Aly's Newsletter: Tuesday Story Leads! (And a Heartfelt Thanks!)
Hi, friends and happy Tuesday!
First of all: I want to give a mega thanks to everyone who came through to help yesterday. I had posted I was in a bit of a jam after some sources fell through at the 11th hour and SO MANY of you responded quickly and offered to get me what I needed.
In fact, MORE than I needed. I wasn't able to use everyone of course - but every single person who responded is now on my radar for next time I need a similar type of source. (Which happens often!) Either way - the day was saved, all is well, and I'm so grateful to you all!
Here's what I'm working on (so far) this week:
1. For Spy.com, this one is very timely - I’m doing a roundup of coffee deals for Coffee Day tomorrow. I’m going to try to get this one published by later today so I need the deals asap. (And I know MANY of you have already sent me deals for my other outlets so will go through those asap) - but feel free to resend to push them to the top of my inbox as this is a time-sensitive one. As this is not the same format as the deals I do in my other beats for national food days, I’m open to BOTH at chains and brands (ie: if a coffee roaster is giving a BOGO bag of beans in honor of the holiday when ordered online, that counts!)
For RetailMeNot, I'm rounding up both the best strapless bras you can buy online and also best fruitcakes you can buy online. These are clearly for unrelated stories. However, if you find a way to pull them together...i'm listening.
3. For HerMoney, I'm doing a story on Versatile Pantry Items To Stock Up On That Can Stretch Your Food Budget. The key here is affordable canned goods that lasted a long time and are versatile. I'd love an expert to discuss some items that work for long-term storage and some that don't, and how you can best use these items.
4. For HerMoney, I'm doing a story on Growing Your Own Herbs Is The Secret To Saving Cash And Keeping Food Full Of Flavor. Fresh herbs are a great way to add flavor to food without tons of fat or calories, but it also has a short shelf life and can get pretty expensive. A batch of fresh basil at the local market can run as much as $5, and will start to brown in days. However, seeds can cost pennies and grow as much fresh basil as you want. I personally have a window herb garden in my apartment with herbs I use often -- basil, rosemary, cilantro, thyme -- and not only does it smell great, but it's saved me so much money. It also eliminates waste because I only cut off as much as I need at a time!. I would love to hear from an expert, gardener, etc, on the best, most affordable ways to get started on a home window garden that will give us the best results. This is geared toward those of us who live in apartments and thus don't have outdoor space and have to rely on what we can do on our window ledge or kitchen counter.
5. For Forbes.com, I'm looking for fun Halloween-themed cocktails bars/restaurants are doing nationwide. This has to be something that is ON the menu or a special available. If you have something that may be a fit, please email me the following:
Name of cocktail
where it is (name of bar/restaurant, city, state, URL of restaurant/bar)
Description of cocktail (don't need a recipe, just please tell me what is in it)
Quote from bartender/chef/owner/someone there about the cocktail
(Please don't forget to give me the name of the person you are quoting. Yes, believe it or not, this happens)
Image of the cocktail (not the restaurant or bartender, just the cocktail please!)
Deadlines...would love responses for ALL of these (other than national coffee day of course!) no later than Friday AM please (ET)! and please send to alywalansky@gmail.com - please start a new email and do not just respond to this newsletter when responding.
Here's some stories that were published or updated in the last few days....
AllRecipes
Anyone Can Make Bakery-Level Cakes at Home With Nordic Ware's Newest Bundt Pan
Finally, a Smarter Way to Clean Up Bacon Grease
Food Network
Krispy Kreme Blesses Us with Its Take on Cinnamon Rolls
Merriam-Webster's The Usage
5 Best Sports Bras For Staying Active Comfortably In 2021
Popsugar
17 of the Best Shampoos For Oily Hair That Keep Away Greasy Roots For Good
Today.com
Where to score free tacos and discounts on National Taco Day
Krispy Kreme rolls out its first-ever cinnamon roll — 2 of them, actually
Here's what's cooking....
Tonight's nightly Instagram stories cooking video is going to be a fun one! (Please follow me on Instagram to follow along!)
Today, Butterball sent me a turkey breast in preparation for a Zoom event they are hosting tomorrow. Tomorrow's Zoom will involve, among other things, some really creative recipes involving Thanksgiving leftovers -- so I'm going to be making the turkey breast tonight in advance!
(Full disclosure: They did actually want to send me a whole turkey, but since I'm the old lady that lives in a shoe and have no ROOM for a turkey, they were kind enough to modify the delivery to a turkey breast).
But my living space is all of our rewards - because I'm going to try to make this baby in my air fryer, which...is not something I could do with a full-sized turkey! So, stay tuned tonight!
Have a great day! And thanks again for being so amazing. I'm so grateful!
<3
aly
Yay! Thanks Aly :)