June started off with my quick trip to LA, and followed up by the pure joy of a Raptors Championship and lots more fun! Here’s what was going on:
- After walking by it every weekday for the past couple of years, I finally went to the Union Summer Market with my friend Krishna. It’s a cute little outdoor space set up on Front Street outside Union Station with vendors from around the city selling snacks and treats. I had a Hopcity Big Tiki Tropical Punch Blonde that I really liked, and we shared some guac & chips and esquítes from El Catrin.
- For Father’s Day this year, my mom and dad came over for dinner with lamb chops (for my Dad) and chicken kabobs (for my Mom and me) that they grilled at home. I made some roasted potatoes and green beans with crispy garlicky breadcrumbs as our sides. Dessert was these Rhubarb Custard Bars.
- Heather and I went to Bandit Brewery to grab a bite before going to a screening of She’s All That at Revue Cinema. I tried their Mr. Pink (a Watermelon Hibiscus Pale Ale) which was delicious.
- My mom’s dental hygienist brought me some of her rhubarb harvest (yes, this is a thing that happens every year, and I love it), and I made this Rhubarb Snacking Cake, which is actually just a version of these from the archives. I overbaked it a bit, but it was still gobbled up by my co-workers.
- I met my friends Sarah & Jen down at Harbourfront (which I never think to do!) for drinks and snacks at The Goodman and while both were underwhelming (our pitcher of rosé sangria was definitely just a bottle of rosé with a splash of cranberry juice and a handful of blueberries dumped on top) our table right on the water and a long night of laughs totally made up for it.
- Meg invited me to go strawberry picking with her and her daughters, and I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever been happier just squatting in a strawberry field filling up two big baskets of berries that were warm from the sun. We went to Stonehaven Farms and it was perfect.
- I closed out the month with a Sunday Funday with Weedy & Krishna! We went on a long walk to Sugar Beach and then returned to have a BBQ on Krishna’s condo’s patio terrace. My friends are amazing cooks, as evidenced by the pictures you see above and below. Krishna made grilled tandoori chicken with red onion and cilantro, spicy shrimp, marinated Portobello mushrooms, a corn salad and garlic bread, while Weedy grilled garlicky asparagus, plus fresh pineapple slices with peanut sauce. My contribution to the day was, no lie, the best pie I have every made in my life, which deserves it’s own blog post (spoiler alert: it involved the strawberries I picked the day before!).
Other non-foodie things I was obsessed with this month:
- It still feels like a dream, but the Raptors won the CHAMPIONSHIP!!! Such a joy, and so fun to see the whole city going crazy. I shall now spend the rest of the summer paying off my credit card bill for all the merch I bought after Game 6!
- For the last burst of Raptors fever, Sarah and I went to a live taping of Danny Green’s Inside the Green Room podcast with Nav the Superfan and Freddie Van Vleet! It was a perfect way to cap off our championship run.
- I also had a fantastic month of reading, which I feel like I haven’t had in a while. Daisy Jones & The Six has so much buzz right now, and for good reason. I loved the way it was written (like a magazine article’s oral history) and I’m sure this will be made into a movie. After finishing my Friends re-watch, I was so excited to read I’ll Be There For You, which is a history of the show, some behind the scenes goss, and a look at why it’s still so popular so long after going off the air. Finally, Jennifer Weiner’s new book Mrs. Everything is incredible and left me in tears. It’s now my third favourite of her books, after Good in Bed and In Her Shoes.
- After the Raptors won, I realized I was so behind in my summer movies, so Kristine and I started our catch-up with Booksmart, which I loved and need to watch again immediately.
Flashback!
Leave a Comment