The Snack of the Summer
Plus deadstock button-ups, the secret musicological science behind why the new Alex G sounds so good, and apps that abet a fuller experience of the real world
Mach 3+ city intel for traveling the entire planet is here.
Our list of 35 Spyplane Icons — celebrating pinnacle design excellence of the contemporary era — is here.
We just published two sletters about Summer Suits — Erin’s is here, Jonah’s is here.
The Plane, with you once again. Today we’ve got:
The Spyplane Snack of the Summer.
Exclusive Early SpyAccess to 3 sick new button-ups cut & sewn in L.A. from deadstock fabrics
You should bury your phone in a flower pot and grow basil in it. But if that’s not possible, here are 3 apps that encourage and abet a fuller experience of the world rather than estranging you from it.
The secret musicological science behind why the new Alex G sounds so good…
Let’s get to it —
Our favorite restaurant in Kyoto, which we saluted in our gem-rich Ultimate Kyoto Guide, has an extensive menu of dishes that we could never replicate in the Spyplane Kitchen. We are pretty nice with it as home cooks go, but there are limits to our capabilities.
They do serve one humble but mighty creation, however, that is overwhelmingly easy to make. It’s a fairly common snack at Izakayas, and we’ve had our own version in heavy rotation since we got back… rotation so heavy that we are ready to name it The Spyplane Snack of the Summer.
You get sheets of nori — it’s worth spending an extra couple bucks here, you might think off-the-shelf supermarket nori is all the same, but you’d be surprised by how dull and wan some of the cheap regs joints can be by comparison.
You get a pack of sliced “cheese product” — Kraft white American dairy singles, Daiya vegan “Oat Cream” Swiss, some even more frou-frou s--t, etc. All this s--t is highly processed and tastes essentially the same.
You sandwich ~four cheese slices between two sheets of nori, then cut them into 4 squares or 8 triangles, as seen above.
No more, no less. Crisp. Subtle. The crunch and faint umami of the upmarket nori as it gives way to the salty, creamy tooth of the downmarket cheese product is a high-low delight. These go great with beer, unsurprisingly, but are just fine on their own. Enjoy.
Meanwhile —
Are Studios in L.A. is one of Erin’s favorite independent lines. She’s written in Concorde about their bags, of which she owns a couple, and their “Studio” button-up shirts, of which she owns one — and since the shirt is unisex and cut roomy, it means I can borrow it from her.
Which brings us to …
Today, Are is dropping 3 new Studio shirts, cut from deadstock fabrics, and making them available as a ‘xclusie to Spy Nation before anyone else.
They’re pictured above: a lightweight navy cotton with grey stripes, a mauve cotton, and a white Japanese cotton “with a silky drape and slight sheerness,” as designer Cecilia Bordarampe puts it. “They all have a soft lightweight hand perfect for summer weather.”
Are makes the Studio Shirt in a single, unisex, “one size fits most” cut. Erin is 5’7” and it fits cool and oversize on her. I’m 5’11” and it’s slightly more fitted on me, but still very relaxed. Check the measurements above.
These are finished on the inside with French seams (see our guide to the secret language of interior seams), they’ve got pearl buttons, and “two knife pleats below the back yoke, at the shoulder blades, instead of a more traditional center box pleat. The fit is loose and boxy.” (Cecilia suspects that all three are blends — mostly cotton, “possibly with a tiny bit of nylon.” Since they’re from a deadstock-textile supplier, she doesn’t know the breakdown for sure: “They do burn testing, but it’s not exact.”)
These shirts go live to everyone tomorrow, $225 each. But for the next 24 hours we’re psyched to present Early SpyAccess to this capsule to our Classified Spyfriends, via the button at the bottom of today’s sletter.
Next up —
I don’t use apps much, and believe that under ideal circumstances you would be able to bury your phone in a flower pot, grow basil in it, and make pesto using that basil, instead of looking at your phone ever again. But there are certain rare instances when I wish I did use apps more, i.e. cases where the app in question encourages & abets a fuller experience of the “real world,” rather than estranging you from it.
Recently, three trusted Spyfriends recommended three apps along these exact lines: