The Hunting Wives 💋 & 42 Questions to Ask a Girl

Hi friends!

How are you? I’m doing alright. We made it to August! In French, August is “Août,” which is just ridiculous. Only the French would come up with that. Really, it’s not enough to have three vowels in a row, one of them has to have a little hat on it too? C’mon.

Speaking of other languages, I’ve started doing German lessons on Duolingo to prepare for our trip to Germany and Holland in September. I’m not even going to attempt to learn Dutch, but maybe I’ll look up a few useful phrases. The thing that always frustrates me about Duolingo is that it never starts with the most useful things for a traveler to learn, like, “Where is the museum?” or “Yes, we’re American, but we hate him, too.” Instead, I now know how to say, “My cat is very smart,” a phrase that, bless Zadie’s heart, I’m never going to use. (Meine Katze ist nett und schön, aber nicht sehr klug.)

I’ll be honest, y’all, I am suffering from a pretty bad case of newsletter writer’s block! I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent staring at the cursor blinking in my Google Doc this week. I just feel like my life is pretty boring at the moment. I’m watching the same shows, listening to the same podcasts, playing the same games, reading the same subreddits, cooking the same dishes… for the most part (more on that in a bit). 

Trump went on the roof of the White House this week, which was bizarre. It was like seeing a dog on a roof or something. Who would have thought that getting his supporters foaming at the mouth about pedophiles would come back to bite him? Of course, many of them are changing their tunes now and have taken to singing some version of The Narcissist’s Prayer:

That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault.
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did...
You deserved it.

Psst. You’re in a cult, sweetie!!! Get help!!

Let’s get into a couple things:

- Skaf’s On York. Ross and I have driven and walked past this Lebanese restaurant in Highland Park probably hundreds of times, always saying to each other, “We really should try that place sometime.” Well, we FINALLY had dinner there the other night, and it was wonderful! Everything was delicious. Our server said that they make everything in small batches so it’s always super fresh. We shared the hummus, fattoush salad, fried cauliflower, falafel appetizer, and two skewers, one chicken and one lamb. The hummus was silky smooth, the fattoush salad was generously portioned, crisp, and perfectly dressed with a sharp but light lemon dressing, and the skewers were so juicy and good I wish we’d ordered more. However, they came at the end of the meal so we were pretty stuffed by then. If you want to try a new family-run Mediterranean place, check out Skaf’s!

- Cooking. It’s berry season, so I recently made the mixed berry muffins that were #2 on my list of the best recipes of 2024, except this time I just used fresh blueberries. It was so nice to have something I could just grab for breakfast during a busy week.

I was also hanging out with some friends last week and we ended up talking about shakshuka for some reason, and ever since then, I got an itch to make it. When was the last time you had some shakshuka? I finally made it last Sunday evening (breakfast for dinner!), using this recipe from the Kitchn. It is pretty easy but man, it’s hard to time out how long to steam/poach your eggs when you have the lid closed! I used my Lodge braiser which has a heavy solid lid I can’t see through. I ended up cooking the eggs hard, which was not as ideal as having gooey yolks, but better than them being undercooked. Shakshuka!! (One of the most fun words to say, also.)

- The Hunting Wives, season one (Netflix). I’m calling it now: The Hunting Wives is the horniest show of the year. Yes, even hornier than The White Lotus! Everyone wants to fuck everyone on this show, it’s wild. Malin Åkerman and Brittany Snow, who I both find to be pretty underrated as actors, are perfectly cast as the main characters of this show, which follows a wide-eyed liberal from Cambridge, MA (Snow) as she moves to east Texas and gets sucked into the orbit of a charismatic gun-toting Southern politician’s wife (Åkerman). There are secrets (horny and non-horny ones), a murder, and the titular hunting wives go hunting, titularly! Oh, and the horniness is not just hetero horniness, either. It’s fun and soapy, and maybe Democratic and Republican ladies doing sex stuff together on Netflix will heal our great national political divide?? Hey, I’ll take anything that can.

Needless to say, I devoured this show in about a weekend. I loved it! Then, as I usually do after finishing a show, I went to Reddit to see what the people were saying about it, and the first thing I read was, “The writing on this show is terrible and the acting is awful (and I can’t stop watching it)!!” I was taken aback! It’s always funny to me when I love a show in a bubble and then find out everyone else’s reaction is, “this is trash!” Like, yeah, maybe it’s not high art, but the writing didn’t stand out to me as particularly low quality for a soapy drama. And I thought most of the actors were great. It wasn’t until I read someone else saying that the acting was bad that I stopped and thought about it and was like oh, yeah, I could see a few weak spots there.

