Tapping, Not Scrolling: Your Monday Instagram News Digest

Happy Monday my sweet sun-soaked petunias! I hope your July weekend was filled with a variety of fresh fruit and unconventional ways to stay cool (like Harling’s hack of putting pajamas in the freezer before bed). Alternatively, I hope you put your feet in some grass.

As for me, I went to the beach, burned (badly), and disconnected for the first time all summer. Of course, as Man Repeller’s social media manager for whom Instagram is a morning alarm and a bedtime routine, my definition of disconnecting may be different than yours. Because I still found time for a poolside Instagram dive, it just wasn’t, well, work-focused. And, wow, so fruitful. Here are a few things that elicited thoughtful taps instead of idle scrolls in my algorithm:

1. Welcome to Slime Town

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Hot date, 1991

A post shared by aleia (@aleia) on Jul 21, 2019 at 9:09am PDT

Tapping through friend and contributor Ansley Morgan’s Instagram stories, I stopped dead on this tableau of snails on a date, which prompted me into a scroll-hole of @aleia, account of the artist and photog Aleia Murawski, who creates tiny worlds occupied by snails, like this honeymoon suite with waffle beds, a naughty night in the making, and this, which I couldn’t add to my saved folder fast enough.

2. Avant-Garde Bridal: The Best Thing Since Sliced (Grain-Free) Bread

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@cfda @voguemagazine Fashion Fund DAY 1 #DanielleFrankel

A post shared by Danielle Frankel (@daniellefrankelstudio) on Jul 17, 2019 at 9:36am PDT

From Eva Chen’s recent IG stories as acting judge of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, I stopped on an image of Danielle Frankel Studio’s avant-garde wedding designs which led me here and here (!!!) and here. Cool bridal is it. If I ever do get married, or if I get around to the blowout 35th birthday party I have planned in my head, I will be wearing that white lace pantsuit. Mark my words.

3. Drool on My Screen Protector: A Memoir

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I have kept seeing boxes of capers for sale around Gela. Hardly surprising as they grow spontaneously and everywhere. Assumed they were to be salted then I was told about a cchiapparedda a ‘nzalata a little salad of capperi freschi – fresh capers. You boil them for a couple of minutes and then soak them in several changes of cold water to leech away bitterness ( they are really bitter) then you dress them with red wine vin, salt and olive oil and they are still slightly amaro/bitter but a satisfying way. . Great antipasti along with sweet prawns and kilos of bread. @thomeagle have you tried?

A post shared by rachel (@rachelaliceroddy) on Jul 20, 2019 at 3:37am PDT

I routinely look at Rachel Alice Roddy’s Instagram. She uses some of the most sumptuous language to talk about food, but especially rich, authentic Italian dishes (she is a food columnist for The Guardian living in Roma, after all). This weekend she dropped her recipe for fresh capers, which led me to her recipe for red pepper, potato and tomato soup. Hot take, summer soup is where it’s at.

I’ll also be thinking about this run-on sentence: “While frying for @guardianfeast I fried for us too, polpettine di sarde, sardine balls, which for some reason makes me giggle, 700 g fresh sardine boned and mashed (sardines are plentiful here but could be replaced by any oily fish) great handful of dry breadcrumbs, salted ricotta (just a bit, as much for the salt as the cheese) pine nuts, uvetta di passa nera (currants) rolled into balls Fried in olive oil and eaten while hot hot hot gawd damn.”

4. All Aboard the Hanx Train

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The first 'Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood' trailer has arrived, and it's making us emotional. Tom Hanks stars as Mister Rogers in the upcoming film alongside Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson, and Tammy Blanchard. Click the link in our bio to watch the trailer now.