New Orleans has been a place that I’ve long wanted to visit and I’m so glad that I finally got a chance to go. My dear friend Jenn came up with the idea to go here on one of our trips together and it absolutely did not disappoint. Some highlights ahead.
We stayed at the regal-as-hell Le Pavillon and it was phenomenal. So happy we stayed here. It was within walking distance of pretty much everything we wanted to do and see. We stayed on the seventh floor and our room was a decent size, with a bed more comfortable than any bed I’ve ever slept in. They offer a nightly peanut butter and jelly sandwich special in the lobby, and while I didn’t partake in the free sandwich, I did get a hot chocolate (with freshly whipped cream) that was ridiculously good, all cream should be freshly whipped. It’s one of the most haunted hotels in New Orleans (part of the reason we chose it) and I do swear that I heard some shady shit at night in our room.
On our first night, we went to Drago’s for charbroiled oysters and let’s get this straight: charbroiled isn’t for everybody. I happily ate most of them, but I don’t know that I’d order them again. I’m not a huge fan of smokey food in general, so definitely keep that in mind if you ever see these on a menu.
We took the gorgeous St. Charles streetcar to have lunch at Commander’s Palace (where they have .25 cent martinis with every entree) and it was lovely. Any time I drink a martini, if I want to drink it slowly and really savour it, I’ll always get a gin martini with a twist. Gin forces me not to drink quickly because it’s such a disgusting liquor. Works every time. I tried turtle soup for the first time and it was good, but wildly decadent-tasting. That could be attributed to the veal stock (veal stock is always so rich, I find), but it was still a great soup.
Self-explanatory
We also took the streetcar to see Ghost Manor and the Skeleton House, both popular places to see during Halloween because they’re so elaborately decorated for the season.
The Skeleton House
We indulged in .75 cent oysters for the happy hour at Luke, which were wonderful of course. When has an oyster been anything less than desirable? (…when it’s charbroiled, according to Jenn!)
I bought coffee beans for Nathan from French Truck, which came with a free coffee that… tasted like coffee? I’ll never have any idea what constitutes a “good cup of coffee” and nor do I want to know. On average, I find that people who have super strong opinions on coffee also have bad personalities, but maybe that’s a generalization. Prove me wrong, world!
We had crab cakes and catfish at Mr. B’s Bistro where the service was great and the food was good (the crazy hot, fresh baked bread may have been the best part). Cheap martinis with lunch were had yet again - this has to be a NOLA custom because I’ve never heard of another city providing this perk.
We visited the Carousel Bar at the beautiful Hotel Monteleone. I really wanted to get an up-close shot of the stunning hotel sign atop the building, so I finagled a way to let someone at the front desk grant me a temporary hotel key card to get past some of the upstairs locked doors to see if I could make it out onto the private roof. We got pretty close and only had one last barrier to go when that final door defeated us and we didn’t quite make it out. We did manage to see the rooftop pool (so lovely) and half of the sign. No good photo opportunities, but still - what an incredible hotel.
The Carousel Bar
That sign!
We ate the bananas foster at Brennan’s (where the dessert was invented) and yes it was good, but waaaaaay too sweet. Like obnoxiously so. I guess that’s what it’s supposed to taste like? In any case, I’ll definitely think twice before ordering it ever again anywhere else. One bananas foster is enough for a lifetime.
I visited my first strip club and it wasn’t a terrible experience! Honestly it would’ve been a perfect experience if there were less men allowed in. I understand the appeal now.
I don’t have cable at home, so whenever I’m in a hotel I get pretty excited about it being available. My favourite thing to watch? Martin on BET. It’s always on when I want it to be. And they showed BOTH Martin Halloween episodes while we were there, so that was pretty magical.
Have you ever had Zapp’s Potato Chips? Holy shit are they better than every other chip.
We went to two of Emeril’s restaurants while we were here: Meril & Delmonico. And honestly? Not super impressed at all. Granted, I think I ordered badly, but still. This was a bit of a letdown.