But then, I’ve also been watching Melrose Place for the past year (alongside the recap podcast Bitchslap), so maybe that’s thrown off my personal standards for quality in a soap. Talk about high highs and low lows!

- And Just Like That, season three (HBO Now). I was terribly disappointed to find out this week that this is the last season of And Just Like That! No, I don’t think it’s a good show, but I didn’t watch it because it was a good show. I watched it because it was. It was like watching fan fiction with an HBO budget. The plot lines were unhinged, and I genuinely had no idea what was going to happen week to week. And not for nothing, but it happened to be a show about the lives of vibrant, sexually active women in their fifties. Outside of various Housewives franchises, we don’t have a lot of those.

I know that Michael Patrick King and SJP said that the show ending was all part of some grand master plan, but I think it’s pretty obvious that the show got canned unexpectedly. That last episode in no way wrapped anything up! It just opened a huge can of worms for Brady! It had none of the finality of the final episode of Sex And The City.

Maybe I’m in denial, but I somehow still don’t think this is the end for these characters. For one thing, I don’t think MPK and SJP are willing to let them die with dignity. As long as there’s still money in the banana stand, Carrie Bradshaw will live on!

- I’ve never had a dating profile, since I started dating my husband way back in 2009 when we were barely adults (college students about to graduate). But it always sounded fun to me to curate a profile about yourself, to answer prompts and come up with little pithy quips. I tried to Google what kind of questions they ask you on dating apps and instead, the algorithm showed me questions to ask on a date, including this Teen Vogue list of Questions to Ask a Girl. So I decided to answer some! Here we go:

What was your favorite class in school?

I loved English class because: writing, reading, but a close second was History. I loved reading and listening to lectures on true stories that actually happened. It’s the same reason I’m interested in true crime now.

Do you like or dislike surprises? Why?

I like small surprises, like an unexpected gift. I wouldn’t like a big surprise like a party or vacation because I get so much joy out of anticipating and planning for things. Having one of those things as a surprise would rob me of that.

What are three words you would use to describe your life?

Writing through it

What’s your favorite book and why?

I love so many, but today I’m going with White Oleander by Janet Fitch. It’s about a girl getting tossed around the foster system in Los Angeles and the many different people she lives with. I read it first when I was way too young (and long before I ever lived in L.A.), but I reread it periodically and the writing is just gorgeous.

What’s the first album you ever owned?

When I was a kid, I used to steal my older brother’s cassette tape of Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette. I wasn’t supposed to listen to it because of the parental advisory sticker, haha!

Does your family have any traditions?

When we’d get together with my dad’s (Portuguese-American) side of the family on Christmas Eve, we’d always have chouriço and pasteis, and watch the marathon of A Christmas Story on TBS. When we’d get together with my mom’s side of the family on other holidays like Easter, my girl cousins and I would always watch Clueless.

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

People in Los Angeles drive like absolute idiots. I know that everyone thinks their city has bad drivers, but there’s a special flavor here. Drivers in New Jersey, where I learned to drive, will just speed. With drivers in L.A., it’s more that they will just casually make the most absurd turn you’ve ever seen, without signaling, of course. And nobody honks because road rage is a thing here and we’re all scared of it.

Which celebrity would play you in a movie?

I would like the Olsen twins to make their triumphant return to acting just to star in the most boring biopic ever, about my life. Maybe Gus Van Sant could direct it or something.

If you had to choose one song to describe your life right now, what would it be?

“Basket Case” by Green Day. “Do you have the time/To listen to me whine/About nothing and everything all at once…”

What’s the best trip you’ve ever taken?

This is such a tough question, because every trip is so different. Going to Japan in early December 2023 was obviously the trip of a lifetime, but I also had an amazing time in Mexico City and Oaxaca when I traveled there over the holidays in 2022. Actually, yeah, I’m going to say Mexico City and Oaxaca, because they really blew away my expectations, especially Oaxaca.

What keeps you up at night?

How bad is it going to get (in the US)? Am I totally fucking up at work?

What’s your favorite thing about your partner?

So hard to choose honestly, as I love so many things about him. But if I could only pick one thing, it’s that he has such a good heart.

What’s the toughest part of your day?

Falling asleep and waking up.

Do you have a skill no one knows about?

I have an encyclopedic memory of celebrities who’ve been accused of sexual harassment and abuse, unfortunately.

Do you have a favorite photo?

When Ross and I got married, we stayed in this suite at the Holiday Inn that we were surprised to find came with a jacuzzi tub the size of a small car in the bathroom in front of an enormous mirror. We made our wedding photographer take a picture of us sitting in the tub in our wedding clothes before we went to get married. I’m smiling at him and I can tell he just made a joke. It’s the best!

