This month ended with a double vaxx and you can see how I feel about that as pictured above! Ready to have a fun summer, see my friends IRL and actually be able to eat treats together instead of dropping them on doorsteps! Here’s what led up to my second shot:

  • My friend Erin came to visit and brought me a whole bunch of rhubarb from her yard. Naturally, the next step was to make homemade Pop-Tarts with strawberry rhubarb filling! I loosely followed Claire’s old Gourmet Makes episode, and even made sprinkles out of royal icing. They turned out so cute, and tasted fantastic, but probably not something I’d make again.
  • Ever since my friend Jen told me she was moving back to Canada from Switzerland, an idea for her welcome home cake was percolating in the back of my mind. I remembered Dinner with Julie made a double-double cake years ago, and I ran with that. Two layers of chocolate cake, coffee frosting (with actual double-double mixed in), decorated with Timbits. It was so cute and she and her family loved it! Yay!
  • We had a virtual baby shower for my co-worker and I ordered her these Letterbox Doughnuts which were a big hit! You can spell out anything you want, plus pick out colours for the glaze, and sprinkles. Probably going to order some for my birthday in October!
  • And now the regular recap of what I was cooking this month, broken down into three categories (I made a bunch of new recipes that I didn’t really like, so there’s not much to report):
  • Stuff I made from the archives: Buffalo Chicken Nachos for The Bachelorette premiere, Strawberry & Goat Cheese Fritter Salad, Goat Cheese & Arugula Pizza (forgot how good all of these are!)
  • Some of my favourite go-to dishes: Swedish Meatballs with rice and broccoli.
  • New things that I tried and liked: Pecan Crusted Salmon (with My Favourite Mashed Potatoes and more broccoli), plus I’m not ashamed to say I discovered these new chopped salad mixes at Sobey’s (Taylor Farms brand) and ate countless bags of those when it was too hot to cook this month. Fave one so far is the Dill Pickle one!
  • Take-out: I finally went to Lezzet Shawarma! I heard about Lezzet on Twitter a while ago when someone was calling it the best shawarma in the GTA, and then my friend Su was hyping it up to me on IG recently, so I made the trip over. Shawarma is the one main joy in my life, and this was SO GOOD! I had a chicken shawarma wrap, garlic potatoes and baklava for a treat. It was all delicious, and I can’t wait to go back to try the falafel!

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

  • The Bachelorette is back, and I’m ready to declare this is the most boring season since Desiree. I just don’t think Katie is charismatic enough to carry the season, and I’m not obsessed with any of the guys! (Obviously still watching though)
  • I watched some fantastic TV this month that I’m really excited to recommend. My friend Becca reminded me of the show Shrill, which I started but never finished. I watched it from the beginning, and it just got better and better! Sadly Season 3 is the last season. I also watched Starstruck, recommended on the Jam Session podcast, which is like a really cute, quick, updated Notting Hill. My last show was High Fidelity, which I thought dragged a bit in the middle, but I ended up liking it.
  • I read a lot this month and loved everything I read: Seven Days in June, That Summer and Malibu Rising, which was our bookclub pick. All fantastic summer reads!

Flashback!