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March Magic 2021
Am I alone in thinking that was the longest March of all time? It truly felt like it would never end. Usually I love my birthday month, but with everything still the way it’s been for the past year, there really didn’t feel like much of a reason to celebrate. Also, Nathan got COVID. It was awful and scary and I was worried about how he’d be, but all is well and he just got his vaccine this past weekend, which is incredible. So a real roller coaster type of month, but thank god it’s over.
Here’s everything that went down last month.
I recapped how my winter list of things to do went.
Forever an optimist, I made a list of spring things that I’d like to do. One of my favourite things to do is get a pedicure on the first day of a season. I don’t get them very often at all, so it’s a nice way to usher in some new weather.
I finished watching Superstore, which is such a great show. I would’ve never watched it on my own, so this is why you have to listen to your best friend’s recommendations sometimes. They know more than you. Also, it was weird as hell to hear the Smashing Pumpkins song Today in one episode. Just seemed like a strange pairing, them and this show. Or any show, really. But I mean they did lend a song to that Apple ad, so I guess the old days of Billy Corgan complaining about everything are over.
I made my way back to Lilia with Irene to devour their seasonal leek focaccia & green salted butter, which is always heaven on a plate. (Me and focaccia have had a pretty strong love affair going on for some time now. I plan on making it at home soon, but I can’t decide on the flavouring I’ll want to add to it. There are too many possibilities.) We also shared two pastas: the corzetti with pine nuts, marjoram & parmigiano reggiano as well as the sheep’s milk cheese agnolotti with saffron, dried tomato & honey. Always a good meal here. Might benefit from some new pastas, though.
I got my first Moderna shot! I usually have tons of anxiety around needles, but somehow it wasn’t a problem this time (maybe because I had the kindest nurse on the planet). It sounds so simple, but she told me to look away, to take a deep breath and while I was taking that breath she put the needle in and THAT WAS IT. So grateful for that advice. Must remember that for life now. I have my next shot on April 8th! (I did get COVID arm, but it went away in 24 hours so it really wasn’t a big deal.) Also, I’ll definitely ask a medical professional, but if it’s allowed then I’m definitely getting my card laminated for free.
There’s this great, cute new store called Gift Box on Broadway in Astoria. It’s very similar to Lockwood, only better. Lots of cards, gifts, beauty products, candles, that kind of thing.
It’s green garlic season and we must all celebrate! I’ve also decided that I might devote my life to compound butters. Making them, eating them, giving them away as gifts potentially. Maybe this is what’s been missing.
Google image search the vagar faroe islands and let’s go.
I can’t stop putting this Esti vegan feta on everything, it tastes exactly like regular feta only slightly less salty.
Everything from the brand Umbra is gorgeous.
These are officially (and my niece Layla can attest to it) the greatest socks on the planet. Not too tight, not too short or high, and soft as a cloud.
Best kale caesar dressing I’ve had in months. And I love the idea of using breadcrumbs instead of croutons to liven things up a bit.
I made this roasted winter citrus and wow was it hot fruit. It should be a crime to make something look this good, but taste average as hell.
I started using the app Google Keep to organize all of my lists and tasks and I love it. It’s so much better than using Notes.
HOW have I never even HEARD of Shake Shack’s Innovation Kitchen?! AND HOW HAVE I NEVER BEEN. It’s moved to the top of my current Must Visit list.
I may or may not have fallen down a rabbit hole of incredible Melissa Clark recipes. Love this woman.
If you live in Englewood, New Jersey, how do you not just LIVE at this bakery? My god. Every item. In my mouth. Now.
And listen, I’m no scientist, but this seems like huge news…?
If you find yourself anxious or unsettled, this video of lasagna being made from scratch is the most soothing thing I’ve come across in months.
Target sells candles?! I’m the last person on earth who learned this. $4 for an actually great mini candle is wild.
Tried a slice of the red velvet cake from Milk Bar and it was unexpectedly good. I don’t usually care about red velvet (because it’s a scam?), but honestly their cakes always find a way to taste amazing.
I made this cajun linguine and it was so lackluster, I hate when a pasta recipe doesn’t work out. It’s so upsetting. Also, cajun seasoning can blow me.
They’re opening a Sonic in Manhattan, which I’ve never been to before, is it worth going?
I know Eataly is for tourists, but once in awhile I like to stop in to peruse. I tried one of their prepackaged foods (the eggplant parmesan) and it was a hard pass. Just no flavouring at all. The only thing that saved the day were their individual little Italian chocolates. Always amazing. I do want to eventually try their dried pasta Afeltra since I’ve heard such good things about it.
I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely not ready to watch documentaries about the pandemic yet. I don’t know if I’ll ever want to. I mean… we’re still IN IT, for christ’s sake. HBO needs to just sit down.
