All the news that's fit to snack on for Sunday Funday.
Happy Sunday! We missed you since our little lapse, where we were working out some technical difficulties, but now we're officially back and jumping into your Inbox every week.
Welcome to The Sunday Skinny, which will take you 3 minutes to breeze through.
(And for anyone new, this is The Skinny, a free newsletter designed to entertain and save you time, which is everyone's most valuable resource.)
What we're covering today:
Sauna, then snowbank: why we're deep diving into contrast therapy
The witches are back: Practical Magic 2 has us leaning into "kitchen witch" season
Sunday cooking with The Skinny: Midnight Margaritas 3 ways (one for the Sober October crowd)
Plus: goodbye Pumpkin Spice, hello Matcha Latte and "fallternative" flavors, candy-colored handbags, “pink noise” for sleeping and is there a Diet Coke shortage in NYC?
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HOT TAKE
Sauna, then Snowbank: Jump In & Join Us
Photo by Auroom Wellness for Unsplash
The Skinny: Contrast therapy has been everywhere, but it's hardly something new: Finns have gone from sauna to icy lake for centuries.
In Scandinavia, hot-then-cold isn’t a wellness fad. It’s just Tuesday. Finland has about 3.3 million saunas for 5.4 million people, and Finnish sauna culture is on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage. The classic move: sweat it out in the sauna, then dunk in an avanto (a hole cut in a frozen lake), and head back in to thaw. Repeat until you feel brand new, connected spiritually to earthly elements or, at the very least, very clear-headed and awake.
The ritual is simple: heat up in a sauna or hot tub, then cool down with a cold plunge, a cold shower or, if you live in the mountains like Jill, a snowbank, and repeat for a few rounds. Fans say they sleep better, feel less sore and walk away with a wide-awake buzz. Count Jill as a convert and Nicole as a neophyte but would-be enthusiast, if she had cold water or snow readily available.
Does contrast therapy or hot/cold plunges have any health benefits?
Our take: alternative therapies’ lack of fully studied or proven science evidence is often balanced by their historic longevity as a health and wellness ritual. In this case, alternating hot and cold is a pleasant ritual (who can argue with unplugging to indulge in a mini reset) with some real science behind it. Though less proven than the hype suggests, regular heat exposure, whether hot baths or saunas, is linked to better vascular health, and a Finnish study tied frequent sauna use to lower dementia risk in men. For the hot-cold combination itself, the best evidence is for easing post-workout soreness compared with doing nothing, though it doesn’t necessarily beat other recovery methods. More robust claims about immunity, longevity or mood are still early. However, when it comes to mood, you can’t argue with this therapy’s feel-good benefits.
No bathhouse nearby? Pull up to the party with a portable cold plunge tub that sets up on the patio and folds away when you're done, or bring the heat home with an at-home sauna.
If you have a heart condition or high blood pressure, check with your doctor first, since cold plunges briefly raise heart rate and blood pressure.
Where to sweat it out stateside:
New York: Othership (Flatiron and Williamsburg) runs guided sauna and ice-bath sessions with breathwork.
Denver: Rök Spas in LoDo is a Nordic bathhouse with the city's largest custom sauna and 4 cold plunge tubs.
Bozeman: Umvelt is a downtown bathhouse with a Finnish dry sauna, steam and a cold plunge.
Austin: Sauna House in North Loop keeps it Nordic and simple: sauna, cold plunge, rest, repeat.
Portland: Ebb + Ember sits on the Columbia River, with sauna heat, cold plunges and open-air rest.
San Francisco: Fjord in Sausalito is a floating sauna with bay views.
Bucket-list saunas:
Japan: Despite its highbrow design, can’t resist naming this gorgeous spiral hothouse the “bloomin’ onion of saunas.”
Norway: Soria Moria, a sauna in a truly “fairytale setting” in a remote and less-traveled region.
Canada: Tap out, “Alone” style, in the deep wilderness at Nimmo Bay, located in the Great Bear Rainforest, at this floating sauna.
