Returnist Recs: 30

Low effort, high joy and the case for a pizza party

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Confession: lately, I’ve been thinking about pizza parties. The kind with paper plates and grease pooling in the corners of mouths, shimmering orange. Salad getting slurped and crunched through mid-sentence, talking anyway, maybe a few too many sips of soda or something more indulgent. The kind of relaxed festivity that used to be built into youth - after a soccer game, for a classmate’s birthday, celebrating nothing and everything all at once.

There’s something inherently honest, unfussy, and communal (if a little messy) about an old-school pizza party. Last night, my beloved community of dog play date neighbors got together for exactly that. It was fully come-as-you-are. Walk the block-or-so to get there, chat about anything and everything, leave feeling a little lighter. The pizza was excellent (a proper shoutout to Los Feliz’s new Old Gold Tomato Pies!), a surprisingly addictive salad, several bottles of wine open, and sour jelly beans making the rounds like little jewels. But what lingered in my mind wasn’t just the food, it was the ease of it all.

No occasion, very little hosting pressure, zero aesthetic to uphold. Just humans (and dogs, in this instance) loosely gathered, enjoying each other’s company and diving face-first into one of the world’s most reliable culinary joys. Skip the matching china or coordinated napkins, don’t even think about a save-the-date. In this case, it was as simple as “Saturday. Pizza party?” in the group text. Perfect.

I’ve also been toying with a slightly expanded version rooted in my deep love of a taste test (feel free to steal it): a larger group, each household bringing their favorite pie to transform the evening into a low-stakes tasting menu. New favorites discovered, opinions shared, leftovers negotiated. Especially now, when wallets feel tighter whilst the desire for connection grows, it feels like the exact right kind of night - simple, satisfying, repeatable.

And thus, this week’s recommendation is as straightforward as can be: have a pizza party. There’s no bad time to do it. But maybe don’t wear a white shirt… just in case.

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Flavor of the week: Queen’s Raw Bar is one of my favorite restaurants in LA, each dish overachieving as the category ideal version. But one bite at dinner the other night stopped me in my tracks: the side of Carolina gold rice. It was creamy, unctuous, savory, perfectly toothsome. Like risotto, but better? Regardless, I will be ordering a side of that rice each and every time I go.

Habit of the week: Steamy bone broth, stir in unflavored protein powder, a squeeze of lemon, and a pinch of salt. It feels like a deliciously reverent gift to my body at the start of each day.

Soundtrack of the week: There’s something about the spring light and summer temperatures that’s had me in my former-classical-singer nostalgia. Perhaps it’s all those sweaty choir tours in UK cathedrals that are too ancient to accommodate air conditioning? Anyhow, a little Voces8 nerd-out like Ola Gjeilo's Northern Lights is just the thing to cool off.