Dad Things - Issue #46
Hey friends,
Hopefully you all can read this. I’ve moved this back to Substack. I had a few reasons and I won’t go over all of them here right now. Maybe I’ll save it for a future issue.
Not too many parenting links this issue, but we are definitely in the holiday season. Happy Elf on the Shelf season for all those who celebrate. How else do you all celebrate the holidays? Do you go out and visit family? Or do you hunker down, hibernate and keep it small and close knit? Let me know of your holiday traditions.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you all in the next issue.
Must Read
Before Thomas Keller, It Was Her French Laundry
Today the French Laundry, in Yountville, Calif., is renowned as the flagship establishment of the chef and restaurateur Thomas Keller and turns up routinely on lists of the best restaurants in the country and the world. But as Mr. Keller, who bought the restaurant from the Schmitts in 1994, is always quick to point out, the Schmitts, and especially Sally Schmitt’s cooking, started it all.
I read this today via the NY Times’ excellent California centric newsletter. As a Northern California resident for 8 years, I’m completely disappointed I did not know Sally Schmitt and her story.
During my time in the Bay Area, I’d grown to love all the great food and drink that was available to us. We would go to the City and Yountville and the Napa Valley to seek out the greatest food the region had to offer. Soon enough, we discovered Thomas Keller and were frequenting most of his restaurants, except for The French Laundry. It still remains a bucket list item for my wife and me.
I’d read about how he bought the building and how it really was an old laundry place owned by French immigrants. I never knew the Schmitts had owned it prior to Keller. Even the Wikipedia entry only has a short two sentence blurb on them.
I’m glad that I learned about Sally Schmitt and her story. The short documentary and her obituary are a must read for fans of Thomas Keller, The French Laundry, California cuisine, and food in general.
Quick Links
🍽️ The Best Way To Load Your Dishwasher
I saw the headline and thought, “What IS the best way to load your dishwasher?” This might as well have been written by an alien. I got to item 3 and it suggested to load bowl shaped items upside down. There are people who don’t know to do that?!
🌅 Why sunsets are better in the winter
I’ve definitely noticed this as we barrel towards winter and the colder months. Turns out, it’s a combination of factors.
🖊️ Studio Neat Mark One Gift Set
Studio Neat makes a lot of cool, well crafted “things” from notebooks, to camera mounts, and this pen. I use a Mark One myself and it is the best pen I’ve ever owned. You can now buy it as part of a gift set.
Videos
Apple showing off how their accessibility features allows their products to be used by people with different disabilities.
Weekend Update is my favorite part of SNL and the bit where Michael and Colin write the others’ jokes without them seeing it is my favorite. Here are all the times they’ve done it in one video.
How DID Florida get so weird?
