When we were in Los Angeles in November my friend Emily took us to Moon Juice, Amanda Chantal Bacon’s deathstar. The excursion was kind of a joke and kind of not. Emily knew how much I loved reading about Amanda Chantal Bacon (see: this, this, this, this, this, this).

I think there are multiple Moon Juices, but the one Emily took us to was in a strip mall. I wasn’t expecting that. In retrospect I don’t know what I was expecting, but Moon Juice is basically just a juice store in a strip mall, which we have in Chicago. But because this was Amanda Chantal Bacon’s strip mall juice store I felt like I was a part of something bigger than me.

The woman behind the counter had very beautiful skin and hair. Like she was made of better materials than what was available when they made me—or else this Moon Juice stuff really works! She seemed normal and was friendly. Not too friendly. I’d call it appropriately friendly. We took a really long time to order because I was overwhelmed by the options. I’d never seen so much stuff that had been activated. And you just know how much better things are when they are activated, you can seriously feel it. I found myself reading a lot of labels because they promised me a lot and I love promises. I learned that sugar is an allergen. read more+++

Astier de Villatte’s Snoopy

One of my favorite ceramics companies honoring the greatest comic strip of all-time.

Amaro Angeleno

We spent a good chunk of November in California visiting friends and family and came home with a bottle of this citrusy amaro. Perfect in a spritz, which we served for Thanksgiving this year(prosecco, citrus juice, amaro—cold!).

Rachel Gropper Mobile from Field & Florist

My friends Heidi and Molly opened the coolest shop in Chicago this year. Their main racket is growing the best flowers in southwest Michigan, where they have a farm. But this summer they opened a shop where you can get both their flowers as well as the most perfectly curated selection of gifts. They sell my favorite Hasami porcelain and these super rad mobiles from Chicago’s own Rachel Gropper.

Trust Women Patch

100% of proceeds go to Planned Parenthood. Because fuck this shit.

Postalco Wallet

Because my last wallet lasted me 14 years, I felt like I could spend a lot of dough on a new one. After months of research, I decided on this beauty from Postalco. I love it. It feels good in the hand and has all of the compartments I want. Also, Gen X green.

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

I read a lot of good books this year but looking back this was the book that really stuck with me. Saunders long ago established himself as a genius and this really confirmed his place as one of America’s great writers and thinkers. Heady and hearty.  read more+++

Halloween is so fun and stupid. This weekend we spent like an hour in the Halloween section of Target and I never wanted to leave. Every animatronic monster and fake-elegant-goth serving bowl called to me. Bryan and I are very interested in someday hosting a fancy AND scary Halloween dinner party. We talk about it a lot, but still haven’t made it materialize. Maybe next year. We do know what cocktail we will serve. read more+++

When we moved to Oak Park seven years ago, it was not a town with a thriving restaurant scene. We have a bunch of restaurants that are fine, but I am never really excited to eat at any of them. It bummed me out. When someone visits from out of town, we almost always leave Oak Park to eat. Seven years later things are basically the same—this isn’t a redemption story—but there is one very important exception. Last autumn, sisters Meg and Molly Svec opened Spilt Milk Pastry, a tiny storefront bakery near the center of town, and just a couple of blocks from our house. read more+++

I keep thinking about my long-standing feud with Madonna. It began in 1993.

The previous year Sinead O’Connor (one of the most underrated musicians of all time) performed on Saturday Night Live as the musical guest. At the end of a moving cover of War by Bob Marley, she famously held up a picture of Pope John Paul II, tore it into pieces, looked into the camera and commanded: Fight the real enemy. It was, as you can imagine, controversial. It was also, for teenage me, the best thing I had ever seen. O’Connor used her platform to call attention to the sexual abuse rampant in the Catholic church and covered-up by its leaders, though few people understood that at the time. read more+++

Dorie Greenspan posted a recipe for raspberry and rose sablés in her Times magazine column recently. They are absolute perfection and you should make them tout de suite.

But then you should also spend some time LOL’ing about the people who comment on New York Times recipes. This round many of the comments center around people being exasperated that they are not familiar with some of the ingredients. Whenever I don’t know about something, I definitely lash out at people who do. Of course!

