Greetings, friends! And welcome to Caroline Finds It: my weekly newsletter where I reply to submissions from YOU for objects and products you need recommendations for.
I’ve been hanging on to a few submissions for a while — ones that have a singular answer, or no answer at all! This week I’ve got several to share with you:
Meredith in Chicago: “I am having a laundry problem. I've been #blessed to have in-unit laundry for years, but my new condo has laundry in the basement. The stairwell to get down there has three cumbersome doors that are a *nightmare* to navigate with my top-handled pop-up hamper, so I am looking for a laundry hamper with backpack straps. The kicker is I'd like one that stands up on its own. I'm seeing several beautiful options for bags, but no freestanding ones so far.”
How does this not exist? I really had trouble finding anything, especially something that isn’t on Amazon/other not great retail giants. And then I happened upon the Uashmama Laundry Backpack, which fits the bill and doesn’t look like something that should be in a dorm room. The kicker is that it’s $139, which seems obscene to me for a laundry hamper. Readers: do we have any generous friends of Merediths looking to send her a nice housewarming gift??
Kevin in New Jersey: “I am looking for a new bullet journal. I am currently using a Leuchtturm but would like to try something with better paper. I would be happy to give up features for quality paper.”
If you’d come into my shop and asked me this question, the first thing I would ask you is “What kind of writing tools are you using?”. Based on the fact that you’re seeking nicer-than-Leuchtturm paper, I’m going to guess that you have very discerning taste and use a combination of fountain pens, nice pencil, and maybe a rollerball or two. For anyone who doesn’t know: bullet journaling is a system of organizing and documenting ones life, and requires a dot grid notebook. The Leuchtturm ones come with a handy guide, a table of contents page and a few other bells and whistles, but any dot grid journal will do. I’d recommend the Endless Recorder Notebook, which also has a hard cover, elastic, and folder in the back BUT is filled with Tomoe River paper, which is widely known are the nicest writing paper on market, especially among pen nerds as it is smooth and creamy and doesn’t bleed at all.
Emily in Los Angeles: “Large garden troughs. Large enough to plant pumpkins in. (I know I’m running late, I should have planted already!)”
I love the Natural Cedar Planter Boxes from EarthEasy. They come in a variety of sizes and depths (up to 28”) and are actually made in the US from quality wood, which is surprisingly difficult to find, unless you’re ordering them from a local woodworker. For pumpkins, you’re going to want to get the deepest and largest option you can manage — but be sure to fill the bottom with a non-soil material for drainage, and to reduce the weight. A tip I learned from my friend who is a gardener — use styrofoam packing peanuts! I’d also consider looking for a dwarf variety of pumpkin that’s bred to grow in a container. It is possible! I am currently growing small melons in a container successfully. Plan ahead for next season! Seed catalogues normally come out around December (be sure to order one from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and also check out Johnny’s Selected Seeds), and planter boxes are often made to order and take a while to ship.
James in Virginia: “A loose leaf tea steeper. I toggle between teas that are larger leaf and things like chai which sadly fits between the cheap steeper I have today. Any recommendation on a single steeper that can accommodate both well and is easy to clean?”
From my research, the one product that kept coming up is the Finium Brew Basket, which seems like a great solution, and is the finest mesh I’ve seen in the form of a one-cup steeper. Personally, I love brewing tea in a Simple Brew Tea Pot from Rishi, which comes in several sizes and has a super tight lid that keeps even the finest tea particles from pouring out. I think it’s easier to clean than a traditional steeper, and adds a little something extra to my tea-making ritual.
Ellie in Brooklyn: “I have been on the hunt for these beautiful candies, pastillines, from a company called La Vie de Vosgienne in France. These were jewel-toned hard candies that had a dusting of sugar around the outside, almost like Turkish delight. We would get them from an international market when I was growing up; they were usually near the checkout counter. The assorted flavors were my favorite ones because seeing all the pastel colors together was really pretty, and the graphic design on the little tins (and the tins themselves) was the best for the assorted colors. I haven't been able to find them anywhere, even overseas - they may be discontinued. I reached out to someone who used to sell them on his Geocities-eqsue website for an Amish Country Store, and while we had a lovely chat about how great the candies were, I left the conversation with no lead.”
Ellie, I can confirm that these are absolutely discontinued. I was just at Economy Candy on the Lower East Side yesterday and was reminded that they have an impressive selection of pretty European candy. Perhaps a field trip is in order to find something similar! Or, maybe it’s best to let the memory of this childhood delight rest. I have an extremely vivid memory of the smell of a small vial of perfume included with a Barbie I had in the mid-90s. I’ve caught a whiff of it out in the world a few times and have agonized over figuring out what it is, and though it’s such a blissfully nostalgic experience to be reminded of something so closely associated with my childhood, I’ve long since accepted that maybe the memory is better than the thing itself.
FAVORITE PRODUCT OF THE WEEK
Six years ago, while on vacation in Hawaii, I impulse purchased a Japanese product called Salux at a drugstore, merely because I loved the woman on the packaging, and because the product was described as a “Beauty Skin Cloth”. It’s a very light, scratchy nylon cloth that lathers soap like a dream and gets you clean as can be while also exfoliating your skin. Generally, I’d be extremely against a totally nylon/poly product that I have to throw away every 4-6 months, but I just haven’t found a natural equivalent that comes close to performing like this. What I love most about it is that it’s long enough to shimmy across your back, and also dries lightening fast, making it easy to travel with and less likely to get moldy in a steamy shower. Though many would disagree, I believe that it’s okay to use an exfoliating towel like this one every day as long as I’m using a clean and safe soap that doesn’t strip my skin, like my favorite Almond Goat Milk soap from SallyeAnder. If you go to H-Mart or any other Asian grocery store, you’ll likely find these alongside many other excellent exfoliating mits and towels, but I firmly believe Salux to be superior.
Is there a product you’re looking for? Submit your request here. I’ll be back in your inbox on August 19th, as I’m taking a couple of weeks off. Until then — Happy Shopping! xo Caroline
I have been using shorthand notebook paper or open sea notebook paper with my broad messy fountain pens to write my pen pals.