camp.
Could you make it through dinner without checking your phone? (I love this restaurantโs solution.)
Anthony Bourdainโs last interview.
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One more gratuitous pool shot from Scribnerโs. Have a great weekend everyone!
I went to dinner with two girlfriends at Serve on 2nd in Hermosa Beach, CA, last week that had a similar phone box. We loved it and talked about putting a box at our own dinner tables!! Food and wine were great too. ๐
Some of us have to stay on top of our phones for medical reasons. I have a continuous glucose monitor because I have Type 1 diabetes and my phone is the reader. I like the restaurantโs box idea but the problem is when phone shaming becomes culturally mainstream enough to force people to do this (like the articleโs example of the Fed Ex ban). My phone is a medical device and the world just doesnโt see it as one yet.
I love almond butter, and was bummed on my last grocery store trip to find Marantha now has palm oil and sugar in theirs! I remember this brand from way back when my grandma owned a health food storeโฆ on the hunt for almond butter with just almonds!
YES! YES! YES! Go see Eighth Grade with your girls!! We just saw it last night and have a 15 year old boyโฆthe discussion has not stopped!!
I love my immersion blender! I use it for soup, pesto, and mayonnaise, to chop garlic, ginger, and chilies for Indian curries. And itโs so easy to make watermelon or any other pink lemonade with an immersion blender! And smoothies!
You should make your own almond butter โ itโs SO easy and so much cheaper. Just throw some roasted almonds (I use Blue Diamond brand) in the food processor and let it do its thing. Can take 5-10 mins to smooth out but itโs so delicious. You could probably add maple syrup or vanilla flavoring but I like it plain. Store in a mason jar in the fridge. I make it once a week!
Where did you end up going to eat?? It was totally surreal to see my dadโs hometown in your Insta feed! Iโm glad the mountains were good hosts.