The Sunday Seven 08.19.18

Hello, friends…I hope you have all had a great week! Here’s this Sunday’s seven in wine, food, style, design and travel:

Food and Wine has come out with the most important 40 restaurants of the past 40 years. It’s such an interesting list and a bit of a blast from the past in some cases—everything from Commander’s Palace to Eleven Madison to Chez Panisse to Daniel—one of my most memorable meals while living in New York City. I was glad to see Curaté from Asheville on there, and was amused to see Shake Shack. But I get it.

These 7 prep tips from favorite Instagram meal preppers will show you how it’s done. This blogger’s week includes coconut carrot soup, bow tie pasta, Mediterranean Pasta salad, tuna salad, rice, cut up vegetables, hard boiled eggs, roasted broccoli, mint iced tea and grapes for snacking—she includes all recipes on her blog. Another genius idea I saw in this list was the individual smoothie packs in baggies.

Remember when you used to book travel somewhat blindly, before the internet? Unless of course, you had an old-school travel agent! I thought this was an interesting read on how Trip Advisor changed travel—an overview of a $3m company’s growth to $7bn and the growing pains that come with that.

8 rules to live by for success. I start a new job this week so, why not.

1. Keep things simple
2. Whatever you say, do
3. Let go
4. Eliminate the fear
5. Make time work for you
6. Reprogram your mind
7. Break the predictability
8. Attract the positive

I hope I can get to NYC soon to see this interactive art installation by Color Factory. 20,000 feet on Spring Street in Soho are dedicated to color coolness. The Instagram-friendly exhibit features installations from mostly local artists and creatives, including Jason Polan, Tamara Shopsin, and Andrew Kuo. Get a sneak peek.

Cult Cabernets ran Napa Valley from the 1990s on where wines like Screaming Eagle started selling for thousands and waiting for years on a mailing list to get wine became the norm. These are affordable bottles from winemakers known for cult Cabernets. If you are a fan of Screaming Eagle or Dalla Valle, try Heidi Barett’s Paradigm Cabernet, Andy Erickson’s ROOM Albariiño, Phillipe Melka’s Melka CJ, and Mia Klein’s Selene Cab Franc. Cheers!

Last but not least, I have to plug one of my passion projects! If you are in Charlotte on Sept 29th of this year, definitely check out the Mad About Modern Home Tour. I’ve volunteered as part of the planning committee for years, and the 2018 tour has some of the best houses yet! Regardless of whether you can come to the tour, check out a sneak peek of the cool houses here. Tickets are on sale now.

Hope you all have an awesome and relaxing rest of your weekend!
xx—BB