Elegant open weekender bag with folded clothing and travel accessories

The Perfect Three-Day Getaway Packing List

By Brandon

There are two types of weekend travelers.

People who pack seventeen outfits for three days.

And people who arrive at the hotel and realize they didn't bring underwear.

We're aiming somewhere in the middle.

A three-day getaway should not require a giant suitcase. Pack pieces that work together, leave room for something you might find along the way, and accept the radical idea that nobody at your destination knows you wore those jeans yesterday.

Wear This

Travel in the bulkiest things you're bringing.

For a fall weekend:

Comfortable jeans or casual pants
T-shirt or polo
Sweater or overshirt
Jacket
Comfortable shoes

Now half your wardrobe is already on your body.

Pack This

Clothes

2 additional shirts
1 additional pair of pants or jeans
1 nicer shirt for dinner
Underwear
Socks
Sleepwear
Lightweight workout clothes if you're actually going to use them
One additional pair of shoes, maximum

Toiletries

Toothbrush and toothpaste
Deodorant
Razor
Basic skincare
Hair product
Medications
Sunscreen
Travel-size fragrance if desired

Keep this bag permanently stocked and weekend travel becomes much easier.

The Useful Stuff

Phone charger
Portable battery
Sunglasses
Reusable water bottle
Small umbrella
Earbuds
Any prescription medications
A small laundry or shoe bag

If the Dog Is Coming

Add:

Food
Bowls
Leash and harness
Waste bags
Medications
Favorite blanket or bed
Towel
Water for the drive
Treats
Vaccination information if your destination requires it

And approximately six things the dog won't use but you'll bring anyway.

Don't Pack "Just in Case"

This is where luggage goes bad.

A second jacket just in case.

Dress shoes just in case.

Three additional shirts just in case.

An outfit appropriate for an unexpected invitation to a yacht.

You're going away for three days.

Unless the yacht invitation has already arrived, leave the outfit home.

The Bag

For most three-day trips, a well-designed weekender or compact carry-on is enough.

Eventually we'll test and research our favorite bags and add them here.

Until then, the rule is simple:

If you can't comfortably carry your weekend bag yourself, you've packed too much.

Leave Some Room

This is the part people forget.

You're going somewhere.

You might find a bottle of wine, a piece of pottery, something for the house, a bag from a bakery or something else worth bringing home.

Leave room for it.

That's part of the fun.

Pack less. Go more.

Back to GO.MAKE. FIND. GO.

Wooden pastry board dusted with flour, rolling pin, and pie dough

MAKE

The Only Pie Crust Recipe You Really Need

By Brandon

Pie crust has an undeserved reputation for being difficult.

It isn't.

It is, however, remarkably good at punishing people who overthink it.

The goal isn't perfection. We want a crust that's buttery, flaky, tender and strong enough to actually hold the pie. If the edges aren't geometrically perfect, nobody will care once there's a slice of warm pie sitting in front of them.

Keep Everything Cold

Cold butter makes better pie crust.

If there is one rule worth remembering, this is it.

Those little pieces of butter stay intact in the dough and release steam as the crust bakes. That's what helps create flaky layers.

If your kitchen is warm or the butter starts getting soft, put everything in the refrigerator for ten minutes.

There is no prize for finishing first.

Make the Dough

Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl.

Add the cold butter.

Using a pastry blender, two forks or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until you have a mixture containing everything from small crumbs to pieces of butter roughly the size of peas.

Don't try to make it uniform.

Those imperfect little pieces of butter are exactly what we want.

Drizzle the water, little by little, over the flour mixture while gently tossing everything together.

Add additional ice water, one tablespoon at a time, only until the dough begins holding together when squeezed.

It shouldn't feel wet.

Bring It Together

Turn the mixture onto a clean surface and gently bring it together.

Don't knead it like bread.

Divide it into two roughly equal portions and shape each into a disk about an inch thick.

Wrap them individually and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Overnight is even better.

Roll It

Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin.

Roll from the center outward, rotating the dough periodically to keep it from sticking.

You're looking for a circle roughly 12 inches across for a standard 9-inch pie plate.

If the dough cracks around the edges, patch it.

If your circle looks more like the state of Indiana than an actual circle, that's fine too.

Pie dough is extremely forgiving once filled with something delicious.

The MAKE. FIND. GO. Rule

Handle it less.

Keep it cold.

Don't panic.

That's basically pie crust.

Make It Ahead

The dough can be refrigerated for several days or frozen for longer storage. Make a double batch and future-you will be very pleased with present-you.

Because sometimes you want homemade pie without turning the entire afternoon into a baking project.

One Last Thing

There are elaborate pie crust recipes involving vodka, shortening, food processors and various forms of pastry engineering.

Some of them are excellent.

But this is the crust we want in our back pocket: flour, butter, salt, a little sugar and cold water.

Simple enough to remember.

Good enough to make again.

And flaky enough that nobody is going to ask whether you bought the crust.

Now go make the pie.