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LIZ HEATHER

March 1, 2022

February Feats 2022

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


The partially frozen fountain at Bryant Park, February 2022

The partially frozen fountain at Bryant Park, February 2022

My favourite month has arrived! Spring is coming and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

  • You can find my favourite tweets of the month over here and here.

  • I compiled my favourite tweets about love for Valentine’s Day.

  • I read and review Elvira’s new memoir.

  • I know that it’s older, but I’ve kept the song Gypsy by Lady Gaga on repeat for about two weeks now.

  • I made garlic confit and I’ll be real with you - it looks way better than it tastes. And that’s coming from someone who adores garlic. By cooking it down, it actually makes the garlic flavour quite mild so it’s truly not worth making again. I put a boatload of it on some toast and it was beyond lackluster. One more con? Expect to be gassy as hell if you eat this stuff.

  • I tried a sample of this Tata Harper (christ that name) cleanser and it was really good. Thankfully there are cheaper, better options out there (literally anything in the tea tree line at The Body Shop), but this was great to try.

  • I was getting pretty sick of the Spotify commercials in my (free) account, so I made to the movie to Apple Music to try their three month trial. We shall see how it goes. (That goddam Stone Cold Steve Austin & Ice-T commercial may have been the final straw to leave Spotify.)

  • I went to Sarabeth’s for their Restaurant Week lunch menu and it was extremely good. I love blue cheese and pear together in a salad, why can’t that be as common as caesar salads? And the mussels and fries were heavenly.

  • I have been in such a funk with nail polish lately, every colour seems to look disgusting. I got a short, red, gel manicure recently and had to remove it within a week, it was so repulsive to look at. What is my problem? …What’s that? You don’t care? Hahah. Honestly, same.

  • I finally tried SLT (it’s one of the options when you try ClassPass for a free month trial), and what even is SLT? It’s like if spin classes + pilates classes had an obnoxious baby. And you know what? NOT FOR ME. I think I hate any pilates class that uses a machine.

  • In love with the larger citrus green tea candles that just came out from Trader Joe’s. Fucking love a wooden wick.

Citrus Green Tea candle from Trader Joe’s, February 2022

  • Two new things I made for the first time this month? Risotto and scallops. It’s well known how annoying risotto is to make yourself since it’s such a long process, but I didn’t fully grasp that concept until I did it firsthand. And it wasn’t even that amazing, so that was a letdown. As for the scallops? Very fast and extremely easy.

  • Had dinner at the extremely cute French place La Petit Joie in Brooklyn with Diana. Love any place that does oysters rockefeller every night of the week. Also, can more restaurants bring back BYOB? It’s so thoughtful to even offer.

  • I tried out this Ulta eyeshadow palette and it came off with hand soap. The quality of makeup these days is just wild. And the prices keep going up, WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE?

  • Went to The Independent in midtown and their mussels and harvest salad were truly memorable. Great place to go if you’re in the area seeing a show.

  • Tried the new french toast soft serve at Milk Bar and yes it was good, but not as good as their apple pie soft serve.

  • I have found my new favourite hair mask: AG Hair Colour Savour Mask. I’m not sure if it’s for all blondes or just dyed blondes, but I love it. You’d think the bubblegum scent would repel me, but I find it whimsical. Of course it’s made by a Canadian company.

  • There was a beautiful, pre-spring day so I took Baby Dog to Central Park and just look at this mug.

Baby Dog in Central Park, February 2022

Baby Dog in Central Park, February 2022

  • I bought some gorgeous new address labels from Zazzle. Are you doing this? You really should. Don’t you want to be better than everyone else?

  • So I went to Suprema Provisions finally and look the burger was good, but not nearly as good as the burger at Sparrow Tavern in Astoria (or even The Spaniard). Their mushroom pasta was saucy and great. And I never thought I’d say this, but I think it’s time to retire burrata from all restaurant menus. It is always the same. Always uninspired. We need to move on with ours lives, I think.

