Rose-Printed Glasses, a Hefty Butter Knife, and More Things to Buy This Week

October 03, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

Your weekly dispatch from the ‘Add to Cart’ newsletter

This post originally appeared on October 2, 2019, in “Add to Cart” — the weekly newsletter for people who love shopping (almost) as much as they love eating. Subscribe now.

Happy new year!

At least from me and my family, who just celebrated Rosh Hashana on Monday and Tuesday. That’s why this week’s Add to Cart comes to you on a Wednesday: Part of my observance of the Jewish new year includes being fully offline and unplugged from technology, which means no newsletter writing, but many opportunities to connect with those around me, face to face.

On Rosh Hashana, as with so many holidays of all faiths, much of that connection takes place over the dinner table. This year, that served as a pleasant reminder of how much of the best advice and recommendations around dining, cooking, and serving food come from simply eating with others, especially in a home that’s not your own. I found myself explaining sous vides (and recommending the Anova) to more than a few older folks, while pestering my mom for the recipe for the one-pot baharat chicken she made (and silently plotting which Dutch oven or pot I’d use for it when I got home). Moving around my parents’ (much bigger, suburban) kitchen had me noticing which products my own kitchen might be missing, while also realizing how working in a smaller kitchen has made me scrappier with my food prep.

In any event, some time away to recharge and reconnect can spark culinary inspiration (and expand your shopping wish list…).

Things to buy

• Perhaps in preparation for all the home-cooked food, I actually dined out a lot last week, including at happy hour at new-ish natural wine bar L’Accolade. The wine was great, but what caught my eye was the Sergio Herman butter knife, a weighty piece of sleek design that really upped the cheese-plate game.
• Now that we live in a world in which premade cocktails may be actually be worth drinking, my Eater coworkers vouch for Wandering Barman’s bottled cocktails — “super light and drinkable” — which you can find at liquor stores, but also IRL at spots like Roberta’s in Brooklyn.
• Safta, Alon Shaya’s Israeli-ish restaurant in Denver, is now selling the rose glasses it uses in the restaurant. Adapted from a painting done by Shaya’s grandmother, the floral design has a quaint vintage feel, while the stripes make it feel fresh.
• If French Girl Rose Sea Soak bath salts are good enough for a pastry chef who spends all day on her feet, hunched over dishes, they’re good enough for me.

Things to know

• Amazon’s new “smart oven” has Instant Pot vibes (it’s also an air fryer, a convection oven, and a “food warmer” all in one) — but the Alexa connectivity sounds rather useless.
• Food52, the recipes-and-ecomm site whose products I link to often in this newsletter, just got a big business boost in the form of an $83 million investment.
• There are many reasons to hit up Eataly, but one that has recently been brought to my attention: the shopping bags. The big, brown paper ones (at least at certain locations) are, to quote an Eater colleague of mine, “pure luxury”: large, roomy, with a slightly angled shape and tapered sides for minimal bulk and easy carrying. It’s a shape so thoughtfully constructed that you want to save it for repeat use. (What, does no one else have a stash of extra-nice paper shopping bags in their home?)
• Not sure if I want these made-up seasonal flavors of White Claw to be real or not.

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.