Brief Tap Into Coolness

The lobby at the Ace Hotel in downtown Brooklyn. 

Well, Dan almost had a detached retina about a month ago and required emergency surgery on a Saturday night. Thank God he did not lose his vision in the eye. 

He can't fly to work at 60-Second Novelist party gigs quite yet and can't see well enough to drive at night. So I drove him here to the Ace Hotel in downtown Brooklyn. And I'm sitting in the sleek lobby to write a little while he writes a lot for the party guests, on his vintage typewriter.

It's just a 6-minute walk from here to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, owned by Sony and outfitted with chefs and waitstaff to bring things like a "Boozy Shake" (the Grasshopper) or fried pickle spears with buttermilk ranch dressing to your reclining seat. I wish Dan could join me, because we are passionate moviegoers. 

I found a lone seat left on the aisle to see "Primetime," starring Robert Pattinson, while Dan is working. Then I will drive us home in time for Jalen Brunson's SNL gig at 11:30 p.m.!

Writing the serial mystery on Substack has turned out to be harder than I thought right off the cuff. Historical fiction, if you will. Research for accuracy and color. Story arc and structure, character development. Conflict, drama.

Glad to be in the hotel lobby sitting at a long communal wood work table across from a wide, comforting gas fireplace with flickering flames. Lamps lined up down the middle of the plank. Sturdy yet comfy chairs. A gift shop with great $95 sweatshirts. A lobby menu. But I'm saving my budget for dine-in movie watching.

Just wanted to check in.

I'm Writing a Mystery Story in Parts on Substack

 

This is fun, a serial mystery. Two installments so far. Start with the first.

I believe you can read it for free and maybe then subscribe if you choose? Here is the link: https://alicegarbarinihurley.substack.com/p/1-knock-knock-whos-there?r=9z52t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Substack is a fertile field for writers. And many hook you in and you want to keep reading their posts.

I try not to have too many subscriptions (about $5 to $7 per month, or a higher yearly fee). They add up.

I have loved/paid for the following. I have cancelled three to save money. It's wild game hunting out there. Everywhere you turn, another good shoot. (I have never hunted in my life.)

• Homeward (Amanda Hesser, NY Times, Cooking for Mr. Latte, Food52)
• P.S. by Plum Sykes (British, Vogue, top style writer, sometimes gossipy)
• xoxoDorie (Dorie Greenspan, baker, cookbook author, charming writing voice)
• Turns Out, I Have Notes (consciousness-raising posts from my friend Kim Flodin)
• Codes of Style
• La Briffe (the great Ruth Reichl, NY Times, cookbooks, memoirs, Gourmet) La briffe is an affectionate old French term meaning food or a good meal. 
• Girls of a Certain Age (Kim France, Lucky magazine, fun reporting but tempts me to shop)

What do you love on Substack?

Can She Make a Cherry Pie, Charming Billy?*

Can you smell the cherry filling and the golden-brown butter dough?

It's 3:23 p.m. on Friday, a blue-sky summer day. Yesterday, Dan and I came over to this house, owned by his brother John in Belfast, Maine. Right on the coast. The bay is at the foot of the hill. 

We picked cherries (pie cherries, sour cherries) from his 40-year-old cherry tree and pitted them. It was an old-time chore, and it was nourishing. It felt like time stood still. 

Felt like we three were quilting together around a table, though not out on the prairie. We talked as we pitted dozens of pretty red globes. We talked about the milk delivered in glass bottles that the Hurleys got in Teaneck before their parents divorced, when money got tight. As the youngest of five brothers, Dan did not remember the milkbox. But as the oldest, John did.

Then today, when all of the Hurley brothers went for a walk at 1 p.m., I came back over to bake a cherry pie--actually two, since we picked enough for double.

John has turned to the recipe for Fresh Cherry Pie from The Joy of Cooking, a golden source for everything. But I used Melissa Clark's New York Times version from 2023, adding a little capful of almond extract.

