One of the things I love most about having a blog is getting recommendations from you guys – books, movies, restaurants…you name it. Y’all have great taste. And word of mouth is a powerful force! And since I forgot to do a Happy Monday post this week (see you next Monday – I promise!) I thought it might be a fun to share some other stuff I am digging right now – not on the internet, but in person. Just a handful of my summer favorites…
This thing. Let me tell you…It took me 30+ years to realize that I didn’t hate grapefruit, but it was worth the wait. And now we are besties! I love it so hard. It’s strangely refreshing and not nearly as bitter as I recalled, although I still like to mix it with something else. My favorite thing: grapefruit spritzers. How? Freeze grapefruit juice in ice cube trays then when it’s solid, put a few cubes in the bottom of a glass and fill up the rest with club soda. Add a pretty straw – it absotootly makes a difference. I sip on these spritzers morning, noon and night. It starts out as mostly soda water, but as time passes and the two blend, by the time you get to the bottom of the glass it’s like a sparkling citrus slushy. THIS is how you get through 9am in 60% humidity. Great news: it’s also a terrific base for a cocktail. Because the only thing that goes together as well as grapefruit and me is grapefruit and vodka. Not that I need it – I could get drunk off the smell alone. Last weekend at the market they were squeezing fresh grapefruit juice right next a big wall of those enormous white Casablanca lilies and the two smells together…!!!zomg!!!…whoever figures a way to put that in a bottle and sell it as perfume will make a mint. Take my money, please! TAKE IT.
This is going to be the nine hundredth time I use this blog to praise Australian television and movies, so pardon me if you have heard it before, but seriously: these people know how to do it! Wentworth is a television series based on a women’s prison, and before you say “That sounds like they ripped off Orange is the New Black!” they didn’t – they ripped off (or “reimaged”) another Australian show called Prisoner from back in the 80s (which I have not seen – but don’t worry – I will). Unlike OTNB, Wentworth does not sugarcoat prison life. You get all the unpleasantries in your face and then some. I’ll confess to covering my eyes at least once per episode. It is gritty, hilarious, and occasionally heart-breaking. It’s not a comedy but each of the characters is humorous in their own specific way. My favorite character, Jax (centered above), switches likeability gears at least twice per episode — something you would NEVER see on American television because American audiences don’t give themselves enough credit to follow along. I am telling you, these characters are complicated. Messy. Strange. Compelling. I devoured the first two seasons on Netflix this month and I’m furious that they have yet to acquire the third season that premiered down under in April. If you have seen it, don’t tell me what happens. You can tell me if it’s good, but don’t tell me. Okay? It’s been a long time since I have been this invested in television characters and I’m going to be hella pissed off if something happens to one of them!
The New Bohemians by Justina Blackney came out a few months ago and it now has a permanent spot on my shelf of favorite décor books. The title hints at ‘bohemian’ but I might call it something closer to ‘gypsy’ or ‘hippie.’ It’s like, you know how everyone knows someone with a cousin in California who joined a cult after college but then they got out of the cult but still refuse to use real coffee mugs? Yeah. It’s like that. None of these homes have Garfield coffee mugs hidden away on a top shelf or anything. There are potted plants dripping from the air ducts. Macramé toilet roll holders. Paisley print boot mats. Every object is infused with energy. Style. Wisdom. My personal style veers a little closer to traditionalist Dorothy Draper-ish formulas, but I so admire this banquet of eye candy. Splendid!
My summer soundtrack of 2015: Jack + Eliza. Childhood friends from New York, they grew up to form a band with an eerie knack for harmonies. If you know your ’60s jams you’ll hear influence from The Mamas & The Papas or perhaps The Beach Boys. There is something very baby boomer groovy about them, but also very fresh and interesting. They have that ‘millennial edge’ that you can hear from new artists but it’s hard to put your finger on it. It’s my go-to album of the season.
Also, while we are on the subject of music, my favorite summer Songza mix lists (If you don’t know Songza yet, check out my favorite apps):
A Badass Summer in the ‘90s. It’s like the Dawson’s Creek soundtrack but better. Really great 90s B tracks – everything from Better Than Ezra to The Notorious BIG.
Cottage Bound. Vintage hits and little-known favorites. Little bit of everything, but each has some serious road-music vibes.
LL Bean Summer Soundtrack. Don’t let the LL Bean label fool you – it’s not turtleneck music. It’s folk and upbeat Americana acoustic. LL Bean is known as a New England brand but this feels very Midwestern to me, which is something I love to hear in music but rarely find.
Here is a problem I share with a lot of people: my stomach doesn’t register that it has eaten a meal unless there is something hot involved, but, in the summer, I really don’t want cook hot food. It’s already hot enough inside my kitchen and I pay too damn much on air conditioning to run an oven at 450 just to make lunch. My answer to this problem: stove salad. I wrote a post about this a couple years back and I periodically get comments and emails from people who are still using it. The crux is this; I make some sort of protein and carb on Sunday (chicken and rice or pork and quinoa…you get the idea) then batch the leftovers into baggies. Next time I want a meal I can just microwave the chicken situation then toss over some cut veggies and arugula. Maybe there is a little dressing involved? Maybe not. It’s good hot or cold, but you get a reasonably nutritious and filling meal without heating up the kitchen. Plus, there is something about arugula in summer. I started liking it when someone told me that French people serve arugula in lemon and olive oil at every meal and that is why they are all so skinny and never get fat. So far this theory has not worked on me, but I am not opposed to continuing the effort. Stove salad, folks. It’s a keeper!
