June 6, 2025

Superfine: Tailoring Black Style - The Met's 2025 Costume Exhibit

“The Costume Institute’s spring 2025 exhibition presents a cultural and historical examination of Black style over three hundred years through the concept of dandyism. In the 18th-century Atlantic world, a new culture of consumption, fueled by the slave trade, colonialism, and imperialism, enabled access to clothing and goods that indicated wealth, distinction, and taste. Black dandyism sprung from the intersection of African and European style traditions.”

— The Met

This display is maddening, EVERYONE WANTS TO SEE THINGS AT EYE LEVEL

Okay, it was a perfectly fine exhibit. (Can you sense my subtle annoyance?) My major problems were these…

WHY IS EVERYTHING LIT SO OMINOUSLY? I’ve had this issue with exhibits from the past and it’s so infuriating. Also, the majority of these garments are dark colours so why would you showcase them against dark backgrounds? Dark colours pop against light backgrounds and vice versa. This is… science?
The entire exhibit was a tenth of the size compared with exhibits from other years.
Why was it focused solely on male tailoring? Especially when they certainly had the space to include more.

That being said there were definitely gorgeous pieces.

House of Balmain, Olivier Rousteing, pre-fall 2023

Louis Vuitton, Virgil Abloh, autumn/winter 2021-2022

Oh and one more issue - STOP PUTTING PIECES TOO HIGH SO PEOPLE CAN’T SEE THE DETAILS ON THEM (see below).

Infuriating, there’s absolutely no reason for this nonsensical placement

Why in the hell would these be displayed like this?? It makes zero sense. All in all, the exhibition was only all right this year. Definitely not a must-see (unlike last year’s).

The exhibit is open now until October 26, 2025.

And since I was already there, I saw the new rooftop exhibit Ensemble by Jennie C. Jones (on view until October 19, 2025) since it’s the last rooftop commission until at least 2030.

*Ensemble* by Jennie C. Jones, The Met rooftop 2025

The large sculptures are “based on string instruments that are supposed to play sounds activated only by the wind” - which sounds great, but I was there on an extremely windy day and didn’t hear anything. I respect the effort, though.

And look, it sounds like I’m overly picky but I think it’s just because nothing will ever top the Jeff Koons rooftop pieces from 2008. Oh! And lastly, look at this adorable dog kennel that was made for Marie Antoinette’s dog. In love.

Kennel made for the dog of Marie Antoinette, ca. 1775-1780

Past fashion exhibits I’ve seen at The Met:

2024 - Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion

2023 - Women Dressing Women

2023 - Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty

2022 - In America (Part Two): An Anthology of Fashion

2021 - In America (Part One): A Lexicon of Fashion (as well as the updated Part One that a few months later)

2019 - Camp: Notes on Fashion

2018 - Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination (not a full post, but a brief summary)

2016 - Manus x Machine: Fashion in an Age of Technology

I’ve also written about the Thierry Muglar exhibit as well as the Christian Dior one (both at the Brooklyn Museum).

June 2, 2025

The Best of May 2025

by Liz Heather in Beauty, Best of NYC, Food, Movies, Personal, Products, Recipes, Television

This has been the longest spring of all time and I’m not complaining. Here’s what went down last month.

The best tweets of the month can be found over here.
I finally reviewed last year’s Met costume exhibit (this year’s 2025 exhibit review can be read over here).
Bought/love this travel box for jewelry. Also got these great swim trunks for Nathan (love non-bland menswear).
A bunch of new candles came out at Trader Joe’s so obviously I’m on it.

Got this great quilted sweatshirt for $10 on sale at Banana Republic Factory.
Made this sausage, pesto, ricotta pasta on repeat for a few nights. Also made this bread pudding with vanilla sauce for a friend’s birthday that really turned out well.
I visited the new Printemps (french department store) in the city, which is really lovely. The design of the space is worth seeing if you’re in the area. Keep in mind that practically nothing is priced under $100.

We went to Ruta in Astoria, which is probably the best Mexican in the neighborhood by far. Their deep red salsa will fix you.

Here were my favourite Met Gala looks this year:

So I tried a retinol night serum on my face and I was warned that some flakiness might occur but this was next level flake city. I had to stop. I also do not care about the benefits of retinol, so let’s never speak of it again.
The chain Toasties in the city? What garbage! Never again. How do you mess up lunch?
I can’t stop texting this image to people (below).

I was looking for a new (not drugstore) mascara and I found a fantastic one - the Glossier Lash Slick. In love with the wand, it catches every single little hair.
I tried the Trader Joe’s strawberry gluten free muffins and they were okay, but nothing can top their GF cinnamon coffee cake ones.
I was invited to see Mel Robbins at The Beacon (with a very lovely new friend) and I’ve got to be honest. This woman is… just not for me. I’m happy that people seem to get something out of what she says, but I just can’t. Wellness can’t be bought and I will die on that hill.
Marla came for a visit and it was a blast. She stayed at The New Yorker hotel (which was old, wonderful and perfect), we did a million things in 48 hours and ate at Modern Bread & Bagel approx. twenty times. It was perfect.

Was so, so pleased that she agreed with me about how incredible the tart frozen yogurt is at Madison Fare.