Luckily, a hero arrives to say:

To other readers: clearly you go online to post a question here. Why not just google terms like “sanding sugar, ” ” dried raspberries,” “rose extract.” You can get an immediate answer!

DUH.

Although props to the person who retorted: Because we crave human contact.

But seriously, these comments: read more+++

Spinning J, a bakery and cafe in Chicago’s beautiful Humboldt Park neighborhood, is located down the street from The Chicago High School for the Arts. At the beginning and end of the school day, Spinning J serves as 60622’s Peach Pit and is full of fresh-faced teens sharing pastries and milk shakes. I love these kids and I wish I had a place that cool to hang out in when I was in school. And they make me love Spinning J more, because they prove it to be a place that is comfortable and fun for the truly diverse group of patrons who walk through the door each day. Old curmudgeons like me, future stars of Disney musicals, millennials, neighbors, foodies—we all love Spinning J.

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Are Instagram posts the new food blogs? Ever since Elisabeth Prueitt started posting recipes as captions to her Instagram posts, I find myself getting more and more kitchen ideas from Instagram. I even posted the recipe for my favorite galette filling there. Am I a Millennial now?

Recently, Jessica Koslow posted a recipe for something she called Millet-nola (groan). It was a puffed millet granola. I can’t really explain why I was so fixated on it. In part, it was her enthusiasm. I am also going through a Granola Phase. A Granola Phase being a period of time in which I keep experimenting with granola recipes in an effort to perfect mine. One of the things I have learned is that adding puffed grains really improves a granola. Also, maybe cinnamon is not a good idea? So this recipe kind of lined up with what I have been thinking about. And you know I have strong feelings about Koslow. read more+++

• Marshmallow Crispy (Perfection)
• Yellow Birthday Cake
• Cinnamon Bun
• Dunkin’ Donuts Mocha (These taste exactly like those sugar wafer cookies that come in packages of Strawberry/Vanilla/Chocolate)
• Choco Chip
• Peeps
• Fruity Crisp
• Waffles and Syrup (Impressive flavor engineering!)
• Coconut Thins
• Cookies and Cream
• Red Velvet
• Salted Caramel Thins
• Key Lime Pie
• Pumpkin Spice
• Jelly Donut (I am still confused by this one—it doesn’t taste like jelly or a donut)
• Blueberry Pie (Fruit flavors are always the least successful)
• Firework (This is so low on list mostly because it was such a dumb idea)
• Caramel Apple (Is there anything worse than artificial apple flavor?)
• Swedish Fish (Absolutely vile)

*I know some are missing, these are just the ones I tried and can remember. Who can keep up?!

We don’t have the dough for a big vacation this summer, so we’re spending time doing what we love: exploring the Midwest.

We just got back from a long weekend in Galena, Illinois and Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Both towns are in the Driftless region of the Midwest, an area (primarily Wisconsin, though it also includes a bit of Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota) that is known for its natural beauty and unique topography. The landscape  is a result of it having been untouched by glaciers when they were last moving over much of the rest of the region. The material (silt, sand, gravel, boulders) that glaciers leave behind is called drift, so the region is driftless.

Despite having spent almost all of my life in the Midwest, I had never been to this particular corner of it and was overwhelmed by how beautiful it is. A rolling agrarian landscape dotted with farmhouses and cows and sheep. Ridges and river valleys. It reminded me of central England, and at times even of Iceland.

We started our adventure in Galena, a 19th century (former) port town that has been beautifully preserved. At one time the Galena surpassed Chicago in population and importance, but now the river that once brought steamboats and trade to Galena is reduced to a stream. The former glory of the city is evident everywhere, and in fact the town seems to be experiencing a bit of a new kind of glory. The charming curved main street that followed the form of the river has now been turned over to tourists, which means it is mostly fudge shops and places that sell flavored olive oil or hand-painted signs that say “Live, Laugh, Love” or something. Businesses seem to be booming judging from the lack of vacant storefronts on main street. I might not go to Galena for the shopping, but the beauty of its natural landscape and well-preserved architecture has me eager to return.

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