Magic Season in the Lowland

With an Easter edit, a leek galette recipe, and standout book recs

Charleston in the springtime is otherworldly and almost certainly haunted. The suburbs are shrouded in mist on my drive to work, Aaron Parks playing softly from my car as I weave through morning traffic and try to resist the urge to stop and get coffee from The Daily, sure to make me late.

Some of my best friends and my parents have come down for weekend excursions, I’ve nailed a couple tidbits of writing in the next print magazine, and eaten ice cream five times in three weeks. It’s been a steady seventy degrees and the trees have very well exploded across town. And March Madness has been steady on the TV. This month sprung past me like the March Hare late for dinner, or perhaps a very important date. It’s magic season.

G&G hosted a brunch for Charleston Wine + Food Festival early in March, where a star-studded roster of chefs magicked a spread of breakfast jambalaya, savory duck scones, barbacoa tacos, and a BEC biscuit that we’re still talking about. Industry people milled about, from chefs to their PR teams, and it was so neat to meet PR reps I email daily for recipe write-ups and the like. Fueled by phenomenal food and a grapefruit mimosa, it was maybe my favorite morning all year.

I’m halfway through my internship, which is surreal and devastating by all accounts. It’s going to hurt when my time here is in the rearview mirror come June 30th. We edit interns pop by Welton’s Tiny Bakeshop before work for danishes with first-of-the-season strawberries from John’s island, and exchange bits of lore and gossip every couple hours to break the pleasant quiet of typing at our desks, side by side.

We had a shoot for our J/J Southern Style section downtown this month, which saw Madeline and I ferrying boxes down Bull Street for the better part of a morning. I’ve assisted a fair few shoots in my day and while they’re always anxiety-inducing, they’re also a little addictive. I love to watch the photographers and their team build a shot and always learn something new, from tools to diffuse light to how a stylist evolves a scene on the fly.

We’ve cleaned out the office, spring cleaning-gone-wild style, as they’re moving to a new downtown location in the summer, and picked out treasures from the bookshelves. Made in the South Awards season is upon us, so research, writing copy, and spreadsheet building have been daily practice. Responsibility has racked up. I’m writing a lot and fact-checking more. The June/July print finals are starting to fill in on the magic wall. I’m stoked for this upcoming issue—it’s gorgeous.

As much as I love when a piece practically writes itself or I manage to reach the right person on the first email, I love when work feels like work. And as much fun as it is to complain about on occasion, I actually enjoy the manual labor element of internships—give me boxes to haul, bins to sort, and doors to hold any day of the week. Though it’s occurring to me now that maybe that attitude is why I’ve been an intern for, like, three years at this point.

Friends, 'cue, and office occurrences.

The end of this month brought a slew of weekend visits from friends and family, which means I ate well and laughed often. Two of my first friends at St Andrews, Tess and Elizabeth, visited one weekend for windy beach outings, moscow mule consumption, and playing catch-up on all we’ve missed since graduation. My dear friend from high school, Caroline, also spent a quick couple of days here to discuss books, more books (new Hunger Games!), and Severance. We housed biscuit breakfasts, saw sharks at the aquarium, and played house-hunting in the Old Village before brunch at the eternally delightful Post House Inn.

My parents came down and we all participated in the annual Charleston House and Garden Tour, where the city opens up a trail of homes South of Broad for people to tour and develop general jealousy. Most of the houses, passed through generations of Charleston’s wealthy, were not remotely to my taste, but it’s always fun to peek into the SoB homes. We spent time with the Knowles standing in line for forty-five minutes for Lewis Barbecue (a sure sign that the food is going to be prime), taking long walks to see Charleston in bloom, stationery shops like Mildred Newberry, and my favorite groceries. Burbage’s might be my most-visited spot in the city so far.

Evening walks after work are tantamount to contentment, as are the library books stacked four-high on my bedside table and the eighties movies on my watchlist. The 7 p.m. light just keeps getting better. Am I constantly toeing the line of anxiety and general uncertainty? Certainly. But the combined power of my favorite people, work I cannot wait to get to and hate to leave every day, and learning literally all the time (I’m having one of my best reading years to date and I’m surrounded by a fleet of insanely talented coworkers and friends) have solidified this month one of the best. Again—it’s magic season.

A pretty heartbreaking book began my month. Beautiful Boy is David Sheff’s memoir about his son, Nic, a meth addict, and is told in such real, tender prose. It was an eye-opener for me to read about hard drugs from the perspective of a parent—I think we see so much about drugs and addiction that we can become desensitized to their impact if we don’t know someone directly affected, and I wondered often if this was a book kids should read in high school health class. Then a friend told me she did read it in class and I was a little offended that I didn’t, because this is the type of raw, expertly-written memoir that everyone should read at least once.

