My Favourites of 2020

Everyone seems to love an end-of-year best-of post (myself included), so here we go. Behold, the best of the best in a year full of trash.

Clothing

• J. Crew underwire 90s swimsuit: I bought it in both black & red and I can’t wait to wear them somewhere other than my house one day.

• UNIQLO blouse: so soft and perfect fitting.

• High waisted leggings from Aerie. I can’t put in a link because they’re always changing the ones they sell, but the softest/best ones are the ones that are 88% Nylon, 12% Elastane.

• This Zella Crop Hoodie from Nordstrom that I pretty much wore every other day since June.

• Babaton Contour V-Neck Bodysuit (so far I have it in two colours, clay & scarab), they’re amazing. They’re like better quality versions of the old American Apparel bodysuits.

TV & Movies

• The Staircase documentary series

• This one scene from The Good Place

• Parasite

• The most recent season of Shrill

• The Hillary documentary

• The first season of Dave

• Awkwafina is Nora From Queens

• Always Be My Maybe

Beauty Products

• OUAI Wave Spray - such a low maintenance way to style your hair when it’s damp.

• Mario Badescu’s Drying Lotion - incredible for blemishes that are in the early stages.

• Antihistamine Eye Drops - annihilated my itchy eye problem.

• Peter Thomas Roth Max Complexion Salicylic Acid Pore Refining Pads - I went through the entire container, it really does wonders for your skin.

• Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare All-In-One Cleanser With Toner - again, just amazing on my skin.

• Scalp Massager - I feel rich when I use it.

• Kiehl’s Ultimate Strength Hand Salve - my saving grace this winter.

• Luna Sleeping Night Oil from Sunday Riley - makes me look 18, in my opinion.

Restaurant Takeout

• The steak tartare at The Dutch (NYC).

• The lamb sliders & perfect fries at Pil Pil (NYC).

• Literally any pasta at Portale (NYC).

• The off-menu Cacio E Pepe at L’Artusi (NYC).

• The steak at Giorgio’s of Gramercy (NYC).

• The birthday cake slice from Milk Bar (NYC).

• The burger at Vesta in Astoria (Queens).

• The tomato focaccia & garlic butter at Lilia (Brooklyn).

• The vegan chicken parmesan at VSPOT (NYC).

• The Harvest Daiquiri from Gramercy Tavern (NYC).

• The tuna at Atoboy (NYC).

• The hazelnut cappuccino cronut at Dominique Ansel Bakery (NYC).

• The Hunters Penne Pasta from Erin Mills Pump & Patio (Mississauga).

• Forever the roast beef sandwich at San Remo’s (Etobicoke).

• The vegetable fried rice from Fortune Dragon (Mississauga).

• Truly sorry for this addition, but the chicken sandwich at Popeye’s (Earth).

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Harvest Daiquiri from Gramercy Tavern

Recipes

• Putting pickles on grilled cheese sandwiches.

• Banana Cake with Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting

• Blueberry Breakfast Cookies

• Crispy Smashed Potatoes

• Halloumi Hummus Bowls

• Walnut Pesto

• Kale Quesadillas

• Ricotta & Tomato Jam Jar

• Broccoli Bolognese, but with Beyond Meat sausage instead.

• Tomato Sandwich

• My forever favourite Summer Tomato Panzanella Salad

• Ginger Sesame Noodles with Caramelized Onions

• Pumpkin and Pesto Cheese Stuffed Shells

• Kale Caesar Salad with Sweet Potatoes & Chickpeas

• Leftover Stuffing Muffins

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Banana Cake with Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting

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Halloumi Hummus Bowl

Random Favourites

• Hal’s Seltzer in Cola flavour: it’s seltzer that tastes like Coke. It’s madness.

• Nathan’s Patreon!

• This little girl and everything she plays.

• Best dog grooming place in the city: You Lucky Dog Grooming (Mississauga).

• How to make KFC gravy at home.

• Every single product put out by the Beyond Meat people.

• DAH!: a vegan yogurt that tastes better than regular yogurt.

• Saratoga Sparkling water: it just tastes colder than other brands.

• Listen to forests from around the world, I love this.

• My day-trip to Sleepy Hollow, the one place I travelled to all year.

