My favorite street foodie is the YouTuber Mark Wiens. He is half-Chinese, lives in Bangkok, but specializes in eating street food around the world. It’s no surprise to me his channel has 5 million followers because he is enthusiastic, thrifty, do-it-yourself, and he goes to the places I would go for street food: Pakistan, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, China. His “tours” are more useful than say Anthony Bourdain’s or Andrew Zimmern’s, in part because he doesn’t have a crew and stays low to the ground. When I headed somewhere remote, I check his extensive archive out. — KK

This article titled “1 simple trick to be happier"is not clickbait — it’s sound advice. It suggests that because your happiness level is more dependent on the frequency of positive events, rather than the intensity, you should be creating a daisy chain of happiness-inducing events all day long. "Think of some of the small delights that bring you joy — whether it’s a certain song, a photo from a gathering with friends, or even a pen that writes like a dream — and try intentionally placing them throughout your day.” I have a running list of 100 things that bring me joy that I pull up when needed. On the top of my list is hugging my dog and cuddling (mostly bugging) my cat. — CD

Dust-to-Digital is a record label specializing in early, hard-to-find music. They have a terrific Twitter feed with videos I’ve never seen of performers like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Papa Jo Jones, Eddie Cochran, Koko Taylor. I spent an enjoyable couple of hours watching the videos. — MF

I put a Tile bluetooth tracker in my wallet and forgot about it. Last week, my wallet fell out of my pocket when I was at the movies, and I didn’t realize it until I was in the car. I went back to the theater, opened the Tile app on my phone and pressed the “Wallet” button. The tile in my wallet chirped loudly and I found it wedged between two seats. A useful little gadget! — MF

I’ve been spoiled by Kewpie mayonnaise, made in Japan. No other mayo comes close. The secret is extra egg yolk and MSG. My kids and I squeeze it on everything (especially sweet potato chunks roasted in coconut oil). Kewpie also has a U.S. made version, but Amazon sells the real Japanese version. — MF

If you read books on Kindle or iBooks you should be using Readwise. I got turned on to Readwise by Recomendo readers Chris Galtenberg and Len Edgerly almost two years ago, and it’s become an integral part of how I read and retain the words and ideas that grab me. Every passage I highlight in my Kindle is auto-imported and sent back to me in a thrice-weekly email (you can choose the frequency and number of highlights you receive). This service is free for a trial period. I pay $4.99/per month for the upgraded version that allows you to import highlights from other sources, like Medium and Twitter. And I also have it synced to my Evernote account, so that anytime new highlights are imported, my Evernote is updated immediately. Using Readwise makes me want to read more and highlight more, I’ve even started inputing the highlighted passages from my favorite paper books. You can read a random selection of my highlights at: https://readwise.io/@claudia. — CD

I’ve owned birds in the past, and I’m not in the market for one now, but my daughter showed me this fun quiz that matches you up with the perfect type of pet bird and points you to rescue centers near you so you can adopt one. The quiz result said my kind of bird is the lineolated parakeet, and I agree. — MF

Two images I find myself pulling up from time to time are 1) this chart of apple varieties lined up from most tart to most sweet, and 2) a visual guide to major types of wine grouped by flavor characteristics. I may never be able to articulate tasting aromas or textures, but at least I’ll be able to pick a delicious wine I’ll enjoy. — CD

A whole book (“Influence” by Robert Cialdini) on the key scientific principles of how to persuade people — get them to change their mind or behavior — has been expertly compressed into a 12 minute doodle video. It’s so compressed you might need to review The Science of Persuasion more than once. The principles work! — KK

For years the San Francisco airport has been accumulating and displaying stellar modern art throughout its four terminals. They now call this ongoing collection the SFO Museum. Though thinly dispersed, IMHO it’s one of the better modern art museums today,. It is well worth going to their website to discover where the works are and what is showing. Most are in post-security areas, so it’s convenient if you have extra time once checked in, or are in transit. I’ve been seeking them out with great pleasure. — KK

Below are some insightful excerpts and quotes that I’ve been collecting from newsletters, websites and social media posts. — CD

“Understanding a person’s hunger and responding to it is one of the most potent tools you’ll ever discover for getting through to anyone you meet in business or your personal life.” — Mark Goulston, Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone, (Book Freak Newsletter)

