What Gabrielle Hamilton Can’t Live Without

I’ve been wearing this since I first encountered it 30 years ago. A young woman wearing it walked into a room I was in, and I instantly thought,Whoa, what is that?Hell if I know the language of noses and perfume, but to me, it’s like being on the subway when someone starts peeling an orange on the other end of the car, and you’re like,Oh, this is so bright and fresh and nice,in an otherwise not-so-nice setting.

I think the clothes you wear at work can signal your dedication to the craft, like how chefs at restaurants used to always wear a white chef’s jacket. Now I teach writing at Penn, and wearing a suit to class is like my new chef’s jacket. It makes me feel the opposite of chaotic and sloppy. And as a lady, I appreciate that it means I don’t have to mess around with matching dresses to coats and accessories, which can be so laborious. My wife, Ashley, had her wedding suit made by these tailors, and I’ve been going there ever since — especially since she started working there during the pandemic. She had been a chef for many years, then made a life change, starting as an apprentice. Now she runs the shop in Brooklyn. They have this diabolical policy where if you buy two, your third is half off. So that’s how I’ve ended up with seven of them.

We always wore chef whites at the restaurant, including a white cap, because it demonstrated our cleanliness and hygiene. Coming out stain- and spatter-free after doing 240 brunch covers was a real mark of pride. Now that Prune isn’t really a restaurant — it’s more like a dinner party in the home of a chef who used to run a restaurant — white Dickies overalls are my new kitchen uniform. I like to wear them over a tuxedo shirt, like how the employees at Russ & Daughters always have a shirt and tie on under their white jackets.

I’ve worn Danskos for my entire career and life. And I’m 60 years old. They are so solid and so supportive. I get the black patent-leather one that you can wipe clean — not that I ever drip anything.

I have so many calendars and it’s very inefficient, but it’s what works for me. I need a little thing in my hand to write with, or my brain won’t register the event. I have a cute little leather thing with a week on each page for carrying around, so when I’m talking to a friend and they’re like, “What about Friday?” I can check and confidently respond, “Okay, sure.” Then I have an8.5-by-11-inch onethat’s got the whole month. And then I have ahuge At-a-Glance onethat lives on my desk at work, which has every party on the calendar, who’s working that day, how many people are coming, etc. I’m constantly transferring information between all three. I know you’re supposed to consolidate into some electronic way, but I can’t do it.

I use these pens in all my Filofaxes and notebooks because they don’t bleed through anything. There’s also so much to-do-list writing and note-taking, et cetera. I use these for everything, except for writing on the yellow tape, which I use to label all the food items in the walk-in fridge. I use a normal Sharpie for that.

I love riding my bike long distances, and I like to ride my bike at night. But I really do not want to get hurt or hit by anyone. A little reflector on the back of my shoes doesn’t seem like enough, so I wear this unmistakable reflective jacket by Chrome Industries to put my mind at ease. I also recently learned that it has other benefits. I was pulling up to Prune at night after a ride, and somebody on the street said, “Well, you know, that’s how you thwart the paparazzi, right?” And I just thought that was so funny. You know me, always being chased by the paparazzi.

[Editor’s note: Hamilton’s jacket is no longer available, so we’ve linked to a similar garment from a different brand.]

I was introduced to Athletic after aChefs Cycleout in Santa Rosa, and after riding 100 miles, it was just so delicious. It’s a little bitter, a little tart, but not challenging. During my line-cooking days, after a long, hot shift, it was easy to down three beers in quick succession, but that’s too many beers to drink so quickly. We’d pour them over ice to cool them down, and it was just so refreshing and hydrating. I even found myself craving that sensation when I was pregnant. But this nonalcoholic beer, which is astringent and bracing in that same way, is a much better solution.

If you have problematic teeth and receding gums, like I do, and you have a passion for oral hygiene and sensitive teeth, then this is the toothpaste for you. It’s recommended by my dentist and orthodontist, and I just love how it feels. I use it with theBraun Oral-B toothbrush, and I change the heads regularly. I love the timer that pulses to switch positions and … I can’t believe we’re talking about my toothbrush, but it’s the mundane things I use every day, like my toothpaste and toothbrush, that form the solid infrastructure of my life that lets me do all the other stuff, like writing and cooking.

Sleep is very important, but I’ve been bad at it pretty much my whole life. It took me forever to figure this out, but putting in these noise-canceling earbuds and playing my bedtime audiobook helps me sleep six full hours for the first time in my adult life. I can’t hear the dog, I can’t hear the door opening and closing, I can’t hear anyone getting up to use the bathroom. They’re soft and comfortable in my ears, and they stay in all night. I’m not here to say they’re the greatest headphones of all time, but they work for me. Sometimes people tell me they think falling asleep to an audiobook is an insult to the writer, but I’m a writer, and I’m happy for anyone to use any of my audiobooks to fall asleep. In fact, that’s the best way to consume my books.

I think there’s a lot of estrangement going on in the world, and I think this is a book that’s quite pertinent for our time. The thing I said about using my audiobooks to fall asleep was a joke, but it actually ties into one of the lessons I learned while writing it. Once you really do the work to understand how a conflict comes to be and why things happened the way they did, you don’t have to be so pissed off about it or hurt by it. You stop perseverating over it. That can really quiet the mind and help you sleep at night.