Madison Fare frozen yogurt with raspberry

She also treated us to a Broadway show (this woman cannot be stopped in her generosity), so we saw Real Women Have Curves. And it was good!

I poached some salmon in a coconut cream sauce and it didn’t come out that great, so I think I’ll just stick to baked salmon.
I think I’m suffering from Pinterest-aesthetic-brain-overload because I was on such a mission (for some reason?) to find a perfect black cardigan to layer with some outfits I have - and I found one at Uniqlo. But once I tried it on I realized how very basic-white-woman it is and put it back. It can be very hard to fight these things that the internet tells me that I’m supposed to have. (I did buy this great baseball t-shirt, though.)
I went to Edith’s for the tahini iced coffee and it was very good. I also tried a bite of their chicken caesar and it was nothing special. Main reason to go here is definitely the coffee.

Edith’s tahini iced coffee in the West Village, NYC

I got a lash lift and it’s only week one, but I can see the appeal of getting them done. I’ve been using Nulastin for a few months and I’ve been seeing length, but they’re not very curly so I guess we’ll see if this makes a longterm difference or not.
We went to visit the town where the original Friday the 13th was filmed (it’s just under two hours from NYC) and it was so much fun. I’ll do a full post on it here soon. We also went to a wedding in the Poconos and it was such a great weekend.

Some things I watched:
- Final Destination Bloodlines - not as awful as I expected! The beginning scene was the most memorable/best part.
- And Just Like That (newest season) - okay, this was the craziest part of the first episode:

…what the hell? Were we all supposed to think that is a normal thing to say? Infact this insane sentence is making me want to do a deep dive on ALL of the wildly dumb things these women have said over decades and we all have just eaten it right up and accepted as normal! Madness.

Some things I’m looking forward to this month: I really want to go to Modern Bread & Bread for their night menu, I want to make this chicken Diane recipe at home, I think I’m going to start doing my Summer Saturday posts again starting this week (the season starts when I says it does) and I might have to pre-order the Jaws popcorn bucket (below).

You can read last month’s roundup over here.

Just a reminder that you should take way more photos of your friends everywhere

May 27, 2025

The Met's 2024 Costume Exhibit - Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion

by Liz Heather in Best of NYC

YES, this exhibit review post is a year late. Sometimes time moves too quickly, I don’t make the rules. (I did see this year’s exhibit the other day, so you can expect that post a lot sooner (haha, am I lying? Nobody knows).) Thoughts below!

The 2024 Costume Exhibit at The Met, NYC

Absolutely loved the 2024 exhibit. The items were lit very well against a white background (why would they ever deviate from this idea?) and the entire exhibit made great use of the space. It’s true that I don’t (and never will) like when they display things too high up (see above photo), but since there were so many pieces to display I suppose I’ll allow it this one time.

Alexander McQueen, Sarah Burton, spring/summer 2011

I’ll never forget the Alexander McQueen exhibit from 2011 (Savage Beauty). I wish I had this site back then so I could have documented how gorgeous and well done it all was. (This oyster dress is burned in my memory forever.)

Alexander McQueen, Sarah Burton, autumn/winter 2018-2019

There was a “smell experience” also within the exhibit that was a good idea in theory but didn’t really land in execution. But that didn’t bother me (surprisingly?) because I respect effort.

I’m patiently waiting for the day that The Met decides to do a wedding costume exhibit. Can. you. imagine. the. decadence. You’d need a whole wing of the museum to do it properly, too. None of this up-high nonsense. I want to see TRAINS. Can someone please put me in charge of something.

Charles James, "Tulip" evening dress, 1949

Charles James, "Butterfly" ball gown, 1955

I didn’t realize cocktail aprons were ever a thing and now I need one (below).

Attributed to Mainbocher, cocktail apron, 1943

Collina Strada, Hillary Taymour, "Meadowsweet" dress, spring/summer 2023

Reminded me of how much I loved that Collina Strada bodysuit from the 2022 exhibit.

Conner Ives, "Couture Girl" dress, autumn/winter 2021-2022

I don’t know if that’s supposed to be hilarious (above) but it is and I love it.

Dauphinette, Olivia Cheng, autumn/winter 2022-2023

Bug dress!

Okay, I love this rose dress. I mean, I kinda already designed it but as a headpiece.

Why aren’t we all wearing more capes?

Gucci, Alessandro Michele, cape, autumn/winter 2017-2018

It’s wild that an H&M dress (below) is in this exhibit but I do love that it’s recycled from shoreline plastic waste. Considering how much harm this company has already done to the planet, this seems… dense.

H&M, "Serpentine" dress, spring/summer 2017

House of Dior, “New Junon" evening dress, spring/summer 2017 haute couture

There’s something so timeless about a Dior gown. Just the definitely of elegance, I love them so much.

House of Dior, Yves Saint Lauren, "Rose Rouge" evening dress, spring/summer 1958

Christian Dior, "Venus" ball gown, autumn/winter 1949-1950 haute couture

Christian Dior, May ball gown, spring/summer 1953

I recognize these two Dior dresses (above and below) from the 2016 Manus X Machina exhibit.

