December Dalliances 2021
December was a complete whirlwind but when is it not? I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! Other than getting my booster (!), here’s what else went down last month.
You can find my favourite tweets of the month over here and here.
I compiled my very favourites from the year.
Here are two great things to do when a new year has begun.
I wrote about the Christian Dior exhibit at The Brooklyn Museum (which closes in February).
Did you know that Costco has candles? There’s a four candle box for $20 and they’re only two-wick each, but extremely good quality.
I don’t think I’ve ever had pecan pie before in my life (I don’t even know why, I think I thought it might be too nutty?) but I tried a slice at JG Melon and whoa. Who the hell knew?
I attempted to read Charles Grodin’s memoir and I just… I couldn’t. I don’t mean to show any disrespect, but what a bore. Some people shouldn’t write books, I simply had to softly put it down on Nathan’s desk and walk away.
Incase you need to know the Bob’s Burgers Christmas episodes in one handy chart.
I am obsessed with the snow drop scent from Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day. I’ve got the all purpose cleaner as well as the dish detergent and I’m so angry I didn’t buy any more to use throughout the year because it’s currently sold out everywhere. And look, the pine one is very good too, but the snow drop one just takes your breath away. Oh god… is this my life now… excitement over cleaning supplies scents?? End me.
Speaking of things that bum me out, I also tried the basil scented Method dish soap and Nathan and I both agree: not for us. The bottle shape is weird and the smell of basil to clean your dishes is confusing.
The best of the holiday recipes that I made over the Christmas break: Mushroom & Leek Bread Pudding, Upstate-Style Roast Beef Sandwiches, Southern Baked Macaroni & Cheese, and Chocolate Pumpkin Pie (I didn’t do the marshmallow part, I went with whipped cream instead although a rum whipped cream would have worked well, too).
The dill pickle chicken nuggets at Burger King in Canada? Shock of all shocks: not good.
But the tim biebs at Tim Hortons? Pretty good!
Food lesson I learned: gruyere does not taste good as a shredded cheese on top of garlic bread, it must be mixed into some sort of mixture to taste good since it’s way too overpowering on its own.
Tried the chicken sandwich at Jollibee and honestly? It’s a definite contender for the Popeye’s one. Really great.
New nails alert!
I finally made Alison Roman’s Salted Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies and they are fantastic. I had no idea how much I love demerara sugar, it’s that beautiful crunchy sugar that you can find atop the classiest of muffins and it’s too too good.
They have the dairy-free Boursin at Trader Joe’s! And it tastes exactly like the dairy version! Why does this excite me!
My niece Layla introduced me to the brand Native and I’m loving their holiday scented body washes (Sugar Cookie & Candy Cane).
I finally ate at Carbone with my dear friend Paul and it was good! Was it as special as the world seems to think it is? Of course not, but that reality is okay, too. The service was great, the place is beautifully decorated for the holidays and the food was very much adequate. The cons of the place are mainly due to its inaccessibility and food quality for its price. And maybe we should've gotten more meat entrees instead of only sticking with their pastas but I mean... it's an Italian restaurant... shouldn't all of their pastas wow you with a reputation like theirs? The best things we ate were the tortellini al ragu ($34) and the garlic bread (free). Both truly great. The spicy rigatoni vodka ($32) is their most celebrated pasta and honestly it was good but not at all worth the hype. The fettuccini con funghi ($32) was disappointing mainly because of the inclusion of bell peppers... why put bell peppers in such a dish? Such a gross flavour with the creaminess of a soft fettuccine. I really did want to love this place, but there are far superior Italian places in this city (L'Artusi, Lilia, Portale). Take your money elsewhere.
I’ve never even heard of shapable soap, but I bought a can from Bath & Body Works (it’s on sale for $5 right now) and it’s so fun to use. Kids especially seem to love it. Apparently they only have them around the holidays but there are four scents to choose from.
I bought this faux leather vest from Zara that I love and have absolutely no idea how to style.
I won a lottery ticket to see Girl From The North Country and it was really good, I sat in the second row from the front and I might be ruined forever because seeing a play that close was unreal and so cool. Also, seeing the Belasco Theatre was a dream. Also, Austin Scott can GET IT.
Had a drink at the Ophelia Lounge and the view is wonderful, but the drinks and food aren’t terribly special.
The candy cane green tea at Trader Joe’s? Award-winning.
Finally ate at Via Carota with Irene on her birthday and it was really good. All the pastas were wonderful, skip the rice balls.
I made my way to Via Porta (the smaller, casual outpost of the L’Artusi crew) to get some of their jarred sauces and I was a little disappointed unfortunately. It just didn’t taste the same as in the restaurant. I only tried the bolognese one, so maybe the mushroom ragu will be better? I’ll definitely give it one more try, especially since they’re supposed to start selling their fresh pasta in the coming weeks. (Also, the baked goods they’re selling are extremely good.)
My friend Casey kindly invited me to the dress rehearsal of Dear Evan Hansen and I’m so happy to have seen it! But good lord, never again. The music is mostly wonderful and the actors were great, but every other aspect of the production? Yikes. Forever love seeing something on Broadway, though.
