Into The Fridge 🙂↔️🙂↕️🖕🏿
Brendon Holder on chilled, boiled water and the power of Solange
Brendon Holder 🙂↔️🙂↕️🖕🏿
is a Canadian writer who lives in New York. He’s the voice behind the popular culture newsletter and has contributed to places like The Globe and Mail, New York Magazine, Angel Food Magazine, and The Drift. His writing is truly fantastic—as is his taste in music, art, culture, I could go on—so without further ado, let’s get into his fridge. *On his emoji choice: “I love this sequence because it’s like YES lose yourself in the vibe!!! It’s giving the expression you make when you bite into some really good chicken wings, or you’re vibing on the back of a Boiler Room set and your song just came on or your friend just voice noted you with some really good tea. It’s a state of JOY and I wanna be in it all the time!”
What is your fridge philosophy?
To be frank, my fridge has historically been a place of shame for me. So much so that agreeing to do this Into the Fridge feature has been strangely cathartic. When I first moved to New York, I was taunted incessantly by guests for having a white refrigerator. Before living in the US, I had no idea how uncouth, how unaesthetic, how embarrassing some people found white refrigerators, but I kind of championed it like a battle wound, the way Jacob Elordi, an otherwise fine specimen, refuses to get Invisalign, and in a way, it makes him and his funny little teeth, more attractive. In my mind, I was Jacob Elordi, and my fridge was his teeth.
Since, I have moved into a new apartment with a stainless steel fridge. But a change of exterior isn’t enough as the interior is another source of embarrassment.
Inside the caverns of my fridge, you’ll find the portrait of a disgusting, chaotic boy. Pad See Ew from a couple of nights ago. A lonely chicken drumstick from a Sunday roast. Face masks, and hyaluronic acid spray against Portra 400 film. And the faint smell of Dover sole from the farmers market wafting through as a treat. Morsels that I cling to, just in case I need them. I know there is a lot of buzz around the web series BoyRoom but I bet they could make a spinoff of the show called BoyFridge and it would also be a hit. I’d be on the pilot.
But I’m vaguely proud of this chaos. Of course, I’d never willingly let anyone look in my fridge — you, reader, are getting a facelifted MTV Cribs version — but I do think a filthy fridge symbolizes something. It signals a fun, social life — a developed palate.
When I go to someone’s house for the first time, I search for clues about who they really are. A living room can be curated, a medicine cabinet can be touched up but rarely does anyone think to editorialize their fridge for their guests. In the fridge is where you will find the truth, friend. Look inside and judge, judge, judge! If I see clean stacks of CAVA, San Pellegrino, and nothing else, I am like.. okay, LOSER! You can’t be living that life (Von Dutch, etc) and have a clean fridge. The best people you know keep their fridges a little messy. All adventurous women do.
Your fridge is always always always stocked with ____.
BOILED THEN CHILLED WATER (BRENDON’S VERSION):
I know this makes absolutely no sense but I am a firm believer that everyone has their “things,” things that they do that are a little weird and unsubstantiated and you just gotta look the other way and let them live because in the grand scheme of things, it colours who they are and helps them mosey through the day. My “thing” is keeping a big mason jar full of tap water that I’ve previously boiled from my red kettle in my fridge. The perceived benefit of this is quickly rendered obsolete when I put ice cubes that aren’t previously boiled in a glass with the special water but the Brendon-math checks out for me.
Friends have told me repeatedly that New York has the best drinking water, which I’m sure is true but I saw Erin Brockovich when I lived in Canada as a child and it left an irremovable bias that American tap water isn’t safe. Except for the tap water you get at restaurants – more Brendon-math that checks out. Also, like, doesn’t the drinking water here make frogs gay or something? Ribbit ;)
Top 5 condiments, go.
Kewpie mayo
Sea salt
My mother’s wet jerk seasoning
Fine, I’ll open it up to pantry too. Let’s hear your favorite snacks / pantry staples:
Albanese gummy worms: I had these once on a work trip to San Francisco, discovering them in a CVS after inhaling a sushi boat, convinced that I needed a widdle treat for my hotel room. Just wow. First of all, did you know Albanese is someone’s last name? Not a nationality because… Albana isn’t a country? I discovered that after my third bag. They are softer and more flavourful than Haribo and you can have the whole bag in one sitting and not feel sick. I don’t like sharing these.
Pink peppercorn: There is an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn that does this brilliant, fresh pink peppercorn mafaldine pasta that I indulge in every so often, ordering one for myself knowing that I can’t eat the whole thing. But that’s kinda the point because if anything my fridge will be decorated with leftovers. Since then, I have been overjoyed with placing pink peppercorn into whatever I cook. I love crushing them up and adding a bit of brightness to a dish. They possess this gratifying crunch that makes you feel like you really did your big one. It’s second only to black pepper.
I’d die for mafaldine Ghia: I wrote about exploring sobriety during BRAT summer and since then I’ve adopted the rule of only having a drink when I’m “out of state.” Instead of alcohol, I’ve become obsessed with Ghia — which maybe is like, level 0 for non-alcoholic drinks but I love pouring it over ice as I work through BBQed pork ribs. So chic. If there is any other canned alcohol-free apéritif I should try, let me know.
A meal that’s on heavy rotation these days:
For someone who loves going out to dinner and ordering Thai when I’m home, I also love cooking. I think there are certain dishes that I know I can always make better than a restaurant and cooking is one of those things that makes me feel creative, centered, and productive at the same time, much like writing. In the summertime, this amounts to grilling on my roof.