House of Dior, "Vilmorin" ensemble, spring/summer 1952

Christian Dior, "Junon" ball gown, autumn/winter 1949-1950 haute couture

House of Schiaparelli, Daniel Roseberry, spring/summer 2024

A man whispered, “I’ll have the branzino” to his wife while looking at this dress (above) and I’ll be honest, I really laughed. So dumb. People do take this stuff so seriously sometimes, so it’s nice to hear people’s out-loud thoughts.

House of Worth, Charles Frederick Worth, "Tulipes Hollandaises" evening cloak, 1889

BRING BACK THE CLOAK.

Iris van Herpen, "Nautiloid" dress, spring/summer 2020 haute couture

I really love how much fun the Iris van Herpen pieces are. I remember seeing her work for the first time in the 2020 About Time exhibit (online, since it was 2020). I mean, look at how whimsical this one is.

Iris van Herpen, "Physalia" dress, spring/summer 2020 haute couture

Iris van Herpen, autumn/winter 2011-2012 haute couture

There was an entire room devoted to poppies, which I didn’t love. I mean I get it, poppies are associated with remembrance and eternal sleep so it does fit the theme - but I wasn’t in love with the pieces used.

Isaac Mizrahi, "Exploded Poppy" dress, spring/summer 1992

Will forever adore any sort of draping.

Marni, Francesco Risso, spring/summer 2024

Mason Martin Margiela, autumn/winter 2014-2015

Sidenote: I loooove this wig coat with my whole heart.

Olivier Theyskens, autumn/winter 2000-2001

Nothing better than a big bouncy dress and I love Oliver Theyskens. Look at this other breathtaking gown he made.

Phillip Lim, Charlotte McCurdy, "Algae Sequin" dress, 2021

Richard Malone, autumn/winter 2020-2021 & Richard Malone, spring/summer 2020

Rodarte, Kate Mulleavy, Laura Mulleavy, spring/summer 2012

Would die for a Rodarte gown. I still have dreams about the one I saw from the In America: A Lexicon of Fashion exhibit from 2022 (seen here). Oh! And can’t forget this gorgeous dress from the Women Dressing Women exhibit in 2024.

Properly lit and positioned garments make me swoon, I’m sorry

Viktor & Rolf, Viktor Horsting, Rolf Snoeren, spring/summer 2015 haute couture

Okay, look at how much fun this gown is.

Undercover, Jun Takahashi, spring/summer 2024

Note: this exhibit was on view at The Met from May 10 – September 2, 2024.

And since you’re here, I’ll show you what the rooftop exhibit was at The Met for 2024 as well:

Petrit Halilaj, Abetare, The Met Rooftop, 2024

Past fashion exhibits I’ve seen at The Met:

2023 - Women Dressing Women

2023 - Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty

2022 - In America (Part Two): An Anthology of Fashion

2021 - In America (Part One): A Lexicon of Fashion (as well as the updated Part One that a few months later)

2019 - Camp: Notes on Fashion

2018 - Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination (not a full post, but a brief summary)

2016 - Manus x Machine: Fashion in an Age of Technology

I’ve also written about the Thierry Muglar exhibit as well as the Christian Dior one (both at the Brooklyn Museum).

May 2, 2025

The Best of April 2025

by Liz Heather in Beauty, Best of NYC, Food, Ideas, Links, Movies, Personal, Products, Recipes, Reviews

Spring marches on! Is that good? Bad? I am the wrong person to ask. But May is here so we keep going. Here’s what went down last month!

The best tweets of the month can be found over here.
I compiled a separate list of my favourite White Lotus tweets since the season ended (includes spoilers), too.
I read and reviewed Viola Davis’ new memoir - as well as Ina Garten’s.
I did that viral onion ring snack recipe and it was really good. This is definitely an end-of-times recipe, though. Absolutely not fussy in any way.

Nathan and I went to Central Park for the first time without Baby Dog and it was brutal but nice at the same time. Why does it feel like every person on earth right now has at least four dogs? It’s an epidemic.

The gluten-free restaurant Thyme & Tonic remains my favourite place on the Upper West Side. That popcorn chicken is everything.

Gluten-free popcorn chicken at Thyme & Tonic, Upper West Side

The mini cubano at Guantanamera reminded me (and fell flat) of how good the best cubano on this planet is at La Cubana in Toronto. So that was sad.
The summer felt friends were released and I might have bought them all because their faces bring me joy. (Nope, absolutely nobody’s depressed over here.)

The happy hour at STK midtown might be one of the most reasonably-priced places still in this city. With a patio, too!

I saw a few shows!
- Death Becomes Her - absolutely wonderful. The costumes were beyond gorgeous and fun. It was really funny and everyone did such a great job. Better than the movie.
- Wonderful Town - so good! My dear friend Jessie is in it, but I swear I’m not biased at all. I loved the dancing; there isn’t enough modern tap these days.
- Maybe Happy Ending - a new level of terrible. More thoughts over here.

I started using hydrocolloid bandages (that I cut up to smaller sizes) instead of branded pimple patches (that are more expensive) and they’ve been working so well. Such a cheaper option and they are way bigger than the Mighty Patch ones.
I made this egg and sweet potato dish that came out great, so I’ve already made it a few more times.

I gave in and bought a night serum: the Trader Joe’s one. Might return it though because my face has been flakier than normal lately, so maybe that’s why? I don’t know what the hell to do with my face. Can I just let it be a face… can that be a thing?

