Nicole Recommends

Toes and Tummy in the YYC

It has been very Empty Nest-ish around here lately; my older son has been working a lot, happily, and in his spare time he’s either at the gym or cultivating a social life. My younger son spent the weekend out of town with his wrestling team, and so my husband and I found ourselves together, just the two of us, for several dinners.

Why not a Date Night, I thought? I had gone to Jameson’s, a local pub for lunch with a group of girlfriends, known collectively among ourselves as The Brentwood Babes, the week prior and we had such a good experience; excellent service, but more than that, I had the Santorini salad. This salad has everything I have ever wanted in bowl form. I had never thought of putting hummus in a salad before, but now I can’t stop thinking about it. It looked like Friday night it would be just the two of us, which seemed perfect for a date.

Thursday morning it occurred to me that it might be difficult to get a table: Friday night, Irish pub, SAINT PATRICK’S DAY. Hmm. I stopped by after my class to naively see if there was any way to reserve a table, explaining to the bartender that my husband and I wanted to come for dinner. As I was speaking, the bartender was shaking his head, and when I finished he said, “No. You really don’t want to come here. It is going to be a complete shitshow.” Okay! We came the following night instead, with our older son – who is of age – in tow. I asked the sweet young girl who was serving us if she worked the previous night, and she said she had, and that it wasn’t that bad, with only one big fight right at the end of the night. She also mentioned that she worked until 4 in the morning, which did not sound great to me, but hopefully she made a lot of money in tips.

The Santorini salad was still delicious on the second time around, but they had run out of kale – was there a run on KALE on St. Patrick’s Day? – and substituted Romaine, which was not QUITE as good. Perhaps I should not have chased that dream.

While I’m on the topic of Things I Did Last Week, I had a pedicure at my local salon. If you are in the Calgary area, and specifically in the Northwest, Anna Nails is the place to go. Her prices are insanely good, and the pedicures are unlike anything I have ever had before. She uses orange peels for exfoliation, and included in a pedicure is a calf massage AND a hot stone massage. It is a bit of an obscure little place, and she doesn’t even have a website, but it will be the best pedicure you have ever had.

Peas in a Podcast

I listen to a lot of podcasts, and there are some episodes that I have particularly loved lately. I am a person who really likes a chatty, lighthearted podcast. I have spoken at length about Forever 35 – I love this podcast about “the things we do to take care of ourselves” and I think I may be in a parasocial relationship with Kate and Doree. They have recently started a “Product Recall” series that airs on Fridays, which discusses products from our past such as Sun-In, Biore Pore Strips, and St. Ives Apricot Scrub. If you are Gen X like me, all the products they talk about will have likely been a part of your youth.

Every Wednesday the women interview a different guest, and there have been two guests recently that have been absolutely fascinating. First: Chrissy King, who wrote a book called The Body Liberation Project, which I immediately put on my TBR list after this mind-blowing episode. Second: Bozoma St. John, who is a high-level executive at Netflix, and who is also a widow, a single mother, and a person who prioritizes sleep over everything. It was a really refreshing discussion about caring for oneself from a woman who is really remarkable.

Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend is a fun podcast that comes out twice weekly; I prefer the Monday episodes, which have one guest and interview, to the Thursday episodes, which feature multiple people and are a bit of a free-for-all. Recently I heard an interview with Tiffany Gabrus, who is an entertainment executive-turned-florist, and it was such a lovely episode. The way this woman talks about flowers is so uplifting and fun. She calls flowers her “ladies” and I am Here For It. Another recent interview that I enjoyed was Elizabeth Laime; the interview was just a fun conversation between friends. Also Here For It!

