Lake Ontario
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.
Chicken caesar wrap at Bobwhite Counter
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.
Airport pickup!
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.
It’s an illness, really
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.
Blue Mountain, Ontario
Before the Ridge Runner Mountain Coaster
On the mountain coaster!
Swimming in the rain >>
Sunset w/ Layla, Blue Mountain
Parents, Blue Mountain
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.
Worth every penny
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.
Marla w/ the best gifts
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
Oxtail poutine, I love this country
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.
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).
Tianna at the cidery
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.
Activate in Mississauga, ON
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.
Rainbow sherbert for life
I know it’s early, but the pumpkin pie M&Ms are outrageously good.
Pumpkin pie M&Ms
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…
Baby Dog in my baby blanket
If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in June over here.