That was the fastest month of all time, yeah? Here’s what happened!

I continued to write my Summer Saturdays series.
The best tweets of the month are over here.
Took my brother and nephews to do an impromptu cake tasting!

Speaking of cakes, are we all aware of how good the La Rocca ones are? I tried their strawberry white chocolate this month and it was delicious. Their best one remains the caramel crunch one, though. Best grocery store cakes of all time.

My niece Tianna and I stayed at Pillar and Post in Niagara-On-The-Lake and it was absolutely perfect. I tried bone marrow for the first time (I see the appeal) and it was a perfect little getaway. (Also, a gorgeous lavender field is only minutes away.)

I was craving green curry (but not wanting to pay $30 for it from a restaurant) so I made one at home with onions, peas, chicken and store-bought green curry sauce and it was insanely satisfying. Also, lasted me a full week. I have to remember to do this again.
The house-made garlic and chive cream cheese from The Cheese Boutique is heavenly.
I’ve been living in this Aritzia burgundy sweatshirt.
Beyond excited for this project.
Nathan and I went to Montreal (best thing about a road trip? McDonald’s $1 any-sized iced coffee + the free DoubleTree warm cookie) and had such a great time. First time trying their bagels and good god - eons better than New York ones. No one told me. Only regret of the trip? Not ordering this onion block from The Cage.

And this should be obvious, but Quebec cheese curds are otherworldly. There is no substitution.

Officially in love with the Montreal brand Mimi and August (thank you, Marla!).

I will always stop at The Big Apple when we pass it on the highway. Right now they have incredible nectarines and apple cheddar bread. (We also stopped at Primitive Designs because why not?)

Apple cheddar bread from The Big Apple in Ontario

Yearning to eat this beef stroganoff with caramelized mushrooms and crispy onions.
Had my bridal shower and it was overwhelmingly nice. I made my favourite lemon sorbet with mascarpone for dessert (I will use any excuse to make these, they’re so good). And these honey jars are such a perfect party favour (note: you do have to fill them yourself, like some sort of sap).

This is really a reminder to myself to never use booking.com again. I’m 40, I should know better. Stop using third party websites for booking anything. They’re all terrible when it comes to changing plans.
These are officially the hottest, most comfortable heels I now own so I should probably buy two more pairs.
I ate the greatest samosas of all time from the Lakeview Farmers Market at Zesty Fusions. Also had an incredible gluten free breakfast sandwich from Gud Daae and a great iced flat white from Delicious All Day Coffee.
Current snack on repeat: Nutella on Dad’s Cookies. I can’t stop.
Some things I watched:
- Fatal Attraction: wow, I rewatch this movie a lot. Might need to look into that.
- A rerun of the Lady Gaga SNL: fantastic. Love her.
- Single White Female: great! Can’t believe I hadn’t seen it before.
- The Bear: I can’t stand how much Eyo says “like.” Other than that, the season was fine? Not enough scenes with Will Poulter.
- And Just Like That: live long enough and you’ll grow to hate Aiden. It’s a blessing that this show is coming to an end. Also, Miranda’s character progression has never made any sense to me.
- I Know What You Did Last Summer: I actually liked it! I won’t ruin the ending, but I truly hated that part of it.

Some things I’m looking forward to this month: OH I WONDER.

You can read last month’s roundup over here.

The last monthly post of a year that was intense and full of change! Here’s what went down last month.

The best tweets of December can be found over here.
I recapped how my autumn list of things to do went.
The President’s Choice Elk Crossing ice cream is unbelievably good.

The restaurant Earl’s put out a cookbook and I can’t stop making their chicken hunan kung pao.
I found out that the house from the movie The Santa Clause is in Oakville, so I had to drive past it. And look at their perfect decorations.

I found a dupe recipe for the Levain dark chocolate peanut butter chip cookies and I truly can’t tell the difference.

Got a Philly cheesesteak from Gladiator Burger and wow. Will definitely return.
I will fully admit that crumbl cookies are overrated, but their monthly dessert specials are wondrous. Look at this eggnog tres leche (below). She’s beautiful.

I perused the new Half Baked Harvest cookbook and it’s absolutely nothing revolutionary, there’s a cheeseburger pasta in it for christsake. I still think we should force a limit on how many books a food blogger can release.
I did make these white wine mushroom stuffed shells and they were (as most HBH recipes are) probably too cheesy, but the vegetarians liked them so I guess it was a win.

I also made this slow cooker roast and it was so easy and perfect for lunch sandwiches on Christmas day. And secured the greatest (Canadian)grocery store cake: the caramel crunch cake.

Ate at this great Mexican place The Mule in Hamilton.

Some things I watched:
- Die Hard - yes, it’s insane that I’ve never seen it before now. So good.
- Challengers - LOVED Zendaya’s character. Second favourite movie of the year (first was Anora). Only question was HOW was that hotel bed that big??
- Jagged Edge - pretty good. I love this genre of movies (80s/early 90s thriller/mystery).
- Carry On - anticlimactic ending, but overall not terrible.
- Nosferatu - liked it! Honestly it could’ve just been the fun of who I saw it with, but truly hard to tell.
These little guys (below) continue to make me smile each day.

Some things that I’m looking forward to this month: I’m going to start using this first-of-the-month checklist again and I’ll recap my resolutions from last year as well as make new 2025 ones.

If you have any interest in the other monthly roundups of 2024, they can be found here: November, October, September, August, July, June, May, April, March, February and January.

The Best of July 2025

December Dalliances 2024