And there you have it! 2020, let me happily usher you to the door.

May Misery 2020

How is it June? Imagine that this year is just a nightmare that we’re all simultaneously having? I should use this space to be uplifting, but hope is exhausting at the current moment. All I can tell you are the things that either brought me joy or displeasure from the last month. That’s all I can do at the moment. And that’s definitely a privilege right now, I understand. I feel helpless, hopeless and like nothing is going in the right direction. This is a terrible intro, so let’s just get into all the meaningless trash that I did last month.

• My brother Gary made this great video on how to make KFC gravy and you might think I’m biased, but he’s just so fun to watch. Love it so much.

• I rewatched two Alfred Hitchcock movies: Rope (still such a great motive, one of his best) and Rear Window (which is average as hell, the idea of the story is so much better than the execution of the movie). Also, it made me really laugh hearing Nathan say, “If you can’t kill your wife, whose wife CAN you kill?“

• Are you aware that they’re still making new flavours of M&Ms? I tried the fudge brownie flavour and I gotta say, they just taste like regular ass M&Ms.

• I had completely forgotten about this amazing ricotta toast (thank you, Marla) recipe that I loved from years ago. Everyone should make it. It sounds like such a boring recipe, but it’s incredible. Of course it’s from Ina.

• A great article about apologizing.

• We keep making these chickpea pitas and likely won’t stop.

• Months ago I bought this white poncho on sale for basically nothing because I thought this was my year of travel. Yeah. Great purchase.

• I watched the Michelle Obama documentary, Becoming, and it’s obviously inspiring and great. Love the woman.

• I’ve mentioned before how walnuts in pesto are way tastier than pine nuts, right? Cheaper, too. In any case, I can’t stop making this walnut pesto.

• I watched the first season of Awkwafina is Nora From Queens and it’s SUCH A GOOD SHOW. Every single character is great. Perfect show.

• I made this banana cake again, mostly because of that damn frosting. Even if you’re just making a regular cake, you should do it with this coffee cream cheese frosting.

• Every morning for the past few weeks, I’ve been making this iced coffee protein shake (below). It might be the only thing I look forward to at this point in time. (It tastes pretty similar to a Tim Horton’s Iced Capp, just less sugary.)

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• I only wear one perfume (Miracle by Lancome), but I’m almost completely out of it (and won’t repurchase anytime soon since these are not the times to be buying luxurious items) so I’ve been wearing Fresh Cream by Philosophy that I got as a gift last year and I kind of love it. It makes me smell like a cake.

• I’m still making these halloumi hummus bowls for lunch, but I’ve amended the recipe slightly by adding chopped basil instead of oregano and slicing up the halloumi incredibly thin since I think it tastes better when it’s crispy and thin.

• Some movies that I’ve rewatched: Dazed & Confused (a forever favourite, I love a movie where the plot happens over the course of one day), Crazy Rich Asians (still fantastic, although I truly hate the bride character or actress playing her, I can’t decide), I Know What You Did Last Summer (still holds up, solid movie), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (not a great sequel at ALL, but I do love the idea of a killer on vacation), and Back To The Future (this might be the perfect movie, the script is amazing, everything is so fun, the music is epic, I also love the fact that the writers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale will never allow a remake or reboot during their lifetimes).

• I got this cropped sweatshirt from Nordstrom that I wear approximately six days a week.

• In love with this new Jackbox game that I’ve been playing with my family on Sundays: Mad Verse City.

• I walked to Manhattan from Queens and wrote about it.

• The peony blossom candle from Trader Joe’s smells beautiful.

• The Body Shop gives you a free product worth $10 on your birthday month, so I got their tea tree body wash and I love it. What the hell did I do before tea tree?

• Just learned: grating garlic is so much tastier than chopping garlic. Thank you, Bon Appetit!

• I made this kung pao cauliflower and it was good as a side dish but definitely not as a main. Cauliflower as a main dish will always be offensive to me.

• I watched Stephen King’s Graveyard Shift and absolutely hated it. Terrible movie. What kind of accent is that guy supposed to have???

• I bought a cuticle cutter since the nail salons are still closed and I figured how hard could it be to use? Turns out: very hard. No idea how to use it on myself or anyone else for that matter.

