January Ease

holy grail noodles + what else I'm enjoying in the first month

Jan 25, 2024

Hello. How is your January going? Have you been cozied up reading? Or out enjoying the ❄️🌨️? It has been a mix of both around here with snow falling to a backdrop of words on cream colored pages and bright kindle screens. I am an equal opportunist when it comes to reading. I want to turn crisp pages in actual books. I also like my kindle. I want to get outside, experience a little discomfort from the cold, and still enjoy myself in the process. Typically this means skiing but neighborhood walks and shoveling snow counts too.

📚☑️ READ

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune. This was her debut novel (2022) and it is decidedly a tug at your heartstrings coming-of-age story. Persephone (Percy) Frasier spends the summers at her families lakefront cottage outside Toronto, Canada. Brothers Sam and Charlie Florek live next door; Percy and Sam are best friends from the jump. Reading this feels like watching from the corner of the room while an innocent, angsty, tender and passionate love story unfolds. (I cried! More than once. She’s good.) Alas, there is a twist (let me know if you figure it out beforehand!)

Last summer I read Meet Me At The Lake. In the beginning few chapters I wasn’t sure if ESA would be as good but I was wrong. It definitely delivers.

🍜🍽️☕ EAT+DRINK

I recently spent the day working in Downtown Boston. In the morning I worked at One Financial Center which is a chic and calmly decorated atrium space. I am full-time remote but I will once-in-awhile commute into the city to reconnect après work with co-workers.

I treated myself to a holy grail lunch at Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Café where excessively long and wide, supremely chewy, hand pulled Biang Biang noodles are the star. The #4 serves them doused in a garlic and chili paste, immersed in sesame oil, generously spiced with chili powder, and accented with scallions and cilantro. Back in the day I said: Eating here kind of feels like you are part of a secret lunch club. It still gives off that same dive-y noodle bar energy in 2024.

I spent the afternoon working at George Howell Coffee which has long been one of my favorite coffee shops in the city.

A Boston DTX day + an Orange Line T ride to Assembly Row evening, where I got to actually see in person some of the people I get through the day with did wonders for my otherwise suburban existence!

🎧LISTEN/🎙️PODCAST

Content People by

Meredith Farley

— I loved the interview with Marisa Meltzer (best-selling author of a favorite 2023 read: Glossy!) Then the episode where Meredith chats with

Jessica DeFino

subsequently opened up a new world of what happens over on The Unpublishable….

🌏✈️TRAVEL INSPIRATION

This husband wife duo extraordinaire. You never know where in the world Drew + Nicky will pop up. What they share tells a vibrant and exciting travel story. Most recently they were in Cambodia and Vietnam. I want to take that trip!

Explore with Natasha shares gorgeous photos + thorough travel tips. I especially lusted over her solo backpacking Tour du Mont Blanc adventure.

Substack Travelers I’m enjoying: //

Chris Arnade

Jessica Baltzersen

❔✔️I have been getting a lot of questions and comments on the Golden Glow Eye Patches. I first mentioned them in my post What Stuck with me in 2023.

Do you have to lie down when using them? (as the package instructs you to) — no. definitely not. I’ll wear them in the morning when I am making school lunches and packing backpacks!
Do you have to wear them in the morning? — also no! That is just my preference. I like kicking off the day with de-puffed eyes.
Do you have to put them in the refrigerator, I’ll totally forget about them if they are not on my bathroom counter with the rest of my beauty products? — fair point. You don’t have to refrigerate them! I like them better cold. I might remember to grab them when I am taking the milk out for my coffee!
Thoughts on the red eye patches? How do you like them? They have caffeine in them! I have tried them! So it seems they have better anti ageing / targeted ingredients vs. the gold. Not only do they have caffeine, they have hyaluronic acid and niacinamide. Something about the gold though — the individual packages ensuring they are super cold (its the coldness for me) and the thickness. They feel substantial and ultra soothing.

I never thought the little gold eye patches would be it but here we are!!

ICYMI —

Welcome to my new subscribers! today was mashup of good things but it’s different here every week. Here are two deeper dive posts if you are looking for more:

WRITE NOW

HOW DO YOU EXPERIENCE

I hope you’ve been able to ease into the first month of the year feeling confident and relaxed. On the contrary, if January just hasn’t been your month, I hope this post brings you small tokens of delight and that you’re trending in the right direction. Thank you for allowing me to pop into your inbox and I’ll see you next week!