Friday Fourteen Issue 134
This week: More complaints about the new IG feed, a fascinating piece on the sanctity of abortion, a love letter to garlic in a jar (and other kitchen conveniences that help get good food on the table), a truly vicious restaurant review that’s been trending on Twitter this week for good reason, why some people may never get Covid, and more
Another week, more IG feed complaints. This time it was Kylie Jenner publicly pleading with Instagram to stop copying TikTok (best not to forget that the last time Kylie complained about a social media platform it wiped about $1.3 billion off Snapchat’s market value). The big boss at IG was quick to respond, admitting that Instagram is “not good” rn but nonetheless won't be changing its pivot to video that no one wants. Here’s our feelings in a nutshell
This truly vicious restaurant review was trending on Twitter this week and for good reason [“The restaurant’s website says it wants to introduce us all to their “Tuscan Way of Life”. This Tuscan way of life involves enough beige furnishings to make a White Company buyer horny, terrible tartan suits for the head waiters, and a menu priced to part bored rich people from their money.”]
Joni Mitchell singing ‘Both Sides Now’ at Newport Folk Festival last weekend (her first performance since 2002) made us have a little cry
In defence of using garlic in a jar (or any convenience that makes putting good food on the table easier)
Stop what you’re doing and text your friends
A philosophical piece on being a ‘good’ parent who raises ‘good’ humans ["This is all projection, right?...I’m not actually scared of the people my children will or won’t be. I’m trying to fill their still-mostly-empty life-suitcases with a half-lifetime of my own accumulated shame, regret and insecurity."]
It was Ivana Trump’s funeral this week and the speeches that the Trump kids gave were honestly WILD. It’s an odd realisation that the Trumps are people too, who at one stage were just children who got fu*ked up by their parents and their environment
This piece by Jia Tolentino in the New Yorker about the sanctity of abortion is utterly fascinating [“The idea that a fetus is not just a full human but a superior and kinglike one—a being whose survival is so paramount that another person can be legally compelled to accept harm, ruin, or death to insure it—is a recent invention.”]
Here’s the tracklist for Beyonce’s seventh studio album ‘Renaissance’ (it drops today!)
It seems the minimalist menu trend may be waning in the US and we’re praying that Australian restaurants catch wind because we’re tired of trying to decipher whether ‘strawberry, asparagus, and nuts’ means savoury or sweet 😭
Why it matters that J.Lo changed her name after marriage
In tech news: TikTok is the fastest growing source of news for adults in the UK, LinkedIn is (finally) letting users upload carousel posts, Instagram is trialling removing the usernames under stories, Facebook’s new ‘Feeds’ is its latest attempt to take on TikTok (except here’s why TikTok has already won the battle), it sounds bloody awful at Facebook right now, satisfaction with Twitter and Pinterest surges as other social media sites stumble, and no one likes Twitter’s new feed refresh sound
Why some people may just never get Covid
And also… the magic of ordinary things, how to fall back in love with reading, every male Love Island contestant when they enter the villa, a person who’s never felt a moment of anxiety, add these to your cart before your next night out, 525,600 worries, if people with uteruses acted like cishet men, being a bridesmaid for a “chill bride”, Airbnb for pools, the Oxford English Dictionary now includes almost 700 new words, ideas for what to do with all the cheap avos in Australia right now, Shaun Micallef vs a Sarah Ferguson impression, how soy sauce is made (surely we’re not paying enough money for this stuff??), rating the different kinds of mud at Splendour, we’re sorry but the pink sauce on TikTok honestly looks disgusting, when cool dad relieves you from babysitting, how we closed the hole in the ozone layer, the friend who’s got Covid for the first time, this ‘Am I The Asshole’ post on Reddit is WILD, miss you, and what Fridays are made for
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Lizzie, managing director
Watching: I saw Baz Luhrmann’s ELVIS this week and loved it. I’m now on the hunt for all the old Elvis films I watched as a kid; they aren’t on any of the streaming services 😭
Scrolling: Brunch with Babs is my new love-to-hate Insta account. Her American recipes are unhinged, like this no-bake banana split cake – crushed pineapple, cream cheese and whipped cream, no thanks!
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Michaela, content & digital marketing specialistListening: Meghan Trainor’s podcast, Workin’ On It (recently discovered, already obsessed)
Cooking: I’m planning to make the most of my Sunday morning with these mini peanut butter and banana pancakes – melted peanut butter and pillowy pancake, what’s not to love?
---Ava, copywriter & content producer
Eating: After some very dedicated food detective work, I’ve found my favourite Italian bakery in Adelaide: Pasticceria by Orsola on Crittenden Road in Findon. Expect windows overflowing with piped pastries from bombolone to cannoli
Cooking: I’m opting for Saturday night at home this weekend and I’m craving sweet/salty/sour/spicy flavours. I’ll be recreating this Choo Chee Lobster recipe from Soi38 chef Terry Intarakhamhaeng using my favourite luxe convenience hack: Ferguson Australia lobster halves (you’ll find them cut and cleaned in freezer aisles of select stockists)
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Hamish, content coordinatorListening: This fascinating episode of The Daily about prison consultants (probably the most American concept I’ve ever heard)
Subscribing: To Haley Nahman’s substack Maybe Baby – all through July she’s been putting out free issues of what her friends have been consuming over the summer
Cooking: If there’s a cross I would die on, it’s that a rotisserie is NOT a roast chicken. If you feel you’ve fallen out of love with roast chicken; please, take Samin Nosrat’s advice and start your chicken the day before – I implore you
---(Meet the whole Slice team here!)
