November 24, 2023

Fall Fridays Vol. 9

Welcome to the final Fall Fridays! I know that autumn technically ends on December 20th, but I refuse to acknowledge that. If I see a Santa display then that means it’s Christmas. The seasons (as I know them) are: spring, hell, autumn, Christmas, winter - I don’t make the rules.

BAKING/COOKING

I made a rice krispies pumpkin pie for American Thanksgiving and it turned out pretty well! Kind of a perfect dessert for a kids table.

CRAVING

The duck confit poutine from Duck Season at the Union Square Holiday Market that reopened this week.

DRINKING

Spinach smoothies in the morning as soon as I wake up. I never thought I’d get into it, but it’s annoying how good it makes me feel.

EATING

I’ve started making omelets with caramelized onions and goat cheese daily and I have to tell you: it really makes you think you’re better than other people. It’s so fast and easy and delicious that I’m a little mad I didn’t start doing this sooner.

EXPERIENCING

I went to see the miniature train exhibit at the New York Transit Museum (in Grand Central Station). I don’t know when my passion for miniatures began, but it’s deepening at an alarming pace.

Miniature trains display at Grand Central Station, NYC

LISTENING

It’s Black Friday, so the Christmas playlist is officially playing.

LOVING

Family Matters Christmas episodes. I should probably do a post on other sitcom Christmas episodes, I can sense how much you want that.

SHOPPING

Got some gingerbread whipped cream from Target for the rice krispies and whoa. It would be heavenly in a mug of hot chocolate.

WATCHING

I watched the new episodes of The Crown and this show is just sick. Showing conversations between two dead people that no one can corroborate? Get a life.

WEARING

Sometimes I wear all one colour and it tricks me into thinking I’m stylish. Sometimes it works and then sometimes I look like a farmer.

“She could be a farmer in those clothes.”

These weekly roundups have been really fun to do, so don’t be surprised if Winter Wednesdays turn up in a few weeks…

November 17, 2023

Fall Fridays Vol. 8

by Liz Heather in Fall Fridays

BAKING/COOKING

It’s almost American Thanksgiving so that means I’m gonna make my s’mores pie, which is truly the easiest pie recipe of all time.

CRAVING

A hot chocolate with a smidge of toffee syrup in it. I’ve only thought about it in theory, so as soon as the temperature drops below zero I’ll go get one.

DRINKING

Blonde flat whites for life. I’m a creature of habit.

EATING

So I finally went to the new Wegman’s in the city and the best deals? Three pounds of family pack ground chicken for $12. I’m sorry, but that’s wild. Also their $9 frozen wild blueberries family pack, get out of here. Deals for days in there.

EXPERIENCING

I’ve started arranging my saved reels into categories (makeup, funny stuff, etc.) and it’s made my life so much easier. Didn’t even know that was an option.

LISTENING

90s Disney soundtracks. They’re so soothing. Aladdin especially.

LOVING

Nathan did the Gramercy Theatre for the New York Comedy Festival and it was so phenomenal. I understand how you could think I’m biased but I truly don’t see him on stage that much, so when I do I’m usually pretty excited for it. And this tech stuff was so good. He works incredibly hard and I’m so happy that it was such a success.

SHOPPING

I DO NOT NEED MORE CANDLES. So obviously I bought the new chocolate croissant one from Trader Joe’s.

WATCHING

We saw The Shark is Broken on Broadway and it’s hard to accurately express how wonderful it was. It closes this Sunday and I’m grateful that we got to see it. Every single element (acting, script, set) was overwhelmingly good.

WEARING

I’m currently going through my entire closet and trying to arrange full outfits so that I don’t have to think too much about what I’ll wear each day. I’d just love to be a little bit more put together next year - or at least give more of a shit about that stuff. I only started thinking more about this when I realized how much I love putting together my vacation outfits and how happy that makes me, so here we are. Let’s see what happens.

November 10, 2023

Fall Fridays Vol. 7

by Liz Heather in Fall Fridays

BAKING/COOKING

I’ve been making this perfect egg salad on repeat. Also, can we please start doing deviled eggs at parties again?

CRAVING

I’m absolutely in love with this winter blue Le Creuset Snowflake brasier.

DRINKING

$8 happy hour martinis at Kaia Wine Bar on the Upper East Side.

