Coffee Break: Sibelle Boot
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Hunting for a flat knee-high boot, either for your commute or otherwise? These Vince ones look great, and they're on sale.
I feel like with a flat knee high boot, plainer is better — you don't want too huge of a lug sole, but you also don't want something slippery in bad weather. I feel like too many seams or other embellishments can make the boot less wearable from work to weekend. The round toe here looks polished but comfortable. Nice.
The boot comes in regular and wide calf sizes, and was $598, but is now marked to $358… it also comes in a shearling version and a pale suede version. You can find it at Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, and Vince.com.
Readers, if you're wearing flat knee high boots this season, what are you looking for in a great boot? They still make the old reader favorite boot from Sam Edelman — what are your thoughts on that in 2026?
Hunting for flat knee-high boots? Some of our long-standing favorites (as of 2026) include La Canadienne, Sam Edelman, and Sofft; also check this Cole Haan option, and Vivaia for comfort (and tons of color options).
Sales of note for 1/15:
- Nordstrom – Designer clearance up to 70% off
- Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your purchase, including new arrivals + extra 50% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off + extra 20% off
- Brooks Brothers – Extra 25% off clearance, already up to 60% off
- Express – 30-70% off all sweaters
- J.Crew – Up to 40% off peak-winter styles + up to 70% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-70% off everything + extra 60% off clearance
- Lo & Sons – Winter sale, up to 50% off — reader favorites include this laptop tote, this backpack, and this crossbody
- M.M.LaFleur – Extra 25% off sale with code + try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
- Neiman Marcus – Up to 70% off select sale styles
- Talbots – Semi-Annual Red Door Sale! 50% off + extra 25% off all markdowns + Red Door Deals $24.50+
Anyone have a go-to recipe that uses a lot of fresh green beans? I have three pounds I need to use up.
I would blanch and freeze them (especially now that in the USA, grocery store frozen green beans have to be handled like raw meat and cooked to 165 before eating).
But if the goal is to use them now, I might use them in a mixed bean salad, some version of minestrone (I like cabbage, summer squash, tomato sauce, parsley, and parmesan), or in some version of vegetable beef soup (I like ground beef with turnips, tomato, carrots, and lots of green beans).
Din Tai Fung garlic green beans!
Fasolakia! Greek-style green beans in olive oil, garlic, tomato, some warming spices (depending on the recipe; cinnamon is a must in mine), herbs, and occasionally potatoes. Recipes abound. Easy to scale up or down; they freeze well, too.
I generally think green beans are sort of bland compared to other vegetables I like better, so I don’t usually buy them, but I love fossolia at Ethiopian restaurants, and many years ago Trader Joe’s used to have these frozen Thai prik king green beans that I ate all the time. I should probably try to find recipes for those and make them at home, but if anyone has a good one, I’d appreciate one too!
Cookie and Kate’s green beans almondine.
Or her green bean salad with toasted almonds and feta (sub goat cheese).
Boil 4 minutes, drain and rinse under cold water, pat dry. In skillet, saute diced shallot for a few minutes in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Then add the beans to the skillet, season with salt and pepper, and saute for about another 4 minutes until hot. I usually throw in some of these tiny sweet pepper drops that Publix sells in the deli section as well.
Or beef stew.
I like this recipe, but may be the wrong time of year to grill: https://www.seriouseats.com/grilled-green-bean-salad-red-peppers-radishes-recipe
Lebanese green bean stew. I haven’t tried this exact recipe but it is similar to what my family does: https://maureenabood.com/lebanese-green-bean-stew-yahneh-or-lubieh-from-the-expert/#wprm-recipe-container-15175
Stir-fry sichuan green beens.
Mango and green been Goan curry.
This country has gone insane. Other countries are not going to trust the US again.
I thought we had invaded Greenland when I read this. Bonkers that that’s a reasonable thought.
I thought the same thing.
Is this about the latest NYT headline on the interview?
What fresh hell is this? I just checked Bluesky and didn’t see anything. Agree with the other person, I thought we invaded Greenland or wherever TF next.
FFS, don’t vaguebook.
I do not think we have to wait until we have invaded Greenland for other countries to think we have completed lost it. The very idea of the US bribing threatening or intimidating a NATO ally should do it
Thank you.
I haven’t felt this anxious since COVID. Things feel very dark. I wish Trump could just go back to inflicting over-the-top tariffs on other nations.
I feel the same way
Yes, it is insane.
To those of you in older homes…. I’m in a 1960s house in suburban Boston. It’s been added in to over the years. We’ve been in it for 7.
I feel like we’re suddenly seeing a tonnn of cracks in walls (esp in one side of the house, bedrooms over the garage). Some have been there a while but others might be new? We’re second and triple guessing ourselves. I’m sure the extra cold weather we’ve been having is part of it but when does this become concerning? I get so anxious thinking we could have a foundation issue.
Basically most are along the seams of corners in bedrooms – I don’t get as worried about those, but they’re changing (again… I think? Maybe I just have heightened awareness now and I’m noticing “new” cracks that aren’t new at all??). There is one down the middle of a wall. It’s not a straight line but close – is it a bad drywall seam? Is my house falling down? Idk… I know diagonal cracks are a major red flag, and I don’t have those. There’s another one along a wall, near a window that gets major sunlight all day long. The drywall seems to be bulging out a smidge? That part of the house has brick facade that the prior owner covered with siding. Working on a very unscientific theory that heat (or moisture?) gets trapped in the void between the brick and siding and has some role in this.
