The Strategist Haul: What the Editors Bought in November

I’d been eyeing this wooden spoon for a while before I finally bought it this month — not because I needed another one but because I was very taken with the construction, which has a straighter edge on one side and a curved edge on the other, resulting in a more pointed top than your average model. This is meant to get into the corners of pots and pans more easily than a wide one — and it works! A thoughtful design that really makes a difference. I find it particularly useful when cooking with my Dutch oven and love the way it looks, too.

I try to always buy hand-soap refills for the pump bottles I already have, with one exception: an annual holiday-season restocking of Mrs. Meyer’s Iowa Pine, which frustratingly doesn’t come in a refill size (alas, Thames Frasier Fir is out of my budget for the volume of soap my darling but oh-so-grubby children go through). A Black Friday deal on three bottles made this year’s purchase even more of a treat.

I’ve got some good news and some bad news about the Garmin Vivoactive smartwatch I bought last month. The good news is that I finally figured out how to use it and have actually been running three times a week for the last month or so. The bad news is that the silicone strap that came with the watch gave me a gnarly rash, even after I cleaned and disinfected it. So I went back to Amazon to buy a couple of new watch straps, and I’m liking this fabric one the best. It’s not waterproof or anything, but I’ve been rash-free since swapping it in. My unscientific theory is that it allows my wrist to breathe. I also like that it doesn’t look so sporty.

I spent Thanksgiving with my friend and her husband in Boston, so as a thank-you for hosting, I sent her a box of Patisserie Tomoko’s signature pastries. It contains an assortment of mochi, macarons, cookies, sandwiches, and chocolate crunch, all wrapped in a beautiful gift box. I think she’ll especially appreciate it because her dog, a little white bichon, is named Mochi.

I’ve had some wonderful nights at Lucali over artichoke-topped pizza and BYOB bottles of wine, but they’ve only come after a four-to-six-hour wait for a table. I rarely go anymore, even though it’s only a few blocks away from my apartment, so when I saw this Lucali-scented candle in the Strategist’s massive holiday gift guide, it made me smile — and jump at the chance to be able to access a little bit of Lucali (or at least the smoked birch and sugarcane scent of its signature brick oven) whenever I feel like it.

I bought Tracksmith running tights immediately after former Strategist senior writer Karen Iorio Adelson wrote that they were “the best running tights I’ve ever tried.” For the past six New York City winters, they’ve kept me warm and comfy on runs. They feel almost like a second skin (not bagging at the crotch or bunching at the knees like other running tights I’ve owned), but they also really protect my legs against wind and snow. This year, I’m ready for a new pair and am trying the new cropped version of the tights, which have the same zippered back pocket for my phone and credit card but also side pockets where I can stash gels — or, more likely, emergency hand warmers.

Another new year needs a new Hobonich Techo. This is the fifth year I’ve bought one, and I couldn’t imagine using any other planner. I also ordered my roommate — who started using one last year after seeing mine — a new one for 2023.

“Not too sweet” is the highest compliment Asian parents can give a dessert, and this ube jelly roll cake that I bought for Thanksgiving was indeed well balanced — and pleasantly tangy from the addition of cream cheese to the filling. Cursed airline restrictions meant I only had room to squeeze smush a slice of calamansi-passionfruit cake into my Megan O’Cain tote alongside it, but the next time my mom and dad are in town, I’ll be taking them straight to Lady Wong’s East Village location for their famous durian mille crêpes (which, now that I think about it, probably wouldn’t be welcome onboard anyway).

Deeply unsexy, maybe, but this leather hole puncher has been so useful. I noticed a couple of my favorite leather belts slumping forward at my waist, especially worn with jeans I’d had taken in. This punch lets me add a couple of new holes with a rotating head of varying widths. Now, the black leather Mango belt I recently picked up a size too big (my size was out of stock) sits just right.

Fanny packs are my go-to way of keeping my essentials close by without stuffing my pockets; plus, they’re a nice way to add a bit of flair to my outfits. I picked this one up from a shop in my hometown earlier this month, and it’s quickly becoming my favorite bag. It’s made of recycled nylon, comes in bold colors, and has a large pocket with enough room to hold my Kindle or iPad Mini on a weekend getaway — and even my Fujifilm X100S if I don’t overstuff the bag. The smaller front pocket has enough room for a wallet, stash of keys, and some chapstick. The included strap extends up to 42 inches, but you can order an extender for no extra charge. The company supports a good cause, too: A bit of every purchase goes toward helping the company coordinate litter cleanup days.

