Quaintrelle Weekender

Removing people from my Instagram, and, have you heard? Landlines are back, baby!

IRL lately.

I removed someone from my Instagram. Nothing dramatic, but they were just consuming too much energy for me to keep them in my online orbit.

I told my friend, Rebecca (she writes a fantastic newsletter related to this very thing, Unsubscribe, though it’s on pause while she completes TWO documentaries this year!)

We both agree social media – as stupid as we claim it to be, yet still compulsively check our phones 48 times an hour to see who likes us now – is our modern currency, our preferred medium of connection, albeit a very low-grade one. Throwing someone a ❤️ isn’t difficult, it’s not like you’re giving away your actual ❤️, but we’re so stingy with our likes and loves, it makes me wonder why we’re on the platforms at all.

And then there’s the meaning-making we place on social media motivations. Why didn’t more people like this post? Why didn’t so-and-so leave a comment? How come my ex from 10 years ago was creeping our stories (wondered with a smug air of superiority.) Crest fallen when the current infatuation has stopped looking at our stories.

It’s exhausting.

Rebecca, who is a journalist and documentarian, but for quite a long time made a hefty living as an influencer, and still has a foot – well, maybe a toe – in the game, told me to rise above the fray, she’s no longer looking at who has viewed her stories. “I haven’t got the time to scroll through 2,000 views, or whatever, to see who’s in and who’s out,” she said. (See: making TWO documentaries in ONE year.)

Have you heard the latest?

The young’uns are partying like it’s 1999.

Gen Alpha (quite the endorsement, that. Let’s wait to see how these whippersnappers turn out before making any wild assumptions.) Anyway, the big thing with Gen Alpha …? Landlines. Apparently, a mix of texts leaving too much vulnerability through a potential screen shot or copy and paste, worry over being recorded while cutting a rug on the dance floor, and maybe a soupçon of cringy boyfriend, has the younger set craving a bit of anonymity. No word on the demand for call waiting.

I doubt the children realize trading in digital for analogue is a real flex. But Robert Greene, the author of the best selling Art of Seduction, argues that remaining a bit mysterious, slightly unavailable is a power move.

In my day we called that playing hard to get.

As the world turns.

Hello and welcome to Quaintrelle Weekender, my weekly postcard of what’s on my mind.

If you have yet to formally join, just click below to subscribe for free, and while you’re in the clicking mood, maybe you could throw me a ❤️?

The algo and I thank you.

An IG post from Wine Enthusiast in response to the vilifying of wine in the name of health and productivity.

This Week’s Big 3

Have we maxed out on maximizing? I hope so. In this sane, balanced and calm piece, Wine Enthusiast publisher, Jacqueline Strum, outlines clearly and calmly how all of our endeavours to fibremaxx, looksmaxx, proteinmaxx, longevitymaxx, sleepmaxx, is maybe just maxxing out the fun in our lives? (I wrote my thoughts for The Wine Sisters’ blog.)

Everyone loves Fran. I was so bummed to have missed Fran Lebowitz’s appearance at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto last month. But the friendly folks at CBC were good enough to post 30 minutes from the evening on the Bookends podcast. Get ready to guffaw.

Life changing pan liner trick. Have you seen Giulia Scarpaleggia’s cooking school trick for lining a baking pan? Total game changer.

BONUS: My conversation with Christopher Waters. Totally analogue. This season of Wine School wraps up with a very high note, in my conversation with The Globe and Mail wine columnist, and my friend, Christopher Waters. Happening Wednesday, June 24 at Vantage Venues, downtown Toronto, enjoy lots of wine and cheese and excellent conversation about wine, journalism and the (precarious?) state of both. I hope to see you there.

The Weekend Menu

Last Sunday’s Dinner: Via Carota’s Insalata Verde (with lettuce from my garden!) and carbonara (yes, again.) I used the salad dressing recipe from VC’s cookbook, but NYT Cooking has adapted one as well, so, here’s a lil’ gift link for you.

Tonight’s Dinner: Meatballs and chopped salad.

The Weekend Cocktail: Big Batch Margs

The Weekend Wine: Cavino “Historoots” Assyrtiko 2024, Peloponnese, Greece $16

Big dip energy on the lanai

Back on Monday

Enjoy the weekend.

My nephew turns 16 tomorrow and he’s requested brisket tacos for his celebratory dinner on Sunday. I’m making a quinoa, black bean and corn salad with lime-cumin vinaigrette, as well as pickling the onions and jalapeños, and making a few dips – guac and ranch and all the usual summertime suspects.

Should be a real knees-up.

If you don’t hear from me on Monday, you know it was.

Until then –

xo – Erin

Thank you for reading Quaintrelle.

This newsletter is written by me, Erin Henderson, journalist-turned-sommelier-turned-entrepreneur. I literally drink and throw parties for a living, and on the weekends, I share some thoughts on stylish living.

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