This morning, I met my sister-in-law Sheila at the outdoor Belfast Farmers' Market (since 1980). I got a sweet-smelling sweet pea bouquet plus red and rainbow beets from New Beat Farm and a cucumber and cream cheese bagel sandwich from Spark Bagel (that had a very long line). Also: Hibiscus Rose Iced Tea, very good. I'm still nursing it.

I love these simple pleasures. For an extra $2, I purchased a small mason jar to ferry the sweet peas back to New Jersey tomorrow.

The jury is still out on how the pie will taste. The crust looks a bit too browned and hard but oh well. Melissa Clark suggests serving with whipped cream or ice cream.

I hope you can breathe in some simple joys. And I hope I can continue to do so once I return home.

*From an old English nursery song. Song lyrics here.

Theater Review: My First Story on Substack (by ALICE HURLEY, Reporter)

I drove five hours (traffic, lightning) to Sag Harbor Thursday to see 

the play "Mister Halston." Photo by Phil Merritt.

My first Substack post is live, about "Mister Halston."

Review of the one-man show here.

It's been a long time blogging....since 2010, to be exact. I followed my friend Kim onto the Blogspot platform, captivated by her reports. I loved posting my own, and now they also serve as very useful looks back, not just as a writer but especially as a mother on a sometimes rocky road.

Now my writer/editor friends Kim Flodin and Fay Ellis both write on Substack. And I love to follow icons Amanda Hesser, Dorie Greenspan (baking) and Kim France (fashion) there. I just subscribed to Sam's Plate, by nutritionist Samantha Cassetty, MS, RD, a contact from Good Housekeeping days. Seems there are free subscriptions and paid ones ranging from $5 to $8 monthly. And I just cancelled an $8 feed written by a style society maven because she wrote a catty comment about a fashion writer I adore. I don't like that.

I hope you will check out my first post. You can subscribe and read for free, no pressure.

Thank you. I still don't know how I will balance Substack writing with blogging. For a long time, and through the pandemic, I wrote on Medium, but mostly earned just pennies there, except for one controversial "Other Side of Karen" post that brought in about $500.

More to come.

Photos by Phil Merritt.

Still a Writer

To relax between work and life tasks, I sometimes daydream about the

 Emilio Pucci Marmo Print Bath Cushion in turquoise terry cloth. 

Beachy blue vibes all around.

 (It has two suction cups in the back to secure it to the bathtub.)

I wrote for aspire design and home about the interior style of JouJou, 

a new French restaurant in San Francisco. 

Link here. Photo by Douglas Friedman.

My friend taught me to “Rest to Succeed” in a workshop she led this winter. It was about goal-setting and tailored to each of our lists about what is important to us, what we value.

It seemed counterintuitive. How could I rest to succeed? Wasn’t I already napping enough, feeling flattened (and fattened) by life, finding that lifting a toothbrush or bar of soap was too much to manage?

But A. was right. For example, today I worked on an article assignment, called in an RX, updated my meds (and took them on time), sent a funny coffee text to Figgy, her BF, etc. I clipped some sweetly scented pink roses to bring inside.

While I ate lunch in the kitchen, I boiled some wilting rainbow carrots in the microwave to make banana carrot loaf cake later. It contains healthful ingredients. I would have whirred the raw carrots 🥕 in a food processor but I don’t have one, so will mash them instead. I don't have cream cheese on hand for the frosting so will skip it.

Work, do task, rest. The REST may be napping, playing Wordle, window-shopping or reading at my favorite sites (but not in an endless funnel of time). Remember, I'm being productive in between. 

Some beloved window-shopping and writer's diversions listed here. Pls. note: My passions and pleasures often overlap with my work tasks and goals. I plan to send (more) article/essay pitches to The NY Times (3) and also have my eye on Vogue (5).