• I have been making these kale quesadillas for lunch and they’re so tasty. I just use whatever cheese I have, basil and white wine vinegar instead of champagne vinegar. Also, I omit the corn because frozen corn is always trash. Super simple recipe, too.

• I watched two episodes of the Epstein documentary on Netflix and had assault nightmares that night so I thought maybe I don’t need to finish all the episodes. I’m not including the link here for it because I truly don’t think anyone needs to see it.

• My friend Dusty made this great short film.

• I argued with Nathan at least twice this month on camera. (And about 400 times in real life? Again, no link for that.)

• My six year old nephew is beyond adorable in this video about the lockdown.

• I bought these Steve Madden sandals for $22 when they were on sale the other day and I had a gift card, and I’m in love.

• Forgot how good these black bean muffins are. Such a nice little snack. Ignore the fact that they sound disgusting.

• Excited to hear that Tuca & Bertie are coming back for another season! (Thank you Harmeet for turning me onto this great show!)

• We’ve been eating the Beyond Meat hamburger patties and they’re phenomenal. We’ve been putting this McCormick gravy on top of them and and I’ll add these pickled red onions too and wow. Heavenly. Never would’ve thought I could be into a homemade pickled onion. Growth!

• This is wild and slightly horrifying.

• Super interesting piece about the NYPD.

• Favourite tweets from the month:

i was so angry at everything when i was 13. and i was right

— common sad girl (@sadgirlkms) April 27, 2020

time passing is not an apology.

— tray🦋 (@traydominic) May 2, 2020

Can we normalize not having to be busy in order to be left alone.

— Dyymond W-Y (@DWHPP) May 4, 2020

i'm so sick of my female traits....caring, yearning....kill me

— Sarah Hagi (@geekylonglegs) May 5, 2020

when i lost over 100 lbs, everyone suddenly loved me. everyone thought i was gorgeous. everyone thought i was powerful. i can assure you being congratulated for weight loss just feels like your greatest fear confirmed. you have to be thin to be valuable to the world. it sucks.

— kendra (@kendramorous) May 6, 2020

"start your free trial" "enter your card info" https://t.co/AgMKPwlbpi

— Adamz 💯 (@Philz_adamz) May 9, 2020

so my grandma gifted these to her daughters for Mother’s Day 😂🥺 pic.twitter.com/VtEvOm1X1i

— 𝐦𝐞𝐥 (@_melcheyenne) May 11, 2020

Lmao why she still look like she wanna talk to the manager https://t.co/4AbeVOetgY

— Dani Fernandez (@msdanifernandez) May 15, 2020

absolutely no one:
my dad doing virtual reality: pic.twitter.com/nkLmtEJlZj

— Ashley Madison (@ashleycacioppo) May 16, 2020

my Tia coming up to me at a family party trying to get me to dance with her https://t.co/rFf6LBfryh

— John💤 (@theytookmyinsta) May 17, 2020

Lil man said he was not gonna be left outta this TikTok😭🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/LXmAM3B7C3

— 🇧🇧 (@rahm3sh) May 17, 2020

I'm not wearing glasses anymore I seen enough

— Hoesncheetoes (@Hoesncheetoes) May 18, 2020

Y’all ever just be driving & you’re like..... yo was that light even green 😭😭😭

— toxic king (@777jorgeivan) May 5, 2020

Last night as I was putting my 3 year old to bed she looked deep into my eyes, lovingly stroked my face and whispered “are you garbage?”💀

— Laura Benanti (@LauraBenanti) May 21, 2020

remember when britney showed up to the VMAs looking like this and the world decided that this is the body of someone who "let herself go" ...... the apology this world owes all women my god pic.twitter.com/2B4xfywrje

— Anya Volz (@AnyaVolz) May 22, 2020

My mom said we should speak Thai in public so we don’t get targeted for speaking Mandarin and I think it’s so sweet that she’s nice enough to believe that these stupid fucking racists can differentiate between Asian languages

— James Tang (@jamesthetang) May 14, 2020

Every Guyanese girl gotta dye their hair blonde at least once as a rite of passage

— Tupac Chopra (@N_Kognito) May 25, 2020

I just aggressively removed two bottles of prosecco from our trolley, proclaiming crossly “Neither of us likes prosecco. It’s bloody horrible”

The gentleman moved away from me at speed. We had not met before. It was neither my trolley nor my husband.

