Things That I Find: 016

Back and better in September / End of Summer Recap

Hello! Did you miss me? I missed you!

This is the first year of my adult (probably whole) life that I’ve really looked forward to the fall, to things slowing down a bit. If you can’t imagine by my absence, this summer was not one big vacation in Italy and 50,000 of the juiciest farm fresh vegetables coming out of my ass. Sure, I did plenty of fun things, some of which I’ll talk about, but a lot of my time was spent trying to numb my brain from the impending doom and aftermath of abdominal surgery. A lot of that time I spent watching the dumbest people on the internet doing or talking about the most mind-numbing things in spurts of 15 seconds to 3 minutes.

With climate change and the inflation economy and the trickle-down of it all, this summer felt more chaotic than anything. Truthfully, friend, I’m feeling less inspired by the world than I ever have. I can’t help but cringe at literally every single thing I see on the internet and more and more in-real-life. It’s probably a symptom of being online and in New York, but it feels like anything new I think is interesting gets ruined instantly. Everything is over before it even started.

Maybe the key to life is just being into things that are boring and/or mainstream enough that no one even knows how to react. Exhibit A: I’ve watched Seinfeld every night before bed for over a month. I like that no one wants to gossip about it, no one has a steaming hot take, no one actually cares enough to even talk to me about it when I bring it up.

But! We persist in the pursuit of the fascinating, the amusing and the mysterious.

Let’s get into it.

Some of The Best Food I Ate This Summer

1. Wagyu with braised cabbage and taleggio at Estela. Shout out to Mike and Maggie for co-piloting the insane (-ly expensive) journey that was Estela, topping our meal off with a dish that I would never typically order but am so glad to have experienced. The funky-fruity taleggio with the smoky cabbage and the buttery-smooth steak was a truly out of this world yet exceedingly simple moment. It was the last full meal I ate before I had my surgery and I would recommend it as a potential “last meal” meal.

2. Strawberries glazed in fish sauce and shrimp paste shrimp powder and sweet chili at Ugly Baby. I don’t even need to describe it to you, just look at the picture. Look at it! UB is really on their MVP behavior right now and I am very excited for the fall menu to drop.

3. Crispy Prawn Heads at Cervo’s. As you may know I am a sucker for anything crispy and that can be eaten with my fingers. I particularly loved these crispy prawn heads because it was basically a fish french fry. I also ate the french fries at Cervo’s which were great (if a little salty, which means they are probably dangerous for the common person) but the fish heads were more fun and special.

4. Zucchini Fritters! Ah, the fleeting summer fritter, once made in the kitchen and enjoyed for days. Yes I did that 🙏 and they were so damn good. Next time I’ll make sure to make the batter a day in advance and really let the zucchini soak up all the herby feta goodness.

5. Socca de Nice at Le French Diner. Ouch! this is one of the best restaurants i’ve ever been to in NYC if not my life. It hurts because if I could, I would eat there multiple times a week. It hurts because if I could, I would make all my vegetarian friends break their diet and eat their hanger steak. I’ve loved every single thing I’ve eaten at LFD (so good it needs an acronym) but I especially love their made to order Socca, a flatbread made from chickpeas that I have only eaten in Nice. I could make Socca at home but I’d rather watch the chefs drop batter into a personal-sized cast iron (for me? for me!) and generously season the crust with herbs and flaky salt. Come on, Socca dipped in some chilled asparagus soup? I’d rather go to LFD than back to Nice (but I’d go to Marseilles if you were asking).

6. Corn! I got really into making corn salads and pastas with corn this summer. I realized that corn makes me feel deeply sentimental, it reminds of my Mom’s parents and late-late August and the town fair in the Berkshires. It reminds me of going to the farm market in LBI with my Dad’s parents, smelling the sweetness from down the street.

summer's bounty - i think my food photography has peaked

The Dress: That I Found

I bought the dress because I wanted a reason to hang around a store in Hudson I thought was cute. They have an in-house brand of handmade goods but all of that was and is too expensive for me, so thankfully there is a small section of what you would call “curated vintage” that allows someone like me to feel justified upon entry.