My And Just Like That… thoughts (spoilers ahead):
God, where do I begin…
In a time when death, sickness and darkness literally surrounds our every waking moment, why in the world would a team of writers want to start out a “beloved” series with the death of a major character? I mean… read the room??? Why start an entirely new season with grief? On what planet does this make sense? Especially when you have these characters living in this post pandemic existence that still isn’t a reality here and now? It’s nonsense.
Also the cringey nature of every single podcast scene? I have to almost ignore these parts entirely because of how bad they are. It’s as though someone wrote this script and then a team of woke writers came in to make it fit into today’s culture but completely missed the mark and just ended up making this vomit-inducing trash. It’s all just so embarrassing to watch.
I know this has been said to death, but them even doing this series without Samantha was the wrong decision. The balance is completely off, I don’t care about the new characters, none of this should ever have been made.
We bought this new pineapple print for the living room and I can’t wait until it’s hung up.
I tried the eggplant parm at Cutlets and it was pretty good but nothing to write home about.
In love with the new feathered evening coat I got for Christmas.
I tried the KFC potato chips from Walkers (brought over from the UK) and they were delicious.
I’m sure you saw my new hair, but incase you’re living under a rock. (Note: this is the first time in 36 years I’ve dyed my hair. Why did I want to do it? Mainly because I wanted to stop being afraid of doing it.)
Some things that I’m looking forward to this month: seeing The Phantom of the Opera with Nathan (his first time!), I’m excited about the return of Restaurant Week, the Bath & Body Works semi-annual sale has already started incase you like cheap candles (the hot buttered rum one is NUTS), I’m excited about making new resolutions for the year because I’m clinically insane, and I might make the trek to Governor’s Island now that it’s opened for the winter.
If you have any interest in other monthly roundups of 2021, they can be found here: November 2021, October 2021, September 2021, August 2021, July 2021, June 2021, May 2021, April 2021, March 2021, February 2021 & January 2021.
You can see more posts like this on my latest newsletter.
Mom Says
“The first dream you have in the new year will come true.”
New Year's Eve
And don't forget about what needs to get done today.
2014 Resolutions Revisited
I'm a big fan of resolutions. New Years ones. Birthday ones. I think I just love any type of list. And it's extremely hard to keep your New Year's resolutions, yes. But I think the real problem is that we're not making the right resolutions. In order to avoid the cliched and terrible resolutions we've all heard a billion times, I think the secret of making good resolutions is to make ones that don't automatically set you up for failure. Example: Vowing to "Go to yoga more" is a lot less daunting of a resolution than promising to "Go to yoga two times a week." Does that make sense? Another tip? Don't make monthly goals, make seasonal goals. Four seasons sounds a lot roomier and more relaxed than twelve months do in my mind, but maybe that's just me.
In any case, I try to come up with good resolutions and here are what my 2014 ones were, if you were interested.
Check Facebook only once a day and take Sundays off.
Did this happen? Not even close. But I definitely went on it way less than in 2013. This is where I learned that I shouldn't be so restrictive since I'll be less successful in the long-run if I have ridiculous expectations.
Watch at least three documentaries a month.
This resolution might make me sound like a loser who yearns to be cooler by being more into documentaries and that's exactly right. I did it and yet I'm not cooler than you somehow.
Read at least two books a season.
Did it! Yeah!
Try two things off Pinterest a season.
Did it! Gonna do it again.
Apply for editor jobs at least five times a week.
Hahahah, didn't even remember this was on the list. Tip #2: Don't make long resolution lists.
Volunteer at least once a month.
Did it only for the first seven months. Fuck.
Do pilates at least five times a month.
Did this every month with the exception of stupid September. Goddam you September.
Juice at least four times a week.
Nope! Nowhere NEAR that many times. This one was way too lofty. Gotta aim lower for next year.
Never Google Kim Kardashian again.
COMPLETED! And this one felt good. I used to Google her a lot in 2013 to see her different outfits and pretty face and body and etc., but it was harming me more than helping me so I wanted to stop and I did.
Stop reading The Frisky.
This was a hard one, but I accomplished it. Maybe it doesn't seem difficult to you to stop reading something, but it was. I used to go on that site maybe twice a day, every day. And then somewhere along the way it became way less about women-centered topics and interesting articles to focussing more on pregnant celebrities and top ten worst dressed lists. I had to stop.
As you can see, I wasn't entirely successful - but the things that did happen? I'm pretty proud of those. I also wrote down every day that I either went to the gym or went to pilates last year and figured out that I went 137 days out of 365. That's 37.5% of an entire year that I was at the gym. Do you know how insane that is considering I hadn't given a fuck about exercise for, oh, say 27 years? 37.5%! I think that's incredible. And obviously I'm not saying that everyone needs to go to a gym, but, like, that's insane for me and makes me crazy happy to accomplish something so (typically speaking) out of character.
I'm still thinking of some new ones for 2015, so when I do there will be a post about that in a few days. This was an especially self-indulgent post AND I'M NOT SORRY!
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