Went to Shakespeare in the Park (Hamlet) for the first time and it was so, so good. Didn’t even mind the thunderstorm that happened mid-show, that’s how good it was. There was a gentle breeze of mild B.O that also wasn’t even that unpleasant. Had no idea that the Delacorte Theatre is closing after this season, so it’s especially neat that I got to go this year. ALSO I might like Shakespeare?? So many lines were ones I never realized were from Hamlet. And so many lines from Frasier too!
Saw Six on Broadway and actually liked it (loved Marla saying before it started, “I don’t understand what they’re gonna do for *80* minutes.” Hahahahah)
Drinks in the sky at Manhatta will always be a good idea
The duck confit spring rolls at happy hour at Sojourn are wild. Gotta return.
For years I’ve wondered who the hell goes to the Uno or Applebees in my neighborhood when you LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY and there are a million better options. But for whatever reason, I found myself in one this month and I’m sorry but $7 martinis are the absolute main reason to go there. I forever remain on my mission to find the deals and drink the deals.
I went on a family trip to Scotland! Full post coming this week.
Edinburgh, Scotland
Some things I watched:
The Summer I Turned Pretty - so unbelievably fun.
Dave - so great! How have I never seen it before?!
The new Indiana Jones - loved it, except for the end.
And Just Like That - okay yes it’s still terrible, but Charlotte has really been shining in the latest episodes.
Black Mirror - watched all the new episodes and I really don’t think Ayo Edebiri is a good actress. Loved Joan is Awful since it felt like a more modern Truman Show. And Josh Harnett? A god.
It Should Happen To You - I saw this when I was so young and just fell in love with the idea of someone renting a billboard solely to just see their name in big letters. Great movie.
Barbie - phenomenal. Would see again. Will continue to buy (almost) any merch.
Hi Barbie by OPI
Barbie socks from Primark in Scotland
Some things I’m looking forward to this month: I’ll continue to do things off of my summer list, I definitely want to try lane swimming at a pool in the area, I’m determined to get Baby Dog in a kiddie pool to see if she would like it and I’d love to go to a Jays game if timing permits.
The beginning of August is basically the best time of year because it ushers in the anticipation for autumn and the holidays. Am I reaching? The anticipation of something is almost as sweet as the actual arrival of whatever it is you’re waiting for.
In any case, here’s what went down last month!
You can find my favourite tweets of the month over here and here.
I went to the American Dream mall in New Jersey with my friend Diana, so thankfully I never have to go again! It’s really just a spectacle, and not in a good way. Why would you ever need a mall to have indoor skiing available? Isn’t the best part of skiing the scenery that surrounds the hills? Am I crazy? Regardless, the mall is terrible. It’s way too big, there are countless empty storefronts (because of the ludicrous rent, I’m assuming) and the furniture is gaudy as hell. Absolutely no reason to go again.
Even she is thinking, “Why are we here and what is this.”
Beautiful Diana sitting amongst the idea that money does not equal taste.
“Take me home.”
I went to Brighton Beach for the first time with my great friend Paul (who just moved back to NY) and what a fine beach it was. Not as filthy as Coney Island, but almost as nice as Rockaway. I can’t really put into words how incredible it is that he moved back here, so just know that this fact is the highlight of my summer.
Paul! In New York!
Speaking of Paul, his perfect husband Richard made us a meal one night using ground beef from Stoudemire Farms (which I’ve always wanted to try) and it was spectacular. Must remember to buy it the next time I’m at the Union Square market on a Friday.
I also went to Bar Marseille with Diana and the food was great! It’s right near Rockaway, so I wasn’t expecting a lot from a beachside place but I’d definitely go back. The steak sandwich was perfect.
It only took 18 months, but the dog volunteering that Baby Dog and I used to do is finally back! It was cancelled in February 2020 for obvious reasons and just started up again this month. It’s organized through New York Cares and it happens once a month on the Upper West Side. Essentially, you bring your dog to the auditorium of an elderly care center and any residents who love dogs come down to play with them for an hour. We do it each month and the more dogs that come the better, so I should really post about it more on Instagram. Yeah, I’ll get on that. (The next one is scheduled for August 10th, email me for more information if you’re interested.)
Can you tell how excited she is?
Since it’s Restaurant Week, Irene and I went to The Grid restaurant at the Great Jones Distillery mainly because I was intensely craving good halibut. And yes, the food was good but it’s extremely overrated. I’m sorry but no restaurant ever should charge for basic bread and butter. It’s offensive. The service was good, but you can just tell people weren’t trained very well. And for a place so new and beautiful, you’d expect a lot more.
I saw Mr. Saturday Night on Broadway and all that I can say is wow. A perfect show and a beautiful theatre. Can every single comedian in this town go see it immediately before it closes next month? It’s wildly good. I’ve never felt more seen than I did in this song sung by a comedian’s wife.
