Rearview Mirror: A Better Bath, a Bright Riesling, and Les Mis

Moon Bath

Last week, I went to a spring workshop at SLU BRU, the newish beer hall at Dexter Yard in South Lake Union. Open since November 2025 and operated by Gourmondo, it’s definitely ready for nicer weather, with big garage-style windows that open onto the sidewalk. The night was hosted by Orange Moon, the bath and body brand run by mother-daughter team Jana and Sage. The evening centered on making custom bath soaks, and I was quickly reminded how hard it is to choose a favorite scent when everything smells good. Our small group made three scent profiles—floral, citrus, and woodsy.

There were multiple salts in the mix, some powder-fine, others more textured, plus oils. Jana explained that some ingredients help soften the water, while others nourish the skin. The cornstarch we added makes the bath water silky, which I never would have known.

Orange Moon makes beautifully crafted, house-made bath soaks and bath bombs, all designed to turn an ordinary tub into something indulgent.

Photo courtesy of Orange Moon

Jana, a lifelong Washingtonian, shared that the name Orange Moon came from a time in life when her two daughters were very young (they’re both grown now) and baths were a daily ritual. One night, while she was near Bridgeport, she saw an orange moon rise over the water, and the image stayed with her. She started making bath soaks after years of working as a landscaper, so she knows a lot about plants and what each ingredient does. Orange Moon is based in Bellingham, but ships nationwide, and after taking home my custom soak, I was very ready to get in the bath and call it a night.

Night Moves

I got to see Seattle soul/funk band True Loves this week during their five-night residency at Jazz Alley. They are tight as ever, without sounding rigid. The songs stretch and loosen, with each musician getting room for little solos and detours, but the band always finds its way back together. That balance between freedom and control is a huge part of what makes True Loves such an incredible live band, along with the fact that these musicians are all clearly at the top of their game.

Jimmy James, as always, was fantastic—an absurdly good guitarist, but also funny and easy-going onstage. Grammy winner Nigel Hall of Lettuce is joining the band for these shows, playing organ and keyboard and singing on a few songs, with his smooth and soulful voice. At one point he mentioned that as he gets older, he keeps to himself more and prefers to stay in, which made his presence onstage especially generous. I found myself thinking what a gift it is when someone comes out and shares what they have with a room full of strangers.

I’m so grateful for places like Jazz Alley that made it through the pandemic, and for the chance to get zhooshed up and come back together in these swanky, low-lit spaces. And if you have the chance to catch True Loves, don’t sleep on it.

True Loves play Jazz Alley through April 12. Get tickets here. 

House of Smith’s new Blossom Fury riesling.

Photo by Sarah Flotard

Spring in a Bottle

House of Smith has a pretty new bottle on the shelf. Charles and Blossom Fury riesling is the latest release from Charles Smith, positioned as the next chapter after Kung Fu Girl, the riesling he first released in 2006. Made with fruit from Evergreen Vineyard in the Ancient Lakes, fermented in stainless steel, and priced at $18, Blossom Fury is meant to be dry and easy to drink. The official tasting notes promise peach, apple, cherry blossoms, lime leaf, and minerality. It sounds well suited to spring, and to the kind of night when a cold, bright sipper is exactly what you want.

Blossom Fury is available now at Total Wine, houseofsmith.com, and wherever you get your wine.

Jaedynn Latter as Eponine in Les Misérables.

Photo by Matthew Murphy

Catharsis at the Barricade

Some people pass down jewelry or maybe a little real estate. I’m passing down my all-time favorite musical: Les Misérables. This week I took my 14-year-old daughter to see Cameron Mackintosh’s acclaimed production at the Paramount. It’s so satisfying to watch a teenager get swept up in a story this big, this emotional, and this committed to suffering on a truly heroic scale.  Life is not exactly light these days, though I suppose it never has been. Still, people keep coming back to this show because its characters are so painfully recognizable. We have all played some version of these roles before: the idealist, the striver, the rigid rule-follower, the swindler, the heartbroken one, the misunderstood, the overlooked, the person just trying to survive. That is all Les Mis really asks of us in the end—to feel for them. Seeing it at this level, from the set and visual effects to the voices and costumes, only makes it hit harder.

This touring production gives plenty to love. Nick Cartell, who has played prisoner 24601 more than 1, 700 times, is still excellent as Jean Valjean, and “Bring Him Home” is gorgeous as ever. Christian Mark Gibbs is especially strong as Enjolras, and Jaedynn Latter gives Éponine a fiercer, more awkward edge that makes the character particularly vulnerable. She moves through Marius’s world like someone trying hard to seem tougher than she is, hanging around the edges and never quite fitting in, which makes his blindness to her all the more heartbreakingly believable. Les Misérables has been translated into more than 20 languages and performed in more than 40 countries. The famous barricade scene, one of the show’s most intense and impressive pieces of stagecraft, was inspired by the real June Rebellion in Paris.

Les Misérables runs at the Paramount through April 19. Get tickets here.