Augie grew out of these toddler socks, so I decided to level up and get him “big boy” socks. Naturally, I turned to Rative again and found these ribbed ankle crew socks with more than 1,000 positive reviews. The two-toned socks have a grippy bottom drawn in a surrealist elephant print and feel super-cushy (they’re much thicker than his previous set). They also look cool paired with his little Vans.

I saw this Japanese book from 1981 on Joana Avillez’s Instagram story and I immediately put a copy in my cart. Augie loves stories about bodies (Everyone Poops is a favorite, as is this French book about a mole that investigates who pooped on his head that a friend brought back from Paris), so I knew he’d appreciate this love letter to nostrils. Everything about it is hilarious: the somewhat crude illustrations (there’s a page of people looking up to reveal what their nostrils look like), the writing (“‘Wed the holes in my dose are sdubbed ub, I candt sbell id eved wed I fart.’”), and the fact that it doesn’t sugarcoat realities like bloody noses and how it’s very important to keep all of our bodies’ holes clean. What makes it even better is that the characters are Asian, just like us.

Black Friday got most of my money this month. I made a plan this year: Get in, buy the stuff I need, and get out. One of those things was a matching side table. I already own one of these, and when I first bought it, I thought I wanted to go with a mismatched side-table vibe. I quickly learned I was deeply uninterested in that direction, so I realized I had to purchase its twin. Turns out it had gotten more expensive (or maybe I have amnesia), so purchasing this was painful but necessary. I will say, despite the steep price tag, it’s worth the money. It holds a ton of crap that can be hidden by simply turning it around, and despite having drinks left on top of it and all manner of liquids and creams spilled on it, it still looks virtually brand new.

I have had OxiClean White Revive in my Amazon Subscribe & Save ever since a former co-worker tipped me off back in 2017 (and have apparently gone through more than a dozen cartons of it since, according to my order history). And while it’s done a great job at getting stains out and keeping whites from looking dingy, it isn’t effective for removing odors like the musty smell that sheets can get or the sweaty smell that always seems to develop in my husband’s T-shirts. For that, I had relied on Tide One Wash Miracle, a direct-to-consumer laundry detergent that came in a $13 single-use, two-part capsule you throw in the drum with your load and that I only had to use very occasionally because it worked so well. Procter & Gamble discontinued it back in the spring, unfortunately, and I’d been searching for a substitute ever since. This flavor of OxiClean really seems to work, and it costs a fraction of what One Wash Miracle did. I’ve been putting it into rotation with the White Revive when our laundry needs it most.

My OB has me take iron supplements when I’m pregnant. When I complained a few years ago during my second pregnancy that the pill form made me nauseated, she recommended that I try this liquid made by a German company (we’ve written about the yeast- and gluten-free version, Floravital previously). This was a replacement for my last bottle — I’m embarrassed to say that I had neglected to read the fine print where it says the bottle should be refrigerated upon opening and I noticed after a while that mine had started fermenting.

I’ve been wearing J.Crew since I was in high school, and it’s become somewhat of an annual tradition of mine to get one thing from the brand’s holiday sale. This year, my shirt rotation needed some freshening up, so I got this supersoft brushed-twill shirt for $30. I’m wearing it under cardigans and sweaters for winter layering, but it’s lightweight, so I’m sure I’ll be using it a ton in the spring and summer too.

I did the Kroma five-day cleanse a few months ago when I was looking for a solution to help with the intense chronic pain I was experiencing. The cleanse was good in that I didn’t feel ravenous all day long like I have during other programs. And each broth and smoothie in the kit was rich and tasty. But the Super Porridge stood out to me as excellent. It’s got a complex, oaty flavor I love, and it keeps me satiated for a few hours. And it’s fast — you just hydrate it with a bit of oat or almond milk. The whole program is too expensive for me to do regularly, so this is the only thing that’s survived as a part of my routine because it really is a star.