Happy Hour Hack: Love and coffee
The Patti Smith edition
Welcome to the Happy Hour Hack, a weekly Friday post of tips and inspiration to take you into the weekend. I always share one thing from my interviewee of the week, along with any ideas I receive from readers, plus some things that are piquing my own interest.
Hack
This week’s tip comes from Patti Smith, and it distills all the bullshit down to the most important thing:
People ask me advice about kids, and I can’t give a lot of good advice because there’s whole areas that I’ve not been great in, partially just because it’s either not my nature or not in my upbringing.
But I think that the main thing, the most important thing, is to love your kids, and make sure they know you love them, even with all your faults. I mean, my mother, we didn’t always have the greatest relationship, but the one thing I do know is she loved me. I have friends who could honestly say that their mothers didn’t love them, or they didn’t feel love. And I can feel it in their countenance.
And you have to sometimes swallow a lot, being a parent, especially as your kids get older. People say, “Oh, your kids are finally grown and you’re free.” No, it’s the opposite. I think it’s much more complex as our kids get older, and you just have to constantly, in any way you can, let them know that no matter what, you love them. I think that’s the best advice that I can give. Love your kids no matter what. No matter how awful they are.
Read Part 1 of my chat with Patti Smith, where she talks about how she turned the early childhood years into a vital era for her art.
Musician/Poet
Have you all heard of Kara Jackson?! Could she be Gen Z’s Patti Smith? The 23-year-old from Oak Park, Illinois, was the National Youth Poet Laureate from 2019–2020. You can check out a few of her poems at the Poetry Foundation. She recently released her debut LP, Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?, to much fanfare. Here’s the video to the album’s lead single, “no fun/party”:
Painting
I’m in love with the work of Madeline Donahue. She creates bright, beautiful paintings that show the chaos of motherhood, always with a sense of humor.
If you happen to live in the Dallas area, you can check out her work at Various Small Fires from June 3–July 8.
Coffee
Patti’s love for sitting in a café with a notebook and a cup of coffee is well-known. So instead of giving you a cocktail recipe, I thought I’d give you a coffee drink. This is a Caffè Shakerato, which originated in Puglia, Italy, and is lovely to have on a hot day. It’s a combination of espresso and simple syrup, shaken over ice and strained. The shaking gives the drink a nice, frothy head, and it’s super easy to create variations. You could use a flavored syrup, like almond or chocolate, you could add cream or a nut milk (or even condensed milk) to it, or you could top it with whipped cream. And, because I can’t resist, it would also be delicious with a nip of something. Bailey’s, aged rum, whiskey…whatever strikes you.
Caffé Shakerato
2 shots of espresso
1/3 oz simple syrup (or to taste)
Pinch of salt (optional)
Shake all ingredients on ice and strain into a glass.
What a treat for the soul!