You can find the best tweets of the month over here and here.
TIP: If you don’t pay for a Spotify subscription and you hate ads: just close the app every time an ad starts and then reopen the app and the song will start. How did it take me years to learn this?
So for the first time in nine years, Milk Bar didn’t have their Thanksgiving croissant. Criticisms have been declared and letters have been MAILED. If you think I’m kidding, you really don’t know me.
I rarely go to bars, but I went to Witching Hour in Brooklyn and I just loved the layout and general vibe. Must remember.
I returned to Minetta Tavern and it’s not as great as it used to be! You’re very crammed into each table and the food wasn’t really worth the price anymore. So that’s rough to realize.
I also went to Don Angie for the first time and the lasagna is as good as they hype it up to be - same with their incredibly photogenic salad. Make sure to skip the veal tartare and the dessert, though.
I tried the Thanksgiving dumplings from Mimi Cheng’s and they were just all right, which was a little disappointing. Maybe I’m still in mourning for the Milk Bar croissants.
The Starbucks seasonal drinks keep making me sick and I keep returning for more. Someone explain?
Obsessed with this slip I got from Free People.
Made a batch of the insanely good Alison Roman chocolate chip shortbread cookies for the freezer, to make closer to Christmas.
So there was a beautiful, summer-y day in early November so I found an outdoor pool and headed to The Rockaway Hotel. Day passes for their heated pool are $30 all season, which is kind of amazing.
Some links I loved:
This great Times piece on all kinds of stuffing.
I had no idea Coney Island used to have these grand, gorgeous hotels.
How to donate stuff straight from home.
I got a drink at Miracle on 9th Street which was very cute and the drinks were great. If I’d known it was all the way over near Avenue C, I might not have gone but I’m glad I did.
Some things I watched:
Terrifier: okay I shouldn’t really count this since I saw a total of fifteen minutes before leaving the room. But Nathan continued watching it, so I could hear all the screams and sounds from the bedroom and I still somehow had nightmares?? So no I won’t be watching the sequel.
We saw Halloween Ends on November 1st and it has to be the absolute worst Halloween of the entire franchise. Just unreal. It felt like punishment for trying to watch a horror movie past October 31st, so lesson learned.
The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXXIII: it’s a bit depressing to hear how old Marge’s voice has become (this is an awful thought to voice and I apologize), but the Halloween episode was so good this year (especially the last segment).
Falling For Christmas: I am not a Hallmark movie person, but I was bored so I put this on and… I’m still firmly not a Hallmark person. These types of movies aren’t even enjoyably bad, I don’t get it.
A Christmas Story: this was never in my favourites of Christmas movies and it’s a very okay movie. Hundreds of better Christmas movies, though.
Knives Out: it was completely all right, nothing fantastic. I really hated Daniel Craig’s accent and the whole throwing-up-if-lying detail. Just seemed like a bad first screenplay idea.
The Fabelmans: it was good but not as epic as I’d hoped. It was really good at showing the memorable relationships through a child’s eye, especially when a kid starts to see his parents as real people.
The Crown (seasons 1-2): Love it, can’t wait to keep going. John Lithgow is wonderful. Loved this line: “I find, in general, people have very little understanding of who they are. One has to turn a blind eye to so much of oneself in order to get through life.”
Don’t ask me why but I watched some of the last season of The Big Bang Theory and just UGH. What a terrible show that was. The fact that the writers made Penny pregnant in the series finale even though there were countless episodes beforehand where she confidently said she wasn’t going to have children. JUST UGH. Of course it was written by a man.
I’ve already gone a few times, but the Union Square Holiday Market is really great this year.
You’re already Christmas shopping so just a gentle reminder: get the gift receipt.
The snow is coming and you will slip and possibly fall. Act accordingly.
I used to absolutely love Yogi Bear’s All Star Christmas Caper (it came out in 1982) and it absolutely still holds up. Link over here if you have kids and/or love nostalgia.
Some things I’m looking forward to this month: of course I’ll be lighting my bayberry candles on Christmas Eve as well as New Year’s Eve, December is always the most expensive month but it doesn’t have to be, don’t forget to buy your mistletoe, I’ll definitely watch some of these, I’ll absolutely watch The Snowman yet again, I’ll make a family Christmas video again, if you’re in Ontario you kind of have to ice skate on this gorgeous path, and once again I’m begging you not to give lottery tickets as gifts.
If you have any interest in reading what went on in October, come on over here.