We had dinner and listened to piano at The Roosevelt. I’ll forever love eating and drinking in old, beautiful hotels. They’re so nostalgic and with certain details that newer hotels can’t hold a candle to.
Of all the things that we did, my favourite was probably swimming in the hotel’s rooftop pool with Jenn drinking wine from a coffee cup during a rainstorm right before the thunder and lightning started. I’ll never forget that.
Some things that I’d absolutely want to do next time? Eat the Oysters Rockefeller at Antoine’s, go on a ghost tour and obviously get beignets. Yes, it’s insane that we didn’t do these things, but in all honestly, we drank so much one night that the next day had to be spent mostly in that heavenly hotel bed. It was meant to be that way.
If you’re interested in seeing my Instagram Stories from the trip, I made them into a full story in my Highlights section on Instagram.
Forgive the lateness of this post! It was an insanely busy month and I’ll try not to let this kind of delay happen again. SO MUCH HAPPENED! Details below.
I went on two trips this month! The first was to the Bahamas and it was so great. I stayed at Atlantis (because well, that’s where my parents were staying and they kindly let me stay with them, IF YOU MUST KNOW) and while Atlantis was super nice, it really felt like what I imagine a big cruise ship to feel like. I’m not meaning that as an insult at all - it just felt sort of stiff, well maintained, with a very controlled environment. I tried lionfish for the first time (very good), drank Bahama Mamas and slid down the shark-surrounded Leap of Faith (horrifying). We ate at Jose Andres’ restaurant Fish and it was absolutely unreal. The seafood was phenomenal.
Parents in the Bahamas
My second trip was to New Orleans for the week of Halloween! I’ll do a full post on this one because there’s too much to say. (Full post here!)
In some upsetting news, I accidentally “recovered” my phone and lost most of my Bahamas photos. I was so upset because it was completely my own fault. I hadn’t backed up my photos to my computer yet either, so it truly sucked. I do have iCloud but I never opted to pay for the extra space so it’s been full for about a year already. Enter my saviour Marla who told me about Google Photos (which is free) and I’ve already started using and backing up almost daily. I’ve moved on from losing the photos by rationalizing it in thinking that I wasn’t meant to have those photos, they were meant to be memories.
Years ago, I watched and hated the second Sex & The City movie (too xenophobic, cliched and generally terrible) but I rewatched it on a plane recently and while it’s still a bad movie, I had completely forgotten about the storyline about Carrie and Big “defining the parameters of their own relationship.” Best part of the movie! I won’t give away too much, but you may want to rewatch this stinker if nothing better is on.
We rewatched all of the Sleepaway Camp movies and they really hold up well. Such a solid series.
I tried pumpkin-flavoured Kit Kats and although a little gross at first, they really do taste like pumpkin. And after two or three bites, become delicious.
In keeping with autumn flavours, I tried the pumpkin cream cold brew from Starbucks (I know, despite this one instance, I am still trying to stay away from the corporations that are slowly eating away at society as we know it). Anyway, the drink was only MEH. It’s wild how we’ve made milkshakes acceptable for adults to drink at 8am.
I’m not sure if I’ve already shared this tip, but I have THE greatest advice for someone who’s trying to avoid a cold from starting. You know that point right before you get a cold, when your throat feels a little tingly and sensitive? And you know that a cold is coming right around the corner? All you need to do to avoid this from happening is buy the blue Listerine and gargle with it once in the morning and once before bed and gargle for about 30 seconds each time. I SWEAR TO GOD THIS WORKS. But only with the blue Listerine. I’ve tested this theory twice now and it absolutely works, someone give me a medal for curing the common cold. (And if you really don’t believe me, buy the travel size before you commit to the larger bottle, geek.)
Riverdale is BACK! The season premiere episode dealing with Luke Perry’s death was so good and so sad and that’s all I have to say about that. This tweet sums it up.
