September always feels like a race to cram in a few more summer things while the weather is still nice, before making a hard pivot to chai lattes and prepping for Thanksgiving. I didn’t cook that much this month, but here’s what I did get up to:

  • I took a little road trip to Waterloo to walk around my old university campus, and then went to Lenjo Bakes to pick up some treats! I’ve been following this bakery on IG since it opened in 2020 and was so excited to finally get to visit! I picked up some savoury breakfast pies, macarons, and my hands-down favourite: Peach Bourbon Hand Pies. It’s such a cute, welcoming space and I got to chat to Lenore a little bit before I left. Definitely want to go back.
  • Erin and I had our final Life Choices dinner before her due date, and went to Piano Piano in Oakville for dinner. I had a pasta dish I’ve been dreaming about for years: Tortelli Bolognese (ricotta stuffed ravioli served over a bed of bolognese). So into it.
  • Kristine came over for a belated birthday feast, and I went with a BBQ theme! My strategy was to pick up various BBQed/smoked meats from Stack and made all the tasty sides myself. Turns out Stack is closed on Mondays (which I only realized at the last minute) so I had to pick-up from somewhere else (that I didn’t end up loving, so I can’t recommend), but all my sides were fantastic: Chips & Salsa, Loaded Potato Salad, Green Onion Slaw and Cornbread. I also made a Kit Kat Cake for dessert that expressed how Kristine truly felt about her birthday this year (pictured above, LOL).
  • I ordered myself a big feast from Coriander Green at the end of the month after my appetite returned post-bivalent vaccine. It was insanely good, and I ate it for about three days afterwards.
  • Here’s my recipe round-up for the month:
  • Stuff I made from the archives: Kale Caesar
  • Some of my favourite go-to dishes: Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps (no real recipe for this, just rotisserie chicken tossed with mayo, hot sauce, chopped celery and lots of salt and pepper, all stuffed into lettuce wraps!), Dutch Baby, Everyday Meatballs
  • New things that I tried and liked: nothing notable
  • Homemade Snacks! (a new category for as long as I keep making them): Chewy Peanut Butter Granola Bars (although these didn’t stick together for me, so don’t know if I would make them again), Banana Muffins

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

  • I finally finished my re-read of Harry Potter, which I started two years ago in Fall 2020, along with listening to the Binge Mode podcast. There were always certain parts of Deathly Hallows that I didn’t quite understand, or rushed past to get to the end, so it was nice to slow down and savour them this time around. The final steps of my journey are to go see Cursed Child in November, and then go to the Wizarding World in 2023 (and maybe get a HP tattoo?!)!
  • At long last, Alexis and I finally got to see The Weeknd after the concert was re-scheduled from July. It was so worth the wait, although reminded me I don’t love stadium shows. The energy was amazing, but you’re just so FAR from the stage.
  • Busy Philips came to Toronto for a live taping of her podcast as part of Just for Laughs and Kristine and I went to see her! We’re longtime Busy fans from the Freaks & Geeks and Dawson’s days, used to watch her talk show, and generally love her. We stayed for the little meet & greet (on the street?!) after the show and got to chat to Busy and her partner Caissie. So fun!

Flashback!