Inbox Stylist: Nice n' Easy
Outfits, recipes and thoughts from that liminal holiday space.
Happy New Year’s Eve. I thought I’d fire off an evening send since we’re all staying up late tonight.
I am elated by this week's latent coziness. I hope you, too, are enjoying the quiet.
We got engaged on Christmas morning, quietly, just the two of us by the fireplace, snow on the ground here in New York City.
We were supposed to head to Carmel, California, to celebrate with Kevin’s family, but our trip went cross-eyed when JetBlue screwed up our reservation. So now we have an entire week in the city to do whatever we want, even though we haven’t done much of anything except enjoy being home with our dogs. I’ve been reading and cooking a lot.
My Mom gave me Staub’s new Induction Slow Cooker for Christmas. What a joy it is to have a large appliance that isn’t a complete eyesore when it’s on the counter! I’ve been tinkering with it. Learning it has been one of a few new kitchen skills, including finally figuring out how to sharpen my knives with a honing steel properly.
The first thing I made was a from-the-hip boeuf bourguignon with leftover Barolo and whatever Fairway Market had in stock: a round chuck roast, frozen pearl onions, carrots, Kroma beef broth, and those perfect yellow potatoes from The Little Potato Company. Kevin liked it so much that he ate the leftovers for breakfast. All I did was cube and sear the meat, throw everything on top, and leave the slow cooker on high for four hours. Easy.
Citarella happened to have Kumamoto oysters yesterday, so I shucked a dozen and made a quick mignonette with shallot, chives, pepper, and Flamingo Estate yuzu persimmon vinegar, which I picked up at their pop-up in East Hampton this summer.
Kevin gave me this cute oil and salt bowl set from Il Buco Vita. I put some Flamingo olive oil and Nordur flaky salt out with crusty bread, and we had a fancy snacks-for-dinner situation with some champagne. It was pretty heavenly.
We’re saving some Osetra caviar Sophie gave me for this evening (from Quince, of all places)! She swears it’s delicious. I got some blinis and creme fraiche — we’re gonna find out. It’s Andy and Anderson tonight, followed by the great Southern New Year’s Day tradition of Hoppin’ John and collard greens tomorrow… for health and wealth, as the superstition goes. Even though we’re staying in, I will still get a little dressed and wear this fantastic look TWP sent — the sparkly collar is just festive enough.
Speaking of gifts, does anyone have a brilliant idea for this? It’s almost too pretty to eat.
Taking down the Christmas tree was cleansing. Of course, the menorah is still up, but wiping the litany of candlesticks from my mantle and replacing them with my favorite Kalin Asenov verdigris brass lamp relaxes my eyes.
Something about a phenomenal new bag (the lavender Phoebe Philo Drive bag was under the tree!!!) makes me want to upgrade everything inside to bring it up to snuff. I bought myself a new (highly analog) agenda from Metier — is there anything more promising or optimistic at the top of the new year? It will look great with a fluoro Caran d’Ache mechanical pencil (a staple taught by an old friend, Mr. Sid Mashburn).
The other night, we went to Pastis, and my friend Chris sent a DM telling me to pop over to the Gansevoort afterward. He toured us around, and much to my surprise, they’ve bundled a handful of amenities into a new membership model—a small bowling alley, a 24/7 gym/sauna, a rooftop pool, member-only bars and dining spaces, etc. If you’re looking for a pool in the summer, they’re capping membership at around 700 people (as opposed to neighboring Soho House’s roughly 7000), so you’ll probably always be able to snag a chair and lay about if that’s your thing. Add that to Chez Margaux and you have Meatpacking: the member’s district?
I’ll publish a letter of Ins and Outs, Resolutions, etc., a little later this month, but one vertical I’m resolving to bring back is Bag Spill. I’m going to resume mining cool women for their everyday carry in 2025 because I am both a snoop and an optimizer. Here’s mine, so you know where I’m going with it now:
Another work-related thing I’m putting out into the universe for 2025: I want to write an ongoing shopping column for a magazine (I miss having one, and it seems like they’re handing them out to Substack writers like candy these days).
I don’t feel like thinking very hard right now, so I’ve relied on a constant supply of trustworthy, proven items to keep me presentable and warm when we venture out to putter around the city. This week, I mostly leave the house only for dog walks, coffee (Irving Farm rocket fuel), beauty appointments (brows with Jimena! Facial sculpting with Joseph! Laser with Sofie!), and dinner in the neighborhood.
(I’m sorry if some of these items are sold out by the time you read this. Our mailing list has grown so large that we sell out really fast if there are only a few in stock when we link them, especially if they are on sale or from smaller and more bespoke brands. I’m marinating on solutions to this!)
See you in 2025! xo
A massive congrats on your engagement, Jess! Can’t wait to see what you wear. ❤️
Congratulations!