Best of the Summer, So Far

Just for fun: a few things that have made my summer a little brighter.

Everlane Weekender Bag

I love a good traveling bag: my Tom Bihn Aeronaut and I have been together for about 50,000 miles and it’s gotten me through everything from three weeks in Europe to quick business trips across the border without a single hitch or complaint - seriously, if you’re in the market for the perfect carry-on, that’s the one, and if you travel a lot the price is fantastic ($240).  (Apologies to the many people who have been collared and assaulted by my love for this bag.)

But sometimes you need something a little smaller and jauntier. I got the Weekender from Everlane and it is just the ticket. We’ve been on several road trips together in the last two weeks and I couldn’t be happier. Plus, it’s a good price ($95) and a sturdy, stylish, roomy bag.

Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

I just finished another big batch of this, which is what made me think of it. I’ve been making it off and on for years but just started making it in massive batches and keeping it in a slimline fridge jug I got from the Container Store for ten bucks. Doing it this way saves a bunch of money - we don’t go through it nearly as quickly as usually (Tom and I can easily drink a pound of coffee beans in a week) and it saves from having to do any prep in the morning. It’s also far less acidic than hot-brewed coffee and much better on your tummy. Plus, obviously iced coffee is key this time of year.

I used a couple of different recipes and cobbled this one together as a hybrid of, I think, a New York Times recipe and a recipe that I found on Pinterest (I think from Pioneer Woman?). It’s a little labor intensive because it’s such a big batch, but it lasts a month. (To make a small batch in a mason jar, do 1/3 c grounds and 2 c water.)

Anyhow, here’s what I do:

- Grind one pound of coffee beans. (You can start with a pound of grounds, obviously.)

- Put it in a big ol’ stock pot or a giant container and add two gallons of water. Stir it up.

- Cover it and let it sit overnight or at least eight hours. (My last batch sat for about 24.) It’s okay at room temp. This will make SUPER concentrated coffee that will sort of burn your eyeballs with the caffeine when you take the top off.

- When you’re ready, put a couple of paper towels in a fine-mesh strainer and carefully pour the concentrate through. The paper towels help catch the fine grounds. You can use cheesecloth, too, but I never have cheesecloth.

- Put it in the fridge somehow - I like my slimline jug.

- Now when you want coffee, fill your glass halfway with the concentrate and the rest of the way with water, milk, or whatever you want. I drink mine black but I suspect there’s all kinds of interesting things you can do with condensed milk or maybe even coconut milk. You can add ice, too. I’m told you can also heat this in the microwave if you want hot coffee.

Voila. We love this stuff.

Monocle

This is, admittedly a pretentious and expensive and sort of over the top magazine (its name is Monocle, after all), but it’s so fun and curated and full of random things I’d never read about otherwise, like music venues in Copenhagen. It’s also a lovely artifact to hold in your hand. There’s so much content that it takes pretty much the whole month to read it. And it is providing me with a good model for a project I’m working on.

Green Lemonade Juice Stuff

I bought a super cheap juicer ($50) a couple of months ago and finally settled on this recipe, which Tom happily drinks, because it tastes just like lemonade. This makes enough for the two of us to have eight ounces or so every morning for four days. I keep it in a pitcher in the fridge. It’s about $8-10 for the ingredients, so when you compare that to other juices and drinks, that seems pretty reasonable, and it helps ensure we get our greens. And it’s so yummy that I’d drink it all the time if it wasn’t sort of time consuming to wash my juicer every day.

Here’s what goes in it:

- Four green apples

- Four cucumbers

- A huge bunch of kale

- A bunch of basil

- A lemon

Wash it all and chop it up (but not too small, since you’re, well, juicing it). Juice it. You’ll have to stir it before you drink it every morning. Yum. 

You can also add parsley, limes, ginger, whatever. You could add beets and carrots and things, but it might start turning odd colors.

Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins

I read this on vacation last week in about two days. I am not easily impressed by novels, but I can’t remember the last time my breath was actually taken away by a final chapter. The lauds about this book are true. When I closed it I instantly picked up my phone and ordered his earlier novel, Financial Lives of the Poets.

Josie Maran’s Argan Oil Stick

I have a small addiction to cream-based color, but this stuff smells amazing and feels so nice going on and you can put it on your lips, too. I don’t usually go in for “it’s all you need!” … but it’s kind of all you need. 

What would you add?