Have you ever had a month that seemed to go by fast, but when you think about the stuff you did at the beginning of said month, seemed so long ago? That’s how I felt about May. It was long and full of fun stuff to do, which was very necessary to pull me out of a funk. Here’s what happened on the food front:

• I went back to Fring’s, this time with my OGs Libby and Carole (that’s Original Gastroposters, by the way), plus Tasty G. We didn’t order any of the same dishes as my first visit, so I feel like I’m systematically working my way through the menu.  We all started off with a Sauga City Mule and then shared: roasted butternut squash toast, crispy chicken sliders, rock shrimp tempura, crispy lump crab cakes, beef short rib tacos, braised beef poutine and mushroom truffle papperdelle. I loved EVERYTHING, except we ordered a monkey bread dessert and it was underwhelming to say the least. Going back with Kristine at the end of June and I can’t wait.
• There’s a small brewery on Victoria Street near my work that keeps shutting down and re-opening every few years, and has just re-opened once again, calling itself Batch. I went here after work for a quick bite and loved everything about it. The highlight for me was the mac & cheese app we shared, with pickled jalapenos and fried breadcrumbs. Need to go back here immediately.
• All my Mom wanted to do for Mother’s Day this year was go out for NACHOS, so we did just that and then ate this Hazelnut Dacquoise for dessert.
• I met up with Tasty G again, plus her friend Mel, at The Craft in Liberty Village for drunch (drunk brunch), and it was so good. I had a fried chicken BLT on a waffle and we all split a blueberry skillet pancake. I tried a blueberry blonde beer, which was amazing, and another one with watermelon. I love this place.
• My 7 months pregnant friend Nicole came over for dinner to kick off the long weekend, and we had the first dinner of the year on my balcony. I made Smitten Kitchen’s Everyday Meatballs and Perfect Garlic Bread, and we had this vegan chocolate cake (sans frosting) for dessert. Not really a meal that screams summer, but it was so satisfying. Tangent alert: I had been eating vegetarian at home for almost two months before making this.
• Also had the first barbecue dinner of the year at my parents on the long weekend: burgers, corn on the cob, and a kale salad made by me!
• Meg and I went to dinner while our foodie friends were touring Chicago and I have three words for you: DORITOS. CHICKEN. FINGERS. Are these delicious morsels available at a trendy food truck or a hipster dive somewhere? Nope, they’re at Kelsey’s, and we’re not ashamed.

Other non-foodie things I was obsessed with this month:

• FORMATION WORLD TOUR!!! (But it has to be said, once you’ve been in the front row for a Beyonce concert, nothing can ever measure up #sorry #iaintsorry)
• I finally finished Pride & Prejudice this month, after about four weeks of struggling through it (the writing from 1813 is no joke) because one of my favourite authors, Curtis Sittenfeld wrote a modern retelling of it called Eligible, which I proceeded to tear through in three days. It’s hands down my favourite book of 2016 so far. Curtis was at the Toronto Reference Library for a talk and I went to see her with my Book Club girls. She’s so smart and funny, I totally swooned over her.
• It was so fun/stressful having the Raptors advance through to the second and third rounds of the NBA Playoffs this month, and I got to go to Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals with my friend Andrew. It was a blast, and they WON!
• Summer Movie Season has officially begun and this month I saw: Captain America Civil War, Mother’s Day, Neighbours 2, X-Men: Apocalypse and The Nice Guys. Whew. June is pretty slow, and then thing’ll heat up again in July with Ghostbusters and Jason Bourne. Shout to my 6 months pregnant friend Alexis for booking all our summer movies in her calendar to keep us on track before she has this bebe!!