Issue #206: 42 Things I'd Recommend Passionately to Anyone Who Will Listen

If I had to pick just one thing...

📚 The Extinction Capital of the World by Mariah Rigg: I didn’t know Hawaii’s dystopian nickname as the “extinction capital of the world,” named for the extreme loss of biodiversity from climate change, until reading Rigg’s collection of short stories. In it, she straddles this tender place between beauty and loss, at the micro and macro level. You can read two stories from it, “Target Island” and “The All of It,” online!

📺 “Chief of War” on Apple TV+: Another love letter to Hawaii and its complicated not-so-distant past, Honolulu-born Jason Momoa stars in this series he wrote and created about the late 18th century, when each Hawaiian island—then separate kingdoms—united under one king as more Europeans and Americans kept arriving and destroying much of the culture and natural resources.

🥬 One-Pan Summer Vegetables and Cod with Lemony Harissa: Last week, I had more zucchinis and eggplant than I knew what to do with, so I turned them into a ratatouille-adjacent blend, cooked in Moroccan spices like harissa and sumac with steamed cod. The whole thing takes about 30 minutes to make and is delicious.

P.S. Our August Book Club pick is Culpability by Bruce Holsinger, which looks like such a juicy exploration of the ethical consequences of AI. I’m excited to chat about it with you all! Details and date coming soon. x

At a coffee shop in San Francisco this weekend, I saw a woman wearing a quarter-zip with embroidered flowers over a white tee and vintage jeans. She looked so cute that, once I got my matcha, I asked her where it was from and learned that her closet is full of similar knits from Sandro that she buys from a vintage store down the street.

It’s the kind of interaction I have all the time—asking a stranger about their lip color, polling women at yoga on their favorite mat—left over from my lifestyle editorial days, when I had to be constantly gathering product recommendations. But I’m also an extremely fastidious purchaser in my own life, doing tons of research on materials and ingredients and trying different options before I ever recommend anything to you. This week, I’ve gathered 42 obsessively vetted recommendations if I was buying “just one thing” in each category, to share my absolute favorite clothing essentials, skincare, home goods, and even wellness practice. As always, they’re completely free of affiliate links or sponsors—just genuine recs I’ve personally purchased and love, like:

• The no-slip yoga mat I love so much, I bought two

• A home workout I’m excited to wake up for every day

• The sweater I could easily abandon all other sweaters for

• $12 towels I prefer to Parachute Home’s

• My favorite daily wellness practice… let’s get to it! x