Libbie Summers Is Someone We Really Like
by The Candidly Team
Libbie Summers is a culinary wizard, recipe creator, digital media master, cookbook author, storyteller extraordinaire, and she knows how to cook every part of a pig.
She also has an almost irritatingly stunning sense of style.
We like Libbie.
Her instagram feed is bursting with bright colors and big ideas about how to make your everyday life more magical. So we asked her a few questions about what she thinks and what she likes. And like most things Libbie-related, her answers seem to have fairy dust sprinkled on them.
The Candidly Questionnaire
1. In a word, what is your most compelling quality?
Unflappability.
2. In a word, what is your biggest challenge?
Time.
3. What kitchen tool do you use every single day and kind of can’t live without?
A microplane. Everything I love to eat seems to include garlic, lemons, ginger or piloncillo sugar.
4. When do you feel most connected with yourself?
When I’m working with my team on the back story of a new project. I get to connect with the creative AND practical sides of my brain. I get lost in what could be vs. what can be. There’s something invigorating to me about collaborating with creatives and designing something crazy and then trying to figure out exactly what is doable.
5. Are essential oils anything?
I have a friend that stops every meal to dig through a cosmetic bag of essential oils to find JUST the one she needs to “aid her digestion” and “soak in the energy.” It is because of her oil based histrionics that I cannot abide by essential oils…except at bath time.
6. Do you struggle at all with boundaries? How?
I used to when I was younger. I would say yes to everything asked of me. I think a woman hits a point/age/number in her life when she learns the power of “no.” My number was 45. I wish it had been 35.
7. How do you dampen self-critical thoughts when they get too loud?
Start something new –a new project/craft/recipe…whatever. By changing the focus I change the stare.
8. Describe the most “you” outfit of all time.
Neutral thin linen of the Japanese kind. Mandarin collar. Short sleeves. Short waist. Skirt the perfect length (just below the knee if you were wondering). Thin sock and just the right handmade shoe depending on the time of year and terrain. Basically looking like I just wandered off the set of Out of Africa.
9. What meal can you make the hell out of?
I will absolutely CRUSH a meatball. Like Rocco’s mama crush. Like if there was a cook-off with Lidia Bastianich, I would at least tie. I used to cook for a fancy Italian gentleman on his yacht and to this day he still asks me to send him meatball care packages. THAT’s the kind of crush I’m talking about.
10. What book has made the biggest impact on your life?
A Moveable Feast. It was assigned for reading during the summer of my 16th year (obvs a progressive school in some ways) and sparked my wanderlust and need to read every memoir ever penned.
11. Apart from family, what woman do you deeply admire?
Georgia O’Keeffe.
12. Why does the word “feminist” get people so wound up?
Because the range of the feminist movement has been muddied over the years making it divisive instead of unifying. When someone asks me “What TYPE of feminist are you,” I start scratching my head….aren’t we all the same? Goals should be unified –achieve personal, economic, political and social equality of the sexes. Period.
13. Which Insta account’s stories do you always tap through until the end?
@thecandidly (it’s true!)
14. Do you think social media’s good qualities outweigh the bad?
There is a psychological component to social media, but we can still control our own behavior. So yes. Social can be a bad habit if you let it. You stop a bad habit by starting new behaviors. I do things like never sleeping with my phone by my bed and doing 20 minutes of some type of learning each morning before I look at any social media. Right now I’m brushing up on my elementary school French.
15. What quote or phrase has really stayed with you?
“You have to say no to good things, so you can say yes to great things.”
16. Do you have a phobia? How do you deal?
No. Is that weird?
17. How do you feel about cilantro?
If there was a cilantro essential oil (and maybe there is) I would rethink my negative position on essential oils. In a word: obsessed.
18. Describe, in detail, your perfect bedtime routine.
Long bath. Soft pajamas. Face oil. Clean sheets. Good book.
19. What’s your favorite thing you’ve ever read on the internet?
It changes daily.
20. What’s your relationship with bangs?
My nose length cannot abide them.
What is your single favorite:
Wellness product that *actually* works: Neti pot. Twice daily like a religion.
Lip balm: Sugar, by Fresh.
Jeans brand: Raleigh Denim Workshop.
Mascara: L’Oreal Paris Double Extend Beauty Tubes in Blackest Black.
Robe: An Ibby Hartley (formerly Open the Kimono) kimono robe I picked up on a trip to Venice, CA.
Sex product: C-ring.
Last-minute gift: My own Sprinkles. Shameless plug.
Bra: Depends on the job.
Day: Wacoal
Sport: Patagonia (Wild Trails)
Night: La Perla (Bianca)
Shampoo: Moroccanoil Hydrating Shampoo.
Comfortable shoes: Bensimon Tennis Lacet in white, navy or sand only.
Splurge skincare: Entire Kiehl’s face oil and moisturizer regime.
Drugstore skincare: Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion.
Everyday bag: Chestnut leather with a bright pink zipper tote I had made on a trip to Vietnam.
Podcast: This American Life, Conan O’brien Needs a Friend, Armchair Expert, Terrible, Thanks for Asking, Ted Radio Hour.
Drink: Dark and Stormy.
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We have to eat.