Lanny by Max Porter was many things: odd, springy, whimsical, earthy, ominous, fable-ish. I could almost smell wet earth for the entirety of this short, riveting romp, whose main character resembles a little forest imp of a boy with a penchant for existential questions and making friends with the disgraced yet charming village artist. Dead Papa Toothwort, a kind of forest spirit/shapeshifter/bogeyman who haunts the village where Lanny resides, devours the village’s chatter (snippets of which literally curl and overlap in italics across the pages) and sets his sights on the boy, who promptly goes missing and so goes the book’s plot. This book is like the perfect British counterpart to Kathryn Davis’s Duplex because both are unflinchingly weird and eerily utopian in their descriptions of small communities (Lanny takes place in a darling English countryside village while Duplex is set in a 1950s Americana suburb) where the unexplainable is commonplace. Adored it.

Toothwort’s collected conversation fragments.

I buddy-read the first book in N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy, The Fifth Season, with Kathleen this month—stopping to discuss at every “interlude”—and absolutely loved it. Considered one of the greatest science-fiction novels of the 21st century, Fifth Season is a sprawling epic. The writing style was different than we expected in the best possible way, almost casual or colloquial at times, which made it the easiest 500 pages I’ve ever read. The world-building and big reveals were fantastic. Kathleen recommends looking through the index to familiarize yourself with all of the terms before reading, which is a genius tip.

Richard Powers is one of my powerhouse authors (he wrote The Overstory) and his 2021 novel Bewilderment both frustrated and gutted me. Powers writes about an astrophysicist father and his neurodivergent, nine-year-old son, Robin. This book is entwined with Powers’s signature environmental commentary, plus political and technological discourse that sometimes took effort to understand completely. Most of my frustration was intentional—Powers masterfully writes Robin and his father’s struggle to balance their immense heart and brilliance with their loss and lack of headway on the issues they champion. The ending of this book completely blindsided me and I’ve been thinking about the more subliminal (and obvious; the novel’s president is scarily similar to our own) messaging since I finished it.

I have been avoiding One Day by David Nichols for some time now. Told over 20 years on the same day, it chronicles the relationship of Em and Dex, from their graduation day at the University of Edinburgh to their thirties. This book was entirely depressing; chronicling a never-ending cycle of bad jobs, drugs, alcohol, and failed relationships, I disliked Dex from the beginning and thought there were exactly two happy chapters. The ending was tragic in a beautiful way and I truly appreciated the book’s realism, but this felt like a too-long toil through all the things I don’t wish for my life.

Sophie Cousen’s The Good Part is more a women’s lit novel than a romance, but it certainly has its elements. When the 26-year-old Lucy wishes she could just skip to the “good part” of her life—gorgeous husband, steady job, and some actual income—she gets what she wants… then realizes maybe skipping the rising action is a mistake. A well-written concept and a sweet look at love, friendship, and London in a future with talking cars voiced by Stanley Tucci!

I made it to both of Mike Lata’s restaurants this month, FIG and The Ordinary. Lata, who has won a James Beard Award and whose establishments continually earn him accolades, creates such masterful menus. At The Ordinary, standouts included local oysters, black bass, and a citrus tuna crudo with cilantro that was gorgeous as it was delicious. They also served my favorite drink of the month: the Green Thumb, made with gin, shochu, shiso, and lime, and topped with a midori-cucumber foam. Supremely fresh and springy.

On the way to FIG.

FIG is one of Charleston’s most oft-discussed restaurants, though past its heyday considering it’s nearing 25 years of service. I adore its shock of ivy-covered exterior and mid-century signage, but inside it felt mildly uncreative, a little stuffy with its white tablecloths. I can’t fault the food, though; I had a delicious blue crab ravioli, a white shrimp escabeche with butterbeans and purple asparagus, and broiled oysters with a vadouvan seasoning. A sticky sorghum pudding with a bright, smooth amaretto ice cream finished us off.

Better than FIG, in my opinion, was Lowland, founded by chef Jason Stanhope, who was an early partner at FIG with Lata. Lowland’s ambiance was ninety percent of the enjoyment—it’s in a repurposed row house, so you’re essentially dining in someone’s living room. It’s cozy and charming. I had starters for my dinner once again: Crispy South Carolina quail and curried brandade fritters with English pea chutney. But the most stellar item my parents and I ate was a transcendent butterscotch pot de creme with caramel and a generous dollop of creme fraiche.

Little pink accents in all I've been eating, lately.

Last summer, Post House Inn, a Mount Pleasant hotel and restaurant, earned the new Michelin Key status, but their hotel services (like a breakfast basket for guests) are what put me on to the brand years ago. Their brunch menu, which Caroline and I sampled, was outstanding. I had a blue crab fried rice that might be the greatest lunch I’ve had in Charleston to date, and a little slice of perfect, crumbly coffee cake.