As for the more recent episodes of Riverdale? The latest Halloween episode was pure and complete madness and I love how nuts it’s becoming. This tweet sums it up.
I started watching the new season of This Is Us and I think I figured out what’s wrong with this show: every character on it is almost TOO in love with their partner. It’s enough already, we get it, love exists. The show is so wildly saccharine now. Maybe it was always that way and I never noticed before? Either way, I might be passing on it this season.
I really hate cleaning shower curtains and the mold-free one that I got from The Container Store (only $10) has lasted me a full six months before getting gross. Highly recommend!
My absolute favourite place to get Halloween costume accessories is by far the Village Party Store in Manhattan. They somehow have every single thing you’d need for a costume, they’re super inexpensive and the staff is so helpful (eons better than any Spirit). I was talking about costume stuff with one of the guys who works there and he mentioned how a group of women had just come in to get stuff for their group costume: they all were going to be different Keanu Reeves characters. Is it just me or is that the greatest group costume you’ve ever heard of? He said they were definitely going to do Neo from The Matrix, Ted from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Jack from Speed, Duke Kaboom from Toy Story 4 and Sad Keanu. PURE GENIUS.
LOVED the new season of Big Mouth. But can we pleeeeease stop with the musical episodes? NOBODY LIKES THEM.
Speaking of Big Mouth, I watched the movie Disclosure and wowza. Great movie. Can’t believe I’d never even heard of it before. Just rewatched it again with Nathan this past week. So good.
Another great NYC Halloween store is Abracadabra on 21st street. It’s a more expensive place to shop, but if you just want to browse then definitely visit this place. There are tons of interactive displays and the whole basement has incredible costumes for rent.
I finally tried Mario Badescu’s Drying Lotion and whoa. I get the hype. It fucking obliterates pimples. It’s hard to sleep in since it goes on like calamine lotion and smudges everywhere if you lay face down (do people sleep like this? I sleep like I’m in a coffin & Nathan hates it because I look like a mental patient but it’s so fucking relaxing, I can’t stop), but it works really well if you can figure out a way to sleep without it rubbing off.
SO, SO excited to hear that season two of Shrill has a release date: January 24th!
Some things that I’m looking forward to this month: celebrating American Thanksgiving since I missed the true (Canadian) one last month while I was in the Bahamas, introducing Nathan to the Momofuku Thanksgiving croissant, taking Baby Dog for autumn walks in Central Park, getting my copy of Lindy West’s new book that arrives in my mailbox tomorrow, still working on doing things off of my autumn list, reading Jenny Slate’s new book, if you find yourself always losing your poppy I find it helpful to attach mine to a safety pin rather than just the regular pin that comes with it, and I’ll probably definitely see A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood even though I do think it’s unnecessary.
This is how I feel about the beginning of October.
To put it mildly, I’m excited. But before we start the greatest time of the year, here’s what went down in September!
I can’t seem to stop going to L’Artusi in the West Village, I might have a problem. This will be the only place I take all visitors for pasta from here onward. Recently I went to try this beast (shown below): the summer ricotta gnudi with chanterelles, sweet corn and chilies. They also had their wagyu steak tartare as a special (they do this every once in awhile) and it’s by far the best steak tartare in this damn city. SO GOOD. And since summer was still well under way, I also got the corn with pepperoni, chilies and scallion ash as a side dish. (What the hell is scallion ash? Absolutely couldn’t tell you, but I gobbled it up.) SIDENOTE: I still can’t stop making their mushroom ragu at home. I tried it with Banza and holy shit, it was still good. I think I’ll be taking a break from making it any time soon since I’ve made it approximately 12,000 times, but you should definitely try it out if you haven’t already.
I’ve made this Crispy Balsamic Chicken a few times now because it’s insanely easy to make and comes together crazy fast. Also, I think I’ve learned the secret to crispy skin every time: PAT THE CHICKEN TOTALLY DRY! Maybe everyone knew this already, but I certainly did not.