The dress was a-la-mode in 2021, passé in 2022, and an earnest compliment from teenage girls in 2023. Or: The dress was an impulse purchase in 2021, hanging in the back of my closet in 2022, and an absolute necessity in 2023. For Carrie Bradshaw, the dress was DKNY to dinner with Big. For Sophia Gasparro, the dress was Christopher & Banks to surgery at Mount Sinai (West).

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I was faced with a major quandary. What the hell does someone as cute as me wear to surgery? For a girl with a lot of clothes, I lack in the non-pajama comfy & loose department. I rifled through my things until I saw the dress, a hot-pink gingham sack I loved not so long ago.

Oh, the joy of reconnecting with an old friend. An old friend that happens to be a swath of cotton-poly blend with too-big arm holes and fake pocket details. For the first week after my surgery, my poor mother (who along with my step father took wonderful care of me) had to wash the dress pretty much daily because it quickly turned into my emotional security blanket/pet.

When I couldn’t button my jorts? Dress. First day back to work? Dress. Last week, 95 degrees out after Labor Day? Dress. I know I said I’m looking forward to the fall, but I think I have to find some autumnal version of the dress to wear. What do you think of this one from Jigsaw on TRR? The cycle never stops.

who wore it better: 2021 or 2023 sophia

Good Things: That I Find

Some recent recommendations if you were interested:

1. Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret. A totally sweet adaptation of a Judy Blume book I don’t actually think I read. I was way more obsessed with Forever (page 68). Despite this! Recommended to watch with someone who has taken care of you in your lifetime. Or perhaps if you are still getting over the fact your parents moved you to the suburbs when you were young. Or if you’re thinking about moving to the suburbs and have no contingency plan for how to escape.

2. The Guest by Emma Cline. I can’t even call this a recommendation because social media probably already shoved it down your throat, but this is my official declaration that you should in fact read this book and you will want to talk to me about it after you read it. Big Swiss is next.

3. The free 2pm guided tour of the Noguchi Museum. Happens every day the museum is open, admission is only $12 dollars, and is extremely informative and funny. Did you know Noguchi did not have a name for the first couple months of his life, so his parents called him Bobby? I liked that for obvious reasons.

4. Exploring a little town with your little friends. On Friday last week, Anna, Bobby and I had some time to kill before the rest of our group arrived for Mandy’s wedding weekend. Our Airbnb was in downtown Cold Spring, and I just had a lovely time walking around and feeling like a lady with no real care in the world. We went to a great wine store and sat by the hudson river. I even wore this hat that looked great on everyone.

5. Been really into those Mezcla Puffed Rice Protein Bars lately, specifically the Vanilla Japanese Matcha and the Peruvian Chocolate Peanut Butter... Also been eating Peanut Butter Panda Puffs with blueberries as a snack. The more I write about food the more I realize that being an adult is getting to eat whatever you wanted as a kid masked in elevated forms.

Hopes and Dreams and Such: That I Find

As a new season begins, we often think of hopes and dreams for the months ahead. Perhaps we even write it down and send it in an email blast to those who might be interested. Perhaps at the end of the season we will look back on the list and be delighted at our accomplishments, embarrassed by our lethargy, pleased with just about everything (but that would mean real self growth, wouldn’t it).

As an experiment, I’m going to keep my fall “bucket list” as vague as possible in hopes that I am so proud of myself come winter. Also, the general vagueness of this list means it could apply to you, too, friend. It is meant to share.

1. Turn 26 (or whatever age you may turn if you were born in the fall).

2. Get on a plane and get off a plane. And make sure I get on a different plane and come home within a reasonable amount of time.

3. Eat at a restaurant I haven’t yet.

4. Cook a meal I’m intimidated to make twice or three times.

5. See a friend I haven’t in a while.

6. Read a book about something I don’t know much about.

7. Watch the end of Persona (or whatever important movie you accidentally fell asleep during).

8. Participate in one fall-related activity, even if it’s just drinking apple cider.

9. Write to you as much as I can.

10. Stop biting my fingernails off (Conquering a bad habit seems foolish to put on a list like this but what if we surprise ourselves?).

Endings: That I Find

Okay, that’s it from me! I’ll be back soon. Until then, here’s a photo I took just outside my apartment this evening after a torrential downpour. Forget everything bad I’ve ever said about New York.

Sophia