Mr. Saturday Night on Broadway, July 2022
The only time I like to drink rose is in the summer (I’m pretty original, I know) and I think I found the best tasting one of life.
Ruby Red Rose with Grapefruit
I’ve started making garlic butter almost once a week now and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop? It’s so superior to every other thing inside my fridge. Sure you could buy garlic butter, but it tastes infinitely better if you make it yourself, I promise.
Homemade garlic butter
I made this lamb bolognese from Antoni Porowski and I think it’s even better than the Alison Roman one that I love so much (it might be because I bought the coriander seeds whole and then ground them up in my spice grinder? The flavour of that individual spice is so crazy good, I had no idea). Obviously one is a fast lamb recipe and one is a leisurely one, so I’ll continue to keep both in my rotation. But you absolutely have to make the three hour one at least once to see what I’m talking about. Especially since Costco sells ground lamb now.
Antoni Porowski’s heavenly lamb bolognese
I went to the Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn for the first time and what a perfect theatre. Love that they have a beautiful bar attached (House of Wax).
Indecent Proposal is on HBO right now so I watched it for the first time and loved it.
I saw The Thomas Crown Affair and it’s such a party. I love this kind of 90s movie. Perfect in every way.
I watched the first episode of Loot and it really just wasn’t for me.
Of course I saw the whole first season of The Bear and it’s as good as everyone says it is. With the exception of the sister, I don’t know if she’s just written badly as a character or the actress is just wretched. Either way, it’s the worst part of a great show. Episode seven is clearly the best one. (Also, I badly want to make this recipe now.)
I also saw the whole first season of The Summer I Turned Pretty and this really scratched my summer/teen itch. Perfect summer show.
I started the new season of Only Murders In The Building and other than the inclusion of Amy Schumer, it’s been good so far.
I also watched Porky’s and Screwballs for some reason?? Obviously I hated both? I think I was just so desperate for an old teen movie that I haven’t seen.
After those two disasters I have no other choice but to cleanse my palette and rewatch Clueless.
My absolute favourite Cher outfit
I’ve been there a few times, but I think it’s time to declare how much I officially hateAstoria Park. The RFK bridge above makes it way too loud, the jet skis in the water blast the worst music, the grass has more brown patches than any other park in the city, the train is at least a 15 minute walk away, there are zero food or water vendors anywhere. WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE THIS PARK? God, it’s awful.
I made these cheesy poblano corn enchiladas and they were really good. In hindsight I should’ve added some shredded chicken or something to them to make them slightly heartier.
Cheesy poblano corn enchiladas
I finally went to see the Amityville house and even though they changed the eerie window frames, it’s definitely still creepy. One thing I wasn’t expecting? How nice that town is! It’s like some big secret, I think. Would totally live there.
The house from The Amityville Horror, July 2022
I made my favourite strawberry crumble coffee cake and it’s always a winner. Pro tip: use cake flour for the cake part and use regular flour for the crumble topping to really make it perfect.
Strawberry crumble coffee cake
I ate the July-only-special Emmy cheeseburger dumplings from Mimi Cheng’s and they were good but not as good as the first time I had the last year. Am I evolving past cheeseburger dumplings…? God I hope not.
Emmy Burger Dumplings (Emmy cheeseburger dumplings in collaboration with Pizza Loves Emily/Emmy Squared, dry-aged beef, aged white cheddar, crushed pretzels, caramelized onions, and Emmy Sauce) Pan-fried only. (8 pieces) $17.25
One more filthy month to go before the best time of the year! Here were the highlights of July:
So you know how much I love the banana pudding from Magnolia already, but what you don't know is that it's probably my favourite summer dessert to make and bring to parties because people go fucking nuts for it. So for July 4th this year I made it, but I also bought some Coffee Crisp chocolate bars to Canadian it up (if you're in the U.S. then you can buy them in the international foods section at Bed Bath & Beyond), then dumped those bars into a food processor to make a COFFEE CRISP CRUMBLE TO GO ATOP THE BANANA PUDDING. And it was heaven.
I ate some of the best fish tacos in NYC at Tacoway Beach in Rockaway near the beach. They're crazy simple but so good, I try to get them once a year so I never grow sick of them. Tip: definitely skip the black bean tacos AND the elote because they are both wildly unpleasing.
I made this Sweet Potato Gnocchi in Spinach Cream Sauce but full disclosure: I bought the sweet potato gnocchi already put together at Trader Joe's, and then just made the sauce from the recipe and it still tasted amazing. There's something I'll never like about buying frozen food from Trader Joe's (I feel like I haven't completely given up on life yet?), but this gnocchi is the exception (this and their cauliflower pizza crust). Will definitely be keeping this one in the food rotation because it was delicious as hell.
I read two books this month and I refuse to stop saying that out loud to people, but I guess I have to move on since it's August soon, so that sucks. The Simpsons one I read was great and the Ijeoma Oluo one was even better!
