11 Things That Delighted Us Last Week: From Clear Tablecloths to Tasting Spoons

Strategist writer Rachael Griffiths used to rely on teeny-tiny bobby pins to separate mascara clumps on her lashes. That is, until she tried this new eyelash separator — a sturdy metal tool constructed specifically to glide through your mascaraed lashes without poking your eyes out. “As well as separating and combing your lashes, it subtly scrapes away any extra mascara to prevent them from drying too heavily or clumping throughout the day,” Griffiths writes.

This week, Strategist kitchen and dining writer Emma Wartzman waxed poetic about a simple kitchen item: a hefty steel tasting spoon that holds exactly one tablespoon. Wartzman calls the indispensable utensil one of her most-used tools and relies on it for everything from tasting soups and basting butter over a steak to drizzling olive oil over a fried egg. Better yet, the spoon is dishwasher safe — but take note from Wartzman: “In my kitchen it never even makes it there: I suds and rinse by hand because I know I’ll want it sooner than I can run a cycle.”

For park picnics and office lunches, consider the bamboo utensil set that Kyra Sedgwick keeps in her purse. With a fork, knife, spoon, chopsticks, and straw the set covers just about everything you’ll need for takeout — which is why the actor names it one of the things she can’t live without. “The bamboo feels good in your mouth, and it’s easy to clean,” she says. “I mean, literally bamboo almost cleans itself … If you don’t have time to wash it with soap and water, you can just wipe it and it’s okay to use.”

Those who have been following our bartending series will be eager to hear about the newest piece in the lineup: our guide to the best highball glasses. Each glass on the list will make a good-looking vessel for your gin and tonics, but these from Remark Glass are unique because they’re made from discarded kombucha bottles. Plus, caterer Jason Kaminski says, “They’re easy to hold, especially when you’re standing for hours at a cocktail event, and are slim enough not to take up too much cabinet space.”

When Strategist contributor Gillian Sturtevant finally got the Ilse Crawford for De La Espada Together Table that she’d long coveted, there was just one problem: She was afraid to use it. Enter the lace-trimmed clear plastic tablecloth she bought on Amazon. Not only does it protect her precious table, it’s become a design object in its own right. “Whenever anyone walks into our house, the first thing they comment on is the tablecloth,” she says, adding that it has been mistaken for a Gohar World piece. “It eliminates anxiety … and has allowed me to see into a future with a child at my dining table, everyone enjoying our meal, spilling everywhere, not thinking about the furniture.”

Designer Suzie Kondi can’t live without this tahini, which she recommends pairing with Bautista’s Medjool dates. The duo, she says, is reminiscent of the sweets her mother served during her childhood. “You take one of these dates, you dip it in the tahini, and it’s out of this world,” she says. “The sweet with the tahini and the sesame seed is so wonderful, and the consistency of this tahini is fantastic.”

If guests are coming but you’re short on extra space, have you considered a guest tent? Strategist contributor Kayla Levy came across this makeshift guest room when staying at a friend’s house in Los Angeles. “The triangular tent has a sturdy aluminum frame, meaning it stands alone without a center pole and leaves room for a twin-size bed frame,” she writes. As for décor, “Like any good guest room, the tent is decorated with Ikea’s best — a basic side table, a lilac duvet, and a shaded plastic lamp (there’s electricity from an extension cord),” she says.

Pottery Barn released its newest collaboration with TV series Wednesday just as Halloween mania surged at Home Depot with a restock of its giant 12-foot-tall skeleton. (You can find more hot Halloween décor in our recent Strategist roundtable about the topic). The Pottery Barn collection includes a number of spooky items, like this light-up replica of the disembodied hand Thing, which we featured in our newest installment of Don’t Dillydally.

Whether you prefer a margherita pizza or a pepperoni pie, you’ll need a pizza stone to get the job done at home. This one topped our list of the very best pizza stones for its size, weight, and thickness: “It is large enough to bake just about anything, light enough to pull in and out of the oven easily, even when hot, and thick enough to have strong heat retention and make multiple pizzas,” writes Strategist contributor Jonathan Deutsch.

Finally, our tech writer Jordan McMahon tried all the iPads and says that this one is the best one for most people. It’s compatible with Apple’s Pencil and Magic Keyboard and has “a powerful chip that can run all the apps most people use to get work done, plus its display and thin design make it an excellent tablet for watching videos and reading,” he writes. At 13 inches, the iPad “doesn’t work quite as well [as the 11-inch version] for in-hand usage, but the larger screen is better for taking notes, drawing, and editing photos.”