There are quite a few new faces here recommended from Jenny Mollen’s The Best Friend Experience, one of my favorite Substacks. I’m thrilled you’re here! Want a quick recap of what Rel’s Recs is all about? That’s here. Need a personalized rec for that hard-to-shop-for person in your life? DM me any time.
All about the ERBE
Today’s newsletter is a recap of the most glorious conversation I had with Daniela Araya, the writer and designer behind the Substack, Statement Wall. I found Daniela through her incredible post about colorful clothing (thank you, algorithm). I immediately subscribed and have been truly delighted by her newsletters. Her original insights into design and home decor make me want to be a more colorful person. And crucially, she makes it all feel so accessible. I think you’ll feel the same way too.
If you have some time while you’re folding laundry or dissociating from the world, watch the video! If not, here’s a recap with links to all the goods.
Daniela has been meal prepping this spinach and feta egg wrap recipe and snacking on Bjorn corn.
I have been obsessing over the ice cream I had from Park Slope’s Goodiez where I mixed Nutella ice cream with Oreo-Os cereal. What a stellar combination. And when I returned home and needed vegetables, I made a roasted vegetable salad with creamy pesto dressing. I drizzled the veg with olive oil and dusted with salt, then roasted in the oven at 400 degrees until nicely browned. While they were roasting, I made the pesto in my mortar and pestle (so satisfying!). I mashed herbs from the garden, including rosemary, sage, basil, parsley, and thyme, with parmesan and pine nuts. Then I added olive oil and red wine vinegar. I added some greens to the veggies, along with dried cranberries, poured in the dressing, and felt instantly revived from my travels.
We also discussed my Dinner in my Lap series, which lives on my Notes in the Substack app. If you’re there, you’ll see what I make for dinner every night. It’s never fancy or beautiful but hopefully should provide inspiration for delicious, nutritious meals — eaten on sturdy thighs in front of the TV!
Daniela mentioned A La Carte, her friend Ali’s newsletter that is eye candy in the form of monthly mood boards, shopping roundups, and interviews with cool brands and people, including her ultimate design crush Leanne Ford.
She also talked about Feeling! Magazine, which covers things like how to make your kitchen feel like your favorite restaurant, how to make birthdays feel more magical, and really cool color studies.
Finally, she mentioned What Say Christine, a friend who is “the queen of great recommendations” — I just subscribed and am very excited!
Aside from the ACOTAR books, I’ve been loving Maggie Hoffman’s The Vintage Table, especially a recent send about vintage ice cream dishes. What a luxury to eat your dessert out of a gorgeous little coup or a lovely sundae bowl. Or a banana split dish. Definitely an upgrade from straight out of a pint. (Nothing wrong with straight from the pint but, like, eat your dessert like the queen you are.)
Danielle Walsh’s Keep it Together has also been a recent favorite. In a post called No place like someone else’s home, she talks about the emotional pitfalls of looking at Zillow. And how maybe it’s not Instagram but Zillow that is keeping her from having good (low-pressure, fulfilling) gatherings. She recommends spending time in your real home with people that you love. “The more time you spend in real homes, the more grounded your sense of ‘enough’ becomes.”
I was tickled by Clare Langan’s recent post in her Substack On Cooking about herbal bouquets. What a lovely gift! She even has a video tutorial. More of this please!
Daniela is all about the little luxuries these days, which I fully support. She recently picked up these under-eye masks, a Dr. Jart+ color-correcting cream (with SPF!), and these “feeling pencils” that are embossed with tiny emojis. During the ERBE, I learned that Daniela loves pencils. So much that she has a human-sized one. You’ll have to watch the video to believe it. It’s incredible.
I showed off the gorgeous Minnie Mae clam shell that I bought for my friend as a wedding gift. (Don’t look, Maggie!) and talked about the incredible shopping experience I had with Julia Sloan when I bought this spectacular a-line gown from her eponymous brand. I also celebrated that my Chicago-hardy fig trees from The Sill are still alive and flourishing. (They’re also still on sale.)
Daniela has two weddings coming up this summer with very fun dress codes, so she is on the hunt for a dress with all the sparkles, sequins, and polka dots. Her dream dress is “giving clown in the best way.” I think she should go for it. She also has been considering a potential stripe drench for her bedroom. Perhaps this one? What is a stripe drench?? I will need to ask her.
I have been eyeing these cheeky face vessel glasses ever since I read Rebecca Firsker’s newsletter about smoothies. Why have I been chugging my smoothies out of the blender cup when I could be sipping them from a vessel far more intriguing?
I also cannot get enough of these gorgeous melamine plates that I wrote about in post about what to bring on a picnic. Finally, I’m looking to upgrade all my toilet paper roll holders to ones that are easy to slide the roll on and off. It’s worth watching our live until the end to get to our conversation about how these holders could make or break a marriage.
Thanks so much for reading along today! Tap the heart if you liked it. (That helps more people discover Rel’s Recs, too!)
Becoming a paid subscriber not only gives you access to my full archives, it also supports my work and my business — and costs less than a medium Dunkin iced every month. So what do you say? Buy me a coffee. It would mean the world.
XO,
Rel
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