Make the most of your weekend with these recommendations from Ensemble's co-founders Zoe Walker Ahwa and Rebecca Wadey:
ZOE'S RECOMMENDATIONS
LISTEN 🎧 ‘cloud bursting high femme energy’ - a Spotify playlist based on a TikTok requesting songs that have “raging femme energy and you passionately dance to like a white grandma on her 7th Sherry". (I'm still listening to SOUR by Olivia Rodrigo on repeat, too)
VISIT 🕰️ Sunday market Central Flea, just off Dominion Road by Junk & Disorderly; and the full-to-the-brim Antique & Collectors Fair at the Avondale markets on the first Saturday and Sunday of each month. Very good vintage homeware at both.
EAT 🥢 The cute and tasty Katsu sando from Omni, one of my favourite restaurants. Favourite cafe? Herne Bay local Bacio - the best cheese scones in Auckland.
READ 📖 Because, Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by linguist Gretchen McCulloch explores how being #VeryOnline is changing how we speak and write. This nerdy language stuff speaks to my nerdy soul (see: the rise and fall of the word cheugy).
READ #2 💻 ‘The Anxiety of Influencers’ by Barrett Swanson for Harpers Magazine is a brilliant long read that's both reasoned and very sceptical.
WATCH 📺 Very late to this, but the show The Other Two on Neon is intelligent-but-extremely-silly dark humour, following the clueless siblings of a young Justin Bieber type character who has gone viral and is becoming famous (or, “the next big white kid”).
FOLLOW 📲 New account @callsheet_nz, sharing images from old local fashion editorials. I like the element of surprise, and how it acknowledges the importance and richness of our NZ fashion history and imagery.
REBECCA'S RECOMMENDATIONS
VISIT 🌊 My heart is in the Coromandel and I get there whatever chance I get. I’m planning on some blustery walks, cold-ocean swims and eating at Lukes Kitchen, @kuakawhe and @cookedcoromandel.
LISTEN 👂 Maintenance Phase is a super-entertaining and impeccably-researched podcast that debunks weight loss and exposes the insidiousness of diet culture. It’s hosted by Aubrey Gordon aka @yrfatfriend and Michael Hobbes (who co-hosts another of my favourite podcasts, You’re Wrong About).
MAKE 🍌 Every Sunday I make the Ultimate Banana Bread from Smitten Kitten (but as muffins for the school lunchbox) and a salad dressing for the week ahead. Either the sherry vinegar vinaigrette from Julia Turshen, the carrot ginger miso dressing from Goop or the tahini one from Little Bird.
READ 📚 I pre-ordered The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent, a Kiwi friend living in Austria, and it’s happily arrived in time for the long weekend.
WATCH 📺 I’m currently re-watching Community with my kids and love it just as much the second time around. It makes welcome relief from the other two shows I’ve loved lately (after they go to bed) - The Serpent and Mare of Easttown.
FOLLOW 📲 One of my Instagram favourites is @monachalabi, a data journalist who uses stats and data to impart FACTS. Groundbreaking stuff.
EAT 🥣 The Vietnamese crepe at Little Bird, fried chicken at Ockhee, milk buns at Gochu, kumara tortilla at Orphans Kitchen, and the orange blossom choc chip icecream at Duck Island which I’m so excited to see back on the menu for winter.
DO 🧩 My favourite Sunday afternoon activity is sitting down with a CBD honey tea from @aureila.ora and losing myself in a jigsaw puzzle. Friends recently sent me several Piecework Puzzles from the US and it’s my fave new brand. For something more active, I love Kcore Pilates, @yogawithmartina and @eridani.francis.milly.
