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suits

Knowing what I know now, I would've told my 20ish self to buy a ready to wear navy suit and a made to measure three piece dinner suit and call it a day. A pair of clean black oxfords, a couple quality white dress shirts, a couple of ties, a real bow tie, and a white linen handkerchief would complete the look. All of this now would set you back about $5,000 to $7000, but that's all you would need to get you through most things in life for a few decades — a job interview, formal events, weddings, parties, and networking gigs. Add a dark grey suit maybe if wanting options.

Of course I didn't do that and splurged on several suits and jackets from my amazing tailor Thomas Mahon, at least I hope he's still my tailor since I haven't ordered anything from him for quite some time. He's also cut suits for King Charles, Jony Ive, etc. oh, and me.

You go by cloth and some of the clothmakers he's used for me are Dormeuil, Harrisons, Smith Woollens, and Hardy Minnis.

My favorite suiting is the Fresco line from Hardy Minnis and I had a dark blue suit and a mid-grey suit made. Fresco has a bit of a rough, open weave texture, matte look and finish, that doesn't wrinkle, and it's a great suiting for warmer climates. I had both made up in a half lining and apparently Tom made the same grey suit for himself as his travel suit.

Before the Fresco suits though, we went with Cape Kid and did a navy suit, a dark grey suit, and a stand out blue odd jacket. The Cape Kid line is composed of 60% mohair aka Angora goat with the rest wool which makes the cloth have an interesting shiny effect. I didn't think that was true until I saw pictures. Effectively, I have a shiny/fancy set of suits, a matte/low key set of suits, and a pair of work horse Fall/Winter suits. Go back to the first paragraph, since all of this was too much, but a really fun experience and I learned a lot. Cut/fit, cloth, and details plus years of apprenticeship, tradition, experience, and craftsmanship make for some really cool suits.

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shoes

George Cleverley shoes and last

I'm happy to have gone with George Cleverley many years ago and today with their trainers (sneakers). My first shoe order (middle pic) is what I think is/was their signature style shoe in their signature leather, the Churchill style in red Russian leather. My second order (right pic) was more my style, a no nonsense whole cut loafer, again in the Russian leather. The whole cut pair is my favorite shoe. My third order (left pic) was another loafer in the de Rede style in pigskin.

These days there are so many options for "smart" looking sneakers/trainers to wear I'm not sure if Common Projects led the way with that trend or someone else. I'm sticking with Cleverley on these too with their trainer collection. Replica from Maison Margiela also have fairly stylish looking sneakers I'd buy.

Other shoes I like are Visvim boots (Zermatt and Serra) and FBT moccasins.

For working out, Asics for running (Cumulus and Nimbus), Nike for basketball (Kobe Protros), Sidi and Giro for cycling, and Burton (Ions) for snowboarding.

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steak knives

Wirecutter bugs the hella out of me, recently with their The 3 Best Steak Knife Set article.

If you want "the best", read up on these ones first.

steak knives

Start with Roland Lannier steak knives (top). You've already used one if you eat at really cool restaurants. If you're looking for the absolute best, I say these ones and don't need to read/research any further.

You can go with a classic Laguiole steak knife set (middle). I like the olive wood ones a lot and will use this set for special occasions.

And finally, the Tojiro steak knife (bottom) is really nice. Buy that set for every day use.

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jeans and a t-shirt

Roy denim

Post covid, I've simplified my wardrobe to I guess the American basics of a t-shirt and jeans and sneakers (well, really Birkenstocks). My t-shirts are plain white or Navy from Whitesville, jeans are Roy denim, and sneakers are Kobe 8 Protro Halo or Cleverley's Jack trainers.

I'll layer the top with some Visvim or an Iron Heart flannel. For work and on special occasions, I'll swap out the top with a polo shirt or a button down Oxford. Instead of jeans, I may wear khaki or dark green chinos. And that's it.

It's a far cry from being an Anglophile and bespoke tailoring and shoes and fancy knitwear. Sadly, there are not enough occasions where I have to dress up any more and even still, no one is dressing up. And there's no one to impress.