As for home cooking… lots of “sad desk salads.” But this potato leek galette recipe from Gillie Houston might be one of my favorite recipes of all time and has been carrying me through. I’ll take it on a picnic or enjoy it while watching a movie. Pair it with the crispest white wine you can find or a dirty martini. For beach consumption, I’m very into Tip Top canned cocktails at present, and conveniently, they recently debuted their Dirty Martini can.

A Very Good Potato Leek Galette

Ingredients:

1 large leek, chopped and washed (I always chop and then use a salad spinner, if I have one)

2 tbsp. olive oil

Salt

1 cup whipped cream cheese

1/4 cup Italian parsley, chopped

Black pepper

1 tbsp. garlic bread seasoning (or sub garlic powder and onion powder)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for topping

1 large russet potato, peeled and sliced very thin

1 tsp Herbes de Provence

1 pie crust

1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Warm 1 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add the chopped leeks and season with a pinch of salt. Cook the leeks, stirring occasionally, until they are golden brown and slightly softened, 15-20 minutes.

Transfer the leeks to a bowl and add the cream cheese, parsley, black pepper, garlic bread seasoning, and Parmesan cheese. Stir until well combined.

Add the sliced potatoes to a bowl with water and soak for 5 minutes. Drain the water and pat the potatoes with a paper towel to dry. Add the remaining olive oil, salt, pepper, and Herbes de Provence to the potatoes and toss to coat.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pie crust to about 1/4-inch thick. Transfer the pie crust to a nonstick or parchment-lined baking sheet.

Spread the cream cheese mixture in a single layer in the center of the crust, leaving a 1.5-inch border around the edges. Top the cream cheese with the sliced potatoes. Fold the edges of the crust over the potatoes. Brush the crust with the egg.

Bake the galette until the crust and potatoes are golden brown and slightly crispy, 35-40 minutes. Sprinkle with parm and slice.

Seven songs new to me.

Salvation by Tash Sultana

Montana (Few Nolder Remix) by Tycho

Dream State by Kamasi Washington & Andre 3000

Prove It To You by Brittany Howard

Next 2 Me by dreamcastmoe & Neil Frances

Cold Heaven by Nir Felder

Dry Fantasy by Mogwai

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Tis the season for pbagel, springy chicky-flicks, and get up and groove playlists to do a lot of heavy lifting. It’s rom-com rewatch season: Definitely, Maybe, It’s Complicated, Kate & Leopold, and Jersey Girl are on the roster.

The merits of Pandora radio are many, and no, the app is not obsolete. Yes, the people who still possess the app are primarily coffee shop owners and fathers. But I love and trust Pandora’s radio curation—the Norah Jones radio and Downtempo Dinner radio have gotten immeasurable use. When I don’t want to bother with searching for something new to form an opinion on, on goes the Pandora radio. It reminds me of the cafe where I used to work, where I would dutifully plug in the beat-up iPhone 4 (four, people) and play the Tame Impala or John Mayer radio to begin the work day.

Aaron Parks and Robert Glasper are my favorite contemporary jazz artists, and both have been on heavy rotation. But to shine a light on Glasper, his October 2024 album, Keys To The City Volume One amasses five years of live recordings from his residency at the famous Blue Note Jazz Club in NYC. Always known for his features (“Prototype” features Norah Jones, “Better Than I Imagined” features Her, and he’s worked with Thundercat on numerous occasions), Glasper is simply a master of his craft.

Glasper’s piece “Over (feat. Yebba)” is a contender for the most beautiful, moving, exquisitely composed song I’ve ever heard. I play it daily, both the live version from Keys To The City Volume One and the recorded single from Black Radio III, as each differs slightly in comp and the ad-libs in the live version really makes the song. Yebba is a phenomenal artist on her own, but this duo brings soul to a new level.

The Last of Us II. I just finished playing through The Last of Us and The Last of Us II, which were absolutely gorgeous, on PS4, and can remember watching YouTubers play through these games years and years ago, so to have finally played them myself was immensely fun. I find video game design fascinating and Naughty Dog, who produced the game, put out this incredible documentary called Grounded II on the making of TLOU2. It’s absolutely worth a watch if you, too, find production, design, and marketing for that sort of thing wildly intriguing.

Terry Urban’s art. I’ve been enthralled by the work of L.A.-based artist Terry Urban for some time now. His pieces, grungy but fresh and inspired by pop culture and the American West, are modern and evocative. There’s a great article about him in Issue 04 of Daybreak, a thoughtful print magazine that celebrates creatives in the outdoor sphere, where Urban talks about surfing, DJing, and his artistic process. Urban’s recent collaboration with Zero Skateboards, Urban Amigos, would look incredible purchased and wall-mounted as a kind of skateboard triptych, and his Western collage-style paintings are always captivating.

