Girlbossing...in Space!

Edition 9.

What We Talked About

• Need a great little gift for someone curious, outdoorsy, or who is generally rooting for the survival of this planet? May we suggest the National Parks Field Guides. These beautifully designed little compendiums feature three-day itineraries for making the most of parks like Yosemite, Joshua Tree, and The Grand Canyon, a rundown of their most stunning features, and reflections and writings from notable cultural figures on each majestic place. They’re largely sold out on the National Parks Service site, but you can buy them directly from Wildsam, the publisher behind them. After all, has there ever been a better time to support our national parks? Doubt it.

On Wildsam.

• It has recently come to our attention that some of our favorite books in recent years have been about women in space. (Every time we read or write that phrase, we hear it in The Muppets’ “Pigs in Space” delivery. Just us?) Pretty sure our attraction to this theme may be inspired by our desire to launch ourselves into another galaxy every time we read the news! Anyway, “In Ascension” is one stunning example that we’re pretty sure we’ve ranted about here already. And we’re also fans of the deeply human novella “To Be Taught, If Fortunate” by Becky Chambers. It’s a book about sacrifice, discovery, and other worlds—and it’s slim enough to absorb in a day.

On Bookshop.

• We’re on a little bit of a Sara Landry kick right now. The American-born, Amsterdam-based DJ is clearly having a good time. We admire it! We aspire to the same! In dark moments like the one this country continues to go through—and bring upon itself—we need to DANCE! We have her cheeky, hard-hitting “Girlboss” on repeat and would say her industrially-tinged, hard-edged techno slaps (if we said that kind of thing) but it’s more like it karate kicks you in the face.

• Have you considered a house purse? This is a habit one of us started as a kid to make our weekend TV watching more convenient. The idea is to carry a purse—or pouch, or backpack, or basket—around with you through the house so that if you need a lip gloss, nail file, phone charger, tiny pair of scissors, what have you, it’s always close at hand. None of us lives in a sprawling castle, let us assure you, but some of us are extremely organized and feel like we need easy access to tools at all times without having to walk to another room.

Where We Ate

Ètra, Melrose Hill

Ètra at night.

There’s something so casually sexy about Ètra. You enter on the side of the building on a bustling stretch of Western Avenue, and the room is dark and vibey. It’s special, but low effort. The kind of place where sharing a few pastas and salad—you have to get the chicories, which come nestled under a generous cloud of cheese—feels easy and less like a chore or a mandate. (We’d be overjoyed to never sit through another “everything is served family style and comes out as its ready and I recommend six to 77 dishes per person depending on how hungry you are” spiel ever again!) The pastas are perfectly al dente, the sauces silky and punched up with flavor, and we warn you that it will be very difficult to choose between a cocktail and a glass of wine because both lists are stellar.