What’s a talent you wish you had?

It would be amazing to be able to sing really well. Wouldn’t come in handy that often, but at karaoke? Oh baby, I’d blow everyone away!

What’s the most random way you’ve ever made a friend?

In elementary school and high school it was enough to just be seated next to someone in homeroom. That feels genuinely random.

If you won the lottery, what’s the very first thing you’d do?

Tell my husband. Google what to do if you win the lottery. Find a lawyer. Oh, wait, do you mean like, with the money? LOL. I’d pay off my $8.5k in lingering student loans. Then, it’s house-shopping time!

What’s the best gift you’ve ever given someone?

The one that comes to mind was a holiday gift for my in-laws many years ago. Their dog had passed away earlier that year, and I edited together a video out of all the videos of her that I’d taken on my phone during times when Ross and I had pet sat. I have failed to top that every year since, haha!

What’s a weird or random fact you know?

Most people who have abortions are mothers with children. I like to whip that one out whenever anyone suggests that abortion somehow robs women of the miracle of experiencing motherhood (barf).

What’s the last thing you Googled?

“Questions to ask a woman.”

What’s the last thing you asked Siri?

“Siri, text Ross.” I only ever use her while I’m driving and need to text Ross that I’m on my way home.

What’s a misconception people often have about you?

That eventually I’m going to move back to NYC/NJ. I don’t see it.

If you could relive any day of your life, which one would it be?

Oooh maybe Founder’s Day, senior year at Vassar. Founder’s Day is a big party/festival that starts in the morning and goes until fireworks at night, and that particular one is the day Ross and I use as our dating anniversary.

You might have expected me to say my wedding day, but as amazing as it was, I’m glad it’s a memory. I wouldn’t want to touch it.

What’s something you’ve made that you’re proud of?

This newsletter!

Sunrise or sunset?

Sunset. Seeing sunrise just means I’m having sleep problems.

What’s a weird food combination you secretly like?

I once had this strawberry and red bell pepper sorbet at a gelato festival we went to when we were in Florence (brag), and it was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. Unfortunately, pretty impossible to ever find that again.

What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received?

Someone recently told me that they can tell I care a lot about other people. That was a very meaningful compliment to me.

What’s your Roman Empire? (Something you can’t stop thinking about).

The Black Dahlia.

What’s something you wish people would notice about you more?

I just want people to think I’m smart.

What rom-com would you choose to live inside of?

Sex And the City (the old seasons). I’d love to have that apartment and those clothes and go to those parties and just write one column a week.

What drama would you choose to live inside of?

The White Lotus, season one. What’s not to love about Hawaii? Plus, none of the guests died that season, so it’s fine (I guess I’m picturing myself as a guest in this scenario).

What do you like to do on New Year's Eve?

House parties with friends are the way to go, I think.

What’s the most unique place you’ve traveled to?

I have a friend who’s obsessed with the Salton Sea, and we stopped there once on a trip to Salvation Mountain (and eventually, Joshua Tree). It’s a high salinity lake in the middle of the desert, and the beach is made up of tilapia bones. Yeah, it doesn’t smell great, but it’s oddly beautiful. That was definitely pretty unique.

Do you like imagining your future, or do you prefer living in the moment?

It really depends how optimistic I’m feeling that day. I usually am only planning things like six months to a year out.

What’s a skill you’ve learned that you’ll probably never need to use again?

I took clarinet lessons for like two years in middle school. Fuck that shit. Woodwind instruments are disgusting. Yeah, let me put my mouth all over this! Gross!

What’s the most random thing you’ve done on impulse?

One time a friend was visiting us over the holidays and we decided to drive to Vegas with less than 24 hours notice. That’s pretty wild, for me.

What’s a superpower you wouldn’t want, and why?

The ability to read minds. I don’t need to know your disgusting thoughts!!

If you could erase one invention from history, what would it be?

Probably the atomic bomb? Seems fair.

If you could design your ideal home without limits, what’s one thing it would definitely have?

A pool. Sorry, but you said without limits!! You can swim in Southern California for like 8-9 months out of the year!

If you could bring back a trend from any time period, what would it be?

Hating Nazis.

Do you think humans will ever live on another planet?

Honestly? No. I think the whole idea is a big waste of time and money.

* * *

And that’s it for now! Believe it or not, we are not even halfway through all the questions on that list. I’ll spare you from the rest today.

If you have a second, I’d love it if you’d like or comment on this post–just click this link to go to the post page. This post is public, so feel free to share it on social media, or forward it to a friend.

Until next time—go make some shakshuka!

Love,

Liz

XOXO