Tell me that you know the song Sea of Love.
You had me at “cheese-oozing focaccia.”
Great piece on diet culture by Julia Turshen.
When I was in Seattle in April a few years ago, I wandered onto the University of Washington’s campus and was blown away by their gorgeous cherry blossoms. They have a livestream of them right now, if you’d like to take a look.
With plastic bags officially banned now, I desperately need a basket bag to take when I go to the farmer’s market. So f-ing lovely. Everyone will think I’m Belle or some shit.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a fresh Jamaican patty in my life, so I’m definitely going here the next time I’m in Mississauga.
I love this chickpea salad, especially after adding basil.
Some of these are actually really great tips.
How on earth have I never heard of the restaurants Dell’anima or Anfora?! They’re both under the Joe Campanale umbrella (of L’Artusi fame)! I’m so excited to go. Just look at those menus.
Speaking of, I can’t go for too long without eating the wagyu steak tartare at L’Artusi. It’s a problem. (It also makes me want to buy a really great finishing olive oil, so I’m looking into that. I’m thinking either Monini or Frantoia.)
One thing I’ve started to do that you should too: buy good butter. I stopped buying margarine many years ago and thought I was a better person for buying regular grocery store butter. But sweetie, you can do more. The butter (specifically European butter) in specialty shops or some bakeries or markets is EONS better than the run-of-the-mill basic grocery butter. And it enhances literally everything that you use it in. Right now, the butter in my fridge is beurre de baratte butter and it’s ridiculously good. Obviously I’m not going to use this butter when I’m baking because I’m not a millionaire, but when I’m making something savory for dinner? Or a compound butter? Or on top of asparagus? On some bread as a snack? It’s unreal.
Speaking of food advice: don’t buy your parmesan at the grocery store either. I’ve never had amazing parmesan from there. It’s always the same, even the expensive stuff. Get your ass to a cheese shop. Enough already, you’re an adult.
I tried a CBD chocolate and just as I thought: it’s a scam. Just like red velvet. It did nothing for nobody.
I bought this tea tree toner on a whim from The Body Shop and I might keep buying it for the rest of time. I use it on my face right when I get out of a hot shower and it’s kept my face feeling incredible lately.
A new coffee shop opened up in my neighbourhood called Coffee Avenue and I can’t recommend it enough. The macadamia milk hot chocolate blew my face off.
I finally ate at Bar Primi in the city and it was spectacular. We had the ricotta crostino with hazelnuts & truffle honey (which is almost like a dessert, it’s so good), the linguine with 4 cloves of garlic & breadcrumbs as well as the penne ragu alla bolognese with ricotta which was the very best. Can’t wait to go again. Loved the atmosphere of the place, too.
The seasonal candle is out at Trader Joe’s and it’s grapefruit, which smells perfect. I’ve finally stopped hoarding their candles and have started burning them. Only took me a year of lockdown to realize I should try to enjoy my life.
Lemon Kit-Kats exist and all is right with the world. Delicious.
I don’t go very often, but I’ll always love The Dutch. Perfect cornbread. Perfect tartare. You can’t go wrong.
*Note: if it seems like I eat a lot of steak tartare - I do. Good observation. It’s incredible.
Controversial opinion but the Dove chocolate peanut butter eggs are one millions times better than Reese’s peanut butter cups. I couldn’t believe it either.
This leads me to another declaration: Easter candy might be better than Halloween candy. Hear me out. Halloween candy is almost chaotic when you think of the candy options, it’s overwhelming and more often than not, disappointing. Easter candy, however, is usually always new and fresh each season. They’ve got to work harder to get you to notice Easter candy, so infact you’re getting a more well thought out product, which usually tastes better. Anyway, can you tell I’m depressed…?
I went to the new Ulta location in NYC in Herald Square and it’s great, it seems bigger than the UWS one and it’s way more convenient to visit. Must remember. Oh! But speaking of Ulta, remember how last year they had such great birthday gifts? They really dropped the ball this year. They’re trying to give a $5 Mario Badescu facial spray as the March gift?! Are you fucking serious?! That’s the worst. Literally the worst gift of all the months. Fighting every urge in my body to write them a strongly-worded letter about this. Just insanity. I didn’t even go claim it. Keep your damn gift, no spray can calm me down from this.
New love: macadamia milk in my iced coffee in the morning. Just heavenly.
I rewatched Wall-E and what a great movie. For all ages. Too perfect.
Love the song Team by Lorde.
I watched the Woody Allen & Mia Farrow documentary on HBO and it’s obviously a must watch. So many things I didn’t know about that story were shown, this man needs to be stopped.
If you ever get a new phone and you want to transfer over all of your WhatsApp messages to your new phone (and you’ve never backed them up), you can pay $40 and use this site to do it.