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So that is what I know. Do you have any summer favorites? Good books? Secret cocktails? Holler. I’m always on the lookout!
GRAPEFRUIT spritzers? And here I’ve been making lemonade spritzers all summer, never even thinking about grapefruit. You are genius. Pink grapefruit is super sweet, so I must try this. Club soda is the elixir of life during summer, I swear it is.
I’m going to start calling my home interior decor “Bohemian Eclectic” because it sounds far more exotic than it really is, which is eclectic hinting at Bohemian. But that book requires investigation–what Amazon showed was intriguing.
Thanks for the ideas, Peaches!
You and me both, Deb – boho eleclic for life!
Every time I see someone mention ‘Wentworth’ I add it of my mental list to watch, and then I forget. I remember watching “Prisoner :Cell Block H” on late night tv here in the UK when I was a teen. It was a sort of by-word for campiness and cheesy soap opera, with wobbly cardboard sets. But it was always watchable, from what I remember. I’ve seen a little of American soap opera (and A LOT of ‘Sunset Beach’ I adored that when it was on! When they ripped off the ‘Posedion Adventure’, and it took months for a resolution) and it has a veneer of glamour, mixed with the speed of which it is produced. English soaps tend to be gritty, like they’re starting the pearl in the oyster, with murder on the Christmas Day episodes, and general misery. “Cell Block H” was amazing to me at the time – especially as “Oz” started at that time too. My tv at night was filled with grim Australian lady prison, and dark American men’s prison, too. It must be why I’m still drawn to anything about jails on TV. I will have to start watching ‘Wentworth’, especially as your voice has been added to the positive reviews.
OMG…Sunset Beach. Hadn’t thought about that in years. I was more of a Passions fan myself, but the Sunset folks knew how to do it up right!
You are obviously showing your age! No one with high cholesterol that takes statins can have grapefruit. But it sounds good. My favorite drink of all time is Pimms Cup. From England. You mix a little Pimms No. 1 with Trader Joe’s Fizzy Lemonade. Crush some mint, add a lemon slice?, and definitely a spear of cucumber. It is very refreshing. Really refreshing, and better than wine.
Other good drinks for the summer are rose wine and vino verde. Both are good ice cold after a hike. Rose wine is relatively cheap ($10 or less) and comes from many different regions. Vino verde is from Spain or Portugal, I forget which. I only has about 6-7% alcohol and is lightly carbonated. About half a bubble. It is also inexpensive and is white.
Thanks for the tip for Wentworth. I need some new TV shows. We just finished watching Bosch, the detective series on Amazon. I don’t know if it got renewed, but it was good. I love Suits on USA.
I listened to The Girl on the Train. It is really weird and a little sick. I would skip it if you haven’t read
it. I read a lot of gory detective and crime novels, but this was too much.
If you don’t like to cook, get a Costco rotisserie chicken and put it on a salad for half the week.
I’ve been listening to Queen lately. I want to see them in person with Adam Lambert.
I wish my Costco parking lot wasn’t a Hunger Games competitive – I’d be there all the time buying chicken and $5 pies.
“Turtleneck music” had me laughing out loud, I think it might be the perfect jumping off point for the next Christopher Guest film! It should be noted that the very best thing about vodka + grapefruit is that it’s nearly impossible to get a hangover from them! (I’ve been sipping greyhounds since my college days at a party school, so I can vouch for this one!)
Is that true about vodka and grapefruit?? Well gosh. I had no idea!
Hi Aunt Peaches, I’m your newest reader. I’ve been devouring the Friday Flowers and then started reading the sidebar posts and then I realized that I haven’t enjoyed a blog this much in a long time. Thank you for your refreshing and open content and sharing your lovely take on life!
Welcome Bettsi! So glad to have you here. 🙂
If you love Aussie TV, you MUST watch “Glitch”. New series, just out this year. It’s an ABC drama, so is available free currently on ABC iview (sorry, no idea if you can download the app or watch it in the USA, it may or may not be geolocked)
Someone told me it is a ripoff of resurrection, but I haven’t seen that so can’t say. All I can say is I watched all six eps in one go and now I am desperate for season 2 to air!!!!!!
GLITCH. Noted – looking it up asap! Thanks!
I’m with Binkyloo on this one – Prisoner Cell Block H was the best! I used to watch it with my Dad and our favourite character was Frankie. You would love it…
There is a Frankie in Wentworth too. And I think she is in Cell block H. Dang — this show really did take off the original. I gotta see it!
It took me awhile to realize I loved grapefruit too (and ginger- another fave flavor!). Broiled grapefruit is a favorite but I think I need to make those spritzers pronto.