Morning Brew - 🍻Sauté

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If you’re hitting a pandemic wall after 11 months of living life indoors, you’re not alone. We’re all itching for new ways to stay entertained and keep busy besides testing out TikTok’s infamous baked feta pasta recipe. Virtual cooking classes are my new favorite form of weeknight entertainment. There are a lot of classes out there, but I’ll let you in on my personal favorites: 

• Live from Italy, it’s Nonna Nerina’s pasta-making class! She’s an Italian grandma, living in a small village outside Rome and hosting cooking classes for almost every noodle. And, there’s a lesson on tiramisu. 
• If you want to support an up-and-coming instructor, my friend Abigail Koffler just launched her own cooking classes. She’s the founder of the This Needs Hot Sauce newsletter (you should subscribe!), and she’s hosting a “snack dinner”-themed class, featuring a sour cream and onion dip, on February 24. If she gets some love from Sidekick readers like you, she might add more classes down the line. 
• I miss taking Sur La Table’s classes in person, but given the pandemic, they’ve gone online and have a bunch of cool tutorials, from macarons to surf and turf. 

Read: 

• How to be a more empathetic conversationalist right now. Start with asking, “How are you taking care of yourself during this pandemic?” instead of the general “How are you?”  
• Author and entrepreneur Seth Godin offers a new ritual to replace your doomscrolling.
• You’re often told to establish credit when you’re young, but no one really explains why. Here’s your crash course—why it matters (if you ever want to rent an apartment, buy a car or house, or retire) and how to set yourself up for success. 

Listen: 

• Vibe to lo-fi beats while hanging out with Bigfin reef squid. 
• While listening to organizational psychologist David Burkus talk about how to create better boundaries while working remotely, he sold me on this idea of commuting devices—the smartphone is the work device with email and more “professional” social media, and the tablet is for Facebook and Hulu. 
• Spotify playlists based on colors. I’m currently listening to “Yellow” and smiling to myself. 

Watch: 

• A feature film rec: Woman at War. It’s an Icelandic film about a woman who declares war on the local aluminum industry while she adopts a child. It will make you laugh and smile all the way through. Can’t recommend it enough. 
• Check out HBO’s new doc Black Art: In the Absence of Light. It traces the history of Black art in the United States and features modern artists like Kerry James Marshall and Kehinde Wiley.
• In honor of the Lunar New Year, here are two ways to make dumplings with Genevieve Ko, senior editor at NYT Cooking. It’s so satisfying to watch.  

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Try It: 

• Cozy up: This Instagram account is dedicated to New York City’s warmest outdoor dining spots. Each restaurant is rated on its heater setup, so you’ll know if you need a G.O.T. (going out throw). 
• Drink: How to recreate the vibe at your favorite bar. 
• Categorize: The case for putting baskets in your fridge. 

Buy it: 

• Brush: You’ve heard of Quip, the sleek battery-powered toothbrush, but did you know they have an app? I’m obsessed: You can track your brush time, coverage, and intensity, and earn rewards for keeping your teeth clean. 
• Floss: I perfected my teeth-brushing routine, but I’ve never been a consistent flosser. A few months ago my mom gave me some Cocofloss, and now I’m a regular. The soft, coconut-flavored string won’t irritate your gums, and you can even buy refill sets that come in compostable packaging. 

@andreannu Instagram

Unfortunately, my local Trader Joe’s flower selection does not live up to this Parisian flower stand. I’m counting down the days ’til farmers’ market season so I can pick up some sunflowers. Scroll through Andrea Nuñez’s beautiful photographs of architectural gems, cappuccinos, and her European travels. 

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