Welcome to the latest edition of Food52 Founder Amanda Hesser’s weekly newsletter, Hey There, It’s Amanda, packed with food, travel, and shopping tips, Food52 doings, and other matters that catch her eye. Get inspired—sign up here for her emails.
Photo by James Ransom
We’re in full-on holiday mode.
Yesterday, César posted brand new recipes as part of his Old School Puerto Rican Holiday Feast, including Pasteles de Yuca, Pernil (a roasted pork shoulder that the entire team was happy to taste-test more than once), and Arroz con Gandules (rice with pigeon peas!).
Today, we’re launching Big Little Holiday Parties, an editorial package about how to throw an impressive holiday party with minimal effort. Not everything at the holidays has to be exhausting! Relax and enjoy. Every recipe has 5 ingredients or fewer, and we also asked partygoers and party throwers for their best low-lift hosting advice.
And, if you haven’t seen our Gift Guides, here they are.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been amassing snippets. Things I’ve learned. Things that inspire me. Things that caught my eye. Here we go!
While picking up beer at Transmitter Brewing, I asked about their Excelsior Table Beer. Rob Kolb, the co-owner, said it was a “grisette,” which I’d never heard of. “Saisons were made for farmhands, it was part of their pay,” Rob said, “and grisettes were brewed for coal miners.” Now, he said, grisettes—gently tart, low-alcohol brews—are referred to as table beer.
Photo by Amanda Hesser
I finally met Jim Rosenfield, the man behind the Brentwood, Montecito, and Marin Country Marts. He’s been a longtime business inspiration: 20 years ago, he had a dream of creating small, tightly curated shopping and food villages. Retail was on the wane. The trends were against him. But he understood that people craved community and a thoughtfully-edited shopping experience. Now, his Marts are where great brands want to be.
There’s a Birkenstock store at the Marin Country Mart, a fitting homage to the brand’s roots. While Birkenstocks were developed in Germany in the 19th century, they didn’t make their debut in America until 1966, when Margot Fraser began importing them to Marin. If she hadn’t gone to a German spa to address her back and foot issues, and become smitten with the shoes they had her wear, we might have been stuck with flip-flops forever!
If you’re in San Francisco, I recommend trying Waymo, the driverless taxi. It’s like entering a space capsule that transports you to the future. The internal audio greets you and walks you through the experience. The cars, Jaguars, are spiffy and have great interior lighting. I assumed the car would drive timidly, but it doesn’t. It feels like a confident hand is at the wheel. And it was less expensive to get home from The Morris (get the smoked duck!) than it was to go there in an Uber!
Photo by AvroKO
AvroKO, the hospitality design firm, opened Host on Howard, a lighting, hospitality furnishings, and retail space. At the launch party, I learned that in this short life, you might just consider this wowser ice cream trolley. It’s about $20k, so if it comes down to this or a car, I’m pro trolley.
I finally took an in-person yoga class with Rodney Yee after years of doing classes at home via, um…DVD. He talked a lot about life and purpose during the class and at one point he said: “Smell and taste anchor humanity.” Maybe true. Maybe not. But it’s stuck with me.
A few noteworthy vintage finds.
A Jens Quistgaard-designed Dansk carving board that gathers the juices in an elegant trough on one side of the board.
You don’t see much Drabware in this maximalist moment.
I think etched glass is ripe for a comeback. These Collins glasses were heavy and had deep, deep etchings that were so pleasing to feel in your palm when you held the glasses.
I’m not a big fan of ruffled, colorful pie plates. I like these heavy duty, almost goth, ones.
This week, I’m in Portland, Oregon, for a Schoolhouse photo shoot, and my main side goal is to get into JinJu Patisserie once and for all. I once trekked there on a Wednesday to find it closed! Who’s closed on Wednesday?! I’ll report back. In the meantime, here’s its IG feed.
Warmly,
Amanda
