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LIZ HEATHER

May 2, 2025

The Best of April 2025

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


Upper East Side, April 2025

Upper East Side, April 2025

Spring marches on! Is that good? Bad? I am the wrong person to ask. But May is here so we keep going. Here’s what went down last month!

  • The best tweets of the month can be found over here.

  • I compiled a separate list of my favourite White Lotus tweets since the season ended (includes spoilers), too.

  • I read and reviewed Viola Davis’ new memoir - as well as Ina Garten’s.

  • I did that viral onion ring snack recipe and it was really good. This is definitely an end-of-times recipe, though. Absolutely not fussy in any way.

Viral onion rings snack recipe

  • Nathan and I went to Central Park for the first time without Baby Dog and it was brutal but nice at the same time. Why does it feel like every person on earth right now has at least four dogs? It’s an epidemic.

Central Park, April 2025

  • The gluten-free restaurant Thyme & Tonic remains my favourite place on the Upper West Side. That popcorn chicken is everything.

Gluten-free popcorn chicken at Thyme & Tonic, Upper West Side

  • The mini cubano at Guantanamera reminded me (and fell flat) of how good the best cubano on this planet is at La Cubana in Toronto. So that was sad.

  • The summer felt friends were released and I might have bought them all because their faces bring me joy. (Nope, absolutely nobody’s depressed over here.)

Okay, but I would die for them

  • The happy hour at STK midtown might be one of the most reasonably-priced places still in this city. With a patio, too!

Happy hour at STK midtown

  • I saw a few shows!

    • Death Becomes Her - absolutely wonderful. The costumes were beyond gorgeous and fun. It was really funny and everyone did such a great job. Better than the movie.

    • Wonderful Town - so good! My dear friend Jessie is in it, but I swear I’m not biased at all. I loved the dancing; there isn’t enough modern tap these days.

    • Maybe Happy Ending - a new level of terrible. More thoughts over here.

  • I started using hydrocolloid bandages (that I cut up to smaller sizes) instead of branded pimple patches (that are more expensive) and they’ve been working so well. Such a cheaper option and they are way bigger than the Mighty Patch ones.

  • I made this egg and sweet potato dish that came out great, so I’ve already made it a few more times.

Sweet potato egg boat

  • I gave in and bought a night serum: the Trader Joe’s one. Might return it though because my face has been flakier than normal lately, so maybe that’s why? I don’t know what the hell to do with my face. Can I just let it be a face… can that be a thing?

I refuse to learn what retinol is or why I need it please don’t tell me

  • I did this plant hack (below) and it really helped, new leaves are growing and it’s wild.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jill Dinnan (@curly_plant_mom)

  • I got pistachio milk in a cappuccino the other day and I hope they never stop introducing new nut milks (ick, sorry that’s a terrible phrase). Just when you think they’re done, there’s another one that tastes great.

  • The best frozen yogurt (the really tart kind) is back at Madison Fare. Cannot recommend enough.

Madison Fare frozen yogurt

  • Levain Bakery has limited edition lemon cookies and black and white cookies right now and they’re so good. Such a perfect host/hostess gift.

I don’t usually endorse cookies that are $5+ but these are the exception to the rule

  • Yes the gluten-free pizza at Rubirosa is good, but do not sleep on their caesar salad. Unbelievable.

  • And speaking of caesars, L’Industrie Pizzeria makes a special sandwich each Wednesday so I tried their chicken caesar and it blew my mind right to pieces. I was going to request that they omit the banana peppers on it because I thought that I didn’t like them, but I kept them on anyway because maybe my tastebuds have changed (I accidentally had a black olive a few months ago and it actually tasted good??) so of course it tasted incredible. It was honestly one of the greatest sandwiches I’ve ever had in this whole city. The lesson? Maybe you don’t know everything about yourself.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by L'industrie Pizzeria ™️ (@lindustriebk)

  • Some things I watched:

    • Leaving Las Vegas - I’d never seen it before and never will again. Just awful. Anyone who liked it might be a moron.

    • Black Mirror (newest season) - my favourite episodes were definitely Common People and Eulogy. The Issa Rae one was appallingly bad.

