March 5, 2025

The Best of January & February 2025

by Liz Heather in Food, Ideas, Links, Movies, Personal, Television

The beginning of this year has been rough to say the least. There’s no way to know when things might get easier, but in the meantime - here’s what went down these past two months.

The best tweets of January can be found here and the best tweets of February can be found here.
Very in love with this Patcha Soap Co. salt scrub I got from Healthy Planet. A salt scrub is forever a good gift, especially the Sabon ones.
I ate at the gluten-free place Gud Daae on Lakeshore and it was so good.

I’ve come to the newish conclusion that Sephora has nothing for me. Every single time I enter that store, I feel an alarming amount of rage. Stop telling women what they need.
Andrew Dismukes has been so good on SNL lately. I’m not sure how I didn’t notice this sooner.
I took my niece Maya to see Come From Away and it was even better than the New York production (maybe because the accents were better?).

I bought (and had tailored) these Gap jeans and I also bought a pair of tan loafers. Really testing out a new aesthetic here.
I finally tried out the Mel Brooks idea of slicing a bagel into three parts instead of two and I feel enlightened.

Mel Brooks is a genius mainly because of this idea

I took the kids to a maple syrup farm (Elliot Tree Farm) because it should be law that every Canadian child must see how sap is made at some point. Of course their gift shop had some gems (below).

I cancelled my Costco membership because I’m trying to support less American companies, so I found Bulk Mart (which is Canadian) and it’s great so far.
Some things I watched:
- The Substance - such a great movie. The sounds/audio was brutal to hear at times, but all in all one of the best movies of last year for sure.
- Babygirl - loved it.
- Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action (documentary) - pretty despicable, hard to watch.
- Child Star (documentary) - it was good, but there was too much of a focus on Demi Lovato (which makes sense because she made it) but I was expecting less of her.
- Enlightened - I hated Laura Dern’s character so much that it made it hard to watch.
- The Apprentice (movie) - meh. But Jeremy Strong was fantastic.
- The Resort - the first half of the series was good, but then it took a turn.
- Mommy Meanest - I love watching a bad Lifetime TV movie maybe once a year.
- Little Women (the 90s one) - how have I never seen this before? Absolutely loved it.
- Big Little Lies - I was expecting more since the cast is so wild, but it kind of sucked. I really don’t think Laura Dern is a good actress and the writing was so bad.
- Succession (rewatch) - Logan is so much funnier upon second viewing, I didn’t notice that before.
- Lost (rewatch) - still great. Still can’t really explain the ending.
- The Last Showgirl - I do like Pamela Anderson but wow is she a bad actress. Also Jamie Lee Curtis overacts in every single thing she does these days and Bautista was so hollow. The script was awful, but since it had a nepo director it’s not surprising that it wasn’t good. I did like that I could tell it was shot at the Rio in Vegas but otherwise, hard pass.
- Heart Eyes - love Devon Sawa, but this was nothing special. I do love a themed horror movie always, though.
- The White Lotus - god, this season sucks so far. It’s just so slow, I can’t stand it.

It would be insane if I didn’t mention it here, but Baby Dog passed away in January and everything collapsed around me. It happened quickly, but I was with her until the end and it’s hard to speak about it at all even now. Every time it snows it makes me think of her so of course there was record snowfall this year. It still doesn’t feel real, so I’m just trying to take it day by day.

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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sungjemlila Longkumer | Skincare Fanatic (@sungjemish)

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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Liz Heather (@lizheather)

November 8, 2023

October Occurrences 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Liz Heather (@lizheather)

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

Underwhelming pecan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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