Bonus: Everyday carry are keys, simple card wallet, and an iPhone — often times my Ray Bans and sometimes a pocket knife, a watch, and a pen.

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white t-shirt from Whitesville

The talked about "The Bear" white t-shirts are the Merz B. Schwanen 215 and the Whitesville t-shirt from Toyo Enterprise. I got the Whitesville t-shirts from Rodeo Japan Pine Avenue at a good price of $62 which includes FedEx shipping (and no taxes). Not a bad deal at $31 a shirt. I'm more of a navy blue or black t-shirt person so I picked up the shirts in navy blue too. For sizing, I'm a XXL in Japan, XL in Europe, and M/L in the United States.

What makes a white t-shirt great is the feel of the cotton, fit, construction (no seams down the side), and a collar that lasts and doesn't get stretched out too badly. This Whitesville t-shirt is it then because it does feel great, construction is in fact Quali-T, and the collar looks pretty solid.

A few more notes:

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rice and pasta

Luna Koshihikari is the it rice for Northern California/Bay Area restaurants and foodies. You can read about it in Eater and can buy it from Berkeley Bowl, Umami Mart, and several other specialty grocery stores. It actually is really good, fluffy, neutral and I'd recommend buying it.

Otherwise, the Tamaki haiga is the one to get. I use the gaba, quick, or white rice regular setting on the Zojirushi but the gaba setting is the right one to make it perfect. It just takes forever.

Other rice: Anson Mill's Carolina Gold Rice is good but it's crazy expensive. Carnaroli for risotto, bomba for paella, and Kodafarms (going out of business soon) has good sweet sticky rice, rice flour, and Kokuho rose. I've made but I don't really fool around too much with jasmine, basmati, or long grain rice. I don't like brown rice.

For pasta go with Rustichella D'Abruzzo for spaghetti, bucatini, mezze maniche, farfalloni, and orecchiette. There's a couple bulk sales a year at Market Hall for this pasta and I grab some when it happens. Otherwise, fresh, home made pasta is easy enough.

Related for rice: Also get shichimi togarashi, Queen's gochujang, and Huy Fong chili garlic sauce. For rice cookers, get the Zojirushi induction cooker or even better, the Cuchen IH pressure cooker. Both are top of the line.

Related for pasta: Rao's marinara and vodka sauce are really good. Bianco DiNapoli canned tomatoes are good and this tomato paste from Mutti.

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2024 restaurants to try list

French onion soup from Monsieur Benjamin's insta
Sushi Salon

Bonus (likely known/maybe under the radar?) Bay Area food recs:

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soap

I'm still buying and using this soap/savon de Marseille. I just cut off a piece, however much when I need it, and haven't had to think about a body soap for over a decade now. It lathers well enough as a sometimes shampoo too. I bought three bars that should last me the next three years. I wanted something simple, basic, and genuinely good quality. Weird to be posting about soap I know, but might be helpful for someone. Also this is a bit of a maximizer/satisficer exercise, I searched for and got the "best" soap, no need to revisit that decision. Kind of a bifl (buy it for life) decision as well.

Other soaps:

  • Claus Porto from Portugal for their hand soaps pretty nice (bathroom). Portugal makes some high quality and relatively inexpensive home goods too e.g. La Graccioza for towels and linens (but already settled with linens)
  • Le Labo hand soap and lotion, Hinoki (bathroom). Pretentious but nice.
  • Aesop for hand soap and lotion, Resurrection and Reverence (kitchen and bathroom). Also pretentious but nice.

Previously tried:

  • Caswell-Massey (almond, jockey club, number six, and verbena scents) bar soap and almond hand soap and lotion. These were fine. Packaging and scents from above Claus Porto, Le Labo, and Aesop are better.
  • Kiehl's bar soap this one is nice, but it's a little pricey
  • L'Occitane verbena – hand soap was just ok
  • And if all this seems silly, Dove soap or Irish Spring are just fine