Some things I’m looking forward to this month: there’s a wedding at the end of the month that’ll be a nice weekend getaway so that’ll be fun, I really want to see the new Stranger Things on Broadway, and Marla comes for a visit! All great things.

You can read last month’s roundup over here.

Sunset in Queens

TAGS: Liz Heather, April 2025, monthly, monthly post, monthly roundup, Levain Bakery, lemon cookie NYC, black and white cookie NYC, sunset, sunset Queens, cherry blossoms, Central Park, red tulips, Jon Adams, Viola Davis, Ina Garten, viral onion ring recipe, viral recipe, Thyme & Tonic, best popcorn chicken NYC, Upper West Side, Upper East Side, midtown, midtown happy hour, STK midtown, Guantanamera, mini cubano sandwich NYC, La Cubana, summer felt friends duo, Death Becomes Her, Wonderful Town, Jessie Hooker-Bailey, Maybe Happy Ending, Broadway NYC, Broadway, broadway play NYC, best of Broadway, Mighty Patch, healing pimples, hydrocolloid bandages, egg and sweet potato dish, Trader Joe's night serum, face serum, plant hack, plant growing hack, pistachio milk, Madison Fare, best frozen yogurt, best frozen yogurt NYC, Madison Fare frozen yogurt, Rubirosa, L'Industrie, best sandwich NYC, Leaving Las Vegas, Black Mirror, Issa Rae


April 22, 2025

Finding Me By Viola Davis - A Review

by Liz Heather in Reviews


Available here

Available here

The main reason I wanted to read Viola Davis’ memoir was entirely because of this short clip (below).

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Real Woman (@real.woman._)

And I’m so glad that I did. What an incredible woman. Favourite parts ahead.

  • “Memories are immortal. They’re deathless and precise.”

  • “That period of my life was filled with shame. The feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you have stage fright or humiliation. Shame completely eviscerates you, destroys any sense of pride you may have in yourself.”

  • “Success pales in comparison to healing.”

  • “May you live long enough to know why you were born.” - Cherokee birth blessing

  • “Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall.” - Ray Bradbury

  • “Everybody has secrets. Everybody. I guess the difference is that we either die with them and let them eat us up, or we wrestle with them (or they wrestle with us) until we… reconcile. Secrets are what swallow us.”

  • “Life is happening as your career is happening. Stone-cold life. I realized my joy is not just attached to artistic fulfillment, but life fulfillment.”

  • “A mutual friend of ours, Tommy Hollis, told me a story about Danitra. He said he saw a performance art piece of hers called “The Feminist Stripper.” She came onstage and began to take off items of clothing. She had music playing and was cracking jokes while stripping. Everyone was on the floor laughing and egging her on! She got down to her thong and her back turned to the audience, tantalizing them before ripping off her bra. She then turns around and reveals her mastectomy scar; a big X made of tape covered the scar. There was a collective silence, a brutal quiet in the room. They were forced to contend with the woman who was in that body and not just the body itself. Tommy said his heart stopped and he would never forget that experience. She died about two months later. When she passed her final words were, “Y’all have a parade.””

  • “Success is wonderful, but it’s not who you are. Who you are is measured by something way more abstract and emotional, ethereal, than outward success.”

  • “I know for sure what we dwell on is what we become.” (This was her quoting Oprah, but still including it.)

  • “My biggest discovery in life was that you can literally re-create your life. You can redefine it. You don’t have to live in the past.”

  • “Forgiveness is giving up all hope of a different past.”

  • “The purpose of life is to live it.”

  • “Even if the Oscar had never happened, it would have still been a defining moment for me. It was an overflow of blessings that I could not even possibly have imagined for myself. What I have realized since is that those moments of feeling alive are part of a continuum. You find that moment. You bask in it. Then as soon as it passes, life becomes about chasing the next moment. I now understand that life, and living it, is more about being present. I’m now aware that the not-so-happy memories lie in wait; but the hope and joy also lie in wait.”

Such an incredible read, especially for actors/performers.

TAGS: Viola Davis, Viola Davis book, Viola Davis Finding Me, Viola Davis memoir, great memoir, actor memoir, actress memoir, Liz Heather, great books, books, book review, Finding Me book, self love