OOO #29: Outfits, Ohio, and Other Things I Like
Excuse my afternoon wrinkles, my fave plant store, and nostalgia in a cookie
Outfits
Ohio
We are a big fan of Stump here in our house. Stump is a little jewel of a plant store, and after my experiences shopping with them, I don’t think I’ll ever buy a houseplant from anyone else again. We were first introduced to Stump through a gift certificate from my mom, who is a veritable champion of both local businesses and house plants. We have been in both the German Village—right next to Fox in the Snow and Give Yoga—and Italian Village locations, and found them both to have people who were friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful.
We took our time before buying our plants for our new home so we could determine where our plants would go and what kind of light we get in the house. When we felt confident as to what that looked like (our house does not get a ton of light, which I actually don’t mind that much), we finally returned to Stump with a houseplant expert (and best friend and reader) in tow, totally intimidated but determined to take home some new plant friends.
The Stump sales associate made us feel completely at ease as we figured out which plants would be best for our house, our aesthetic, and our comfort taking care of plants (my comfort level is between 0 and 15%). He was patient and kind and talked through everything we would need to succeed as new #plantparents. He then wrote down everything we discussed on a care card (photo below), so we could actually remember the right size of pots to buy and how often to water our new plants when we inevitably forgot five minutes after walking out the store.
The plants have already survived an entire season, and I’m hopeful for the future! I have killed every plant I’ve ever had (RIP Lucille), but I’m determined to make this time work.
Other reasons Stump is great: great customer service/double checked that everything with the gift card worked out; wide variety of houseplants; pricing is very reasonable; it’s a family-owned business!
Other Things I Like
I miss Long Island every day, but really miss it during the summer. I can’t tell if it’s nostalgia for my childhood (I really was happy growing up on Long Island), but I think there is something very beautiful about living in between the greatest city in the world and the beaches of the south shore. I miss the fireworks over the marina, the hum of crickets, the ice cream truck jingle echoing through the streets just after the sun goes down… I don’t even mind the humidity; it just hangs in the air and gives you that feeling that something good is going to happen.
Okay, clearly I love Long Island, and clearly I listened to “Something’s Coming” from West Side Story far too many times on my old boom box during summer nights.
Whenever I start missing Long Island and listening to Billy Joel or looking at photos of Sagamore Hill won’t cut it, I turn to some gastronomical comforts. You may assume that I might reach for pizza or bagels, but my go-to that makes me feel at home are rainbow cookies.
Rainbow cookies are indeed a perfect cookie… even though some might argue that they’re actually cake.
If you’ve never had rainbow cookies before (and you are in for a TREAT if you haven’t), they consist of three layers of almond cake, colored like the Italian flag. Between each layer of cake is a layer of jam (raspberry and apricot), and the entire thing is covered in dark chocolate. They are a mainstay in Italian-American owned delis and bakeries, and I could easily eat an entire box of them without thinking about it.
Rainbow cookies are the perfect breakfast before running errands at strip malls, the perfect afternoon snack after your day at the beach, and the perfect dessert after piping hot pizza. They give me more joy than I can articulate, and I’m still on the hunt for the best rainbow cookie in Columbus. If you’ve got recommendations, let me know!
That’s it! Have a great rest of your week!
My sister, Alberta, makes them from a recipe our aunt, born in 1898, used. We call them Neapolitan cookies ❤️