I’m craving a hefty dose of obscurity (and hot dogs) these days. Probably because I’ve been trying to round up some mother’s day food adjacent goodness for you all and I solemnly swore not to prescribe to 10-gift-ideas-that-will-wow-your-mom type of lists. The internet can be very boring if you’re only looking for answers.
Couple that task with a lot of travel and you’ve got a procrastinated writer who instead focused on satiating an inspired SkyMall magazine nostalgia moment.
Now couple all of that with peruvian pop-up palooza and you’ve got….. Edition 16!!
Let’s dig in!!!
SkyMall Nostalgia
After a recent flight I had a flashback to SkyMall Magazine. Does anyone else miss it? **Every reader raises their hand.**
Free WiFi is great, but SkyMall. I meannnnnnn.
In case you need a quick refresher (or are a gen-z reader who didn’t experience this luxury), here’s my brief description of it:
SkyMall Magazine: If every SNL fake product bits were actually real but 10x more bizarre… and could only be found on airplanes.
I’ve never really thought about why they decided to enter the airplane market. My hunch is that they had no clue who their target market was so they casted the widest net possible. Everyone on a plane. I have no clue if this is true btw.
Unfortunately, they shut down their magazine biz in 2015 and now fully operate online. The weird factor has gone down to basically 0. Sad face.
To satiate my magazine craving, I tried to buy a 2015 edition on EBay - unforunately it got snatched by another fan before I had the chance to check out. Double sad face.
So instead, I spent too much time and tabs trying to dig through the archives of SkyMall mag. Honestly, it was worth it. While this won’t solve your last minute mother’s day gift needs (I’m getting there!!) it will definitely make you chuckle.
Aggregated Aggregations
aka screenshots from my internet voyage into SkyMall archives.
Squirrel Tree Climber Sculpture
Cuz what else would you use to decorate that barren tree?
Yeti Tree Hugger
This will most certainly fend off the Infected.
Bidet, Toilet Paper Stand AND iPad holder?
This one is not terrible tbh.
NFL Shoe Wine Holder
Wine not???
A Cell Phone Wrist Holder
Pretty much the original pop-socket thing.
What other SkyMall products do you fondly remember/miss/wish you had/own??
Now that I got that out of my system, let’s get into some mother’s day goodness (which also happens to be my first holiday themed edition)!!! Sorry I’m late. These listicles make me _________ (INSERT WORD THAT RHYMES AND PROPERLY DESCRIBES MY FEELINGS TOWARDS LISTICLES)
Aggregated Aggregations, but for your Mom
4 Gift Ideas guaranteed to make your mom say, “why would you ever get me that?”
Obv inspired by Skymall and not exclusively about food.
Does your mom have trouble sleeping on planes and has ample space for a pillow bigger than her carry on? Get her the classic sleep pillow made famous by SkyMall and available on EBay for the low price of $29.99.
Does your mom love hotdogs but simply does not have the time to toast and cook separately? Make her hot dog routine one step with this classic hotdog toaster.
Does your mom love squirrels and also regrets not buying the squirrel hugger from SkyMall? Here’s an alternative that will make her go nuts!!!
Does your mom love life size replicas and do you also have $120,000? Consider this life size trex.
Food/ food adjacent things I’d actually endorse for mothers’ day, in no particular order or connection to each other:
This is a food newsletter after all (kinda)
Does your mom equally love clams, comfort, style and pajamas? Clamjamas are for you.
Does your mom carry the weight of the world on her shoulders but also wants to get a great brown on her toast and steak alike? The Chef Press is the move.
Does your mom love gold? How about liquified gold? You really can’t go wrong with any vitamix blender. I’ve said it before, but they really are the best.
Does your mom love a good ole’ handmade kitchen utensil that also happen to be made in Montana? Earlywood is the place for you. Also you can buy me something if you’re so inclined. I’ll accept anything from Earlywood.
Does your mom prefer your words over your gifts? Buy her a beautiful hand-drawn card made by an artist (who happens to also be my friend)!!!
Breakfast in Bed
If you’re lucky enough to live with your momma, or your partner is a momma, or your cat recently became a momma, you can’t go wrong with a breakfast in bed. Here is a menu, inspired by my recent pancake cravings:
Fluffy and scrumptious pancakes a la Kenji. Seriously though these pancakes are the real deal. Here’s the recipe.
Top it off with some maple syrup, butter, jam, whatever your heart desires!!!
A side of strawberries - they’re in season!!!
A tray to serve it on (which doubles as a cool laptop stand too). Love me a dual use product.
If you are serving your cat, ours have recently been fans of a little probiotics in their Rawz Tuna and Salmon wet food. Makes me hungry just typing it.
Pop-Up Tickets for Sale!!!!
On June 5th we’re bringing back the Peruvian Pop-Up at Beit Rima in San Francisco! Thank you again to the folks at Beit Rima who are graciously hosting us.
Tickets are live and available to ITK readers first. Like last time, I publish them here first and a day later, put it on the socials for the rest of the internet.
🎟 Buy your tickets here!!
What I’m Cooking
This week I got to cook with family and that’s the best type of cooking. Something about sharing meals with people you love will always be supremely special to me.
Strawberry season (not technically cooking, but it’s worth mentioning so you can properly capitalize):
Skirt steak, brown butter sweet potato, rice, grilled veggies and my mom’s traveling cup of chai tea:
Always cut that skirt steak against the grain, peeps:
If you have any Cabo recs, send them my way please! And don’t forget to buy tickets to the next pop-up ❤️
With love,
Chef DPo
I always loved the dog products in Skymall (who knew there were so many variations on dog hammocks??). In trying to relive the Skymall glory days, I just stumbled on this excellent product: Hen Saddles Chicken Jacket Strap Hen Apron Chicken Protector Apron For Wing Protection (https://share.temu.com/ezYCRXUbnMA).
It just solves so many problems…and for only
$2.77?! What a steal!!!! RIP Skymall and Skymall inspired products