EATING

I finally had a birria taco (I know, I’m never on time with food trends) with Paul and wow. Insanely good. Obviously everything is better with an au jus sauce.

Birria and duck tacos at Kaia Wine Bar, NYC

EXPERIENCING

The awfulness of Rolf’s Christmas-decorated restaurant in the city. I made a reservation six weeks ago and yes the place is beautiful, but that’s literally the only pro. Cons include: not being told ahead of time that every person is required to order an entree, cocktails were outrageously priced ($26 for basically anything alcoholic and $6 for seltzer), service was super rushed/rude, drink glasses had lipstick on them, space is so cramped and the menu was basic as hell.

Rolf’s (it has to be this beautiful to offset the insane prices), NYC

LISTENING

I’ve started playing my old iPod shuffle on my stereo when I get ready to go out and why the hell did I ever stop this ritual? Everyone should be doing this.

LOVING

Nathan’s show at Gramercy Theatre tomorrow was featured in the New York Times as one of the top four shows to see at the New York Comedy Festival, which is so wild and great.

SHOPPING

I found a12 Days of Christmas Bonne Maman jam assortment at Costco for $15.99 that I had to buy immediately. I’m not even that into jam (??) and yet my first reflex was to grab one.

WATCHING

I saw Priscilla and loved it.

WEARING

Wore my green feathered coat for the second time and I feel so indestructible in this piece of clothing, is this why famous people have such confidence on red carpets? Good clothing makes you think you’re better than everyone? I think I just cracked the code. Or wait, did everyone but me already know this… oh no.

And I’ve created an autumn highlight reel on my Instagram incase you care!

November 8, 2023

October Occurrences 2023

by Liz Heather in Best of NYC, Family, Food, Halloween, Links, Movies, Personal, Recipes

That was one of the longest Octobers I’ve ever experienced and it couldn’t have been better. Here’s everything that went down last month:

The best tweets of October can be found over here, and I also did a post about the best Halloween tweets.
Our costume!
I started doing weekly Fall Fridays recaps because I can’t shut the hell up.
Made Halloween cake pops with Maya with meltable chocolate from Michaels (the funfetti vanilla is the best one) and I think these might be among my favourite desserts now. Nothing says ‘I’m almost 40’ like discovering how good cake pops are 15 years after they became popular?

Got a drink at Beetle House (the Beetlejuice-esque bar in the East Village) and that place is a party. Cocktails with dry ice should be mandatory at all bars for the prices we’re paying these days (I’d run on this platform alone if I were up for mayor).

I used a few of the single packets of the Dennis Gross triple eye serum and I could really see slight results in only a couple days. So annoying when expensive skincare products actually work well.
This chicken marsala remains one of my favourite top three dinners to make.

It’s a tall order, but please serve this chicken marsala at my funeral

TIP: if a recipe calls for softened butter but you forgot to soften it in advance, you should just brown the butter instead. This works for me literally every time. Browned butter is incredible.
Finally went to the Oscar Wilde bar and it was beautifully decorated for Halloween. It also had one of the best lighted washrooms I’ve ever seen in NYC.

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It’s one week into November so have I already had the Thanksgiving dumplings from Mimi Cheng’s as well as the Bobbie (Thanksgiving) sandwich from Capriotti’s? We both know the answer, don’t make me say it.
Made pecan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, but they were only okay. I think I’ll steer clear of the baking recipes from Bon Appétit for awhile. Independent bloggers almost always have better dessert recipes.

Underwhelming pecan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

Okay, the flagship Nordstrom in Manhattan? New favourite place to shop for dresses. There’s also a great happy hour bar on the fifth floor with this incredible locker that charges your phone while you walk around.
I’ve made the Chrissy Teigen jalapeno corn pudding for the past few years as part of our Thanksgiving meal and I might finally be sick of it? Looking for new corn recipes.

My favourite freezable meal right now is this short rib bolognese.
Walked through a section of Central Park that I’d never seen before (the north woods) and it felt like an entirely different park.

Made apple cider doughnut cookies that turned out great. I thought the cinnamon sugar topping sounded a bit boring, but it was perfect.

It is both a blessing and a curse that I learned of Nuts Factory existence (it’s basically American Bulk Barn).
Made this coconut chicken tikka masala in the slow cooker and it was pretty good. I doubt I’ll make it again though because I never cook rice anymore and this is a recipe begging for rice. (Why don’t I like to cook rice? Um, it takes forever? And I threw out my rice cooker because I hate having useless appliances that I’ll use once a year.)
The focaccia ready-made sandwiches at Eataly? Holy shit. Unbelievably good.