Should I call a structural engineer to come give us an assessment for peace of mind? But then what if they find something really concerning? Is this like… six figures to fix?? There are no signs of cracking on the expose concrete in the basement under that side of the house or in the garage beneath the two rooms with the most cracks. But hard to be sure because proper owner may have skim coated the concrete. Is this just par for the course owning a home that’s 6+ decades old and we should wait until there’s actually something to worry about? I’m afraid a structural engineer would find something because why wouldn’t a 60-year old house have issues?
WWYD?
Foundation issues aren’t always dire. I would let go of the anxiety but make sure there’s no water damage happening.
Where do we start? Because that’s an interesting comment and we do have a wall in this general area of the house that had moisture behind it from an unknown location. How do we start to figure that out?
Drywall tape can sometimes come off, which causes cracking ~2″ from the joint. If you’re getting cracking at the joint itself you’ve got some movement happening, or there’s water that’s causing swelling.
You hire a structural engineer to come take a look and tell you if your foundation is doing what it’s supposed to.
Are they vertical or horizontal cracks? I live in Houston where tons of people have foundation issues eventually bc the ground here shifts a lot depending on how much rain we get. Like if we have a super dry summer, every person on my local Facebook group is suddenly posting freaking out about cracks in their house. I suspect with global warming all of these issues will increase over time.
All of them are vertical.
Having a structural engineer assess the house is a good option. It’s hard, but try not to get ahead of yourself worrying about major repairs and costs. Just try to find out if there’s an issue present first. I say this as someone with an circa 1890 home (not a fancy home; built for regular people) that has needed major plumbing work and foundation repair over the years.
I’d call in a structural engineer for peace of mind. I live in a historic home (1870s) and wonky floors/weird stuff is kind of par for the course. The guy we brought in was excellent, and only asked to be paid his hourly fee. If you need a suggestion call your local real estate lawyers, sounds weird but they use these firms as experts in lawsuits and will know the best people.
He broke down the ‘normal for the house’, ‘normal for the time period, but should be modernized’, ‘renovation gone awry, needs to be fixed in the next few years’, ‘don’t ever do this even though some contractor will suggest it’, and ‘fix this NOW’ issues.
This is what I need. Thank you so much and reaching out to an attorney is a great idea.
Thank you to everyone else for spiraling with me. I’m in real estate, though not at all residential, so I know too much but also nothing. Easy to get farrrrr ahead of myself.
I would get a structural engineer to look at it. I had cracks in my tile floor that concerned me. I found a structural engineer through searching and reading reviews. I didn’t have a foundation problem but it was nice to have measurements to compare for future shifts. I think having someone look at it will give you peace of mind and you may get good advice about how to prevent future issues.
It’s not that drastic, houses settle. Just shore up the foundation.
And you can take a ruler and a pencil and lightly trace alone across the crack to monitor movement.
A line, not alone. Autocorrect sucks.
This is the very first thing I would do at each of the new problem areas. Straight line across the crack, mark a set distance (like 1 cm) on that line, with one mark on each side of the crack, then come back in a day or week to see if the line has shifted and measure if the 1 cm marks have grown. If not, just keep checking periodically. If there is change, then you have data to provide a structural engineer.
It’s most likely water intrusion. Call a contractor to check it out. Don’t ignore it.
I’ll add – I’ve had this in several homes and it’s never been the foundation, always water. It’s usually a pretty easy fix. The buldging and location of yours sound consistent with that. I wouldn’t jump to the foundation before checking for water damage.
Can someone explain to me like 10 what exactly is happening now with us and Venezuela and their oil.
The NYT can.
No, because nobody actually knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There’s been a lot of announcing of “plans” from the WH but in terms of what has actually, concretely happened…not much/those “plans” keep changing.
My understanding is that we’re trying to seize oil transport ships from Venezuela and re-route them to US ports as a first step to seizing their oil entirely. And we can do this because the country is unstable… because we attacked them and kidnapped their leader.
*rump is somehow saying that he personally gets to sell the oil from the ships that are docking at US ports, and that this money will go into non-US-based accounts.
HOW all of that^^ actually happens is unclear and/or has not been articulated, and the legality of that plan is questionable/illegal, but the response of… courts? congress? it’s unclear who would push back on that plan, given the lack of details about implementation. But the response time and action is likely to take long enough that the damage to our reputation in the world will continue, and the enrichment of cronies and otherwise oligarch/dictator behavior will continue.
You can ask chat gpt to do that for you if the newspapers are too complicated.
Ah we found a trumper, who thinks she’s smart. An oxymoron. (Big word but use ChatGPT if a dictionary is too complicated).
She’s asking a reasonable question because no non-trumpers have any clue how this is supposed to work.
Correction: no one has any clue how this is supposed to work, including trumpers and trump himself.
I re-subscribed to the Economist, as they typically have excellent coverage of these sorts of events with a considerable amount of backstory.