  • Okay, so I bought some eucalyptus to hang from my shower head (pardon me for being DEEPLY ORIGINAL) and unlike every Pinterest pin that encourages you to do this, I fully recommend NOT EVEN BOTHERING. It’s pointless. There is no smell. There is no point. And I think it might attract moths (!), but that last point is unconfirmed. Instead, if you’re really obsessed with this idea, just buy a can of this eucalyptus shower mist. You spray it into the hot water and it does actually make it seem like a steam room for the length of your shower.

  • Went to Van Dam diner in Queens with Irene and it’s like you fell into 1983, loved it.

  • Truly sorry for telling you about this, but if I had to hear about it so do you: lip blushing. One more reason that this world hates women. If I had any real money, I’d buy up as much ad space as I could and just have signs that tell women, “Hey you! You’re good! You don’t need to buy anything to be better! Relax!”

  • And speaking of buying things to make you feel better, I just bought these strappy black heels and they feel so lovely & I can’t wait to destroy anyone in my path the first time I wear them.

  • I also bought these Steven Madden heels online and does that man hate women? Or just their feet? The most uncomfortable shoes I’ve ever owned. Returning as soon as possible.

  • I was in Harlem so I went to Oso for their happy hour (good guacamole, I want to go back mainly to try the cake place next door) and then to Lido for their happy hour, which was fantastic. I love when a happy hour menu gives a fuck. Definitely want to go back to Lido for a meal.

  • What I watched this month:

    • Tried rewatching The Mindy Project and while the first few seasons are pretty good (Morgan is the best character by far), I just couldn’t get into the entire series again for some reason. I think I stopped around the episode where she talks about how she doesn’t like men seeing her naked ever. Some things are just better as a memory, I guess.

    • I’m rewatching old Sex and the City episodes to get the AJLT taste out of my mouth and they’re all pretty hit or miss. Samantha is so much funnier than I remember, which was been great. Also, you know when Carrie is with Aiden and he has his dog Pete with him - did you ever notice that this dog is NEVER excited to see Carrie when she enters a scene? I get that it’s not real life and he’s just a dog on a set, but it made me laugh so much that this dog just does not fucking care about her. Pete was right all along. Also, for all the credit that this show gets for the outfits, good god are there a lot of terrible wardrobe decisions. But I guess that’s part of the good thing about it maybe? Like not everything has to be your taste or even look good - it’s more important to be fun and confident and have these characters wear what they think looks good? What side am I even on?? Do I hate the show or not?? Look, even I don’t know.

    • The John Mulaney SNL: Why did I watch this one specifically? Who knows. I don’t think I even like him, but it was a really good episode. Makes zero sense, but I was dying at the monkey sketch.

    • The Worst Person In The World: I liked it! Not as much as I thought I would given how highly praised it is, but it was nice to be in a theatre. (And that chocolate peanut butter pie slice at The Angelika? Oof. Always worth it.)

Chocolate peanut butter pie at The Angelika, NYC

  • I made this sesame garlic chili oil noodle dish that suhuuuuuucked. I think I need a moment away from Half Baked Harvest. So many misses lately.

  • Recipes I want to make this month:

    • Tuscan Kale Salad with Gorgonzola Croutons - I always forget how much I love blue cheese.

    • Truffled Garlic Bread with Ricotta - okay, this looks maddeningly incredible. I could either make this myself OR I could visit any North Italia restaurant where they have it on the menu… which is just a two hour drive from me to the Pennsylvania location… mental note…

    • Hummingbird Cake Scones with Mascarpone Glaze!! Christ!!

    • Prosciutto, Peas & Orzo - my love affair with orzo has not ended.

    • Banana Sheet Cake with Walnut Streusel and Rum Glaze - can sheet cake come back in style already? Fuck.

    • Grilled Asparagus Caesar Salad - love new ways to ingest caesar dressing.

    • Lemon Almond Pudding Cake - pudding CAKE? This must be the future.

