so into that #60
san francisco faves, an upcoming trip to patagonia, and a new parenting service we're loving
Hi! It’s my kids’ winter break, aka the time of year when I’m like — wait, weren’t we JUST on winter break…?! I brought my older boys to San Francisco for three nights and we’ve had a really wonderful trip — last night, Calum (age 4) told me “this was the best day of my life of all time EVER.”
We’ve eaten dumplings at Dumpling Kitchen, Chinese chicken salad and chicken okasan (aka the best chick nuggets) from Comforts, croissants at Arsicault, and Straus soft serve from absolutely everywhere. We’ve taken public transit — a novelty for my relatively-country boys — and ridden in a self-driving cab (no, I wasn't scared, they’re so mainstream here, pretty much everyone I know uses Waymo over Uber. It feels so oddly normal when you’re in it!). We’ve gone to CalAcademy and so many parks. They went to outdoor camp and art camp with their buddies and, perhaps their favorite activity of all, we’ve simply hung out at my friends Lexie and Mark’s house, where we’re staying while their family is out of town. There’s nothing more entertaining for kids than Other People’s Toys.
Have you ever home swapped?! Molly and I have talked about how we need to do this — her fam of five could stay at our house in Carmel Valley while my fam of five stays at her house in Charleston. We wouldn’t even have to pack many kids’ clothes because our boys are about the same ages/sizes!
I shared this San Francisco Google map on Instagram and asked everyone to add their fave spots. You can add yours, too! Or bookmark it for next time you’re in SF.
Huge thanks to Elsewhere for sending me (and George!) on another trip of a lifetime! This is a sponsored partnership, but I am free to share my unfiltered opinions of working with Elsewhere.
In other extremely exciting travel news, George and I embark on a bucket list trip to Patagonia next week! We worked with Elsewhere to plan the trip and itinerary, and I can’t speak more highly about the whole experience.
They remove all friction from the planning process and make it so easy to book an international trip. The itinerary is also 100% tailored to our wants and goals for the trip, our interests, and budget, and is filled with cool experiences planned by a local travel expert who knows and lives in the area.
Like on night one, we’ll be having a private three-course dinner with wine pairings in the home of a local chef, Gloria, and her wine connoisseur husband. I never would have thought to ask for that, but when they asked what we love to do and I told them I’m a professional cook, they added it to our itinerary! There will be epic hikes, a day of fly fishing, a few days on a working Chilean estancia, and time spent exploring Chile’s capital, Santiago. I can’t wait!!
Here’s our itinerary
You can see how detailed it is thanks to Ignacio, the local expert who helped plan our trip! But there’s also flexibility — they’re avail on WhatsApp at all times should we need to switch anything around or make adjustments as the trip goes on.
PS, if Elsewhere sounds familiar, that’s because I also worked with them last year when my friends Lily and Nellie and I traveled to Northern Spain and hiked the Camino de Santiago! I feel very, very lucky to have been invited to plan another trip with them.
The must-haves going in my carry on for our 10-hour flight to Chile next week
First of all, I’m typically a die hard carry-on-only gal (Tumi carry-on expandable + size large LL Bean Camo tote), but I think because of trekking gear I might have to check a bag, ugh. I know the Tumi suitcase is obscenely expensive, unfortunately it’s also completely worth it. Keep an eye out for sales. The move is to fly there with only enough to keep it completely zipped up — then you’ll have enough space for all of your shopping treasures once you fully unzip and expand the bag. Also, oldest trick in the book: save old sneakers for trips so that you can throw them away/donate them at the end and gain back the extra luggage space.
Now that airlines are packing us in like sardines with minimal legroom, my new thing is packing all of my in-flight must-haves in a zippy bag, and keeping only that tiny little bag plus my water bottle (children’s size Owala, obv) under my seat or tucked into the seat-back pouch. Not having my massive carry-on/personal item under the seat in front of me taking up all of the legroom is such a game changer.
Soft cushioned eye mask with built-in bluetooth headphones — I got this eye mask so that I could actually sleep in the hospital after having my second baby, and now it’s my long-flight savior. I play white noise and sleep through every plane announcement, noisy passenger, overzealous flight attendant (no, I do not want coffee, can’t you see I’m snoozing here?!), etc.
My (now-beloved by this community) $20 air pods that are more comfortable than the $200 Apple AirPods. I still pack these for long travel days for listening to Audiobooks in the airport, and on the trip while I’m on walks etc., but for longer haul flights I now use…
… these big boy noise-cancelling headphones because on my last international flight, my ears were killing me after so many hours of having ear buds in. They’re Bluetooth but also have an optional audio cable to plug into the inflight entertainment. They are so comfortable and the audio really is incredible. For my fellow WireCutter devotees, I got these because they’re their #1 pick.
These salami and provolone snackies that I get from Trader Joe’s. So nice to have a protein-heavy instead of carby snack.
I always pack the best makeup removing wipes in my carry-on because one time I got an eye infection from sleeping in mascara on a long flight to Asia and when you start a trip to Thailand with an eye infection once, you do everything in your power for that to never happen again. I remove all makeup before I sleep!
And then I put on a light coat of this mask, which doubles as a really intense moisturizer if you don’t rinse it off. It’s the BEST and smells so good.