The new Super Mario World in Japan looks incredible.
Do not judge me, but I ordered (and returned) a SKIMS bralette. I was swayed by a few photos of women wearing it and wanted to see for myself what it felt like. Verdict: crap. Sure, the material is soft but only because it’s so poorly made and unsupportive. An immediate return. The beautiful colours of the bras are what sells the product, in my opinion. It’s so hard to find well made, beautiful browns and neutrals in undergarments.
Speaking of what’s her name, I also ordered this KKW mini lip liner set that I’m unfortunately in love with. I use it as a lip liner and filler, and each fucking one is gorgeous. I’m going to do a post to show you. You’ll see what I mean.
I came across this wonderful stationary store in Chelsea, City Papery. I could spend hours roaming the aisles in there. Made a mental note to go back to get some really beautiful envelopes (why on earth am I still buying the basic-ass white envelopes at CVS??), such a great store.
I’m proofreading a book right now about the idea of living with intention and I’ll post a link to it as soon as it’s released later this year. It’s honestly one of the best self help things I’ve read in a long time.
I’ve had a Pinterest account forever and I recently organized a lot of the recipes into seasonal categories, which has inspired me to make so many new meals this season. Check it. Also, I haven’t tried these yet, but these spring recipes (below) sound delicious.
I’ve mentioned my filmmaker friend Dusty before (his film Violation was at Sundance this year), well his movie is a Critic’s Pick in the The New York Times this month, which is amazing and so well deserved. Truly could not happen to a better person.
I have eaten approximately five pounds of asparagus since spring began and I can’t see myself stopping anytime soon. It’s so fucking good. One grievance: that huge, fat asparagus. Why’s it so big like that?? Unnatural as hell. Give me that thin, beautiful asparagus that’s increasingly so hard to find any day. And to anyone who’s like, “Don’t you hate how it makes your pee smell?” - why you gotta go smell your pee? Be normal, weirdo.
I did Nathan’s podcast and we talked about how it’s been so beneficial to get some intentional offline time each Sunday.
Here were the best tweets of the month.
Some things that I’m looking forward to this month: I’m trying so hard to find a way to stream the last three episodes of Stanley Tucci’s Searching For Italy which has been impossible to find, will definitely go check out Little Island, excited to maybe go to the Kusama exhibit, I’d really like to make the Carbone garlic bread, I want to locate and try milk bread, my brother Robbie told me to mix balsamic vinegar & mayo and put it on a burger so I’ll try that soon, I bought some dried Rao’s pasta so I can’t wait to make it, I’m so excited that movie theatres are opening on the 2nd here (I’ll be fully vaccinated very soon so this is great), and I’m adding a resolution: I’d like to do one new thing on the first of every month (examples: buy stock in something, eat ramen, etc.).
If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in February over here and you can see more posts like this on my latest newsletter.
Best Tweets of March 2021
Each month, I’ll share my favourite tweets from the past month within my end-of-the-month post that I always do, but since those lists are getting so long I’ve decided that they officially need their own post. So here we are, these were the funniest, best tweets of March 2021.
You can find my favourite tweets of last month over here, if you’re so inclined and you can see more posts like this on my latest newsletter.
Internet Closed on Sundays
This month I’ve started limited my social media/internet time on Sundays (I’ve only done it twice so far, but I’m loving it) and I can’t recommend it enough. I’ve been doing either 10am-3pm or 10am-5pm, depending on certain factors and if you’ve ever felt like you get caught in endless scrolling, then this is the activity for you. I wake up early, make a list of non-online things I want to do that day (some fun, some necessary) and then focus on that solely for the day. I like to turn my internet completely off and go on airplane mode, but if you want to keep it online for texts then by all means, you’re in charge.
You can see more posts like this on my latest newsletter.
Enter Talking by Joan Rivers - A Review
I’ve always sort of hated Joan Rivers, mainly because my only knowledge of her was associated with the dreadful show Fashion Police. It was only when I saw the documentary on her A Piece of Work that I actually started to like her very much. And since I love reading the biographies of comedians (Martin Short, Penny Marshall, Jen Kirkman, Sarah Silverman, Chelsea Handler, Bob Newhart, Lucille Ball, Roseanne, Amy Poehler, the list goes on), it was only a matter of time before I found hers. And I’m so glad that I did. Enter Talking is incredibly raw, honest and nothing like what I was expecting. Best parts ahead.
