Summer-in-the-City Roundup
A show, a concert, a movie, a secret menu item, a weird/delightful snack, & 5 books I loved…
Hello! Welcome to August, which is my favorite month, tied exactly equally with July…actually, if you really want to get into it, my favorite month is the one I get to spend at the lake, and for many years that was July but as of late that month is August, and so here we are: my favorite month. (It’s also the month of both my birthday and our wedding anniversary—hurrah, August!)
First things first: I will hear absolutely no talk of “summer being over” or “late summer” or “the end of summer.” NO THANK YOU ABSOLUTELY NOT. It is still squarely, delightfully mid-summer according to me.
I was with Michigan friends the other night and they did remind me that their kids go back to school in two weeks, so I get why they’re calling it the end of summer, but NYC schools don’t start until after Labor Day (love!), so we’ve got a whole, full month of summering before us, and I’m super into it.
This weekend, we’ll head to the lake, and I’m absolutely counting the hours. I’m looking forward to lots of family time, beach time, sunsets, reading on the porch. Also meals made entirely from farm stand stops, pie for breakfast, being barefoot all day long. Sandy feet, pink noses, stargazing, shucking sweet corn on the porch as often as possible.
But before all that, a little summer-in-the-city roundup of July, which was approximately six months long. As noted in my last post, June and July were pretty tough for me. But here’s the thing, of course, just saying it out loud unlocks a little bit of healing, and your response to my last post was healing, too—thank you.
We’re still mid-move, and by that I mean we’re still where we’ve been and we know we’re leaving but don’t yet know where we’re going, and yes, I mean that in both logistic and extremely existential ways. Lots of unknowns, which are for me just a perfect petri dish of anxiety and fear…but also, I’m happy to report, occasional moments of hope and grounding, and lots of good connection along the way.
Apparently some people just…pack their stuff and move without a lot of drama? I am not able to be one of those people. That’s not currently available to me right now. My way involves a lot more grief and panic-sorting, and requires very early bedtimes, lots of big feelings, and lots of sitting in the courtyard in the evenings trying to memorize every leaf and brick like I’m memorizing the face of a lover going off to war. The drama, you guys. I know. I totally know.
In the middle of this messy-hearted season, though, there has also been a lot of really good/beautiful/rich/healing stuff and by stuff, I mean art. I saw Illinoise twice in two weeks—I never do that. It’s a contemporary ballet choreographed by Justin Pack, set to Sufjan Steven’s album Illinois.
I saw it the first time on an unbearably hot Wednesday afternoon with my friend Stephanie, wedged up against the stage in the dark cool theater. It absolutely undid me, and I went back to see it again the next week, and it undid me all over again. A friend I saw it with the second time around said afterward, “Um…it’s kind of weird?” And I agreed wholeheartedly, delightedly—yes, it’s weird, and I loved it, and while I don’t always love it when people take something conceptual and ethereal and reduce it down to what it was “about,” I think it was about bearing witness to one another’s pain. It’s about feeling safe and seen and therefore brave enough to show each other even the hardest parts, especially the hardest parts. I could cry just thinking about it now—the beauty and the joy and the intensity of it. Phew. (It’s running for only one more week on Broadway, and I 100% think you should go.)
Also, I went to the Noah Kahan concert at Madison Square Garden right at the last minute, all alone, and it was just absolutely the best, and I totally recommend this practice. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a concert alone, although I do love eating alone at restaurants and traveling alone—adding concerts alone to this list.
Noah Kahan’s music is my absolute jam, and in the days before the show I was in a not-great swirl of anxiety and stuckness and it was so hot in the city and we’d been hoping to go out of town but had to cancel—it felt like time was standing still in kind of a bad Groundhog Day way, but then that night I walked up to MSG and sang and danced and to be honest, cried a little bit. It was a room full of joy and dancing and a little ache and some serious communal catharsis and very loud singing, and I walked home in the hot night air on 9th Avenue feeling positively revived.
Another recommendation to heal you up a little: Inside Out 2 is really really great, and especially if you’re someone who tends toward anxiety (raises hand high!) consider it mandatory viewing. When Anxiety keeps saying that she’s just trying help!—oh, I felt that in my bones. And there’s a very moving moment at the end that reminded me of Illinoise—I won’t spoil it for you, but everything in my life right now points to bearing witness to one another’s suffering, really seeing each other, saying to one another “I see all of you and I’m not scared by any of it.” Phew again.
In terms of eating/cooking/hosting/all things delicious, I’ve made a very important discovery: in addition to the fancy butter service, Quality Bistro ALSO does birthday buttercream service—omg. Swiss buttercream, funfetti madeleines, lots of yummy crunchy little toppings like freeze-dried raspberries and mini-marshmallows and pink salt, and (of course!) a big sparkler stuck right in the top. It’s not on the menu but you can ask for it, and it’s just the fun over-the-top bit of sweetness you need on a hot summer night with friends.
You know that as a family, we’re big Los Tacos fans, but this summer I’m all about the ceviche at Los Mariscos, with a paloma, please. The especial is made with shrimp, octopus, clams and scallops, served on a tostada with mayo and avocado-- perfect summer afternoon snack.
At a recent happy hour, Tim brought Grillo’s Pickle de Gallo, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that there was a traffic jam at the buffet table, all of us leaning in to get just one more spoonful of this magical snack. My personal recommendation is a potato chip, a little spoonful of onion dip, and generous spoon of pickle de gallo over the top—peak summer snacking zone. Dear Meijer in South Haven, please stock gallons of this weird magic in advance of our arrival. Thank you.
And last but certainly not least: five great books I recommend for your summer reading:
Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
The Cliffs by J.Courtney Sullivan
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Husbands by Holly Gramazio
Here’s to August—here’s to evening reading, peach juice running down our chins, holding on to hope, sweet corn for dinner, blaring great music with the windows open, beauty all around us…
XO—S