I refuse to learn what retinol is or why I need it please don’t tell me

I did this plant hack (below) and it really helped, new leaves are growing and it’s wild.

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I got pistachio milk in a cappuccino the other day and I hope they never stop introducing new nut milks (ick, sorry that’s a terrible phrase). Just when you think they’re done, there’s another one that tastes great.
The best frozen yogurt (the really tart kind) is back at Madison Fare. Cannot recommend enough.

Levain Bakery has limited edition lemon cookies and black and white cookies right now and they’re so good. Such a perfect host/hostess gift.

I don’t usually endorse cookies that are $5+ but these are the exception to the rule

Yes the gluten-free pizza at Rubirosa is good, but do not sleep on their caesar salad. Unbelievable.
And speaking of caesars, L’Industrie Pizzeria makes a special sandwich each Wednesday so I tried their chicken caesar and it blew my mind right to pieces. I was going to request that they omit the banana peppers on it because I thought that I didn’t like them, but I kept them on anyway because maybe my tastebuds have changed (I accidentally had a black olive a few months ago and it actually tasted good??) so of course it tasted incredible. It was honestly one of the greatest sandwiches I’ve ever had in this whole city. The lesson? Maybe you don’t know everything about yourself.

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Some things I watched:
- Leaving Las Vegas - I’d never seen it before and never will again. Just awful. Anyone who liked it might be a moron.
- Black Mirror (newest season) - my favourite episodes were definitely Common People and Eulogy. The Issa Rae one was appallingly bad.

Some things I’m looking forward to this month: there’s a wedding at the end of the month that’ll be a nice weekend getaway so that’ll be fun, I really want to see the new Stranger Things on Broadway, and Marla comes for a visit! All great things.

You can read last month’s roundup over here.

April 1, 2025

The Best of March 2025

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

Considering how bad January and February were, it’s kind of a miracle that this past month was so full of good things. I had the best birthday (of my life?) and it feels like there’s so much hope. Am I deluding myself? Anything is possible! But I’m going to try and ride this high as long as I can. Here’s what went down last month.

The best tweets of the month can be found over here.
I made these cottage cheese crackers that are ridiculously good. I’ll put the recipe below because I got it from someone’s mom on Facebook (jesus, that’s the most I-just-turned-40 statement I’ve made so far).

I brush the parchment paper with olive oil as well so that nothing sticks

Speaking of turning 40, Nathan took me to Turks and Caicos to celebrate and it was an incredible trip. I should probably do a post about it. Yeah, I’ll do that. Stay tuned.
I finally visited The New York Earth Room art exhibit that’s been going on for decades and it was very neat.

Discovered the secret to amazing chicken parm: get bone-in. Changes the entire game.
I got these brown wedge heels from Target that I am currently living in, I love them so much. Might get them in black, too. I also bought this comically large bed pillow that might fix my life.
Lord, how I missed the Hillstone caesar salad.

Nathan and I have started picking up garbage around our neighborhood twice a week and it’s been great. He got a trash grabber stick months ago, and it might seem insane but it makes us feel pretty good.
Some things I watched:
- The Monkey - hated majority of it. And I realized just how much I loathe this new genre of body-harm horror. It’s gaining traction and I can’t stand it (think Hereditary, Smile 2 etc.)
- I’m all caught up on The White Lotus and this season isn’t the greatest, so that’s been disappointing.
I’ve really been considering whether or not I should go to Dollywood this year. It’s the 40th anniversary (which we share), so that’s why I was thinking about it. Just a thought.
I saw The Jonathan Larsan Project (so good) and Buena Vista Social Club (stellar). I didn’t realize how much I really missed going to shows.

I’ve been using the Trader Joe’s facial sunscreen (the Goop dupe) for a few years now, but I saw actual proof of how good it is recently. When I was on vacation, I guess I forgot to sunscreen the very top part of my forehead and to see the difference between that small area and the rest of my sunscreened face after an afternoon in the sun? Wow. This stuff is a holy grail product.
I am in love with these duos that Target keeps releasing each season (below).

I had lunch at La Mercerie and it was good, I don’t know that I’d ever need to go back but it was fine. The older I get, the more I tend to be annoyed at trendy places.
I’m still making these GF bean muffins constantly. Yes they sound disgusting, but they might be the best chocolate chip muffins I’ve ever had. I should stop telling people that they have beans in them.
I did a spring french tip manicure and it turned out pretty good!

Some things I’m looking forward to this month: it’ll be nice to pack away my winter clothing, I have to start looking for wedding guest dresses and I’d really like to make this firecracker chicken again.

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You can read last month’s roundup over here.

September 1, 2024

August Actions 2024

by Liz Heather in Beauty, Best of NYC, Drinks, Food, Ideas, Links, Movies, Personal, Recipes

SUMMER IS OVER! Extremely pumped to say goodbye to August. So many things are changing right now and I kind of can’t wait for what’s ahead. But before that, here were the highlights of the month.

Finished my Summer Saturdays series.
The best tweets of the month can be found over here.
Why don’t all cheese boards have corresponding cheeses labels?? SOMEBODY PUT ME IN CHARGE OF SOMETHING.

In love with these blue sky bran muffins. Who have I become? I like her?
The Freshly Brewed Coffee candle at Bath & Body Works smells like heaven on earth.

