Psst.: What We Loved in July

Today we’re launching something new: a once-monthly column just for paid subscribers, in which our editors share a peek of what they’ve been reading, watching, coveting, pinning, visiting, and otherwise loving lately. Here’s what we’ve been up to this month:

• “A weekly treat to myself: cut flowers from the garden down the road; $7 for as many flowers as you can fit in your fist. And Queen Anne’s Lace, foraged where I can find it (parking lots; the side of the road). There’s nothing I love more than seeing a field of it: pure summer.” – Annie
• “I am eternally rearranging my summertime display of sea-weathered rocks, seashells, and sun-bleached lobster claws, inspired by the brilliant Jim Ede, of Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge.” – Julie
• “During our long-belated honeymoon in Copenhagen, we stayed at Kanalhuset in Christianshaven. The highlights: communal dinners with locals in the dining room, great design (glossy painted wood floors, colorful textiles on the walls), and morning dips in the canals.” – Annie
• “I had an amazing lunch at Toklas, a Mediterranean restaurant tucked away in Temple, just by the river Thames in London. (Perfectly located if any readers are visiting the amazing Inner Temple Garden nearby). Everything about it was pitch perfect: stylish 1950s furniture and leather banquettes, the terrace has been planted up by garden designer Miria Harris, and the food was sublime.” – Clare
• “This month I loved buying pink okra from the small greenmarket near me, at Bartel-Pritchard Square, Brooklyn. The okra is grown by Nolasco Farm, New Jersey. To cook, I blanched the okra briefly; tossed it with avocado oil, salt, and ground cumin; and roasted it for 30 minutes at 400°F. Served warm with labneh on the side.” – Marie

• “This corner of my house always catches the softest light and the prettiest shadows.” – Fan
• “Every year when the late-summer CSA has me scrambling to figure out different ways to cook the abundance of summer squash, I turn to the zucchini bread recipe in Renee Erickson’s A Boat, A Whale and a Walrus. Made with a hearty amount of olive oil and two lemon’s worth of zest, its flavor is both rich and fresh (it’s really more like cake than bread). I’ve never found a better recipe for a zucchini baked good.” – Laura
• “This is upright prairie coneflower, my new fave native perennial, spotted on my neighbor’s berm. I’m currently looking to bring more dark colors to my garden, and this weird-looking reddish-brown flower fits the bill.” – Fan
  • “I’ve become an herbal iced tea addict. I make a pot a day and steep it overnight. I wanted to switch from tea bags—because most contain microplastics—to loose tea. My favorite is Cinnamon-Orange Tea from MarketSpice of Seattle’s Pike Place Market. It’s potently cinnamon-y—a friend compared it to drinking fireball candy—but less so when mixed with MarketSpice’s Cinnamon-Orange Rooibos. (The hand-decorated teapot was a friend’s short-lived venture from long ago—she’s since published two children’s books—pictured on our vintage green kitchen counter.)” – Margot