032924: Things that made life special this week
Easter whimsy, pistachio chocolates, creamy lemon rice, a blunt haircut, and more
Hello and welcome to Things That Made Life Special This Week, a celebration of the pursuits that add a little something extra to the everyday.
This week, I’m preparing to have visitors in town and host a little Easter brunch at our place. I love Easter foods: lamb, herbs, carrots, new potatoes, eggs, hot cross buns… it all feels so fresh and springy, especially because I’m getting the ingredients at one of our local farm shops.
My husband and I made some time to get dressed up for a weeknight dinner date at our favorite steakhouse, Grill 23, and generally this week has a feeling of lightness and optimism in the Bouet household. I hope the same is true for you!
Here are this week’s recs.
Buying: A few cute touches for the Easter table from Houses & Parties
Houses & Parties is basically the shop I wish I’d been clever enough to dream up and open myself! Rebecca Gardner appears to be guided by the principles of whimsy and humor, which I love; neither a house nor a party should take itself seriously! I won’t share exactly what I bought so I don’t spoil the surprises for our guests who are reading this, but browse her Easter selection for some inspiration, and maybe snag a few bits for next year.
Listening: “How do we survive the media apocalypse?” on Search Engine podcast
I found this to be a really helpful conversation about the push-pull between journalism and profit. They discuss something that had somehow never occurred to me: that some of the most important stories (take war reporting for example) are both highly expensive and highly unprofitable for a news outlet. I mean, no brand wants to be the official sponsor of a genocide story or a city hall scandal. So the rest of what gets published has to pay for those stories, and that’s a very tough position for traditional media in the age of the internet. They also talk about subscription fatigue, competing with streaming services, and other challenges of any kind of written content publishing today—including touching on Substack’s role.
I know how real subscription fatigue is in my own life, so especially if you’re a paying subscriber, I want to sincerely thank you for supporting my work! I know you have many options. :)
Eating: Italian pistachio chocolates
I stopped into Eataly for a few ingredients for our party, and couldn’t resist leaving with a small bag of these—won’t they look pretty in a bowl?
Reading: Tina Brown’s NYT opinion piece on the Katespiracy spiral
I didn’t share anything during the weeks the internet lost its collective mind about where the Princess of Wales is, not because I’m better than everyone else and don’t occasionally dabble in some light speculation, but because I suspected her absence was due to the simplest explanation: recovering from major surgery, like she told us. I was very sorry to hear it’s worse than that.
I’m a fan of Kate. She’s a wonder of a human being, always seeming to wear the burdens and pressures of her life lightly, until now. It appears that her PR team, and possibly William, have seriously let her down by mismanaging communications and making a woman with cancer fall on her sword in front of a global audience for a photoshop mishap. On Mother’s Day! Honestly.
Anyway, longtime royal reporter (and royalist, it should be said) Tina Brown had some thoughts that sum up the young royals’ predicament very well, in my opinion.
Making: Creamy lemon rice
Salmon and creamy lemon rice was my favorite dinner growing up. I wasn’t able to track down the exact recipe my parents use, but this one is pretty darn close. Sub the heavy cream for half and half or whole milk for a lighter dish. (But the cream is worth it!)
I’ve always only eaten this rice with salmon because they’re linked in my subconscious, but I think it would also be lovely alongside a lemony chicken, maybe with a Greek salad.
Doing: Getting a blunt haircut
I’ve worn my hair with long layers for years and at the end of the winter it was feeling shaggy and shapeless. I went to the hairdresser’s this week and told him I wanted to do a sort of “layers reset” by cutting it blunt at the length of the shortest layer. He angled it slightly at the front to soften around the face, but it’s otherwise all one length. Reader, I love it. What I meant to be a temporary layers cleanse has turned into my favorite haircut I’ve ever had. I’m keeping it!
Join me in the open recommendations thread on Substack Chat, where I’d love to hear what’s making your life special this week. Here’s how to download the app if you don’t already have it.
xx Jane
Speaking as someone who has worn a blunt haircut, a/k/a a bluntcut, for more years than I care to mention, I'm obviously a big fan.