Nathan and I saw It: Chapter Two and loved it! I wasn’t expecting to since the first one is so great, but I might have liked this one even better! Also, hot tip: you know the Chinese restaurant they’re eating at in the beginning of the movie? Apparently (sources say) that was filmed inside the Mandarin on Matheson in Mississauga! That’s my Mandarin! I’m definitely going to ask about it the next time I’m there, because if that’s true that is MADNESS. So cool.
Since horror movie season has begun, Nathan and I watched Halloween 2 and Halloween 3: Season of the Witch and you know what? Not terrible! I remember seeing them as a teenager and bitching about how lame they were, but I was just acting my age, I think. Solid ass movies.
We also watched Psycho II and Psycho III and thought the same thing! Great movies! Okay, not great - but definitely not bad. Psycho II was a delight. We’re not better than horror sequels, people. We might think we are, but we ain’t.
I tried the new eyebrow pencil from Fenty and even though it’s a good product, it’s definitely not worth $20. I could get three Colourpop ones for less than that and it’s pretty much an identical product.
I’m a stone cold sucker for new Trader Joe’s products, so obviously I tried the new Organic Sparkling Apple Cider Drinking Vinegars and they. were. delicious. Both flavours. Insanely good.
I have been on a mission to find yellow underwear lately and finally found the motherlode at PINK. Yes, I hate that it’s part of the Victoria’s Secret brand, but I’m still on the hunt. Recommendations welcome.
I watched the new, short 9/11 documentary In the Shadow of the Towers: Stuyvesant High about the kids who went to school near the towers and it was really well done. Obviously incredibly sad, but I can’t help but watch any new 9/11 stuff that comes out for some reason.
I also watched Chelsea Handler’s new documentary about white privilege and parts of it were good, while other parts just made me roll my eyes a lot. The fact that there’s ever even a debate about white privilege will forever blow my mind. I get what she was trying to do with this project, but it kind of just missed the mark ultimately.
I have been toasting garlic and breadcrumbs in a saucepan until it’s lightly golden brown and then adding it as a heavy garnish to my pasta dishes lately and… I think I’m a new woman. Tastes unreal.
I assessed how many things got done off of my summer list.
I rarely listen to new, whole albums anymore because… actually I don’t know why I don’t do that anymore. But people really wouldn’t shut up about Taylor Swift’s Lover, so I listened to it on Spotify and it was actually pretty good. Not all of it, god no. But my favourites include: Cruel Summer, The Archer and Paper Rings. And of course, I still can’t stop listening to this song.
I went to Bar Sardine for the first time and here’s what I didn’t like: the seating is wildly uncomfortable (stool seating? in 2019? pick it up, industry), the food was extremely decent but overpriced and the waitstaff (at least our waiter) was too pushy. Yes, the burger was good (I mean, what burger isn’t?), but for $17? Eat me. No. What are we doing here.
Also went to The Happiest Hour and passssssss. I’m so sick of this trend of TINY ASS BURGERS costing more than $15. Fucking done with it. I’m THIS CLOSE in vowing to never eat a restaurant burger again and just get Shake Shack instead. So sick of this shit.
Some things that I’m looking forward to this month: new Big Mouth episodes on the 4th, I might take a day trip out to Sleepy Hollow, I plan to decorate, I’d really love to have an autumn party (and make use of this great punch bowl idea), think of Baby Dog’s Halloween costume, I’ll definitely watch a few of these, I may partake in the Pumpkin Float, I’m intending on doing my 31-days-of-Halloween celebration yet again (which means that I’ll try to do at least one spookily themed thing each day), and I cannot wait for the return of Riverdale (!) on the 9th.
Helloooooooo October, get your spooky ass in my bed.
There are so many things I want to do this season, it makes me want to collapse out of excitement. Here are some of my ideas:
Drink at least one cup of tea each day. (In an attempt to get rid of the old-ass tea that I’m sick of having in the house, but also because autumn mornings & tea are a such a sweet pairing and apparently I’m an old white lady now.)
