Introducing The Good Stuff Interview Series with Mary Nelson Sinclair

Plus my favorite souvenir from Rome and a sweatshirt hack for the short-waisted

Suddenly we’re in it, aren’t we? The frenetic holiday swing is now. My amaryllis bulbs are budding; the air has that icy snap to it, and I’ve started scheduling meetings for January - an annual bifurcation that never fails to disorient me, even as I love the lights and togetherness of the season.

This week, the newsletter is organized slightly differently, as I’m so happy to share the first of what will be a regular-ish interview feature here - The Good Stuff. When I started thinking about this new interview series (11 months ago!), I wanted to talk to creative people who really live with and love objects.

I met Mary Nelson Sinclair years ago at a chaotic birthday party thrown for the child of a mutual acquaintance. As the afternoon wore on, we found ourselves standing on the ridge of a vast and newly mown field, cracking jokes about ticks and swapping stories like old friends.

That’s the thing about Mary Nelson — she has an infectious good energy that makes you feel immediately at home, whether you’re comparing notes on Lyme disease prevention or admiring her paintings. An artist with exquisite color sense, she brings an exuberant, layered approach to everything she touches. She always seems to find joy in beautiful things that work hard and mean something. Her answers below are exactly what I hoped for, mixing the practical and the mysterious, the inherited and the essential, all delivered with her signature warmth.

What’s an object you use daily that you’d genuinely miss if it disappeared tomorrow?

My car - putting lots of miles on her up here in the country - and my Nespresso milk frother.

What’s an object in your life that has an interesting previous owner, history, or origin story?

Much of the furniture and objects in my life are hand-me-downs that I very much treasure. One in particular is a large-scale still-life oil painting of nasturtiums, citrus, and miscellaneous objects. It has a Dutch still-life quality. It came from my paternal great-grandparents' home in Texarkana, TX, and then I lived with it in my childhood home. There is no signature or documentation of its provenance, so it has a mysterious history.

What’s something in your home right now that makes you smile when you see it?

The Christmas tree and all of the holiday decorations.

What’s an object you’ve held onto longer than makes practical sense, and why?

Clothes from my “youth” (aka life before children in my 20s and early 30s) - because my daughter may want them someday. Editor’s Note: I love this so much! My mother saved all her glamorous clothes (she worked at CBS News/60 Minutes in NYC before I born) and I vividly remember looking at them in her closet as a child in Vermont. In particular, she had a black pleated skirt that looked simple but in fact the inside pleats were all the colors of the rainbow, which would be revealed as she walked. Her clothes were a visceral reminder there was a whole sophisticated world out there beyond our very rural existence. And her closet is where I first fell in love with fashion!

Bonus Q: Everyone always loves a go-to recipe recommendation! Can you share a recipe that you return to again and again?

100% for me, this is chicken couscous:

One rotisserie chicken, shredded (or two cooked chicken breasts)
Chopped carrots
Chopped celery
Chopped onion
4 cloves minced garlic
1 chopped zucchini
1 can chickpeas
Chicken broth
Bay leaf
Cumin
Ginger
Turmeric
Squeeze of lemon juice
1 box of couscous

Sauté onion & garlic until a bit browned, then add carrots & celery. Sauté for a few mins then add in cumin, ginger, turmeric - stir to coat the veggies and “toast” the spices. After about 1 minute, add around 3 cups of broth. Then add in bay leaves. Once simmering, squeeze in lemon juice and add chickpeas. Let simmer for 30 mins or so, then add in shredded chicken. Simmer a few more minutes. Add zucchini about 10 mins before wanting to serve - you don’t want them getting too mushy. Add salt, pepper, and a little paprika to your liking. Serve over hot couscous.

Yum! Thank you, MNS!

A. We went to Rome over Thanksgiving, and it fed us; literally and figuratively. The history! The food! Watching my children’s horizons expand with the knowledge that the world is full and wide and waiting for them. A good trip. And, of course, who among us doesn’t love souvenirs? Pocket Coffee was my favorite find.

B. Ben and I have been making ornaments. I’ve been fiddling around with making flocks of goldfinches out of neon quilt binding.

C. And we’ve really enjoyed the charm of making these stars out of toilet paper rolls.

D. It took a few years, but I’ve broken in this sweatshirt to the perfect softness and have been living in it this season. To all my short-waisted, petite friends out there - my life changed when I started cutting off the cuffs and bottoms of my T-shirts and sweatshirts (remember that knit fabric rolls once cut - so I always cut about an inch below where I want to the clothing to end). Suddenly, everything fits and hits at the right place.

E. I finally replaced the lid to my trusty Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker and made this beef stew. Easy and an evergreen reminder that slow cooking is a true gift in any (every) frenetic season.

F. I had forgotten all about magnetic poetry sets until I dug up an old set in the basement, looking for something else entirely. Turns out Ben, my 7-year-old, loves it - and his joy has given me a new reason to love words and found poetry all over again.

G. I’d never seen these hinge magnets before and am so ridiculously charmed by the idea of a tiny penguin (or owl) hiding behind a door in my house.

H. I bought these pads on a whim while reordering my favorite Eisenhower matrix pads and have found that I’m loving the ability to order my to-do lists in a more non-linear fashion. The paper on all Levenger pads is ludicrously thick and a pleasure to use.

I. The Far Side had an outsized influence on my sense of the absurd, and was a shared love between my sister, my father, and me. I’m sending this page a day calendar to both of them and buying one for me, too, so we can have a shared daily joy - and a small way to stay connected.

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