I found Walla Walla onions at my farmer’s market and they remain the greatest onion on the scene today.
My friend Richard made the best tomato pie I’ve ever tasted.

I got the new Alex Trebek Jeopardy stamps and they’re a bit disappointing. I was hoping for more than just one design.
Marla came for a visit and we did so many fun things. We saw Suffs on Broadway, ate at Thyme & Tonic (incredible), tried on a million gorgeous things at both locations of Beacon’s Closet, we rode the Staten Island Ferry, ate at the always-great Rubirosa, went to Little Island for the first time, went to some of the Chelsea Thursday galleries and we perused Chelsea Market so we obviously had to get some Seed + Mill.

A rat scared us out of Central Park approx. five seconds after this photo was taken

Manhattan skyline from the (free) Staten Island Ferry

Seed + Mill now has a chocolate drizzle option

I read Jennette McCurdy’s book and it was too real and too good.
My favourite pesto recipe is the How Sweet Eats one, but with walnuts instead of pine nuts.
Summer is the time to make peach daiquiris and this peach rose slushy.

Fell in love with the restaurant Hillstone. On a mission now to visit all the locations eventually. The best parts about this place are the chilled salad plates, the chilled martini glasses that are replaced midway through your drink, an insane French dip sandwich (David Chang says that this sandwich “haunts him” and he’s right), a wildly good chicken caesar salad, servers only have three tables at a time so they can really focus on each customer, they don’t have food runners or bussers, the tables are drilled into the ground so there aren’t any wobbly ones, there’s freshly squeezed orange juice AND each table is designed to feel like it’s in its very own little VIP section. So impressed by the level of thoughtfulness at this place, I love it so much.

And speaking of hospitality, I read something recently that explains why I think I love restaurants so much. I’m the one who cooks at home (which I enjoy), but it’s nice to escape that sometimes and have someone take care of me in that way. It’s such a simple thought, but it blew my mind for a minute.
I finally deep cleaned my beauty blender by putting Dawn in some boiled water and then I let the sponge sit in that mixture for five minutes before rinsing in water. Reddit has all the answers.
I found a Sabon body scrub on sale at Marshall’s, which reminded me how much I love any Sabon products.
I’ve been living in the Essie colour Seas The Day.

Annoyance of the day: I absolutely hate that all brow pencils now come in that little mechanical tube (that always breaks). Remember when the Anastasia brow pencil was actually a real pencil that you could sharpen?? We’ve strayed too far from the light of god. It’s impossible to find a real, high quality pencil anymore.
Nathan and I spent our anniversary in Cooperstown, New York to go to the incredible Baseball Hall of Fame, so I’ll do a post about that later this week.
Denny’s has a Beetlejuice-themed menu right now that is a full party, even if it does sound somewhat gross.
Loved reading Pete Wells’ final NY Times piece.
Some things I watched:
- Patriot Games - wow. Love 90s movies like this.
- Six Days, Seven Nights - even Harrison Ford can’t save this movie.
- Trap - I liked the first two thirds of it, but everything went downhill as soon as they left the stadium. This review sums up my feelings almost precisely.
- Falling Down - great movie.
- Wall Street - weird that I’d never seen it before, Martin Sheen was a smokeshow.
- Consenting Adults - great idea for a movie.
- Longlegs - love an original horror script.

I would normally list the things I’m looking forward to this month, but things are changing so fast right now that I have no idea what the end of the month will look like. I’m hopeful and excited, but I’m also terrified and I sort of just want to let this month happen.

If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in July over here.

August 4, 2024

July Jiffs 2024

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

I might have to stop complaining about how I’m not a summer person because this past month was such a memorable one. Here’s what went down last month!

Nathan made Variety’s 10 Comics To Watch list this year!
I continued my Summer Saturdays series because apparently I’m obsessed with summer?
The best tweets of the month can be found over here. I also made a list of my favourite summer tweets.
I wrote about my favourite caesar salad dressing recipe in honour of its 100th birthday.
I tried the soft serve from Seed + Mill and it was unbelievably good. Top three in NYC, hands down.

Soft serve from Seed + Mill, Chelsea Market

I finally got to go lane swimming in Mississauga and it was all that I’d hoped it would be and so much more. Fuck Eric Adams for cancelling the lap swims in NYC for yet another summer.
The watermelon sangria at Bite is summer in a glass.
I finally visited the food hall at Queensboro Plaza and the options looked pretty good! The chicken caesar wrap at Bobwhite Counter was decent, but it’ll always amaze me when places don’t make their own croutons. It’s one tiny little step that makes or breaks it.

The coronation chicken salad at Nomad Sandwiches is too good. Cold, curried chicken is not on enough menus in this city.
I just saw an ad for this, but Arby’s has a burger now?? Am I the only one this offends?? Their whole thing is that they DON’T do burgers?? That roast beef and cheddar is better than any fast food burger, what the hell is going on? I can handle a lot of things (really I can), but this crosses a line.
A reel told me to squeeze lemon on top of watermelon, so I did and it was fantastic.
I went to Canada for a little bit since the kids are off for summer break and I think I’m onto something here: yardwork is fun when it’s not your own house.

I used a screwdriver to do this and I’m kinda proud of that fact?