Eat spaghetti squash for the first time. This is the year to take on this disgusting task.
Indulge in the greatest thing this season has to offer: the thanksgiving croissant from Momofuku Milk Bar. (Bonus point if I can force Nathan to eat one, too.) (Why would I have to force someone to eat something so delicious? He’s a complicated man, let’s not get into it.)
Make a savory souffle because fuck they fancy.
Visit the real Sleepy Hollow (can’t believe how close it is to NYC).
Decorate the house as if this is the last autumn season I’ll ever see. There shall be a pumpkin in every windowsill before week’s end, so help me god.
Try some sort of pumpkin coffee that’s not overly sweet (I’ve never cared for PSLs before because 1) they seem too sugary and 2) I’m only half white).
Some other small things that I do each autumn? I’ll break out the warmer comforter for the bed this week, cannot wait. I’ve started the official planning of this year’s Halloween costume. This is also the time of year when I have to remember to lotion my elbows as much as possible (daily) because as soon as the temperature drops, it’s ash-city. I’ll officially unpack and display all of our autumn/Halloween stuff this week. This will be the first year in a long time that I won’t be going to Downey’s with my family, so that’ll be weird and sad so let’s not talk about it. Other than that, I’m really just going to try and enjoy this time of year as much as humanly possible because spooky season comes but once a year and it’s fun as hell.
How much of my summer list did I complete? Well, let’s see.
“Eat the burger at Whit’s End in Rockaway.” - Totally ate it and it was wildly tiny. Good, but tiny. (You can see it over here.)
“Successfully keep my houseplants alive for at least a full season.” - All right, look. I’ve learned that this is not my thing. Nathan is much better at keeping them alive, so it’s officially become his job in our house. I’ll collect no points for learning this fact.
“Wear at least ten of my lipsticks over the course of summer (bonus point if I buy nothing from Sephora this summer).” - I think I wore five over the whole summer, which is pretty great for me considering I rarely wear the makeup I buy. And I did end up buying one thing from Sephora (the NARS concealer I like) as a replacement, so I won’t get the bonus point.
“Go swimming at least twice.” - Fuck. Yes. SIX TIMES! Scatter my remains in someone’s pool, please. I belong there.
“Go to the beach at least three times.” - Yep, three times! And really, three is enough. Anyone going more than three times should figure their life out.
“See The Farewell in theatres.” - I did and loved it, everyone should see it.
“Make these meatball stuffed garlic bread sliders.” - Okay, I did not. But only because July 4th was too hot to really use our oven, and I’m not gonna make 16 sliders for just Nathan & I (we’re not depressed anymore). Still want to make this someday, though.
“Make the mushroom garganelli from L’Artusi.” - I made it and it was beautiful. I think I made it three times this summer? It even tastes good with the Banza pasta. It wasn’t the exact same as it is at the restaurant, but I mean… pretty close. I also didn’t make homemade pasta (too intimidating), so that’s probably why it wasn’t 100% the same.
“Lay out & look at the stars.” - This sort of happened, only I didn’t lay on the ground. There are night bugs that live in the grass and I 1) didn’t want to kill them and 2) didn’t want them to kill me. But in Vermont, the sky was absolutely unreal at night, so I spent some time looking at them when we walked Baby Dog. Gotta do this more.
7.5 / 10 - Whoa! I mean, I’m impressed with that.
I really never thought this day would arrive… the last day of summer. Let us all bask in it in preparation for THE GREATEST TIME OF THE YEAR!