The brilliant Japanese writer Haruki Murakami once wrote, “Always remember that to argue, and win, is to break down the reality of the person you are arguing against. It is painful to lose your reality, so be kind, even if you are right.” — Found on James Clear’s website

“Advice? I don’t have advice. Stop aspiring and start writing. If you’re writing, you’re a writer. Write like you’re a goddamn death row inmate and the governor is out of the country and there’s no chance for a pardon. Write like you’re clinging to the edge of a cliff, white knuckles, on your last breath, and you’ve got just one last thing to say, like you’re a bird flying over us and you can see everything, and please, for God’s sake, tell us something that will save us from ourselves. Take a deep breath and tell us your deepest, darkest secret, so we can wipe our brow and know that we’re not alone. Write like you have a message from the king. Or don’t. Who knows, maybe you’re one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have to.” — Alan Watts

These little video experiments from Dirk Koy are fantastic. They are short kinetic loops, like a long gif, that explore perspective shifts, new POVs, and re-framing motion graphics. Quick surprises. — KK

I bought this 2-pack of GoldenDot WiFi smart plugs for $17 on Amazon. I used one on our bedroom’s air filter and the other on our garage door (to turn of the power so no one can open it with a remote). It was easy to link the plugs to Alexa and Google Assistant. I now control these appliances with my voice. I also put the air filter on a schedule, so it turns on at night and off in the morning. — MF

After months of using different email addresses to access free sessions of Brain.fm, I have finally signed up as a paying customer. I’ve tried classical music, brown noise and other ambient sounds when I need to focus, but Brain.fm’s Focus music works best for me. I can put on a two-hour loop and forget to get up from my desk to stretch. They have different genres of focus music, like atmospheric, chimes & bowls, nightsounds, as well as Relax and Sleep stations that I have yet to explore. But now that I am a paying customer, I can listen to all their music on both my laptop and phone. They offer five free sessions, then it’s $7 a month or $50 per year. — CD

I wanted a tiny starter drone for taking mostly still photos from on high. The DJI Spark (about $350) fits the bill. It’s so small and lightweight it fits easily in my daybag. About the size of my open hand, I operate it from an app on my phone. Its range (via the phone) is about 100 meters, which is all I need. Lasts 15 minutes per charge. Despite its smallness, it does pretty well in a stiff wind. — KK

My friend Star Simpson tweeted this useful travel tip: “Not enough people know that Google Maps has an Easter egg. If you type ‘ok maps’ into the search field it will download a map for offline use. Great if you might not have awesome cell reception where you’re going, is now a step on my packing checklist.” (For some reason it doesn’t work for Tokyo.) — MF

A destination that is a lot of trouble to reach, but one I found to be worth the effort, is the Cosmodrome, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, the only place on the planet currently launching humans into space. This coming Tuesday, September 25, 2019, the Cosmodrome will send up the next three astronauts to the International Space Station. In between launches, regular tourists can get amazing access to the legendary launch facilities, and during launches you get to watch the liftoff way, way too close. Visits are organized by Baikonur Tours. (At home the NASA Live channel broadcasts the Cosmodrome launches live.) — KK

My mother has a garment steamer (The PurSteam Elite, $70) and everyone in my family used it to get rid of the wrinkles in the clothes we packed into suitcases for my nephew’s wedding. The steam from the handheld wand made the wrinkles melt away. We immediately bought one for our house. — MF

A helpful travel tip I received from a foodie friend was to find restaurants by searching hashtags on Instagram. This really comes in handy in places where Yelp recommendations are scarce. I was just traveling through Switzerland and searched for #Genevafood to find thousands of pictures of delicious looking food — most of them tagged with the location. This is great for me because I choose places based on Yelp food pics anyway. I clicked on the images that looked the best to me and then looked up the restaurant and its proximity. Searching hashtags also helped me find pages dedicated to local food. — CD

I limit my Twitter use to less than 5 minutes a day which doesn’t leave much time to browse and discover new things, so a newsletter I look forward to is “Really Good Questions” which links you to the best asked questions on Twitter and answer thread. An example of a really good question is Sam Altman’s “What advice seems obviously right, is relatively easy to follow, and is usually ignored?” I really liked @KristyT’s response: “The best way to produce good outcomes is dealing with reality the way it actually is versus what you want it to be.” This newsletter is a side project by Sharath Kuruganty so issues are infrequent, but here you can find the threads he’s collected so far. — CD