One of my most beloved hobbies? Before/after photoshoots, apparently.

Went to Blue Mountain on a small trip with my family and it was perfect. We swam so much (once in the rain, and I hope everyone swims in the rain at least once in their life) and we also rode the Ridge Runner Mountain Coaster (something that’s been on my list for years), which was so much fun. I also won’t disclose how many times I went to the frozen yogurt place Menchies.

Before the Ridge Runner Mountain Coaster

On the drive back from Blue Mountain, we found a farmer’s market-type store in hopes of finding some sponge toffee and dreams can come true.

Ate at Lucia in Toronto and it wasn’t anything special, which was a bit disappointing but the company was everything I wanted so that made up for it.

Made these ricotta meatballs that turned out great, if not a bit too soft.
We went to Ribfest and I tried my first blooming onion. It was absolutely unreal. How did it take me this long to try one. Also got an oxtail poutine and (finally) the tri-colour popsicle I’ve been waiting on since last summer.

There are cathedrals everywhere for those with eyes to see

I wanted this so badly, I didn’t even care how bad my nails looked

The passport office in Mississauga is such a nightmare, it literally took four hours to get renewed (and that’s only because I showed up two hours before it even opened).
Tried this soft foot reel I saw (below) and it worked pretty well! I think you have to do it multiple times a week to really see longterm results, though.

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Went to Spirit Tree Estate Cidery again with my niece Tianna and it remains great. Their daily soup is the main attraction here (we got the seafood chowder).

We also went to Activate again and I think I enjoyed it even more than last time. Obsessed with the hoops room. Makes me wish I had a basketball net.

Went to the Asian Night Market in Mississauga with Harmeet and we got the cold noodles, which were spicy/great. Afterward we went to the Mexican restaurant in the food hall section of Square One (La Carnita) and had such a terrible experience. The short ribs we ordered were awful and our waiter absolutely hated us. And then we went next door to Farzi Cafe, where the drinks were fine but insanely overpriced. What the hell is going on at Square One?
I finally got Baby Dog in a kiddie pool and she could actually doggy paddle. It was the cutest thing anyone has ever seen.
I just learned about the ready-made sandwiches at Lazar Bakery in Mississauga and my lunches will never be the same again.
The foam soaps are the main reason I go to Bath & Body Works, but their bar soaps last such a long time. If you live in the United States then you should definitely get their app - they give you at least one free item every few weeks.
Baskin-Robbins rainbow sherbert continues to solve all.

I know it’s early, but the pumpkin pie M&Ms are outrageously good.

Some things I watched:
- The Bear (season three): Cons first. Okay, I hated the first episode but it’s the weakest one of the whole season. Some of the dialogue is so badly written, it’s hard to watch sometimes. Why the hell was John Cena in it? He isn’t a good actor, let’s cut the shit. Now pros. Ebon is flawless. The Napkins episode was so well written. Jon Bernthal is such a great actor. The Al-Anon support group scene was so good. My jaw dropped at Josh Hartnett making an appearance, I’ll continue to love his renaissance. And I know I’ve complained about the overacting of Jamie Lee Curtis from last season, but I thought the birth episode was the best one of the entire season. That whole episode just captured mothers and daughters so well and how we see that our mothers fail us so much because our expectations of them are too insanely high so when they fall flat of those expectations, how crushing it can be to realize that they’re just human. That episode alone is why I’ll keep watching the show. I do think that a lot can be done towards the development of characters so that we have the time to care about them in the ways that the writers want us to, but there are these pocket episodes that are just so alarmingly true and good. It’s a fantastic show with absolute faults, but the reviews of this season were way too harsh.
- All of the Naked Gun movies (rewatch): Okay these movies really hold up well. It was too much fun to watch them with the kids who actually really laughed and enjoyed them too. Romeo even referenced one scene weeks later to laugh about it, my heart swelled to say the least.
- Blowout: It started out interesting and then took a sharp turn, hard pass.
- Sabrina (rewatch): I was on a Harrison Ford kick and would’ve settled for anything, so this was nice to see again.
- Twisters (theatres): I really wanted to hate it, but it was a party.
- Creep (rewatch): Still great!
- Mulan (live action): Rome insisted on us watching this and it wasn’t bad! I’m pretty anti-live-action, but this was surprisingly good.
- I Know What You Did Last Summer (rewatch): Love a summer horror movie. There needs to be more seasonal horror movies.
- The Craft (rewatch): I always forget how much I hate the bug stuff at the end, but it’s still a solid 90s movie.

Some things I’m looking forward to this month: my dear friend Marla is coming to visit (!), cannot wait to see Trap next week, I’m keeping my eye out for any corn based seasonal dishes at the restaurants I love and I can’t wait to start preparations on this year’s costume…

If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in June over here.

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July 3, 2024

June Jaunts 2024

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

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”

— F. Scott Fitzgerald

Truly a great June. I haven’t eaten as many strawberries as I’d have hoped, so I need to make that happen. Other than that, I might actually be excited about summer? Here’s what went down last month:

The best tweets of the month can be seen over here.
I started up my Summer Saturdays series again!
I finally made my way to Smorgasburg in the city.
I recapped how my spring list went.
Made this year’s new summer list of things I want to do.
I went to visit my parents to celebrate my dad’s 101st birthday (!), which was so great. Always love a spring visit.