1. Diptyque Paris. Started in Paris, obviously. Pronounced DIP-TEAK. A brand Sis and I met through Sniffapalooza and love.
2. Sweet Laurel Bakery. Santa Monica, pretty in pink, fresh flowers on GF cakes. Laurel even shared a great recipe to make cleaning spray with water, vinegar and essential oil. I did. (She also showed a pink, of course, refillable glass spray bottle and when I asked, told me where to find it.)  I came across Sweet Laurel during the dark pandemic and it lit my way with small orders winged to New Jersey, such as a beautiful scented candle in pink glass and a niche unsweetened dark chocolate bar in the loveliest pink floral packaging (both not available now).
3. Vanessa Friedman fashion writing in The New York Times. Best, best, enough said.
4. Net-A-Porter. Only for sales, dreams or maybe a trendy, mid-priced brand, like a SKIMS Fits Everybody Push-Up Bra in Cocoa (dark brown), on its way to me as I type. I will let you know if it fits everybody.
5. Vogue. Proud subscriber, $15 a month but print issues in store cost A LOT. I plan to write for Vogue one day.
6. Aerin. Estée Lauder's granddaughter, style icon, seems to have good heart.
7. Jamagansett. Fresh fruit jams made with less sugar, from Amagansett in the Hamptons. Figgy went for a weekend there with her girlfriends this month and brought me a jar. Very pricey, very well-branded.
8. Dr. Jill Biden (@DrBiden) on instagram. She demos her family's chicken parmigiana recipe. It looks simple and delicious. Will sub in eggplant for vegetarian Dan but plan to make the homemade sauce this eve.

I better stop listing, have to get back on task. I am more productive, with one can-do thing feeding into another. I am not flopping around like a fish out of water. And one key thing is the word later. If I want to do something but have not accomplished it yet, I prioritize in my mind. I did my article work, for instance, started the carrot cake and then put it on hold to take a break. The carrots were not going anywhere. I made the cake before leaving at 8 p.m. for a meeting.

Still a writer. Links to two May 2026 articles, one lifestyle and one more technical (neurology). Range of vocabulary from paint colors to feeding tubes. Stretching my skills. Here’s to us all moving on with life and using our individual voices. Rest to succeed, indeed.

JOUJOU RESTAURANT IN THE CITY BY THE FOG https://aspiremetro.com/joujou-san-francisco/?noamp=mobile

DECODING HOSPITAL DIETS FOR NEURO PATIENTS https://www.brainandlife.org/articles/hospital-diets-patients-neurological-diseases

This post has been updated and expanded since original posting on May 21.

The New Blue I Want--Just Not the "Naked Dress"

 

Tyla in custom Valentino at the 2026 Met Gala. 

LINK to the image above but I regret I can't find the photo credit. Will try harder tomorrow.

Per Vogue India's Instagram (Click for the reel)

For her third #MetGala appearance, Tyla (@tyla) wore custom Valentino by Alessandro Michele, pairing a satin bleu paon skirt with a deep slit, silver-rhinestone waistline and a tulle top traced with fringe and silver sequins. After moulded sand in 2024 and pinstripes in 2025, her 2026 “Costume Art” look keeps her Met streak very much alive.

No, the "naked dress" is not for me in any way, shape or form, but I adore that fresh, vibrant blue. It is exotic, electric, modern, chic, royal and rich in all the best ways. I dare you to turn away. This blue is a jolt of beauty in a weary world. Breathtaking.

In "The Devil Wears Prada 2," the bedside lampshade in Andy's hotel room in Milan was that same hue and I couldn't take my eyes off it. Love, love, and the striking, satiny clutch Simone Ashley (as Miranda's assistant, Amari Mari) holds near the end of the movie took a dip in that same gorgeous color.

I will be hunting down this blue, most likely for an accessory but yes, even for a lampshade. Will keep you posted!

P.S. Last night, I drove to the 92nd Street Y in NYC to see Stanley Tucci in a Q & A session. When the tickets went on sale a while back, I had to pounce.

"The Devil Drinks Red Juice" and More Frothy Vogue Fun in SoHo

I am always happy in a fashion situation. 

