It was quiet here this month because while I baked a lot, nothing was new or needed a dedicated blog post! Instead I’ll just share pictures of a couple cakes below because they were both so cute! I should have more to share next month though:

  • I kicked off the month with a Pride Bake Sale, and donated the funds to the Notso Amazon Softball League that Weedy & Heini play in! I wanted to celebrate queer joy this month and put something good out into the universe after witnessing an upsetting display of transphobia earlier this year. I didn’t make anything new, but for my own future reference, here’s what went in these treat boxes: Confetti Cookies, Chocolate Chip Blondies, Mango Sugar Cookies (basically the strawberry portion of these Neapolitan Cookies with freeze-dried mango instead of strawberry), Strawberry Lemon Squares (swapped peaches for strawberries and added lemon zest to this recipe)
  • On my way home from the Peel District Courthouse (where I dodged Jury Duty yet again!) I passed Nani’s Gelato and made a mental note to go back when I needed a treat. I returned for a swirl of Cookie Butter & Vanilla Bean soft serve and it was stellar.
  • Jen, Krishna and I took a mini-road trip to West Avenue Cider House for an afternoon and had the best time sitting in their orchard, trying some cider, and snacking on a charcuterie board and pizza.
  • It was my cubicle neighbour’s birthday and she’s a huge Harry Potter fan, so I made a Butterbeer Cake (which didn’t end up tasting all that much like anything) and decorated it like Hagrid’s birthday cake for Harry and it couldn’t have turned out better (in my opinion):
  • We had a “Disconnect Day” at work, so I shut off all my phones and did something I have wanted to do for about ten years: went to Mildred’s Temple Kitchen for a leisurely brunch. I basically treated this as a three course meal and loved every single bite. I started with a oat milk latte and current scone with apple butter, followed up with the day’s special which was toasted sourdough with goat cheese, sautéed mushrooms, poached egg, balsamic drizzle and chives, and finished with one of their iconic pancakes topped with blueberry compote and whipped cream. Probably my best meal of the year so far.
  • For Father’s Day, we went to dinner at Sotiris, which I usually love, but was kind of a bust this year (it took over an hour to get our food?!) but hopefully Alison Roman’s Old-Fashioned Strawberry Cake from her new book Sweet Enough made up for it!
  • My friend Nat got married at the end of the month, and I knew from earlier this year that she wasn’t having a wedding cake. She said it was too expensive and she wasn’t really fussed about it. I decided I just couldn’t let this stand, so made a little cake for her and Curt to snack on at the end of the night, and had their hotel drop it off to their room. Nat said there were some tears when it was dropped off, she made the photographer take professional pictures of it, and Curt had it for breakfast the next day. All around success! Oh yeah – it was my go to Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Buttercream, and I had to put Drake lyrics on top of course.

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

  • I got all dressed up to go to a fancy charity fundraiser my work puts on every year: Scrubs in the City! The city theme this year was Mykonos so we had some Greek bites, a signature cocktail and so much fun.
  • I’m trying to cross some things off my Summer Bucket List this year that I’ve always wanted to do, and not only did I go to the Toronto Pride Parade but I walked in it with Weedy and their co-workers! It was so fun and the energy along the route was electric. Can’t believe it took me this long to go.
  • I read A LOT this month, but I’ll just mention the best of what I read here. In honour of Pride Month, I read We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib, which was a fantastic read about immigrating to Canada from Pakistan in the ’90s and the author’s journey to finding their way back to their faith. I missed Nora Goes Off Script last year, and devoured it in about two days -perfect sunny summer beach (or balcony in my case) read. Curtis Sittenfeld recommended Everything’s Fine on Twitter so I knew I would love it and it was so, so great.

Flashback!