T LOunge for February 24th, 2023

Terrazza Celè Restaurant – Positano, Amalfi, Italy

Words go here. It honestly doesn’t matter what the words are or what order in which they appear. Enjoy the well-earned view, darlings. Pay no attention to us.

The Most Wishlisted Design Airbnbs, From Bamboo Homes to Cliffside Cabins
Last spring, Airbnb quietly launched a new category of homes: design. The qualifications? Each listing had to have architectural and interior panache, whether a modernist mansion in Los Angeles or a tiny wood home in Hudson that blended into the landscape.
This week, Airbnb shared the most wishlisted design properties across the platform. They’re quite literally all over the place: there’s a bamboo house in Bali, an eco-friendly home in the Brazilian jungle, and a cabin built into a cliff in Colorado. A common thread? Every single one is surrounded by nature, highlighting our desire to go to remote places away from it all. Many also are in a competitive price range and within a reasonable drive from metropolitan areas. Low-key weekend getaways, it seems, will always be in style.

Why We’re All Obsessed With ’90s Beauty (Again)
Welcome back to the era of brown lips, dewy skin, grunge liner, and shaggy cuts. Here, why spring’s biggest beauty looks take a page from the decade of the supermodel—and how to make the trends feel modern.
At the Spring 2023 runway shows, models’ faces were a minimalist blur of velvety taupe, beige, and brown—spiked with smudgy eyeliner—that conjured the Supers (Christy, Kate, Cindy, Linda, Naomi) and made it official: The ’90s are back.
As a young Gen Xer who came of age during that decade, I’m conflicted. When did my past become vintage? Vintage is a poodle skirt, hippie fringe, disco dazzle. Our ’90s-era aesthetic was raw and real, a modernist eff-you to ’80s excess. We were too cool to become nostalgia fodder. However, as someone who also persuaded my high school pom squad to swap our red lip color for nut brown, who smelled like teen spirit, yes, but also CK One and the vanilla-scented M.A.C lipsticks I ordered from an 800 number—and who, by the decade’s end, was reporting on trends as a beauty editor—I applaud it. Nineties beauty nostalgia feeds my soul.

The Queen Consort Urges Writers to be “Unimpeded” by Curbs on Freedom of Expression Amid Roald Dahl Row
Camilla’s comments were well-received by the audience of writers and literary enthusiasts at Clarence House today.
Members of the royal family are often extra cautious when it comes to sharing thoughts or views on divisive topics. However, the Queen Consort attracted attention today when she gave a speech which has been widely interpreted as commenting on an ongoing controversy over Roald Dahl’s children’s books.
The rewriting of the author’s books to remove language that might be deemed to cause offense has prompted much criticism and discussion in recent days. And with the debate over censorship still high on the news agenda, Camilla gave a prominent speech at Clarence House where she chose to reference the topic of impediments authors might face.

The Story Behind the Lost Tribe, Trinidad and Tobago Carnival’s Most Fashionable Band
Masqueraders wearing carnival costumes with wings and crowns jumped up behind sound trucks—large mobile stages outfitted with speakers, DJ equipment, and steel pans—that crawled through Port of Spain on Tuesday morning. At Victoria Square, members of the Lost Tribe carnival band fastened on backpacks made of drapery, gigantic clusters of butterflies, and capes. Sweet soca and calypso boomed throughout the capital city. “If you hear any noise in the background, they’re music trucks on the Avenue. Welcome to carnival,” says Valmiki Maharaj, the creative director and bandleader of the Lost Tribe. Maharaj says he’s everything from “head cook” to “bottle washer”— he’s a designer, editor, strategist, and visionary.

Why the Chunky Bob Is Spring’s Most In-Demand Haircut
The sun is en route, and with it, a hairstyle that is every bit as light and breezy as the spring season. The chunky bob is a flattering, super cool cut that has a carefree feel to it, making it an ideal style to try as the warmer months roll in.
“This bob is defined by its chunky edge,” explains Luke Hersheson, who says the style is super popular in his salon right now. “It doesn’t look razored (although it might be), and it has a blocky weight to the ends. Often it also kicks out a bit at the ends, which gives it a kind of softness.”