For our ten year anniversary, Nathan and I (yet again) returned to Vermont. It was a last minute decision and I’m so glad we did. We didn’t stay at the same place as last time, we chose The Manchester View instead and… whoa. Such a lovely place to stay. It had the feel of a hotel from the ‘90s, if that makes any sense. It just sort of felt untouched. It was more rustic than modern, but still well maintained and in the middle of seemingly nowhere in the middle of the mountains. The front desk so graciously upgraded us to stay in the Robert Frost suite when I mentioned (not casually) that we were celebrating our anniversary (SIDENOTE: always tell people when you’re celebrating something, everyone always wants to help you celebrate in any way and it’s always sweet) (and if you feel weird telling someone that you’re celebrating: grow up! Everything should be celebrated, we’ll be dead one day). Robert Frost lived and wrote in Vermont for some of his life and he’s a pretty celebrated figure in Vermont, thus the room name choice.
Robert Frost greets you
Bip, clearly a Frost fan
They were very pet friendly and the grounds had tons and tons of grass for Baby Dog to run around in. The pool was great, although I’d find greatness in any pool, let’s be real.
Make my coffin a clawfoot tub, please/thanks
Literally looking for a frog to bite
The staff was so friendly and accommodating, I’m so, so glad we chose to stay here.
The house behind the hotel
There were so many frogs and chipmunks, it was unreal. As if someone requested only the cutest creatures surround this beautiful property.
The view from our front porch
So what I’m saying is… I guess we’re Vermont people now? Even Nathan said, “Maybe next year we should just book Vermont a little earlier to get a price break” and my jaw sort of dropped at the notion of obviously we’re Vermont people now. And honestly, maybe we are? Is this my life? Living a cool, Vermont-in-the-summer, better-than-you kind of life? In any case, great vacation, great place. Other highlights of the town:
There’s a little meat & cheese shop in town (Fortuna’s Sausage & Italian Market) where they put out SAMPLES FOR PRETTY MUCH EVERY CHEESE & MEAT THEY SELL. Tianna would’ve been in heaven. Why on earth don’t all cheese places do this? So fucking smart. The cheese that I loved and left was this one.
Find this cheese. Eat this cheese. Available at Fortuna’s, Manchester, VT
Great service and food at Gringo Jack’s (Baja fish tacos, especially).
For our anniversary dinner, we were treated laughably bad at The Chantecleer (scathing Yelp review coming soon) so we got our asses out of there and went to Copper Grouse at the Kimpton Taconic Hotel (where we stayed last year) and had a great meal/time. It’s wild to me what a trained chef can do to an ordinary chicken. Medals should be given out.
Words cannot express… the emotions going on inside me right now.
AUTUMN IS A FEW SHORT WEEKS AWAY. This is absolutely the start of the best time of the year because it’s basically autumn eve. That’s how I treat all of early September. Last year I went a little nuts in celebrating every single day of autumn and… I want to go even harder this year. I sort of winged it last year, but this year I’ve already started planning ways to celebrate the best time of the year. I have a problem. I know. But I’ve come to terms with that, so you should too. So let me tell you what went down last month so that we can fully move into the GREATEST, PUREST TIME OF YEAR.
I watched Why Do Fools Fall In Love on Netflix and jesus christ, the dog-being-thrown-out-the-window part? WHY DID NO ONE WARN ME. Will not watch again.
I love a good summer shark/alligator/dumb movie, so we obviously saw Crawl and it was very fun. The dog was the best part. (Are you seeing a pattern here? I’M NOT HARD TO PLEASE, HOLLYWOOD.)
I forced Maya to come to a sunflower farm with me and it was lovely. Why would a person with a bee allergy want to go to such a place? I’m not well.
I rewatched my favourite John Ritter movie Stay Tuned because it’s just something everyone should do once in awhile. Such a weird, perfect movie.
I attempted to read Samantha Irby’s book We Are Never Meeting In Real Life and I just couldn’t get into it, so I stopped. It’s weird ‘cause I really enjoyed Meaty, so I don’t know what happened here. Maybe ‘cause it’s summer and I think I hate reading in the summer? Haven’t picked up a book in months that I wanted to read.
I do not need to be the one who tells you how good hazelnut Kit Kats are, but I guess that’s what I’m doing at the moment - SO GOOD.