My lips used to get so dry on flights but no more! I slather on this lip mask all throughout the flight, but especially right before I enter my white-noise-eye-mask slumber.
A catchall of things we ordered/coveted/saw/loved this week
My girlfriend was wearing this one piece on vacay in Mexico and posted a pic on her Instagram story. I asked for the link immediately and couldn’t believe it was Gap. She is a size 10 and got an XL. It looked so good on her, I wish she’d let me post the pic lol.
Idk why I was surprised because Gap is really good right now, btw! All the fashion girls are talking about it! This dress looks like Reformation but is $63! Comes in red, white, black, and some floral patterns that I’m not so sure about.
And every *fancy* women’s brand has a maxi shirt dress right now. I have this one in black and it’s just the easiest dress to wear. I sized up for a zero-clinging-to-butt fit and am glad I did. Such a great travel dress with sneaks.
Speaking of sneaks that can be worn with dresses/jeans, I recently got my first pair of celeb-fave Cariumas and I’m really into them. I got white with sand and white with black and need to return one but can't decide. I want to wear them in before our Chile trip — last time I brought brand new sneaks on a trip I wound up wearing hotel slippers around Tokyo because my blisters were too horrendous to wear an actual shoe :)
This is super niche but I know someone out there needs to hear it. I always thought that wallpaper in a full bathroom (with shower and/or bathtub) was a no-no because it would peel/mildew/generally not be good, but when I was touring my friend Gray’s home yesterday, I went ga-ga over her gorgeous wallpapered primary bathroom! Our other friend Whitney taught her that you can fiber seal it! This is a professional job — google to find someone in your area. We had all of our couches, upholstery, pillows, etc. fiber sealed when we moved back in after renovating — it allows you to make any fabric a performance fabric so that you aren't stuck choosing from solids if you have young sticky-handed kids.
Molly here: My 7-month-old son, who’s normally a pretty solid sleeper, has been struuuggling at night this week without any obvious symptoms that’d warrant a visit to the doctor’s office, so I’ve been deep in the, “is he teething? is he getting sick? is he in a leap? is he in a sleep regression? is it all four?!?!” guessing game. After Googling and Reddit thread reading my way through Monday night (I know better, but I also can’t resist when I’m up at 2 a.m. with a crying baby!), I remembered that when Caroline and I were at the What to Cook party in Brooklyn last November, we met a group of gals — Brooke, Hadley, and Saskia (all of whom are board-certified pediatricians and moms!) — who founded a company called My Pediatrician Friend (MPF) for situations like this.
With a monthly membership to MPF, you can text the docs any baby/child health-related question you’ve got, so yesterday morning I signed up and fired away all my questions/guesses as to why he’s been up wailing all night in hope of help! They got back to me within minutes with empathy, follow-up questions, and specific advice. I’ve been through enough stretches of sleepless nights with my three boys to know whatever it is will pass, but I’m also v tired and loved being able to troubleshoot the situation via text (with a medical professional, not just my mom and sister lol) to help it pass a little quicker. FYI, they also have a digital course called Prep Like a Pediatrician to help soon-to-be first-time parents know what to expect during the first few days postpartum. And, while we’re on the topic, don’t forget about Caro’s guide to being the best newborn *partner* ever!
Congrats to the winners of last week’s Aunt Fannie’s Kitchen Cleaning bundle giveaway — Catherine, Allison, and Jamie! Check your Substack DMs,
has sent you a message :) This week I want to send one of you the bluetooth sleep mask I can’t go on long airplane rides without anymore! To enter, comment on this post by next Tuesday, 2/25! Tell us about an upcoming trip you’re excited about, a bucket-list trip you wanna take one day, if you’ve ever house swapped, or the last thing you Dr. Googled at 2 a.m.
What to Cook launched in December 2020, which means there are more than 200 recipes in the archives. To help you cook through them, let’s revisit what we cooked this week over the last few years.
1. adobo pork & cauliflower rice taco bowls, 2024
I love cauliflower rice when it’s cooked right, i.e. when it’s perfectly seasoned and roasted, like we do here. In this meal we pair it with delicious adobo pork tenderloin, sweet corn, and fiber-rich black beans for an amazingly nutritious and tasty dinner (or lunch prep!).
2. hella green pasta, 2023
Hella green pasta!! I feel like I say this every week but this is truly a legendary WTC recipe. Many a child across America has eaten multiple servings of kale and spinach thanks to this recipe, which my boys call “Green Monster Pasta” and Molly’s call “Hulk Noodles.”
3. one-pot mushroom orzo carbonara, 2022
A super cozy weeknight-friendly vegetarian feast.
4. one-pot chicken tikka masala stew, 2021
We get asked often for recipes that are good for chipping away at throughout the day or prepping the night before. This is one of those! It also makes a ton of food, so is great for stocking the freezer or sharing with a friend who is sick, recently had a baby, or just needs a pick-me-up.
Last 2am Google was “is my 2.5 yo a psychopath”?
We just got back from a 3 month sabbatical trip with a pull behind trailer and 2 toddlers. It was 90 days. 24 states, 11,000 miles and we’re still married haha. So I would love to do that again sometime 🤣🤣