WITCHING HOUR
The Rise of the Kitchen Witch
Kitchen-witch season. Photo by Karola G for Pexels.
The Skinny: Nearly 30 years after the original, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are back as the Owens sisters. Practical Magic 2 hit theaters in September, based on Alice Hoffman's 2021 novel The Book of Magic, with Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing returning as the aunts.
The ripple effect is all over our feeds. Pinterest named the "kitchen witch" an overarching trend for fall, per PureWow, citing the sequel hype. Think dried herbs hung by the window, a well-loved cast iron, candles on the counter, a mortar and pestle (duh) and a garden filled with ingredients for potions recipes.
And yes, the Practical Magic house is back. Fun fact: it was built purely for the film, landscaping and all, and the look is described as "Victorian coastal meets cottage witch," where every object tells a story.
Jill’s kitchen-witchcraft: I live in a small town, and pop-ins happen a lot. How do I prepare? Always on hand: frozen limeade ($0.89!) and a block of cream cheese.
Limeade + tequila + ice = instant almost-margarita.
Cream cheese + any jelly + any cracker = instant snack.
BLOODY GOOD
Midnight Margaritas, 3 Ways
Photo by Dasha Klimova for Pexels
The Skinny: Indulging in a moody blood orange margarita is how we’re celebrating this Sunday eve. Inspo for your witchy potion: a cue from the aunts' midnight margarita coconut- and lime-fueled dance. Get the three-ingredient official Midnight Margarita version here, or choose from one of these recipes (plus one for Sober October teetotalers). Now, let the cauldron boil!
🍊 The Blood Orange Classic (makes 1)
1½ oz blanco tequila
1 oz fresh lime juice
3 oz fresh blood orange juice
½ oz Cointreau
¼ oz agave syrup (optional, for a sweeter drink)
Blood orange zest sugar rim and a blood orange slice
Mix about 3 tbsp sugar with a bit of blood orange zest on a small plate.
Wet the rim of a rocks glass, dip it in the sugar, and fill the glass with ice.
Shake the tequila, lime juice, blood orange juice, Cointreau and agave hard with ice for about 30 seconds, then strain over the ice.
(Side note: we are loving these spooky marg glasses)
🩸 The Blood Orange Soberita (makes 1)
¾ oz fresh lime juice
¾ oz fresh blood orange juice
½ oz agave syrup
Salt (for rim) and a blood orange wheel
Salt-rim (ideally, with Tajín Clásico) a double old fashioned glass and fill with fresh ice.
Shake everything with ice until chilled, strain into the glass, and garnish with the wheel.
And for the lazy mixologists, may we recommend: El Guapo Salted Paloma mixer, a juicy-bright, NOLA-made premix; or these from Yes Cocktail Co, including Sea Salt & Agave.
LAST LICKS
This Week's Newsfeed
Photos courtesy of Nordstrom.com
We have written about our disdain for “Pumpkin Spice culture” before, but is it finally dying down (but of course, never completely out)? Google stats have recently pointed to yes, and others are calling this the season of "fallternative" flavors, with increased searches for salted brown butter, apple and cardamom coffees. Starbucks' fall standout this year is a banana bread latte, but we’re embracing the matcha latte aesthetic, from beauty products to adorable tea + sets or the above $5K Judith Leiber clutch (that we would never purchase but would happily borrow and carry around). Shop the trend here.
Sleep on this: White noise is out, “pink noise” is in.
We want candy: well, in the form of these tasty-colored bags from one of our favorite designers, Clare V. Bag note: we stick to belt or fanny bags and crossbodies, since we’ve left one too many handbags on a barstool. Bag stays on body; bag makes it back home.
Taste test: We love this reel testing simple food combos that transform into something surprising (melon + banana = bubble gum; tomato + potato chip = pizza).
Is your “fridge cig” in danger? Some New Yorkers recently declared an “emergency” after finding Diet Coke in short supply.
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