An Anchovy Onesie, Chic Spoon Rests, and More Things to Buy This Week

October 11, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

Your weekly dispatch from the ‘Add to Cart’ newsletter

This post originally appeared on October 8, 2019, in Add to Cart — the weekly newsletter for people who love shopping (almost) as much as they love eating. Subscribe now.

It can be hard to pin down what makes something cool, and even harder to explain why it may suddenly skyrocket from merely mundane to must-have stature. But my coworker Jaya Saxena does a really good job in analyzing the rising trend of Hydro Flask water bottles as a status symbol for teenage VSCO girls.

As an easily carried, publicly visible product, water bottles make sense as a conveyor of status. Add to that the vague halo of health and wellness around constant water drinking; the eco-consciousness of carrying a reusable bottle rather than a disposable one; and the fact that, at $30 or more a pop, the bottles aren’t that cheap, and you’ve got a nice little virtue signal to swing ever-so smugly from your backpack.

It’d be easy to dismiss (as most things related to teens, especially teen girls, often are), but there is something heartening about a reusable water bottle trend. When I was in high school, Nalgenes had a certain ubiquity, but mostly at camp or on hiking trips. Really, the drinking vessel to proudly brandish in your hand was a disposable Starbucks cup (which, it turns out, weren’t that easy to dispose of all along). Leave it to Gen-Z, they of the climate strikes and Greta Thunberg, to make sustainability cool.

Things to buy

• A spoon rest is one of those underrated kitchen items, ownership of which signifies true entrance into adulthood. If you don’t have one yet, these paint-splattered spoon rests by ceramicist Brooke T. Winfrey are enticing.
• For the parents in your life who are super into tinned fish these days, consider this anchovy onesie, brought to us by culinary writer Katie Parla.
• Overstock is having a major sale through October 21, which is worth sorting through if you need any kind of off-brand basics, like this stainless steel mixing bowl set.
• Another under-appreciated cooking essential: Neutrogena grapefruit-scented cleansing wipes, which one line cook says she swears by to dissolve the “invisible layer of flour” that coats her skin after a long day in the kitchen. (Skincare tips from chefs is my new favorite shopping strat.)

Things to know

• I’m extremely sad to report that Monday was the last day of Of a Kind, the blog-meets-e-comm site with beautiful products I’m constantly recommending and whose weekly newsletter, 10 Things, was an inspiration for this one. (It was acquired in 2015 by the now-floundering Bed Bath & Beyond, which decided to shut it down this month.) But! Of a Kind founders Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo have registered claireanderica.com — go there now and give them your email. Whatever they dream up next, you won’t regret being the first to know.
• Wegmans lovers, rejoice: The beloved chain is finally opening this month in NYC, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The new store will include many “restaurant food” options, its executive chef tells Eater NY, including a burger bar, a pizza station, a sushi bar with 28 different rolls plus poke bowls, and a full-on bar.
• ICYMI: The Le Creuset x Star Wars collaboration no one imagined in a million years is coming.
• Kitschy Instagram bait or delightful works of art? These Rice Krispies treats by @mister_krisp are probably both, and I can’t stop scrolling.

Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.