10 Offline Things I Did This Week

Why loose-leaf tea is superior to sachet tea, blooming tete-a-tete, and dancing til 2 in the morning

Good afternoon! I write this to you from a snowy, wet, cloudy New York City. It’s the perfect kind of day to rest easy and hunker down indoors which is exactly what I plan to do. On the docket: vacuum/clean the apartment, hand-wash some delicates, and make some scallion milk bread rolls. I love the ones from Dimes Market, but at $3 a roll, I figured I’d make my own since I already have all the ingredients on hand and a snowy Super Bowl Sunday feels like the perfect excuse to stay in and bake. I have my Diptyque Cyprès candle burning, a two-beverage minimum in effect (Paris tea—more on that below), and a big jug of water. Let’s go!

10 Offline Things I Did This Week

1. Bought bootleg Paris tea. Paris tea is a flavored Harney & Son black tea infused with caramel/vanilla/bergamot. It has the complexity of Earl Grey but feels lighter and smoother, without the bergamot intensity that can sometimes be too much for my palate. I’ve been drinking Harney Paris sachets for a decade, but as an avid tea drinker, I prefer loose-leaf tea in general. The problem? I could only ever find Paris in sachets—though I know Harney’s carries it loose-leaf at their Manhattan flagship. I prefer loose-leaf because I drink most of my tea at home using my 4-cup ceramic teapot from Muji. Loose-leaf just makes the whole tea experience better and more sensorial. Hear me out… sachet tea is like using a tampon whereas loose-leaf tea is like using a period cup. IYKYK. With loose-leaf, I get to control the strength and customize each brew, and honestly, I swear I can taste the difference without the paper filter. I had resigned myself to making a trip into Manhattan to buy the loose-leaf version straight from the Harney store, but then, while perusing the aisles of my local co-op this week, I noticed we carry tiny bags of Paris tea! I guess we found a manufacturer who makes a black market version and sells it a little cheaper, and in tiny bags to boot. I can’t taste the difference. Best enjoyed with a dollop of creamed honey + organic cow’s cream. GO BIG GIRLS.

   

   As the Paris tea brews, I get my honey dollop and splash of cream ready to party

2. Cooked dinner with a friend at my apartment. My friend was visiting town this week and instead of a dinner out (which is what most visitors want to do), she asked if we could cook inside like old times. We used to cook dinner together once a week when we both lived in LA. We decided on a menu of radicchio, salami, date + citrus salad, and the Ottolenghi herby sweet potato soup with garlicky peanuts. As we prepped dinner, we caught up, only touching our phones to document our night together with a single photo. I miss our weekly nights cooking in together, and now I’m inspired to find a friend in NYC to do that with. It’s so healing.

   

3. Watched my Narcissus bloom. Also known as tete-a-tete or the miniature daffodil, my perky little buttercup heirloom bloomed within 24 hours of bringing her home (also bought from the co-op) and she is just bringing so much joy to these dark and dreary days of winter.

   

   tete-a-tete

4. Went out dancing. My friend Estelle is in town from Paris and we went out dancing last night until 2:30. I may not be a huge party girl anymore, but I do need to move my body every few months in a sweaty room full of people. It’s clinical.

   

   proof that I was out till 2 in the morning

5. Walked Samson in the snow. I was (attempting to) sleep in after last night’s late bedtime, but I could hear Samson politely stomping in the hallway near the door this morning. I thought he might’ve had a stomach ache and needed to use the bathroom, but no, my boy just wanted a frolic in the snow. He’s a husky; he’d sleep outside in the winter if I let him.

   

   Samson + the snow, so happy.

6. Afternoon espresso. Inspired by my friend Claire who always has an americano every afternoon at four o’clock, I’ve been kind of getting back into a four PM espresso shot at home. I’m usually quite tired around that time, but even if I’m not, there’s something very helpful about a little push of energy to get me through the rest of the day, and I hate to say it, but that little caffeine buzz usually gives me another burst of creative energy. It is a drug, after all.

7. Made taleggio soft scramble. This semi-soft, pasteurized, cow’s milk cheese has a surprisingly stinky aroma for looking a lot like muenster. It’s creamy, nutty, buttery cheese, with hints of fruit tang and garlic. It was absolutely delightful melted into my soft scramble this morning. I have fun experimenting with different types of cheeses melted into my eggs. You can’t go wrong with soft scramble + cheese + herbs (today, dill). Served with a side of sumo citrus, whole wheat sourdough, butter, and avocado.

   

8. Ran a 10K. I ran the NYRR 10K around Central Park last weekend. It was so much fun, but very cold. I was questioning my life choices (18 degrees, waiting in the cold for a race to start at 7 AM?). I’m glad I ran it of course, but I’m happily done with races until my next one (a half in April) because I’m experiencing some piriformis pain in my left leg. Gotta take a little break from running for the time being, get some PT, and then start training for April’s race in a few weeks.

9. Watched CNN’s The 2000s: I Want My Mp3 on Max. ATTENTION ALL MILLENNIALS! This is a series that highlights the 2000s and all of its ups and downs. This particular episode (available to watch on Max or rentable on Prime) entails how the music industry navigated streaming/the digital age/ Napster. It also reflects on how musicians from Nickelback to Green Day to the Dixie Chicks handled a post-911 country through their music. It’s inspiring, comforting, and highly reflective. I loved it!

10. Ate a cookie from Maman. Every few weeks, I get a hankering for a bakery-sized cookie. It usually strikes me in the moment when I am out on a walk, and the beautiful thing about living in New York is that you are scarcely a mere four blocks from a good cookie fresh out of the oven. This time, I was near Maman. I’m happy to report that even after expanding to dozens of locations and making it onto Oprah’s Favorite Things, their cookies still hold up.

Name a better feeling than a 4 pm cookie on a grey NY day.

Okay, that’s all for now. Time to clean my apartment. If you loved this post, please “heart” it so more people can find it, or forward it to a friend!! My Sunday Offline Things list is always free, but if you want more posts from me, you’ll need to become a paid subscriber.

I have some big, big, big, big, big, big news this week, so watch this space. I’ll see you soon. <3

-Lee