Speaking of Alison Rosen, she was on Celebrity Book Club talking about Priscilla Presley’s Elvis and Me several months ago. If you, like me, spent your entire seventh grade completely obsessed with Elvis in general and that book in particular, if you, like me, thought that the Elvis and Priscilla relationship was the most romantic story of all time and then looked back on it as an adult and thought “Wait, what the fuck? This is a horror show!” then this podcast episode is for you! It is not only my favourite Celebrity Book Club episode, it is one of my favourite podcast episodes EVER.

Oooohhhhh Listen To The Music

Speaking of listening to things, after last week’s Women’s History Month Peloton ride, I created a new Spotify playlist called Nicole’s Layyyyydeeeees. There is some overlap with my playlist of all-time favourites, Nicole’s Karaoke, and even a little bit with Nicole’s Workout, if anyone’s looking for some fun and upbeat sing-a-long songs. Those are some pretty eclectic mixes.

He’s Here, He’s There, He’s Every-Fucking-Where

You guys, Ted Lasso is back! One big upside to my phone not working as a phone and needing to be replaced is that I received three free months of Apple TV, which is PERFECT timing as the new season of Ted Lasso has dropped. We watched the first episode last weekend, but I ended up falling asleep on the couch so I missed the ending. And, possibly, the middle. I guess I should rewatch it.

Also on Apple TV is Eugene Levy’s new show, The Reluctant Traveler. It is a delight! Who knew that watching a man in his 70s – who never wanted to travel – explore new locales would be so much fun?

All Along The Internet Watchtower

You guys, I am so excited to tell you that Laura Bray (HI LAURA) has a Story Club; if you sign up for it, a short story will pop into your inbox every so often. You may remember her from The Sugar Thief, which I have mentioned before and is an absolute delight.

Erin Etheridge (HI ERIN) is always contributing smart and thought-provoking pieces to the internet world, and her latest, We Turn Away From Our Future Selves is a comparison of Erin Brockovich and a book called Hags, about aging women. It is brilliant, as always. The wonderful thing about Erin’s writing is that there is just too much to take in all at once; I usually have to go back and reread her pieces a few times.

Another interesting thing I read recently was this piece; I was fascinated to know that this family of three spent $668 TOTAL for all food in February, in New York City. I mean. How. How is that possible? My grocery bills are much, much higher than that; granted, I have two garbage disposal-like teen boys, but still. It was an interesting piece, with an ode to the joy of food, which I like.

I loved this post on Cup of Jo about a family relocating to England, and discovering that their life followed them there. Wherever you go, there you are. Although, I have questions. Just what are they doing with all those garbanzo beans? That’s a lot of hummus.

Circling back to my parasocial relationship, and also the garbage-disposals, Doree Shafrir wrote a piece about teens, and if they “hang out” in the same way we did. My answer is not really, but that’s not a bad thing. First of all, I think that teens in general – particularly teen boys – get a bit of a bad rap sometimes. Don’t get me wrong; they can be really stupid, as evidenced by the “drive through the snowy school field at midnight” event. However. I do think that teens still hang out a lot together, and although the nature of the hangouts might be different from what we Gen Xers did back in the 80s and 90s, they still are social beings who like hanging out at each others’ homes. There aren’t a whole lot of teen-friendly places – there weren’t when we were teens, and there aren’t many now – but I sometimes will see a pack of teens at the mall or roaming around the neighbourhood, and it makes me smile. I do think Doree makes a good point about kids having much more scheduled lives than we did, which does change teen friendships. I have also heard a lot about teens being on their phone too much, which is true, but also, have you been around adults? It’s not just teens having deep relationships with their phones.

So many interesting people creating so many interesting things, and yes, I include Anna The Esthetician and The Salad Station People In Jamesons’ Kitchen as Creators. And on that note, and also speaking of phones and the internet, THIS Creator is taking a bit of a digital detox. I’m going dark, if you will, but not in a hello darkness my old friend kind of way. Maybe I’m going more charcoal grey? In any case, I will catch you all on the flip side.