I did start to read Steve Martin's Born Standing Up and wow was it dull. Don't get me wrong, I think Steve Martin is great. But I read about half of it before collapsing in extreme dissatisfaction. IT'S SO BORING. Why do people think that it's such a good book? Famous comedians will gleefully prattle on about how great it is to one another, which is why I wanted to read it in the first place, so this just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I was going to just suck it up and keep going until I asked Nathan if it got any better and he very politely told me that it did not. Can someone tell me why it's supposed to be so good? It shoulda been called Bore Standing Up! Okay, that's not a good joke, I know, but it's better than WHAT'S GOING ON INSIDE THIS BOOK.
I tried the frozen Irish coffee at Passage in Astoria finally and... it was great! Duh.
Frozen Irish Coffee at Passage in Astoria, Queens
I watched Hannah Gadsby's Nanette on Netflix and didn't really care for it for the first half. The only reason I kept watching was because a friend of mine echoed the same thoughts of the beginning not being good but it getting good the second half. And she was completely right because the second half was powerful as hell. My real thoughts are just a general annoyance at people who plainly say, "It isn't standup." And maybe my opinion on this matters in no way since I'm not a comedian, but it just bothers me that there's this weird line of what standup should or shouldn't be, as if the idea of anything more being said with no punchline isn't worthy enough for the untouchable standup stage. She's a comedian! She said jokes! She also had more to say, which is great. Especially with what's going on in the world right now, it seems weird to purposely not want to comment on that and focus solely on what a comedian "is supposed to do." That idea just seems strange to me.
Nathan and I went to a wedding and it was fun and we looked great. Proof!
I saw a bunch of movies.
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (in theatres) - I mean, a Macarena joke made me laugh so it obviously wasn't a good movie, but some of the kids had a good time so that makes it a success.
Can't Buy Me Love (Netflix) - I'd never seen it and it's a terrible eighties movie so I kind of needed to all of a sudden. Also it was on a list of things leaving Netflix in August so I suddenly felt the urge to grab on tightly before letting it go off into the distance? That's normal?
Girls Trip (HBOGO) - I have no idea why the urge to see this movie happened inside of me. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Not good, but not horrendous.
Ibiza (Netflix) - I guess I've been having real moments lately where I've just been missing certain groups of friends and watching these ridiculous movies puts me at ease a bit maybe? I don't know, let's not analyze it. Oh! The music from this one was really great, though. Also, Gillian Jacobs' eyes are so ginormous, I'm always shocked that men aren't looking for a woman with huge eyes instead of a huge ass or boobs, makes no fucking sense to me. Her eyes are insane!
Obvious Child (Netflix) - Jenny Slate can do no wrong and of course this movie was great. Other than all the cringe-inducing standup scenes (that are supposed to be cringe-inducing, I'm assuming), it was just a nice movie. The music from this one was pretty great, too.
I tried the new Crispy Chicken at Swiss Chalet and it was really tasty because of course it was, anything fried is most likely amazing. It's funny to me that they're not just calling it fried chicken. Obviously it's purposeful too, like they're thinking that if they did call it fried chicken it'd sound too Americanized or something. That's definitely something they thought. "No, calling it Crispy Chicken just makes it seem healthier, like it was just slightly dunked into hot, frying oil and not, like, submerged for hours."
I've had an iPhone 5 for three years and the battery had gone completely to shit (ie. dying at 80%) a few weeks ago, so I took it to Mobile Klinik (outside of Wal-Mart on the first floor of Square One in Mississauga) and they replaced the battery for me within an hour and it only cost me $60 and now it's been working amazingly. They were super nice and it came with a one year warranty, so definitely keep this in mind if you're ever in need of their services.
The only thing I've ever eaten at Dominique Ansel Kitchen was the burrata soft serve ice cream from a few years ago, but I stopped by recently and had the cold pear yogurt and hot toasted granola and maaaaaaan why can't the version I make at home taste as good as theirs. WHY.
Cold Pear Yogurt & Hot Toasted Granola, Dominique Ansel Kitched
A friend told me about this great site Zaful that has gorgeous swimsuits for crazy cheap and are actually good quality. Are you even kidding me with how gorgeous those marbled ones look?!
Tried the soft serve at Tom's Dairy Freeze in Etobicoke finally and it was goooooood because all ice cream is good.
Tom's Dairy Freeze in Etobicoke, ON
I went to see the Scarborough Bluffs with Marla and some of my nieces and it's such a beautiful place. So glad we went.
Finn & Marla!
Layla, me, Maya!
It's Restaurant Week in New York right now (it actually lasts a few weeks), so I'm hoping to eat at some places I've always wanted to go to. So far I've only gone to Astor Court inside the St. Regis hotel, but it was so, so good. Here's what I had.
And that was July!
I'm a little shocked that I'm still keeping up with these monthly posts, here are the ones from May & June if you'd care to read about them.