A New Generation of Filipino American Chefs Is Finding Joy and Community in Cooking Their Heritage
In cities across the country, they’re proving that Filipino cuisine has always been a movement and not a moment.
It’s just past 5 p.m. on a Thursday evening in Seattle, and Musang, chef Melissa Miranda’s modern Filipino restaurant, is packed. Tables quickly fill up with plates of jet-black cuttlefish-ink pancit, a tangle of thin noodles with a gentle salinity from the seafood that crowns it; mounds of garlic rice laced with enough alliums to slay a vampire; and bowls of black cod sinigang, a sour soup where a crispy fillet of cod floats in a broth pulsing with tamarind. The air is electric with the sounds of conversation, and the dining room is brimming with a mix of curious locals, out-of-towners drawn by the restaurant’s rave reviews, and younger Filipinos bonding with the older generation over a menu that lists each dish first in Tagalog, second in English.
Musang is part of an explosion of standout Filipino American restaurants, led by proudly Filipino chefs, across the country. They include several fine-dining spots with spendy tasting menus, like Kasama in Chicago, where chefs Genie Kwon (who is of Korean and Japanese heritage) and Timothy Flores celebrate Filipino flavors through both elegant savory dishes and a robust pastry program, and Archipelago in Seattle, where chef Aaron Verzosa takes diners on a multicourse journey through the Filipino American experience.

Highland Park Is Releasing Its Oldest Whisky to Date for $54,000 a Bottle
Highland Park is ringing in its 225th anniversary with a ritzy release of a 54-year-old single malt scotch whisky, the brand’s oldest to date.
Whisky aficionados can get their hands on the rare spirit starting on Feb. 23 at specialty retailers across the globe for a cool $54,000. Though, anyone hoping to purchase one better act fast, as the distillery only produced 225 bottles in honor of its big year.
“This exceptionally rare 54 Year Old single malt Scotch Whisky has been nurtured through careful maturation and harmonization,” Gordon Motion, Highland Park’s master whisky maker, shared in a press release provided to Food & Wine. “Representing a quarter of Highland Park’s life, we felt it was a fitting way to mark our 225th anniversary, born and crafted in the heart of Orkney.”

Dr. Pepper Is Adding a Brand-New Soda to Its Permanent Lineup
You can find the sweet soda on store shelves now.
When Dr Pepper made its national debut at the 1904 World’s Fair, the Texas-born soda highlighted the 23 flavors that made it taste like, well, Dr Pepper. And the brand was so pleased with that OG combo that it didn’t add any new flavor variations to its lineup until the release of Dr Pepper Red Fusion in 2002.
So what we’re saying is that when Dr Pepper releases a new flavor, it’s kind of a big deal.

New ‘Lord of the Rings’ Movies Set at Warner Bros.
On a Thursday earnings call, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav announced that newly-installed studio leaders Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy have brokered a deal to make “multiple” films based on the beloved J. R. R. Tolkien books. The projects will be developed through WB label New Line Cinema. The first “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, helmed by Peter Jackson, grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide; Jackson’s follow-up trilogy based on Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” matched those grosses.
No filmmakers have been attached to the projects as yet, but in a statement to Variety, Jackson and his main “Lord of the Rings” collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens said Warner Bros. and Embracer “have kept us in the loop every step of the way.”

Ruth E. Carter Dedicates NAACP Image Award Win to Chadwick Boseman: ‘We All Have Him to Thank’Ruth E. Carter Dedicates NAACP Image Award Win to Chadwick Boseman: ‘We All Have Him to Thank’
Costume designer Ruth E. Carter dedicated her NAACP Image Award win to the late Chadwick Boseman during a luncheon and fashion show, held in honor of the 54th annual awards on Thursday afternoon in downtown Los Angeles.
As Carter took to the runway to accept her trophy for outstanding costume design on “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” she used her speech to remembered Boseman, who died in 2020.
“It was because of him that we came together and we mourned. We celebrated his life,” Carter told the crowd assembled on the L.A. Live event deck. “We all have him to thank for the motivation, not only of ‘Wakanda Forever,’ but also for the first ‘Black Panther.’”