Some things I’m looking forward to this month: I won a lottery ticket to see Harry Potter on Broadway this coming week, obviously I want to find and drink the space Coke, I really want to try the happy hour at Bistro Les Amis (the poutine looks Canadian), the second season of Stanley Tucci’s Searching For Italy starts on March 13th, my best friend Harmeet is coming for a visit (!), I found a place in NYC serving Steak Diane (!!!) so that’ll likely be my birthday meal, I got a ticket for opening night of the Broadway play Birthday Candles with Debra Messing on the 18th, and I will most certainly go get my free birthday gifts from The Body Shop, Sephora, and Ulta. (And I mean… should I drive two hours purely for some amazing garlic bread? I’m thinking I should? That sort of tracks with who I am as a person? Also it’s my birthday soon? And the world is slowly but surely burning? And garlic bread might solve everything? And by “might” I mean “definitely will”?)

If you have any interest in reading what went on in January, come on over here.

TAGS: Liz Heather, February Feats, February Feats 2022, monthly roundup, monthly post, Gypsy Lady Gaga, Lady Gaga, garlic confit, recipes, garlic, Tata Harper, facial cleanser, Spotify, Half Baked Harvest, How Sweet Eats, Apple Music, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ice-T, music, Sarabeth's, Sarabeth's NYC, best of NYC, NYC, NYC restaurants, mussels NYC, blue cheese, spring recipes, spring recipes 2022, nail polish, beauty, SLT, pilates, fitness, ClassPass, spin, Trader Joe's, citrus green tea candle, citrus green tea candle Trader Joe's, TJ, candles NYC, risotto, scallops, La Petit Joie, Brooklyn, Brooklyn restaurant, French restaurant NYC, oysters rockefeller, BYOB NYC, Ulta, Ulta eyeshadow, The Independent NYC, french toast soft serve, Milk Bar, Milk Bar soft serve, AG Hair, AG Hair Colour Savour Mask, dyed blonde, Canadian company, Baby Dog, Central Park, Zazzle, address labels, Central Park winter, Suprema Provisions, best burger NYC, The Sparrow Tavern, The Spaniard, burger NYC, mushroom pasta NYC, eucalyptus, eucalypus shower mist, Van Dam diner Queens, Queens, lip blushing, women, feminism, strappy black heels, ASOS, ASOS heels, Steve Madden, high heels, Harlem, Oso, Lido, happy hour, happy hour NYC, good happy hour NYC, The Mindy Project, Ike Barinholtz, Sex And The City, And Just Like That..., And Just Like That, dogs, dog, John Mulaney, SNL, John Mulaney SNL, the monkey sketch SNL, The Worst Person In The World, The Angelika, chocolate peanut butter pie, sesame garlic chili oil noodles, best recipes, tuscan kale salad, gorgonzola croutons, truffled garlic bread with ricotta, North Italia restaurant, hummingbird cake scones with mascarpone glaze, prosciutto, orzo, peas, banana sheet cake, grilled asparagus caesar salad, lemon almond pudding cake


January 5, 2022

December Dalliances 2021

by Liz Heather in Best of NYC, Food, Links, Personal, Products, Recipes, Reviews, Television


December was a complete whirlwind but when is it not? I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! Other than getting my booster (!), here’s what else went down last month.

  • You can find my favourite tweets of the month over here and here.

  • I recapped how my autumn list went.

  • I made a list of things I’d like to do this winter.

  • I compiled my very favourites from the year.

  • My favourite photos from 2021.

  • Here are two great things to do when a new year has begun.

  • I wrote about the Christian Dior exhibit at The Brooklyn Museum (which closes in February).

  • Did you know that Costco has candles? There’s a four candle box for $20 and they’re only two-wick each, but extremely good quality.

  • I don’t think I’ve ever had pecan pie before in my life (I don’t even know why, I think I thought it might be too nutty?) but I tried a slice at JG Melon and whoa. Who the hell knew?

  • I attempted to read Charles Grodin’s memoir and I just… I couldn’t. I don’t mean to show any disrespect, but what a bore. Some people shouldn’t write books, I simply had to softly put it down on Nathan’s desk and walk away.

  • Incase you need to know the Bob’s Burgers Christmas episodes in one handy chart.

  • I am obsessed with the snow drop scent from Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day. I’ve got the all purpose cleaner as well as the dish detergent and I’m so angry I didn’t buy any more to use throughout the year because it’s currently sold out everywhere. And look, the pine one is very good too, but the snow drop one just takes your breath away. Oh god… is this my life now… excitement over cleaning supplies scents?? End me.