Bottega Veneta’s Summer 25 Campaign. “As a kid, there is the adventure of the everyday—there’s a feeling that anything could happen, no matter how fantastical, […] The door is open to the possibility of strange realities and wonder, impossible scenarios that banish disillusion.” Matthieu Blazy, Bottega’s creative director, sums up the vision best, his last before Louise Trotter takes over. The whimsical leather beanbag chairs, designed by Blazy and inspired by Zanotta’s Sacco easy chair are part of a collection called “The Ark,” and were the seats for Bottega’s show attendees at Milan Fashion Week. I was, of course, humbled by the $10,000 price tag.

Easter baskets were a dedicated tradition in my house. Chocolate bunnies, hare-themed children’s books, and other trinkets carefully selected by my mom made the holiday, already full of egg hunts and baked goods (and a ham!), that much more special. One year when we’d moved to the farm, our Easter basket contained two baby ducks (curse the raccoon who caused their eventual demise). I talked so much about Easter baskets that in college Emma, ever a thoughtful friend, put one together for me. Lord knows how far away I am from having to put my own kind of basket together, but I still love to compile ideas for Easter-ish gifts and goodies. Here, ten things to gift or add to your baskets for kids and adults alike.

1. Miffy Floor Light. Nothing says Easter like bunnies, and this floor light (it also comes in a night light size) would make a sweet addition to a kid’s room or an office.

2. Glass Carrot Spoons. My mom gifted me these spoons last year and while they haven’t had much use yet (until I have my own apartment I’m slowly amassing a small kitchen in my closet), I can imagine them as the coffee spoons or accessorizing a breakfast spread.

3. Haba Soft Fried Egg. One of those random toys that absolutely delights me—like an Easter stocking stuffer. I think we used to have one of these in our playroom’s kitchen.

4. Children’s books. The MoMA design store has a great assortment of unique, arty children’s books I love, like A Map of NYC Subways and Monet’s Garden, but I would add titles like the classic Guess How Much I Love You, The Good Egg, and Grandpa Green to the list.

5. Moonjuice Cosmic Cream. For the interim period between heavy winter moisturizers and summer’s barely-there layers, might I suggest this barrier-restoring cream from Moonjuice.

6. LL Bean Mini Boat & Tote. I’ve seen a lot of “alternate Easter baskets” using tote bags or other containers, and I’m adding this miniature version of the classic bag to the mix. Yes, it can probably only carry a head of lettuce from the farmer’s market, but how cute is it!

7. Sugarfina Green Apple Frogs. If you ever swung by the Roberts household between the years of 2005–2016, you would have likely seen (and sampled from) the glass jar of Haribo gummy frogs my mom kept in our kitchen year-round; my elementary friends still recount tales of the gummy frogs. For something sweet, these Sugarfina frogs are an easy add.

8. Tombow HB Drawing Pencils. Pencils are eternally giftable, celebratory items. Inexpensive and easy to find, these deep spring green pencils are Tombow’s most popular model and come in some really wonderful packaging. (The link is to Chicago-based stationary store Greer, which is Black and woman-owned, and a place I’ve loved ordering from.)

9. Kule The Modern Long in navy/cream pinstripe. The most classic shirt of all time, a navy striped tee is a year-round staple for me and makes a thoughtful gift. In the springtime, I wear mine under overalls, with light jeans, or peeking out from under a cotton sweater.

10. Lush’s Honey, I Washed the Kids shower gel. The name alone is fabulous, but it helps that this smells like springtime incarnate thanks to bergamot and Brazilian orange oils. Lush also makes plenty of Easter-inspired products like the Carrot Bubble Bar, appealing in its novelty.

This month’s screencap is from one of my favorite rom-coms I watched this month, Definitely, Maybe, where Ryan Reynolds has a blazer collection that rivals the best of them. This corduroy over a light striped Oxford is nearly more charming than his character.

Thank you everyone for reading this month…it’s a long one. And huge apologies for the week-long delay—friends in town and production responsibilities converged. Things are kicking into high gear, getting busy, and it’s warming up, so enjoy the rush—and the slower moments when they come around, too. Happy proper spring to all!

I sometimes post on Instagram @gracerobrts!

My Goodreads is here and I am always looking for reading recommendations.

My Apple Music is @gracecroberts, where my playlists are regularly updated and cared for.

If you should need to contact me for any other reason, or just want to say hi, my email is gracecroberts@gmail.com.

See you next month!

Sincerely yours,

Grace