Five Easy Pieces: September 27, 2024

Sep 27, 2024

Hello, my friends - and perhaps a few enemies.

I spent the better part of the week giving this newsletter a bit of a glow-up. If you steer your fine self to the homepage, you’ll see a new logo inspired by the type used at one of my favorite restaurants in London, Quo Vadis. I love this restaurant so much that I named a shirt after it for my wife’s company.

This new logo offers no improvement to the user experience, but I think you’ll agree when I say the ampersand I use is the finest in all the land.

I combed through my archives (I’m almost four years in and happy to report that I was early on the cottage cheese renaissance), giving my various posts clearer titles and making them easier to search. I’ve corraled my recipes (“Make This,”) hotel reviews (“In Residence,”) product and pantry recommendations (“Buy This,”) travel guides (“Go Here,”) style notes (“On Style,”) and my Friday link round-up (“Five Easy Pieces,”) which I am making a stronger effort to revamp.

These various categories are now called out on the main page, so you can easily view the archives of whatever might interest you.

Over the last three-and-a-half years, I’ve built a base of readers from various fields: fashion, food, travel, interiors, media, tech. I’m always combing through my new subscribers, looking at email addresses because it’s interesting, and I’m curious! I can only assume some are here for the recipes, others are here for travel intel, and some probably subscribed accidentally and can’t figure out how to stop getting my emails.

Now, you can find your way to the content that interests you and steer clear of what doesn’t. I’ve not covered much men’s style because I didn’t want to bore my female readers, but my wife insists they might be interested because they have husbands, brothers, dads, boyfriends, male friends - and those dudes need guidance sometimes!

All this organization makes me feel better about leaning into the vibe of ‘A Small & Simple Thing,’ which is basically “one man’s magazine,” with perspectives informed by a lot of different work and life experiences.

Enough rambling. We will be back to our normal schedule next week. Have a good weekend out there, stay safe, stay hydrated, and you’ll sleep better with earplugs.

On to your new edition of “Five Easy Pieces” below.

Five Easy Pieces: September 27, 2024

The Art of Taking It Slow

I was, at one point in time, a road cyclist. I’ve got all the spandex kits gathering dust in my shed, and I haven’t been out for a proper ride since I completed a Half-Ironman in 2021. There was something about the sport that I loved but also that I loathed. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but this article from The New Yorker helped me hone in on that a little more.

Even though I love competition, I think I started to feel like the road biking set was all just a bit too self-serious, and even when I was biking regularly, I always felt like an asshat in my Rapha get-up. I always felt like it was shouting for attention.

I love a leisurely bike ride - there is nothing better - and now I want a Rivendell.

Always nice to have a good knob resource.

Matilda Goad is, in general, a nice resource for nicely designed, peppy products at a nice price.

Reinventing the English Pub

We’ve been to The Pelican in Notting Hill several times (my wife, booger-free, pictured in the pub below), and I’m a big fan of how these guys are reinventing the pub by looking back. They are embracing a pub’s function as a community center, and improving the food by utilizing local farms (including their own). Not to mention the decor is pared down but still sumptuous. Their equation is working and I loved reading more about their plans.

A better slingshot: Putting this on the Christmas list for my son.

Natty Wine Bars Have Taken Over, and this is the glass they’re all using. This can all be traced back to the neo-bistros and natural wine bars of Paris, which use that same diminutive glass. I dig it - it’s a middle finger to the big fancy glassware of the steakhouse set. We’re using the same ones at The Bell.