The only Prada I own is hand cream, lip balm and the modern lipstick I love (shown).

I drove to Spring Street from Montclair this afternoon to check out the first-ever Vogue Café pop-up in New York, open for three days ahead of the Met Gala this Monday. It is for fashionistas and also passionistas like me, for whom the Gala is out of reach, and is perfectly timed with "The Devil Wears Prada 2" movie release yesterday. Here are the details: https://www.vogue.com/article/vogue-cafe-new-york-announcement-may-2026.

Lucky me, I found a free parking spot across the way, while town cars and big black SUVs lobbied for position. I took fun photos and aim to post them on Instagram but for now, I misplaced my iPhone charging block, and my phone is dead. So I'm blogging.

I'm fighting a dark mood--dark as my best Majestic Filatures boatneck top in Noir, dark as my coal-black mascara--and going into the city was an excellent antidote, as usual.

Was it worth the Lincoln Tunnel weekend toll and tapping my debit card on the reader for cleverly named Vogue Devil-themed, blood-red juice and Glacial Pace coffee and a couple of treats from Hani's Bakery? Yes. No different from the time I paid to attend a Saturday fashion event led by uber editor Carrie Donovan from The New York Times, or the day I saw fashion icon Iris Apfel at the Montclair Film Festival's screening of Albert Maysles documentary "Iris." 

The ether around Vogue and "The Devil Wears Prada 2" is electric. So many details swirling, so much activity, that part of me, the mother and writer in me, has been wondering how Chloe Malle will manage it all. I hope she has a lot of support. She is Vogue's new Head of Editorial Content and co-host of The Run-Through with Vogue podcast--second in line to the queen, Anna Wintour.

The very capable and captivating daughter of Candice Bergen and Louis Malle, Chloe has two young children she talks about on the pod--Arthur and Alice. She is candid about trying to balance it all in her New York City life, to craft valentines with the children, have a good marriage, take family vacations, go to fashion shows, make time to see her mother and not bring her cell phone into the kids' bedrooms so she won't be distracted by work. On top of that, she seems to be constantly working, reviewing content, conducting interviews, running events, reading, writing--and looking very pretty and stylish, from head to toe.

The highly anticipated Devil Wears Prada movie sequel opened yesterday (Dan and I caught a premiere Thursday in Montclair). 

Style notes from today's event at Altro Paradiso:

• The flowers. Fat pink peonies in short vases, and a French-looking cart where we picked a bouquet of three blooms (with proof of a Vogue subscription). Exotic tulips, ranunculus (aka Persian Buttercups), roses in the muted tones of fragile antique dresses.
• The crowd. A young blonde Vogue staffer wore faded vintage Levi's blue jeans with a nubby pink Chanel-style collarless jacket. You know the look.
• The charm bar! Oh, I longed to select a leather cord with beaded dangles and such, but it was $295, so I couldn't. Did you see this Vogue story about NYC shop cats and pendant necklaces? The second is a tassel necklace from Don’t Let Disco, the Brooklyn brand that ran this charm bar. The sterling silver Keeper Collar looked so good in person. Want.
• Swag to buy. I got a white ribbed tank with VOGUE in black. Not too pricey, size XL.
• Coffee bar. "Can You Spell Cappuccino," "The Glacial Pace Iced Coffee" and a bottle of vibrant "The Devil Drinks Red Juice." Smart nods to beloved "Devil Wears Prada" lines. A stylish man in a blue trench coat next to me on the flower cart line said the "Cerulean Blue Matcha" was good. 
• Dream pastry case. Instagram-worthy treats from Hani's Bakery in New York. Chic, layered Carrot Cake with Pineapple Ginger Jam and Brown Butter Buttercream, sea salt-dusted, saucer-size Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies that will not help you zip up your designer dress. Also: Cookie Butter Fudge Brownie. I got to chat with Miro Uskokovic, Hani's executive chef/owner. 

Remember, flowers, jewelry, coffee and desserts may not be Prada, but are all quite fashionable, too.