Ate an incredible conch salad from this Bahamian place Old Nassau in Toronto. My parents loved the conch fritters, too.
Went to Corleone’s in Mississauga for a quick lunch and got the junior meatball. Nothing spectacular but decent.
My oldest niece Tianna graduated from teacher’s college!! Beyond proud of this beauty.

And speaking of Tianna, look at this gorgeous card she drew (below). How on earth did I not know she had this talent?? Really blows my mind (in a good way) when there are still new things to learn about the people who make up the fabric of your life.

Got dinner at Golden Diner and my god, those pancakes aren’t messing around. And that’s coming from a person who absolutely never orders/eats/likes/tolerates pancakes. They also had incredibly crispy home fries, and even the caesar salad was good if not a little too overdressed. Definitely skip the chicken katsu, though.

I’ll never stop loving dingy carnivals, you know the ones I mean. Where everything it set up overnight. I’m not sure if I had ever rode the Superman ride but it fully rocked my core. (Here’s a great (updated often) list of carnivals in the NYC area.)

I watched the new Jiminy Glick clips and when he asked Nick Kroll where he was when “Queen Latifah’s show got cancelled” I fully lost it. So damn funny.
Found a lovely little bar inside Hotel Rivington with a $10 cocktail happy hour. Absolutely will return.
I promise to stop mentioning it soon (not yet), but I can’t describe how much I love the Scrubbing Bubbles Bleach Cleaner for bathrooms. It makes my life so much easier. (Don’t feel sadness for me for that last sentence, it truly brings me joy!)
I made this lemon cake and it sucked! Do you know how depressing it is to make a lackluster baked good? So unbelievably disappointing.
My summer go-to dessert recipe? The Magnolia Bakery banana pudding. Gotta remember to double up on the Nilla wafers next time.

The best cubano sandwich ever is at La Cubana in Toronto. I’ll forever love that neighborhood (Roncesvalles).
My dear friend Richard made me (a Reno specialty?) spaghetti salad and fruit pizza and both were too good. Nobody cooks for their friends anymore! Can we please bring this back?!

Me with Richard & Paul’s dog, Hatcher and their insane view

Finally learned how to cook perfect bacon in the oven.
Really liked this steak marinade.
I read and reviewed Priscilla Presley’s book.
Cannot express how glad I am that I took some of the kids to the Ontario Science Center recently. It’s horrifying to think that it might not be there anymore. So many memories in that place.

Visited Shukette again and it remains amazing. The only bad thing we ordered were the squash blossoms (they just weren’t crispy and the batter tasted old), but bury me in the toum (whipped garlic).

Went to Ray’s Candy Store in the East Village and got an Obama coffee with vanilla ice cream. Fully recommend.

Got the tres leche ice cream at Bad Habit (which closes for good later this month) and it’s so smart that they sell freezer transport bags (why don’t all ice cream places do this?).

Two things I can’t stop making:
- Hummus Dip: To store-bought hummus, I add chopped red onion, cucumbers, feta and tomatoes. It’s unreal. It’d also be good as a spread on a sandwich.
- Tuna Salad: To canned tuna, I mix in red onion, dijon, a small amount of mayo, grated garlic, sliced pickles, salt and pepper. Then I put it on top of a bun that’s been toasted with garlic butter and then broiled with cheddar on top. Phenomenal.
Some things I watched:
- What Jennifer Did: Jesus! How did I not hear about this awful story?
- I Saw The TV Glow: wow, did I hate it. Especially since the reviews made it seem incredible.
- Meg 2: The Trench: couldn’t get through more than half an hour, just an abomination.
- The Cannonball Run 1 & 2: I watched these movies over and over as a kid and I was feeling nostalgic this week so I put them on and OH MY GOD I finally figured out why I’m obsessed with finding the right zippered jumpsuit. (See the scene below.)

A gentle reminder: your beach body is already here.

Some things I’m looking forward to this month: I can’t wait to finally go lane swimming I feel like I’ve been talking about this for months I’m so sorry if you’ve heard me say it a million times, the cheeseburger dumplings have returned to Mimi Cheng’s so that’s definitely on the list, I can’t wait to see my family a ton next week when I visit again, I’ll probably watch at least a few of these summer classics and these summer vacations movies, Nathan has some crazy big news later this month that I’m so proud of and I’d really love to finally get Baby Dog in a kiddie pool to see how she likes the water.

If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in May over here.

June 18, 2024

Smorgasburg NYC

by Liz Heather in Best of NYC, Food

Smorgasburg, World Trader Center, June 2024

I finally made my way to Smorgasburg (a weekly outdoor food market) this past week and I definitely see the appeal of it. Is it actually “the Woodstock of eating” (as the New York Times claims)? Not quite, but the choices are decent. Here were the best sounding items at the World Trader Center location.

Of course I wish that the Duck Season stall still existed, but one can dream. I am a little curious if all the separate markets offer different things, so I’ll have to visit the other two in Brooklyn and then compare this summer.

Smorgasburg runs on Fridays near the World Trade Center, Saturdays in Williamsburg and Sundays in Prospect Park (all go from 11am-6pm, April until October).