The 10 Most Iconic Hairstyles Of All Time
Hair is more meaningful than it’s sometimes given credit for. As much a reflection of how we feel as it is a source of transformation, it’s little wonder we’re so keen to keep across the latest hair trends. From the street-style set to catwalks to salons around the world, we’re always on the hunt for new ideas. Which brings us to the hairstyles that have endured for generations: those that are so iconic, they transcend trends and continue to inspire professionals and amateurs alike. Vogue asked some of the world’s top hairstylists and colourists to nominate their all-time favourites.

“My Friend Has Asked Me To Spend £1,000 On A Bridesmaid Dress. Do I Have To Say Yes?”
Dear Eva,
I’ve known L for 20 years – though we live in different cities now, we’ve been sort of best friends since school, and last year she got engaged. We’re both teachers, but the guy she’s marrying is wealthy, so I knew when she first told me that it would be a fancy wedding. She asked me to be one of her bridesmaids, along with her sister and her sister-in-law to-be. They’re going to pay half the cost of our dresses. The problem is, the dresses she wants us to wear cost almost £2,000. There’s a slightly cheaper alternative (£1,200), but either way, I simply can’t afford it!

It’s Time to Rethink the Idea of the “Indigenous”
Many groups who identify as Indigenous don’t claim to be first peoples; many who did come first don’t claim to be Indigenous. Can the concept escape its colonial past?
Today, nearly half a billion people qualify as Indigenous. If they were a single country, it would be the world’s third most populous, behind China and India. Exactly who counts as Indigenous, however, is far from clear. A video for the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues begins, “They were always here—the original inhabitants.” Yet many peoples who are now considered Indigenous don’t claim to be aboriginal—the Maasai among them. According to Maasai oral histories, their ancestors arrived in Tanzania several hundred years ago from a homeland they call Kerio, likely situated near South Sudan.
Conversely, being first doesn’t seem to make you Indigenous. A handful of Gaelic monks and then the Vikings were the first people to arrive in Iceland (they settled there earlier than the Maori arrived in New Zealand), yet their descendants, the Icelanders, are rarely touted as Indigenous.

Starbucks is selling olive oil coffee in Italy — here are 7 alternative things people put in their coffee around the world, from cheese to whisky
Starbucks recently announced a new line of drinks with olive oil-infused coffee.
Around the world, people have been adding various unorthodox ingredients to their coffee for decades.
Here are 7 unusual coffee ingredients commonly used around the world.

How to Plan a St. Patrick’s Day Potluck—Plus, a Few Festive Menu Ideas to Inspire Your Own
These are the Irish dishes you should cook and the ones you can ask guests to bring.
St. Patrick’s Day takes place on March 17th every year and is centered around enjoying Irish culture—especially Irish food and drinks. If you’re planning a get-together to mark the holiday, consider hosting a St. Patrick’s Day potluck. As with other potlucks, there aren’t hard and fast rules about what you should make versus what you should ask guests to bring, but you’ll want to plan out the menu so you’re certain all the courses are covered and that there will be enough food for everyone.

Revisit the Royal Wedding of the Duchess of Kent as she celebrates her 90th birthday
In 1961, the Royal Family gained one of its most popular members, Katharine, Duchess of Kent
When Katharine Worsley married the late Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, in 1961, she broke with centuries of royal tradition. Rather than opting for Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace or St George’s Chapel at Windsor, she insisted that they tie the knot in her home county of Yorkshire, at the historic York Minster, which had not been used as a royal wedding venue for 600 years.

How to Wash Your Towels the Right Way
Plus, learn how to banish musty odors for good.
Caring for your towels seems simple enough. Just toss them in the wash and you’re good to go, right? As it turns out, there’s a bit more to it than that. For example, you need to consider fabric type and whether you’re cleaning white or dark towels, which call for different temperature settings and ingredients. To help you wash your towels the right way, we asked laundry and cleaning experts for their best tips. From washing and drying to folding, they shared how to maintain these essentials so they stay fluffy absorbent for years to come—and also explained how to tackle musty odors and stubborn stains.

