38. Dinner party menus & spa destinations
Americans don't know how saunas work but we're rapidly building bathhouses anyway.
Today’s letter includes: $9 concert tickets (if you can handle the journey), a very concerning startup office poster, $1 ice cream from the world's biggest chain, and why your streaming bills are about to sting.
Hi friends.
We spent the last week skiing but before we left I was in dinner party mode.
On New Years Eve I did a full Ina Garten line up. Butternut squash and apple soup with homemade yeast bread. A bomb vegetable pot pie; this was exciting because I love chicken pot pie and would often cheat on my vegetarianism to have it, but now I don’t have to. To end, the somewhat viral brownie pudding.
The following week, I served Lacinato Kale two ways: A kale pesto and butternut squash pasta from NYT cooking and a kale and McIntosh apple salad with Green Goddess dressing. I’ve discovered the easiest dessert - a croissant sliced in half, toasted and vanilla ice cream in the middle. Croissant ice cream sandwich!
This lentil and leftover pasta is next on my list. I love pasta and I love lentils but TBH I never thought of putting them together and now Clare de Boer has given me permission and a map to do so.
A friend who is a Pastry Cook at Blue Hill at Stone Barns graciously allowed us ‘olds’ to peruse her dating app matches with her. Most likely because professional cooks don’t exactly have an abundance of free time, she had never heard of Othership, which one such match cited on his profile as part of his “perfect day.”
Turns out her match wasn’t alone in his bathhouse obsession. Here’s a fun map I recently came across of New York’s rapidly expanding wellness scene.
If you’re interested in a complete picture of the scene, here’s a great list from High Line Co-Founder Robert Hammond, who is unsurprisingly working to bring Roman Baths to the US for Therme Group.
2026 is also the year of bathing
It’s not really trend forecasting to say that bathhouses are going to continue to pop up at the same rate that all of these members clubs have proliferated, because it’s already happening. Even Imaginary Ventures-backed Bathhouse, which has been riddled with crazy rumors that it was giving people UTIs, is expanding to Philadelphia. It will, however, be interesting to see how long it lasts.
Regular bathhouse use is common in other parts of the world, you best believe I was stark a** naked in numerous Korean bathhouses. In Oslo I went to a gorgeous floating sauna filled with Norwegians casually taking a cold plunge before they headed to work.
I’m not sure Americans can or will pick up daily bathing. This skepticism was amplified just this week when I tried to use the sauna at the ski resort and a woman who was watching her kids swim at the pool kept coming into the sauna fully clothed, wearing uggs while she scrolled on her phone. After she exited and then came back in again and didn’t close the door all the way again, my husband asked if she wouldn’t mind closing it. She responded “OK…” as if it were a crazy request. Lady… the sauna can’t stay hot if you let the cold air in! She’d never make it in Korea, the aunties would tear her apart.
Despite evidence like this, investors keep betting we’ll figure it out. Norwegian-style saunas have already landed in San Francisco (cue enjoyable, unhinged review by Chloe Fineman).
Beauty brands will come for a piece of the pie as well. QC Spa has great signature scents/products, but not everyone will want to go to the trouble of owning that revenue stream. Instead, partnerships like Montreal’s new Recess Thermal Station x Aesop will abound — they developed a 75-minute circuit with Aesop cleanses built right in. Smart move when you’re dealing with people who might not know basic sauna etiquette but definitely know luxury skincare.
But perhaps the real path to wellness is just cooking a nice meal for your friends instead of paying $70 to sit in lukewarm water with strangers who don’t know how doors work.
Rumor has it that Substack is suppressing free content. If you’d like to resist the algorithm pushing paid content only, then liking, sharing, quoting and restacking this newsletter will help! <3
Go to a show at Elsewhere for $9. I’m not going to because my love of a deal does not outweigh the schlep to Elsewhere, but if you just want a fun night out you should grab one. They’re offering limited $9 tickets for select shows - Tycho is already sold out.
Minnesota is under attack. 3,000 ICE agents are still out in full force and grabbing people opportunistically - at the store, in the hospital, in random home checks (here’s what it’s like). Many people are afraid to leave their house. If you want to help provide scared families groceries or help with rent while they can’t go to work as they try to stay safe, you can donate to fundraisers like these. If you want to donate through a more personal channel, Jessica, who was featured previously in the newsletter, has lived in Minnesota since her husband joined the Minnesota Wild and is on the ground delivering groceries and connecting with families. If you want to donate to Jessica you can get in touch with me and I’ll connect you! She will tell you exactly where your money goes.
I’m still waiting to read “I’m Glad My Mom Died.” I swear I’m next in line on Libby. I’ve heard lots of good things about this memoir from child star Jeanette McCurdy, and before I was even able to read it, she’s back with a new book titled “Half His Age.” McCurdy/her editor sure know how to craft a scandalous title! It dropped today.
Apparently steamy romance novels are a seasonal depression hack, but if that’s not your thing, I’ll just leave this curated book list about activism here.
GAP hired a Chief Entertainment Officer “to build and scale Gap Inc.’s Fashiontainment platform across content, licensing, music, TV, film, sports, gaming, and consumer products.”
A Heated rivalry look alike contest is already happening. 2pm January 25 at Washington Square Park. I feel like it will be too cold? idk.
OpenAI will be integrated into ServiceNow. The deal was announced today.
This feels dystopian. Ozempic’s new ad campaign, "There’s Only One Ozempic," riffs on Apple’s mid-2000s "Get a Mac" ads, featuring actor Justin Long as a trendy Mac product. Long is responsible for reading off the side effects and safety information.
Startup culture is getting cringe. A VC at Kholsa Ventures posted a picture of a sad piece of printer paper showcasing the “values” of a startup in their portfolio. Scribbled at the bottom like some kind of dystopian motivational mantra was “Sleep is for the weak!” The biggest irony is that the post was to promote a job opening at said startup. Not only is that insane because science, but it must have received some backlash because the post has mysteriously been deleted.
Meanwhile! New girl boss alert. While Silicon Valley is trying to demonize sleep, Lauren Sudeyko has been gaining traction for her cheeky branding around her new “sleep strips.” She’s already built a 3,000+ person waitlist by calling her community “zombies,” coining the term “The Strip Club,” and calling her Substack “Sleep or Die.”
The 3,000-person waitlist suggests that maybe the “hustle until you drop” messaging isn’t landing the way it used to. People seem more interested in recovery than glorifying burnout.
World’s largest chain lands in NYC. Mixue (pronounced Me-shway), a Chinese chain with more than 50,000 locations worldwide, is offering $1 ice cream and sold out oolong. Say less.
The cost of streaming continues to go up. Starting in February, Spotify premium subscriptions for an individual will go from $11.99 to $12.99/month. On the TV front, we’ve officially entered their “throw stupid money at everything” phase, and your monthly subscription is going to reflect that. Netflix just locked down exclusive streaming rights to Sony Pictures movies (think Spider-Man, Bad Boys) after their theatrical runs. They’re also making a play to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s entire theatrical business.
For you, it means fewer apps to juggle when you’re trying to figure out where the hell that movie you want to watch is streaming. But it also means Netflix is about to get even more expensive as they justify these billion-dollar content deals.
Thanks for reading!