12 Things That Delighted Us Last Week: From Mail-Order Fruit to Lisa Eisner’s Goat-Hair Place Mats

Just because hairstylist Chris Appleton — whose new book, Your Roots Don’t Define You, came out last month — knows a thing or two about styling A-list-level hair doesn’t mean that he always relies on expensive products. In fact, one of his favorite hairbrushes is from the drugstore: “This has been a staple for me for as long as I can remember,” Appleton says of the Tangle Teezer. “It’s so versatile.” He adds that he’s worked with all kinds of hair, and this brush works effortlessly through various hair textures and types — fine, thick, curly, coil-y, dyed, natural, you name it. “It even works well with hair extensions, which typically need a special brush. This does it all,” Appleton says.

A box of Russell Stover is to be expected, but a box of mail-order fruit will be a delightful surprise for that special person. This variety box from Miami Fruit includes ones that your valentine won’t find in their local grocery store, says contributor Oset Babür-Winter. It includes a cacao pod, eggfruit, sapote, guava, an heirloom banana cultivar (like creamy, lemony Orinoco or silky textured, vanilla-flavored Nam Wah), and a mango variety they’ve likely never seen before.

Flowers — from elegant red roses to arrangements that look like they’re from a little English garden — are a classic for a reason. Instead of getting your Valentine real flowers from your local bodega and seeing them wilt before the end of the week, consider these dried pink florals that require no maintenance and will last well past the holiday.

From making batches of chicken stock to binge-watching The West Wing, our senior kitchen and dining writer Emma Wartzman says she’s been enjoying her time indoors this month. That also meant finding a new way to hit her daily step count — namely, this walking pad, which she and her husband bought last year. “It’s not nearly as nice as a long walk in Prospect Park, but I’ve been using it almost every day just to make sure I’m moving my body more than I would be otherwise,” Wartzman writes in her “Strategist Brain.”

This week, we learned that Everlane now has an (online) storefront on Amazon, of all places. While the brand’s full inventory isn’t available yet, our fashion writer Ambar Pardilla spotted this turtleneck, which is made from premium USA-grown Supima cotton and that Wartzman describes as “tight enough that it doesn’t bunch up underneath things but not, like, Uniqlo Heattech tight.”

Our writer Erin Schwartz has a knack for identifying color trends (take mushroom brown, for example). So when they started spotting a swampy, vibrant yellow-green IRL and online, Schwartz knew they hadn’t been hallucinating: “Something in the Zeitgeist has aligned to make gross green cool,” they said. Schwartz rounded up dozens of items in the color family, including these “gasoline green” athletic socks from the Gap.

In most local cafés, it can feel like you’re fighting for a laptop-friendly, outlet-adjacent spot. Our writer Kat Gillespie struggled with this until she discovered this 165-watt power bank that’s the size of a Coke can and powerful enough to bring her completely dead MacBook — along with a smartphone and pair of wireless headphones — back to life and keep them charged all day. “As a semi-remote worker, owning a laptop power bank has freed me from the anxiety of constantly having to find somewhere to charge my MacBook, especially as my job does often involve a lot of moving around the city to test out new products, attend launches, and interview experts,” she says.

You’ve probably heard of J. Press’s Shaggy Dog sweater, which has been a staple of preppy wardrobes for more than 80 years. When our senior writer Lauren Ro tapped stylish men for their sweater suggestions, it came as no surprise that several folks mentioned the made-in-Scotland, 100 percent wool Shaggy Dog as their favorite. Robert Khederian, a real-estate agent and author of Second Story, a newsletter about old houses, says it’s one of the best sweaters a guy can buy, calling it a “timeless menswear staple besides the penny loafer and navy blazer with gold buttons.”

In this week’s Secret Strategist, menswear writer Max Berlinger, who’s just shy of five feet, eight inches, rounded up a list of shirts that are worth trying if you are, indeed, “a short king.” His favorite is this one from Urban Outfitters, which he says is “pretty cropped — it just grazes my waist and sometimes flashes a little skin.” He notes that availability in classic white (which is actually an off-white) and heather gray can be hit or miss, but it’s worth checking periodically for restocks.

If you want something with a little more personality than your average cotton place mat, take note from Lisa Eisner — the L.A. photographer turned bronze jeweler who recently released a silver collection for The Row. “I thought I would use them only occasionally, but I actually end up using them all the time,” Eisner says, adding that “you can imagine how beautiful if you set them on a dark-wood table.”

Finding a gift for someone born in February can be tricky given that they might have just received their entire wish list in December. To help with your hunt, our junior writer Bella Druckman rounded up gifts that will delight your recipient (and make it clear you didn’t just hit the Valentine’s aisle) for their gift — like our favorite weighted sleep mask, which is available in a cozy furry version.

“Food is my greatest passion, but when it comes to design — at home or fashion — I’m not necessarily drawn to food-inspired stuff,” says chef and cookbook author Andy Baraghani. However, when he saw this ring, he knew it was perfect: “I love sardines. I also love Bottega.” Baraghani describes this one as subtle, and after owning it for two years, he still wears it every day.