  • Speaking of things that bum me out, I also tried the basil scented Method dish soap and Nathan and I both agree: not for us. The bottle shape is weird and the smell of basil to clean your dishes is confusing.

  • The best of the holiday recipes that I made over the Christmas break: Mushroom & Leek Bread Pudding, Upstate-Style Roast Beef Sandwiches, Southern Baked Macaroni & Cheese, and Chocolate Pumpkin Pie (I didn’t do the marshmallow part, I went with whipped cream instead although a rum whipped cream would have worked well, too).

  • The dill pickle chicken nuggets at Burger King in Canada? Shock of all shocks: not good.

  • But the tim biebs at Tim Hortons? Pretty good!

  • Food lesson I learned: gruyere does not taste good as a shredded cheese on top of garlic bread, it must be mixed into some sort of mixture to taste good since it’s way too overpowering on its own.

  • Tried the chicken sandwich at Jollibee and honestly? It’s a definite contender for the Popeye’s one. Really great.

  • New nails alert!

Nails For You in Square One, Mississauga, Ontario

  • I finally made Alison Roman’s Salted Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies and they are fantastic. I had no idea how much I love demerara sugar, it’s that beautiful crunchy sugar that you can find atop the classiest of muffins and it’s too too good.

  • They have the dairy-free Boursin at Trader Joe’s! And it tastes exactly like the dairy version! Why does this excite me!

  • My niece Layla introduced me to the brand Native and I’m loving their holiday scented body washes (Sugar Cookie & Candy Cane).

  • I finally ate at Carbone with my dear friend Paul and it was good! Was it as special as the world seems to think it is? Of course not, but that reality is okay, too. The service was great, the place is beautifully decorated for the holidays and the food was very much adequate. The cons of the place are mainly due to its inaccessibility and food quality for its price. And maybe we should've gotten more meat entrees instead of only sticking with their pastas but I mean... it's an Italian restaurant... shouldn't all of their pastas wow you with a reputation like theirs? The best things we ate were the tortellini al ragu ($34) and the garlic bread (free). Both truly great. The spicy rigatoni vodka ($32) is their most celebrated pasta and honestly it was good but not at all worth the hype. The fettuccini con funghi ($32) was disappointing mainly because of the inclusion of bell peppers... why put bell peppers in such a dish? Such a gross flavour with the creaminess of a soft fettuccine. I really did want to love this place, but there are far superior Italian places in this city (L'Artusi, Lilia, Portale). Take your money elsewhere.

Tortellini al ragu ($34) at Carbone, NYC

Garlic bread (free) at Carbone, NYC

Carbone, NYC

  • I’ve never even heard of shapable soap, but I bought a can from Bath & Body Works (it’s on sale for $5 right now) and it’s so fun to use. Kids especially seem to love it. Apparently they only have them around the holidays but there are four scents to choose from.

  • I bought this faux leather vest from Zara that I love and have absolutely no idea how to style.

  • I won a lottery ticket to see Girl From The North Country and it was really good, I sat in the second row from the front and I might be ruined forever because seeing a play that close was unreal and so cool. Also, seeing the Belasco Theatre was a dream. Also, Austin Scott can GET IT.

Inside The Belasco Theatre, NYC

Outside The Belasco Theatre, NYC

  • Had a drink at the Ophelia Lounge and the view is wonderful, but the drinks and food aren’t terribly special.

  • The candy cane green tea at Trader Joe’s? Award-winning.

  • Finally ate at Via Carota with Irene on her birthday and it was really good. All the pastas were wonderful, skip the rice balls.

Beautiful Irene on her birthday at Via Carota, NYC

  • I made my way to Via Porta (the smaller, casual outpost of the L’Artusi crew) to get some of their jarred sauces and I was a little disappointed unfortunately. It just didn’t taste the same as in the restaurant. I only tried the bolognese one, so maybe the mushroom ragu will be better? I’ll definitely give it one more try, especially since they’re supposed to start selling their fresh pasta in the coming weeks. (Also, the baked goods they’re selling are extremely good.)