What Is Umami? Plus, How to Use This Savory Flavor in Your Cooking
Some foods naturally contain umami—and some cooking methods can enhance it.
​​Umami has been a buzzword in American cuisine in recent years, but the flavor is nothing new. Colloquially known as the fifth taste (in addition to sweet, sour, salty, and bitter), umami describes the savory notes a diner’s palate picks up in their food. It’s been studied by food scientists and chefs, so we now have a greater understanding of its power. We consulted experts to learn about umami, where it occurs naturally, and how to use its power in all kinds of cooking.

32 Winning Appetizers, Sides, and Desserts for When You Need to Bring a Dish
These crowd-pleasing favorites are the recipes to make for all kinds of buffets, dinners, and parties
We’ve all been there: You’re invited to a party and the host asks you to contribute something. Some of us have that foolproof dish that always wins big—but if you don’t already have a party recipe repertoire, start planning right away to ensure that whatever you bring is a surefire success. But what makes a successful party dish? For us, it means you can count on it—it’s so delicious that every party guest enjoys it.
Finding a fail-safe dish for a crowd isn’t always easy, but you can narrow your options down with a few key considerations. First, decide whether you’re bringing an appetizer, side dish, or dessert (check in with your host before you make your selection, but we have incredible options for each!). Second, unless you’re planning on assembling a grazing board on-site, choose a dish that travels well. On the hot appetizer front, an elevated dip that can be prepped ahead fits the bill. Choose one you can serve hot, providing you feel comfortable enough at someone’s house to venture into the kitchen and use their oven.

Jessye Norman Rejected These Recordings. Should They Be Released?
The new collection “Jessye Norman: The Unreleased Masters” raises artistic and ethical questions.
The collection consists of three albums recorded with different orchestras and conductors over a period of nine years. One thing they have in common: Norman, one of the most beloved singers of our time, did not approve their release before her death, at 74, in 2019.
“When she passed on, I raised with Decca: Isn’t it time to revisit these?” said Cyrus Meher-Homji, an executive at Universal in Australia. The label approached Norman’s estate, which gave its blessing.
James Norman, her brother, said in a statement to The New York Times, “There’s no way of knowing whether Jessye would ever have approved the releases per her very high standards, as the subject was not one we ever discussed.”

Women Who Wander
A Getty-sponsored exhibition at the Gardner celebrates Betye Saar’s sketchbooks and the creativity generated by travel
A Buddhist chant in an Indonesian temple. A bustling Moroccan marketplace. A Haitian Vodou ceremony.
In the 1970s, cultural encounters like these launched artist Betye Saar into a nearly six-decade love affair with travel. Now 96 years old, Saar has visited more than 31 countries, documenting her experiences along the way in vividly colored travel sketchbooks combining hand-drawn observations with knickknacks, ephemera, and found items collected from her destinations.
It took until 2019 for a small selection of these sketchbooks—which Saar has long considered more personal documentation than art—to be displayed. They were featured in Betye Saar: Call and Response at LACMA and revealed for the first time to the public the depth of Saar’s creative process and the breadth of her inspiration. Now the full range of her sketchbooks is receiving attention in Betye Saar: Heart of a Wanderer, on view through May 21 at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

This Famous Monument in Florence Is Undergoing a Renovation — and It’s Open to Visitors for a Behind-the-scenes Look
“We had to turn this occasion into an opportunity to make it even more accessible and usable by the public…” the architect of the Baptistry of San Giovanni renovations said.
Instead of typically closing while undergoing renovations, The Baptistry of San Giovanni in Florence, Italy, is actually welcoming visitors to get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see its breathtaking ceiling mosaics at a closer angle during the restoration process.
Instead of limiting the public’s availability to view the vault during the renovations, The Associated Press reported that officials have built a 32 meter (105 foot) scaffolding platform for art restorers, which will allow visitors to see some of the monument’s 10 million mosaics up close.
The white carrara and green prato marble baptistry is one of the most iconic places to visit in Florence. It features one-of-a-kind mosaic scenes of John the Baptist and The Last Judgment, and is most famously known for its dome, which is covered in ancient mosaics.

[Photo Credit: terrazzacele.it]

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