— jo aaron lilford (@jolilford) December 30, 2019

What’s the worst typo in an email you spotted immediately after hitting send? I think mine has to be: “I appreciate that you’re very busty.”

— David M Barnett (@davidmbarnett) August 23, 2019

I figured out why Nova had an attitude during our photo shoot 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😭😭😭😭😭😭💀💀💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/kfwDQMI26p

— $arah 🥂 (@shh710) May 25, 2020

How is the computer gonna ask me if I am a robot? Bitch you're a robot

— Seth (@KingzNA) May 27, 2020

Your girl after reviewing the pics you took of her pic.twitter.com/yD8eqeT1EU

— Rayan (@Bellaboy23) May 25, 2020

The “your friendships are being tested rn, find out who your friends really are” crowd are demons actually. We’re in a pandemic, everyone is insane, we are all doing the best we can. Your relationships to others have to be elastic to survive. Calm tf down and stop keeping score

— arabelle sicardi (@arabellesicardi) May 18, 2020

Sometimes i sit and think about a simpler time... like, when the only thing you had to worry about was just a global pandemic

— greg stone blue check mark (@gregstone_) May 31, 2020

Funny how one bad protester labels the whole movement, but a few bad cops are never supposed to represent all cops. 🤔

— Trill Clinton (@aStatesman) May 31, 2020

Thank you for your Black Lives Matter graphic. May I please see a picture of your executive leadership team and company board?

— Brandi Riley (@BrandiJeter) June 2, 2020

Just a cute reminder that "unplugging" from the news cycle is privilege.

— Allana Reoch (@reochnroll) May 30, 2020

wait i forgot, are we under disease curfew or racism curfew

— Shaun Scott🌹🤝 (@eyesonthestorm) June 1, 2020

They’ll declare martial law instead of just not killing black people. Do y’all get it now?

— Britt Julious (@britticisms) June 2, 2020

Some things that I’d like to do this month: I promise that I will finally review the last two monthly Ipsy bags, I really want to make these salted thyme chocolate chip cookies, I want to make this midnight pasta that I heard about from Mindy Kaling, I want to read at least two books this month, I’m dying to make this ricotta jam jar, and I don’t know, maybe June won’t be a complete shitshow. Also, don’t forget about Father’s Day on the 21st. Just a reminder. If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in April over here.

And it’d be weird not to mention this at all right now, but there are so many awful and horrendous things going on, you know this. I completely support Black Lives Matter and it’s insane that there’s any kind of divide about whether you do or you don’t. It makes me sick that saying something as simple as “black people are human beings” could ever be considered complicated or political, but I guess here we are. I have no magical words to offer and I wish I did. I have no quote that’ll make everything make sense because nothing right now makes any sense. People are not being treated like human beings and it’s disgusting, it’s that simple. I don’t know what’s ahead of us, but for fuck’s sake I hope it’s better than where we’re at right now.

2020 Resolutions

I love a resolution. I hate that they’ve gotten such a bad reputation over the years. What’s so wrong with trying to change something about yourself for the better? Sure, there are bad resolutions (lose weight, etc.) (actually that’s the only bad resolution, I think), but there are so many good ones you can take on. ENTER LIZ.

1. Read at least one book per season.

2. Start doing pilates again. I used to love pilates and then abandoned it once my old gym closed down. More pilates in 2020.

3. Juice at least five times a month.

4. Take Baby Dog on an adventure at least twice a season.

5. Properly go on a date with Nathan at least once a month.

6. Try at least one new restaurant each month.

7. Submit pieces to publications at least five times each month.

8. Go to at least one literary event every two weeks.

9. Save $50 every Monday until June to use for Europe spending money.

10. Once a month, call at least one person I haven’t talked to in awhile to catch up.

11. Every time I buy something new, I’ll donate or throw out one piece of clothing.

And just to stay on top of things, I wrote a reminder on the 15th of each month to re-read these to refresh my memory of what needs to get done.

(UPDATE: To see how these resolutions went, come on over here.)