Went to Canada for Thanksgiving and it was so lovely, as always.

Some things I watched:
- Sabrina The Teenage Witch (the movie): I had no idea it was a movie before it was a show. I’ll always love Melissa Joan Hart as Sabrina, so this was a great find.
- Urban Legend: totally forgot about how good this movie was. With the exception of the dog-in-a-microwave scene, obviously.
- Knock At The Cabin: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, M. Night Shyamalan’s movies are always so hit or miss and this one? STUNK. I really hate that he insists on making cameos in them, too.
- Prom Night: Great! Jamie Lee Curtis is a phenomenal dancer. Nobody talks about that.
- Blades: it’s literally just a Jaws parody but with a lawnmower instead of a shark. So what I’m saying is that it was fantastic.
- Trick R Treat: so terrible.
- Halloween (the Rob Zombie one): UGH! Awful! Nathan claims that I hated it because apparently I don’t like “dysfunction or reality.” WHO DOES.
- Coherence: so good! Everyone should see it.
- The Fog: loved it! So fun when the villain is weather. And I LOVE the fact that when it was first released, they installed fog machines in some movie theatres where the movie was showing. God, that’s great.

Some things I’m looking forward to this month: Nathan’s big Gramercy show this weekend, buying new cookware finally because our pots specifically are pretty toxic, might make these salted chocolate pecan pie bars for (fake) Thanksgiving later this month and I can’t wait to finally eat at the Christmas restaurant in the city Rolf’s.

If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went on in September over here. And my autumn highlights on Instagram can be found here.

November 3, 2023

Fall Fridays Vol. 6

by Liz Heather in Fall Fridays

BAKING/COOKING

I physically cannot stop making chicken marsala. This recipe is restaurant quality.

Incredible chicken marsala recipe from Once Upon A Chef

CRAVING

It’s November so my radar is set on the Thanksgiving dumplings from Mimi Cheng’s as well as the Bobbie (Thanksgiving) sandwich from Capriotti’s.

DRINKING

So many blonde flat whites. There is no better hot beverage.

EATING

The heavenly duck croquettes at Satis Bistro in Jersey City.

EXPERIENCING

My dear friends Paul & Richard got me the (TikTok famous) bloody shower mat and it is great, if only slightly jarring. Nathan had a strong reaction to it, so we used it exclusively on Halloween and then I delicately packed it away for next year.

LISTENING

So I can’t stop listening to bad Christmas movies in the background while I wrap gifts. My logic: I don’t want good ones on in the background because I’ll want to watch those. If I have bad ones, then I can focus on what I’m doing but still have a Christmas vibe happening. And I can’t just put on Christmas music, it’s only November 3rd, I’m not a full psycho.

LOVING

All of the wildly nice messages about our costume this year.

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SHOPPING

I found these perfect (not expensive) high-end-looking gift tags for Christmas from Target. Sixteen of them for $5 is perfect.

WATCHING

God, so many horror movies - I’m 2% grateful October has come to a close. The last one I saw was Chucky 2 and it was actually pretty great.

WEARING

I tried on this Top Shop coat that I’m absolutely in love with. $170 isn’t insane, is it? I’m gonna wait for Black Friday.

My tombstone might say, “She took a lot of dressing room selfies”

And I’ve created an autumn highlight reel on my Instagram incase you care!

October 31, 2023

Happy Halloween!

by Liz Heather in Halloween, Personal

I can’t be stopped! Hope you had a great Halloween!

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October 31, 2023

The Best Tweets of October 2023

by Liz Heather in Links

Can we talk about how brilliant Laurie Metcalf is for a moment?! Hands down, this is one of the greatest line deliveries in the history of television. pic.twitter.com/YvhbGH89NZ
— H. Alan Scott (@HAlanScott) October 2, 2023

BARBOO https://t.co/NL2cDa6KKn
— The Notorious J.O.V. (@whotfisjovana) October 3, 2023