June 13, 2024

May Musings 2024

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

It has officially been six years of doing these monthly roundup posts since I started them in May of 2018. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE. If there’s a lesson here, it’s that change is truly possible. I never would’ve thought I’d be doing these consistently for that long, so that’s wild to me. Thank you to anyone and everyone who has ever even read one. Here’s what went down in May!

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The best tweets of the month are over here.
I reviewed the hip hop jewelry exhibit at the Natural History Museum.
I saw the new rooftop installation at The Met.
Vulture wrote about Nathan’s special twice this month and I couldn’t be prouder.

The New York Times also loved Nathan’s newest special Down With Tech!
I made this one pan pepper steak with added mushrooms that I will absolutely do again.
My favourite Met gala looks:

The hair, the makeup, the dress = all of it is perfection, she just needs to leave Justin to fully become perfect in this moment

The back of Mindy Kaling’s dress is HIGH ART

The author of my favourite book, Paul Auster, passed away so I think a re-reading of Mr. Vertigo is in order soon.
I visited the newly opened Paramount Theatre in Brooklyn to see Belle & Sebastian (they were great) and what a beautiful venue.

I tried cottage cheese for the first time and it wasn’t terrible! I still say that “cottage cheese” is the most disgusting thing it could have been named, though. I made this fake chocolate mousse with it and Nathan ate every last bite. I also made a fake “ice cream” with cottage cheese + frozen blueberries that was actually good. I won’t pretend to tell you it tasted like real ice cream, but it was surprisingly edible.

Cottage cheese + frozen blueberry ice cream that’s not actually ice cream, I can’t lie to you

We had a huge Baby Dog scare where she tore a ligament in her leg and our vet was an absolute nightmare with prescribing her these insanely strong pills that made our lives a living hell for a week. Thankfully she’s back to normal and better than ever. We also started her on these cataract eye drops that may actually help her sight, will report back on these in a few more weeks.

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I tried the new chickpea pasta from Trader Joe’s and I like it better than Banza (it’s cheaper, too). Also tried their new, incredible honeycomb candy.

Love this essay by Glynnis MacNicol and I can’t wait to read her upcoming memoir entitled I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself.
Embarrassed to say how much I love the Shake Shack lettuce wrap.

The white chocolate macadamia cream at Starbucks is a problem. I’m really in the macadamia era of my life. No one tells you that your late-30s era is intensely boring?
There’s nothing sadder than disappointing soft serve. Marvel: do better.

Truly in love with the shortbread foam hand soap from Bath & Body Works. (Don’t forget their annual sale is going on right now.)

Loving the entire ButterBliss line at Target. How is it so damn soft??
Tried the new sandwich place Nomad, which is incredible. Took me 39 years to understand that I truly love coleslaw. Again, terrible name choice. Beginning to learn that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover? What a concept?

Quick note: if you ever shop in store at Staples, you should really look up their online prices vs. the in-store price when you’re there. The in-store price is almost always wildly more expensive than the same item listed online and if you show the cashier when you’re checking out - they’ll price match it for the lower price.
So I was on a morning walk and I found a lost cat! It was wild and the owners were so sweet about it.
Saw Mary Jane with Rachel McAdams on Broadway with Nathan and it was great.

There is an exhibit of old literary posters right now at The Met that is absolutely beautiful.

The latkes at Modern Bread and Bagel remain the best in NYC.

Got the new summer scents from Mrs. Meyers and they. are. incredible.

Seasonally scented cleaning products? FUCK ME UP

Took Baby Dog to Central Park and she loved it, even if you can’t tell by this forcibly posed photograph.

I love a street fair because you’ll always find something unique. Creepy-faced magnets? Forever yes.

Completely forgot about my love for rainbow sherbert.

Some things I watched:
- The Idea of You (Amazon Prime): low maintenance and intensely watchable. The line, “People hate happy women” PERFECT. And Michael Showalter directed it?? What the hell? That’s great.
- How Stella Got Her Groove Back: it’s pretty gross that the main love interest is a 20 year old boy. And the real life story that it’s based on is AWFUL (spoiler alert: he was actually gay and married her for a green card!!).
- Under The Tuscan Sun: still great.
- Twister (the Helen Hunt one): such a great movie. There’s really no need for the remake. Best part? The sheer amount of twisters in the movie. That may seem like a dumb observation, but it really isn’t. It’s just so fast-paced and there’s basically another twister every ten minutes or so.
- Dream Scenerio: good! Some of the abuse scenes are hard to sit through, but as a whole a really good movie.
- The Danny Meyer episode of Ina Garten’s show: I was not aware that he basically invented eating at the bar instead of at a table in a restaurant (was also not aware that it needed to be invented??) and I must make the pasta (orecchiette with broccoli rabe and sausage) that he made for Ina in that episode.
- Emily in Paris (season two): can you tell how desperate I am in finding new shows to watch? It’s not a good show. I hate all the singing, I had to fast-forward those scenes. But I did love these pink shoes.

Some things I’m looking forward to this month: finishing off some final spring activities, writing my summer list, I need to dry clean and officially pack away my winter coats, I’ll start doing my Summer Saturdays weekly series again, excited for the new season of The Bear at the end of the month and I’d love to find some new strawberry recipes to make the most of the season.

If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in April over here.

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