10 Things We're Doing Besides Giving Away $500 worth of Dinner-Party Goodness

Jul 8

erica’s things

Diving into the history of the American home from 1900 on. Should we bring back sleeping porches?
Double-tapping @withthelocals, which serves up insider-y tips to a new city each week from somebody who really knows it. Bonus: bunches of under-represented American locales get love (Sacramento! Rochester! Omaha!).
Gifting my dad this thermometer, which seems ideal for anyone whose heart swells in the presence of a grill and an iPhone.
Reminiscing about some good times with Samantha Parkington: This deep-dive into the world of American Girl dolls by Julia Rubin is everything I hoped it would be. And maybe more.
Settling on an ideal trifecta of NYC hotel lobby bars—with, very importantly, good snacks—for meetings around town: The Marlton in Greenwich Village (beet chips!), Martha Washington in Midtown (risotto croquettes!), and Smyth in Tribeca (free olives and nuts and chips...that they'll refill if you ask real nice).

Tearing through the fascinating socio-political tale of how and why Korea is hell-bent on becoming a international pop-culture powerhouse in The Birth of Korean Cool.
Refusing to leave a dinner party last weekend until the hostess handed over the recipe for this ooey-gooey (and somehow gluten-free) banana, peanut-butter, chocolate situation.
Finding myself unable to stop watching the seriously soapy Unreal. A fictionalized behind-the-scenes account of what it’s like to be a producer on The Bachelor—what’s not to love/hate?
Tipping my hat to Glynnis MacNicol for making one of the most compelling arguments for the selfie I’ve read in awhile—a feminist evolution of Jenna Wortham’s 2013 musings on the topic.
Keeping my Japanophilia alive and kicking thanks to @tokyofoodfile, which is basically an Instagram education in what’s happening in the world of Japanese food.