When she’s talking about working at a temp job while still auditioning around New York on her lunch breaks: “Please, God, if you’re going to make me a failure, fine. But don’t make me a failure at something I don’t want to do.“
“There was an afternoon when Milt, his umbrella dribbling a puddle on the floor, sat by my desk - Milt Kamen, the subject of articles in Time and Newsweek, lines waiting to see him at The Blue Angel, a regular on the Jack Paar show - white white hot. Talking about comedy as we always did, he said, “One day they’re going to realize I’m not funny.” Well, that scared the hell out of me. You think everybody else is secure - that Mommy and Daddy are not scared. Then the day comes when the mother says, “You look in the closet, not me,” and you realize you were correct to be frightened. Milt Kamen was on quicksand, too, and it would never be any different for me. That’s the comedian’s psyche. That’s where I am right now.”
“The way my mother sees things, she has two daughters that aren’t, as the expression goes, moving. She is so desperate to get me married, that if a murderer called, she’d say, “So, he has a temper.””
“Somehow, some way, every person in the arts has to find an accommodation with disappointment and embarrassment. They are pollen in the air we breathe. If you must go into the arts, go into them for yourself alone. On some basic level you must enjoy the act of doing it - be willing to paint a picture and just hang it on your wall. If you want to be an actor, then learn to enjoy it in your bathroom. Otherwise, you are going to end up frustrated and unhappy. Recognition in the arts is luck and gravy.”
“I know now that everybody in the arts is forever a beginning. Experience counts for a great deal and very little. Every night on stage I feel I am starting from scratch, still not quite sure what I am doing and where I am going, thrown by the simplest thing that goes wrong. And there is a marvelous remark Jack Benny once made to me about performing in nightclubs. He said, “No matter how big you are, you have to get to the stage through the kitchen.””
It honestly reads like less of a biography and more of a detailed run-through about the hurdles of breaking into show business and how you endlessly have to believe in yourself no matter what happens. Such an insanely driven, inspiring woman.
You can see more posts like this on my latest newsletter.
Green Garlic Toast
Photo By Andrew Scrivani
Photo By Andrew Scrivani
It’s officially late March, which is the second greatest time of the year produce-wise (first being corn season, third being tomato season). My absolute favourite vegetable to get ahold of right now is green garlic (also known as young garlic or spring garlic). It’s a bit sweeter than regular garlic and in a whole other world of flavour. I just came across this recipe from Melissa Clark (I love her, remember she’s the one who made this incredible tomato sandwich) that incorporates it into a compound butter for toast. Since I just got my first handful of green garlic at Union Square Greenmarket yesterday, this baby is getting made TODAY. If I can also get my hands on some good ricotta, this might be the best day of my life.
You can see more posts like this on my latest newsletter.
Spring List 2021
There is so much to look forward to right now. The songbirds are back, the snow has melted, I have a second dose vaccination date approaching and I swear I saw a bud on a tree the other day, which means that spring has sprung. I intend on really turning my life around this spring, so get the hell ready. Here are some small, fun things that I’d also like to do.
Go to Coney Island before the crowds of summer arrive.
Completely organize the closets in my house.
Visit Central Park at least three times.
Feed ducks at a pond.
Get fully vaccinated.
I always encourage you to make your own seasonal lists of fun little things that you’d like to do, and I’ll continue to encourage it. This has been such an awful, lonely, tiring year that these lists really tend to give my off-time some slight direction. So again I urge you, give it a try.
You can see more posts like this on my latest newsletter.
Sea of Love
Before this episode, I’d never heard this song before and I can’t tell you how much I fell in love with it.
Winter List Revisited
I almost can’t believe that winter is over, it’s usually so slow and long but since all of 2020 felt that way, maybe this makes sense. In retrospect it’s very cute that I even made a winter list of things to do when everything was in lockdown where I was. Here’s how that went.
Build at least one snowman or snow-woman.
This one I should’ve been able to do, no problem. But the kids weren’t allowed to come over and I only managed to get my mom to go outside with me once during the endless stream of snowstorms. Have you ever built a snowman alone? I didn’t think so. I’ve not hit that level of depression yet, so let’s just say that this one couldn’t happen.
Arrange a decadent charcuterie board on New Year’s Eve.
I did and it was beautiful. Cranberry goat cheese is one thing I have to make sure to always get over the holidays now, I’m always looking for more cranberry incorporated things. Such an underused berry.
If the city permits it, go ice skating.
The city did not permit it, so I did not.
Find a hill & sled down that hill.
Again, sledding alone with oneself is a bridge that I cannot yet cross.
Use up all of my winter stationary by sending out as much mail as my pen will allow me.
To the best of my ability, this was completed! Writing will always save me.
2/5… yikes.
Spring list coming this week!
You can see more posts like this on my latest newsletter.
100 Hour Lasagna Made By Alvin Zhou
I am completely mesmerized by Alvin Zhou’s food channel. Even if you have zero interest in making lasagna, you should watch this just to feel completely at ease. Love it all so much, so much care seems to go into every detail.