This post originally appeared in my newsletter, The Sophisticate.
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Something to Try
Bright, cool-toned lights can make your house feel more like a sterile lab than a cozy home, especially in bedrooms and living rooms. Some studies even suggest that bright overhead lighting after sunset could harm your circadian rhythm. When you see cool vs. warm lighting side by side, one immediately feels more welcoming, comfortable, and stylish than the other.
Try to…
- Add more eye-level lighting in the form of lamps, sconces, or candles
- Wherever overhead lighting is necessary, install a chandelier or pendant that will diffuse light
- Look for bulbs under 2700k, and consider giving incandescents a try instead of LEDs
- Use small lamps wherever you need task lighting
- Overall, prioritize several small, warm, eye-level light sources over one big, bright overhead source
Aim for…
Try to avoid…
Something to Know
The final hot, sunny days of summer are perfect for fresh, herby, citrusy cooking. There’s nothing like dining al fresco on a light meal full of fresh produce with a chilled, crisp glass of white. If you’re looking for the perfect wine for this kind of evening, you’ll love Vinho Verde.
Vinho Verde (pronounced VEEN-yo VEHR-deh) is a Portuguese wine blend that can be made in red, rose, or white styles. The most popular style is a very tart, slightly-fizzy white wine. Featuring notes of sweet lemon, grapefruit, lime, and occasionally white flowers, Vinho Verde is delightful served ice cold on a hot day.
It’s grown in the DOC “Vinho Verde” region in the far north of Portugal and harvested young. It is not made from a specified grape variety, but rather a blend of various Northern Portuguese grapes like Alvarinho, Trajadura, and Avesso. $10-12 is all you need to spend on a truly great bottle.
Try pairing it with fish tacos, shrimp pasta, bright salsa, or any dish that features citrus. Be sure to serve it as cold as possible, maybe even popping it into the freezer for a few minutes before serving.
Three Good Things
First and foremost, The Sophisticate is not in the business of trying to sell you things you don’t want or need. This section is meant to share three things that have improved my life, and a little bit about why you might like them too.
These will occasionally contain affiliate links. If you click one and ultimately decide to make a purchase, I may earn a small commission of roughly 5-10%. If you want to shop using my links, great! Easy for you, teeny tiny paycheck for me.
However, it’s very important to me that you trust that I’m not just pushing links to make money, so if you’d rather purchase outside of my affiliate link, I completely get it! To do so, just be sure to shop from an incognito browser and type the product name into search rather than copy and paste my link.
That said, I hope you’ll find that some of these recommendations may be the solution to a problem you’ve been having, or are simply a fun little luxury to add to your daily life.
Youth to the People Cleanser
I’ve been using this facial cleanser for a year or two and can honestly say it’s one of the best I’ve ever tried. It leaves my skin feeling fresh and clean without drying it out. The 8 oz bottle is a little pricey but lasts me about a year of daily use. There’s also a 2 oz bottle if you want to try it out without committing to the full size.
Small Glass Prep Bowls
A staple in the every good cook’s kitchen! I use this set of 8 bowls to measure out ingredients like spices, eggs, vanilla extract, etc before cooking or baking. Having several small bowls on hand makes it easy to ensure I have every step of a recipe set out before I begin. This way I’m not realizing I’m out of an ingredient or needing to pause to measure something out mid-recipe.
Whole Vanilla Beans
Take your baking up a notch with whole vanilla beans! I find the ones available at most grocery stores to be both overpriced and poor quality. I like to order from this Etsy shop, which sells 10 beans for about $13, versus the 2 beans for $17 available at my local Kroger. Save them for recipes where vanilla is the star of the show, like the pastry cream I shared in the last issue. You cannot imagine how satisfying it is to scrape the seeds out of the bean!
Recipe of the Day
Late last week, I went into a frenzy around the idea of perfecting my chocolate chip cookie recipe. I have been a back-of-the-Toll House-bag recipe loyalist since childhood so I haven’t branched out much when it comes to the classic, old-fashioned chocolate chip cookie.
I’ve been experimenting with various highly-rated recipes over the past few days, and I think I’ve found a winner. This recipe has nearly 15,000 5-star reviews, and after baking a batch, I can see why. I used a 1 inch cookie scoop and ended up with over 50 cookies, so consider halving the recipe unless you’re feeding an army. If you’ve been reading previous issues of this newsletter, it will come as no surprise that I added flaky sea salt on top before baking to bring out the flavors and add a little crunch. Highly recommend!
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Tasteful Living, As Told by You
One of the things that inspired me to create The Sophisticate was reading what other women online had to say about taste, style, and living well. This section is dedicated to tips and advice submitted by you, The Sophisticate subscribers!
Send us a message on Instagram @sophisticate.newsletter to share your favorite little luxuries, healthy habits, or other tasteful tips with us and we may include you in a future newsletter.
“Literally just add earrings. That’s my favorite tip to look more put together. I like a big pearl stud or silver huggies. Instantly makes even a boring outfit look more put together.”
Delaney, 25, Charlotte
Letter from the Editor
I have been so enjoying hearing from you all about ways that you eat, drink, shop, dress, and live well. If you have ideas to share or suggestions for this newsletter to improve, please do reach out!
It’s funny how much writing about these topics has inspired me to make changes in my own life. In the past few weeks, I’ve been getting more creative in the kitchen and experimenting more often with things like jewelry and hairstyles, just as a result of thinking about them more often. Thanks for reading and giving me the opportunity to do so!
Abbie Leonardi
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