july 2022 - Wanderlogue

july

2022

Peak summer. The days are long. The sun sweltering. We’ve long forgotten what it was like to bundle up. Or to be able to exist outside for more than a minute without being sticky. Or to be able to breathe in the subway platforms. The euphoria of warm weather has long faded and we find ourselves desperately fantasizing about the three weeks of beautiful fall weather we’ll have before it becomes cold and gloomy again.

The summer slow down is real. Nothing fosters lethargy quite like heat.

July was spent sitting in the dark, window blinds down, eating frozen fruit and ice cream as meals, checking the thermostat, wondering if it truly is 90 degrees in the apartment or if that’s just as high as it’ll go. Popping into the grocery store’s frozen aisle for a moment of relief from the unforgiving humidity. Spending no less than $20 a day on cold beverages while existing out in the city. Spending as many waking hours outside as we can stand because we know these sunny days, despite being nearly intolerable, are precious.

inside picnics + outside drinks

POV it’s the middle of summer, it’s hot inside, and outside. It is quite frankly too humid to be picnicking outdoors, but it’s also too deep into summer to be eating at a table. So logically you bring the picnic indoors, and you bring the dinner to the floor. The menu should be mostly cold (I bravely turned on the oven for the one and only time the entire month to make a filo “pizza” with summer squash and feta), and served with something ice cold and sparkling.

two salads —

haricots verts, shallot, walnuts, herbs, egg yolk, dijon, garlic, lemon

celery, cucumber, dried apricot, pistachio, herbs, evoo, fruity white wine vinegar

Any time spent outside is always spent with an iced coffee in hand. And occasionally, when there’s a moment to sit down in cold cold air conditioning, a hot coffee. Time is measured by 12 to 16 oz coffee cups.

good bites (& sips)

Really skipped around and ate well all around the city this month.

(above) reunited w the griddle cakes @ breakfast by salt’s cure

(A) sunny brunch in the covered patio @ colonia verde

(B) pastries @ mel

(D) savory vegan danish @ terms of endearment

(E) weekday walk in lunch @ via carota

(F) morning bread run @ nick + sons

(G) drinks w old friends @ izzy rose

(H) a daring outdoor brunch @ reunion

(J) comfort food take out @ a pou’s kitchen

(K) hot coffee + citrus cake @ o cafe

flushing feast

It’s a healthy practice for every NYC resident to trek out to Flushing for a day of eating. Something about disassociating on the 7 train all the way there. This trip was filled with low hanging fruit. Duck buns at Shanghai You Garden, soymilk and youtiao at Soybean Chan, dumplings and noodles at White Bear, egg tarts at New Flushing Bakery, feasting on the spread at a food court. And then a leisurely dessert session at 520.

culture fix

There was a lot of time spent sitting in the dark watching TV and eating ice cream.

Street Food USA: food culture documentary, immigrant stories, los angeles, it’s basically clickbait
Esra Klein Show: a core part of my podcast rotation but an episode on mid-century media theorists was a particularly good listen
Marvel: catching up on all the Disney+ shows for the past year from Loki onwards. A little off-season to watch Hawkeye in the dead of summer but oh well
Sherlock: about time for my biannual rewatch

And also some cultural excursions, joining in on a friend’s annual museum week for Fotografiska. The exhibitions were almost disorienting, from some hard hitting crisis photojournalism to some experimental dairy themed cultural commentary.

Oh and a swing by The Whitney for, well apparently tarot cards, pensive outdoor sculptures and DBQs strewn all around the museum.