I watched part of the new 90210 reboot and ughhhh. It’s awful. In every way. Also, Luke Perry JUST died. They couldn’t have postponed or cancelled this trash?
I watched the first season of Tuca & Bertie and it’s so, so crazy good. Absolutely love it. Thank you to Harmeet for making me watch! I was so skeptical at first, but it’s incredible. So many similarities to Broad City in its goodness.
I went to the CNE with my Mom for the first time is yeeeears and it was so nice.
She did my braids, I can’t do nice braids on myself
Since Restaurant Week is always a big part of my life, I went to Park Avenue Summer for lunch earlier in the month and got the corn bread, corn gnocchi and corn creme brulee. YES, YOU’RE READING THAT RIGHT. Love a fucking cob. It was all very tasty, if not a little too corny (but that’s my fault, let’s be real). I also got the chicken and it was incredible. I’d love to be able to crisp a chicken skin as perfectly as they did.
I made this hot honey salmon and if salmon weren’t such a disgusting fish, this would be a killer recipe. (And if you actually enjoy salmon, this really is great.)
I finally watched the rest of the new Black Mirror episodes and I stand by my thoughts that the Striking Vipers one was the best one of the season. Smithereens was okay and all, I’ll always love a Topher Grace. The main actor (Andrew Scott) did a great job, too. And the Miley Cyrus one was just okay? I don’t understand why that’s the common favourite of the season. It’s average, at best.
I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it before, but I love reading the (monthly?) Grub Street Diet columns from New York Magazine. They profile different (semi-known, sometimes-famous) people and what they eat in the span of a few days. I mostly love it for recommendations of good things to eat around New York, but also I love hearing about what people do for snacks and routine meals.
I watched all of On My Block on Netflix and it’s so, so good (thank you, Marla!). I’m an idiot for not watching it sooner. My favourite character is definitely Jamal, I love the florist with the gnomes, and the musical choices are phenomenal. Such a great show. If you haven’t seen it, I’d describe it as a modern day coming of age story set in South Central LA inspired by The Goonies. SO GOOD.
Did you know that eating tomatoes helps prevent colon cancer? Did not know. I’m forcing Nathan to eat them now, enough of this “I don’t like tomatoes” shit. Not standing for it anymore!
I went to two weddings this month, which were both beautiful. LOVE a wedding.
I tried the seasonal tomato gelato at Il Laboratorio Del Gelato and it was rough. I did taste the corn gelato and that one was actually pretty good, I should’ve gotten that one. This was my first time here and my main thought: it has a horrifying interior. Like if Patrick Bateman ran an ice cream shop.
Lately I’ve started shopping more at small businesses and less at chains. Partially because these places will disappear if I keep doing what I’m doing and I hate that idea. So no more writing/drinking at Starbucks. No more books from Amazon. No more crazy cheap dish soap at Dollar General. No more plants from Home Depot. Enough of this shit!
This sounds like a broken record, but I did Nathan’s podcast again! We talked about our relationship and why we think it works, etc. etc. Very self-indulgent stuff here, guys.
So you know how I tried and loved that chocolate dessert hummus a few months ago? TRADER JOE’S IS RIPPING IT OFF & has made their own version. For two dollars. Now look, I know companies get ripped off all the time by bigger corporations who steal the idea and make their own… but fuck. This fucking sucks. I first heard and tried dessert hummus because of seeing it on Shark Tank (the company is Delighted By Hummus) and I want to say that they invented the idea, but I can’t say for sure. I hate this.
Some things that I’m looking forward to this month: I’m SO excited to see It: Chapter Two, possibly planning out details for a trip to Salem, finishing up the last of the summer things to do list, I’ve gotta find something new and good to read, there are so many photos that I love from visiting my family/friends this summer so I might do a photo post solely of my favourite ones, finalizing my AUTUMN THINGS TO DO list, and I’d really love to pack away all of my summer clothes at some point this month to make room for the gazillion sweaters I’m waiting to wear.
If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, go on over here!