Should end with an ultrasound of a baby with a George Clooney face https://t.co/UGFUf14QOF
— Mr. Chau (@Srirachachau) October 10, 2023

pic.twitter.com/ib6S8Z7INe
— Mark Duplass (@MarkDuplass) October 13, 2023

Americans trying to figure out how to make a global crisis about them pic.twitter.com/L0YneY81Kj
— Steven Castillo (@STEEEZUSCHRIST) October 13, 2023

comic by @SarahCAndersen pic.twitter.com/IyeCd77L4T
— WholesomeMemes (@WholesomeMeme) October 23, 2023

couples costume idea pic.twitter.com/ghwSfYJobs
— multitude container (@bartleby_era) October 23, 2023

She gives more with this look than some actors do in their entire career pic.twitter.com/WAEpEClLWt
— Ben Crew (@BenjaminCrew1) October 26, 2023

since the beginning of time, since the first little girl ever existed, there have always been dolls. but the dolls were always and forever baby dolls, until… pic.twitter.com/Ui2AswCVWr
— keara (@keara_benton) October 29, 2023

The best tweets of September can be found over here.

October 30, 2023

Even More Halloween Sitcom Episodes (2023 Update)!

by Liz Heather in Halloween, Television

I WILL NOT SHUT UP ABOUT GOOD SITCOM HALLOWEEN EPISODES. I physically can’t. So here are some more that I love (in addition to the dozens listed here)!

Moesha - I What You Did in the Third Grade (love a 90s parody)

Tiny Toons Night Ghoulery (1995) - this takes me immediately back to Saturday morning cartoons and that’s kind of where I always want to be?

You Wish (a short-lived sitcom that was on TGIF but remains in my heart)

Odd Man Out - Batman Forever (another TGIF non-hit with Erik von Detten)

Teen Angel (jesus, I really gave these TGIF shows a chance)

The Parkers (two episodes) - Scary Kim and Mummy's the Word

Alf - Some Enchanted Evening (nobody is above an Alf rewatch)

In The House - The Curse of Hill House

King of the Hill - Hilloween

Step By Step (two episodes) - Something Wild and Dream Lover

Dharma and Greg (two episodes) - A Closet Full of Hell and The Very Ungrateful Dead

Third Rock From The Sun (two episodes) - Scaredy Dick and Dial M For Dick

Girlfriends (two episodes) - The Remains of the Date and Trick or Truth

Happy Halloween Eve!

October 28, 2023

The Best Halloween Tweets

by Liz Heather in Halloween

The best Halloween tweets of October 2023.

October 27, 2023

Fall Fridays Vol. 5

by Liz Heather in Fall Fridays

BAKING

I made apple cider doughnut cookies that were really good (although shouldn’t there be apple cider in a cookie with a name like that?), so I’d definitely make them again.

COOKING

Made Halloween cake pops with my niece Maya and they came out perfect. (Sprinkles and sticks from Michaels.)

CRAVING

The nutella-covered hazelnuts at Nuts Factory on Sixth Avenue.

DRINKING

The ‘This is Halloween’ cocktail from the bar Beetle House in the East Village and it was stellar.

EATING

Had dinner at Grano Ristorante with Harmeet and it was so lovely, I always forget what a sweet, dark place this can be.

EXPERIENCING

Two things: 1)The annoyingness of locating apple butter. I needed it for that cookie recipe above and couldn’t find it anywhere (I just subbed in applesauce). I hate when a recipe has one obnoxiously hard thing to find. It’s 2023, we don’t have time to be going to numerous grocery store for homemade baked goods. DO BETTER. 2) MOSQUITOES got into our bedroom last night because of how warm it was outside. Mosquitoes in late October. I woke up with ten bites and I wanted to murder someone.

LISTENING

Halloween playlists on Spotify while carving mini pumpkins and I’ve got to say - the song choices weren’t very good or unique. I’ve gotta make one this weekend.

LOVING

I visited my parent’s house and I can’t express how satisfying it is to rake leaves. It’s the second best outdoor chore next to shoveling snow.

SHOPPING

The sweetest felt Christmas ornaments just went on sale at Target and yes I’m breaking my rule of no-Christmas-activities before November 1st, but if I wait too long to buy them they’ll sell out because other psychos are Christmas shopping already.

WATCHING

The horror movie Thanksgiving looks kind of good maybe? I might be thinking that because I love a holiday-themed movie.

WEARING

I’ve decided I need to expand the feathered section of my closet because I’m wearing this one black top to death.

And I’ve created an autumn highlight reel on my Instagram incase you care!