A sacred ritual of mine is going to the farmers market every Saturday morning and picking up produce and meat (and flowers!) for the week. This summer, I’ve enjoyed grilling pork ribs on the barbeque and sweet corn – groundbreaking. At my farmer’s market, there’s a butcher who taught me how to ‘confit’ something once and since then, I’ve been going to them to discuss all the marvelous ways to manhandle my man meat. Here is where I have netted out for BBQ pork ribs:
Marinating the ribs in a blend of teriyaki sauce, honey, cloves, brown sugar, and molasses
Cooking the ribs on low in the oven for an hour
Moving them to the BBQ to finish off and get grill marks, chicks dig scars vibes
The sweet corn is also done on the BBQ and either eaten off the cob with garlic, black pepper, and butter or shaved from the shaft and put in an orzo risotto.
Let’s go a little deeper…
What’s the mantra you keep coming back to?
“You should never feel bad about eating anything you make at home.” A colleague said this to me once years ago and now, I say this to myself whenever I eat seven homemade chocolate chip cookies in one sitting.
What products / practices are part of your regular mental wellness habits?
It takes a lot to tame the beast that is my mind. I am a terrible sleeper and find that a couple of bad nights can ruin my week. To mitigate this, I try:
To workout more days than not a week + have been getting into sweating it all out in the sauna.
Go for walks (to one of three gelato carts around my house). This is fun to do if you’re on a phone call with a friend or even to leave the phone at home alone and just go. I’ve been trying that a bit this as a part of (re)cognition summer.
Strawberry fennel gelato are you kidding me?! Journal, I go through about three Harriet the Spy composition notebooks a year
Meditate, I don’t do this enough but when i do, I’m like ‘Wow, damn, this shit actually works.’ I went to this great psychic upstate once who gave me a bunch of YouTube videos for meditation that I return to when I’m in a rut.
What do you think is the most underrated part of wellness?
Probably sleep. I don’t really think it’s underrated but it’s definitely the aspect of wellness that feels most unattainable to me. I’m bad at it. I get so jealous of people who can sleep anywhere and can nod off after a couple of seconds. It’s my favourite superpower that I don’t have.
And overrated?
Cold showers. Not because they don’t work. I’m sure they probably do but I don’t wish to feel cold and unsexy in the morning. Like, how is that helpful to the cause?
Picture this: you wake up one morning and feel like shit. What’s your next move?
Stay in bed for a little bit longer. It’s surprising how many problems can be solved (for you) just by going to sleep. Then, I’d open the blinds and make my bed. For my birthday last year, my sweet friend Nic got me a full set for my bed, which is something I’d never really think of but has immensely improved the vibe of my bedroom and my sleep quality. Making this bed each morning, which thanks to Nic has many components, covers, and throws, feels like a New York Times mini-game or an art exhibition that results in a tiny dopamine hit to kickstart the day.
If I have had a particularly disordered sleep, I put on these clear chic Warby Parker blue-light glasses that I’m not 100% sure work but serve as a distraction to how tired my eyes look. It envelops me with a placebo of protection from the screens I’ll encounter throughout the day and makes me feel that much put together. I think half of feeling like shit is likely because you look like shit so getting dressed as someone who has their shit together, putting on a dope fit (and glasses), can get you halfway there.
Give us your ride or die wellness products:
Okay, I’m not going to give all the tea on my ride-or-die products but I do love the Peter Thomas Roth Hyaluronic Cloud Hydra-Gel Eye Patches for if I’m feeling super tired (re: often). I keep them in my fridge, next to the tomato paste and oyster sauce, and its frozen lubricant against my inflamed skin feels oh-so-soothing.
I use Vega Sport protein powder. The vanilla variety is the least obstructive to my rotating smoothie recipe which currently is peanut butter, banana, oats, spinach, a lemon wedge, coconut water, and oat milk (which is apparently bad for you now, can someone give me the rundown?).
Finally, no wellness regimen is complete without Solange’s When I Get Home. My friends knooooowwww how much this album means to me. Any celebration or inconvenience, any triumph, or disappointment, I put this on and I automatically feel well again. Thank you Sol Angel <3
One thing you do everyday that makes you the most YOU version of yourself:
Sending my friends little, lovely voice notes. I love love love voice notes. I love how they disappear as soon after you hit send. I love hearing the background noise in as my friends divulge. I love the performance of it all. I wrote about the power of them for LOOSEY.
Whose taste inspires you?!
My Grandpa
🩵 Clare’s taste in movies, Michael’s taste in restaurants, Kurt’s taste in music, and Jason’s taste in clothes 🩵
Solange
Grace Wales Bonner
Luca Guadanigno
Nobody is having more fun reading this Into the Fridge feature than I am. Brendon is a real treat and, like I said, his writing is some of my absolute favorite. Get involved with
; I recommend this piece about aging gracefully as a fabulous entry point. You can also follow him on instagram and find his fridge favorites and more here.Feel free to leave a comment or respond to this email with questions you want asked, people you want featured, or anything else that’s on your mind. Don’t be shy, I love hearing from you. I’ll see you with a review soon!
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THIS WAS SO FUN!!!! thank you for letting me take a critical look at my fridge :) I love this series!
I’ll never skip an Into the Fridge and I think this may be my fav one so far! Will be preaching Brendon’s mantra for the foreseeable future, thank you 🙂↔️