  • My friend Casey kindly invited me to the dress rehearsal of Dear Evan Hansen and I’m so happy to have seen it! But good lord, never again. The music is mostly wonderful and the actors were great, but every other aspect of the production? Yikes. Forever love seeing something on Broadway, though.

  • My And Just Like That… thoughts (spoilers ahead):

    • God, where do I begin…

    • In a time when death, sickness and darkness literally surrounds our every waking moment, why in the world would a team of writers want to start out a “beloved” series with the death of a major character? I mean… read the room??? Why start an entirely new season with grief? On what planet does this make sense? Especially when you have these characters living in this post pandemic existence that still isn’t a reality here and now? It’s nonsense.

    • Also the cringey nature of every single podcast scene? I have to almost ignore these parts entirely because of how bad they are. It’s as though someone wrote this script and then a team of woke writers came in to make it fit into today’s culture but completely missed the mark and just ended up making this vomit-inducing trash. It’s all just so embarrassing to watch.

    • I know this has been said to death, but them even doing this series without Samantha was the wrong decision. The balance is completely off, I don’t care about the new characters, none of this should ever have been made.

  • We bought this new pineapple print for the living room and I can’t wait until it’s hung up.

  • I tried the eggplant parm at Cutlets and it was pretty good but nothing to write home about.

  • In love with the new feathered evening coat I got for Christmas.

  • I tried the KFC potato chips from Walkers (brought over from the UK) and they were delicious.

Walkers KFC potato chips

  • I’m sure you saw my new hair, but incase you’re living under a rock. (Note: this is the first time in 36 years I’ve dyed my hair. Why did I want to do it? Mainly because I wanted to stop being afraid of doing it.)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Liz Heather (@lizheather)

Some things that I’m looking forward to this month: seeing The Phantom of the Opera with Nathan (his first time!), I’m excited about the return of Restaurant Week, the Bath & Body Works semi-annual sale has already started incase you like cheap candles (the hot buttered rum one is NUTS), I’m excited about making new resolutions for the year because I’m clinically insane, and I might make the trek to Governor’s Island now that it’s opened for the winter.

If you have any interest in other monthly roundups of 2021, they can be found here: November 2021, October 2021, September 2021, August 2021, July 2021, June 2021, May 2021, April 2021, March 2021, February 2021 & January 2021.

God, this city is so pretty during the holidays

TAGS: December, December Dalliances 2021, Liz Heather, monthly post, monthly roundup, Baby Dog Macintosh, Baby Dog, best tweets, new year, Christian Dior, The Brooklyn Museum, Costco candles, JG Melon, pecan pie, Charles Grodin, memoir, Bob's Burgers Christmas episodes, Mrs. Meyers Clean Day, snowdrop scent, snow drop scent, all purpose cleaner holidays, basil Method dish soap, Mushroom and Leek Bread Pudding recipe, best recipes, upstate-style roast beef sandwiches, southern baked macaroni and cheese, chocolate pumpkin pie, dill pickle chicken nuggets Burger King, Tim Hortons, Canada, gruyere cheese, Jollibee chicken sandwich, new nails, Nails For You Mississauga, Alison Roman, salted chocolate chunk shortbread cookies, demerara sugar, dairy free Boursin, Trader Joe's, Native, Native body wash seasonal, Paul Fishman, Carbone, Carbone NYC, Carbone garlic bread, Carbone pasta NYC, shapable soap, Bath and Body Works, candles, candle sale, soap sale, Zara, Broadway ticket lottery, Girl From The North Country, Bob Dylan play, Belasco Theatre NYC, Broadway NYC, Ophelia Lounge, candy cane green tea, Via Carota NYC, Irene Morales, Via Porta NYC, Dear Evan Hansen, And Just Like That, And Just Like That..., COVID, pineapple art, Cutlets NYC, feather evening coat emerald, best of Etsy, KFC potato chips, KFC potato crisps, new blonde hair, blonde hair, Radio City Music Hall NYC, Christmas NYC, things to do Christmas NYC