Take care of yourselves, and be well. xo

Comments

  1. Chrisoula says

    Wow…so much amazingness here. I will check out many of those links when I have a moment and need a good read. Believe it or not, I hav never listened to a podcast. It’s like I have some weird wall between myself and podcasts?
    Eugene Levy! We don’t have Apple TV, so I’ll just have to imagine how funny it is. I had a funny six degrees of separation moment a few months ago where I met a woman whose son is Dan Levy’s personal assistant. (3 degrees?) I felt like I had pretty much met Dan Levy myself!
    That salad sounds yummy, but I must admit that even though I am intrigued by kale in a salad, I have never eaten raw kale. Perhaps kale salads and podcasts exist in the same weird place for me.
    I had intended to comment on your last post…just to say that it was lovely and to thank you for kindly welcoming me to your world. It is a very bright spot in my life.
    Enjoy your down time. Be well.

    • Oh Chrisoula, first of all, you are SO welcome here and I am so happy you are here! Second, I didn’t start listening to podcasts until a friend of mine was on one back in 2021, now I can’t get enough. So who knows, maybe you’ll dip your toe in one day, while eating a kale salad!
      DAN LEVY! Schitt’s Creek was just such an absolute delight. Eugene Levy is so fun on this show; he apparently dislikes travelling, but it’s all about enjoying the journeys!

  2. I am adding hummus to my next salad!
    Looking forward to exploring many of these links.

    Through a few of your comments on other blogs I have an inkling of the big life stuff happening on your end and wish you great success and LOTS OF SLEEP and that the whole process will be smooth and even exciting and fun!! If anyone can much it so, it will be you!! All the best my friend <3

  3. Oh my gosh, I am so excited to learn you are an Alison Person! How rare to find in the wild!! I’ve listened to her since 2015 (the Greg/Jenna/Al/Chef Jeff heydays) when she was going through fertility struggles at the same time as me (luckily for me, mine turned out to be a non-issue and I have since borne 4 daughters). I prefer the Thursday shows and only listen sometimes to Mondays, but I am a Patreon supporter and tbh can’t imagine life without Alison & co. keeping me entertained! Curious how long you’ve been listening??

    I also have enjoyed Celebrity Book Club though I don’t listen as often these days! If you listened to Chelsea’s episode of ARIYNBF then you heard my question for her about how she’s become such a confident person!

    • FIRST JENNY HAN, NOW ALISON ROSEN!!! Are we the same person??? I really like her show and I DID HEAR that episode with Chelsea – OMG THAT WAS YOU!!! Now not only am I a Jenny Han/ Alison Rosen/ Chelsea Devantez Stan, I am an Ariana Stan too!!! I only just started listening to AR this past summer, so I have a large back catalogue to eventually enjoy!

      • Haha! It is very fun to make the acquaintance of someone with such oft-similar pop culture tastes! (I love Ted Lasso too, but we’re saving season 3 until it builds up more, and enjoying a rewatch of s1 and s2 in the meantime.)

  4. What how have you never heard of hummus on a salad before now?????? Now that you’re here, enjoy the party!

    A few years ago the hubs and I wanted to go out on St Pat’s but we knew that a lot of places would be busy. We took a chance on the Italian place down the street and it paid off. They weren’t too crowded AND they had a few Irish dishes on the menu that night.

    We have two teenage boys in the house so if there is one number that I don’t ever want to know, it’s how much we spend on food. As long as we can pay our electric bill and fund their college accounts, we don’t need to know.

    I agree that kids these days get a bad rap. The boys really have a good balance between seeing their friends and hanging out with us. I mean, if you asked them to come up with something stupid to do I’m sure they’d manage, but for the most part they’re good. Phone wise, it cracks me up when I see the boys on their phones when they’re walking around the house and getting snacks one-handed in the kitchen, but they will usually put the phones down when talking to someone IRL. I think that any adult who has something to say about a teenager’s phone use definitely needs to take a look in the mirror first.

    Enjoy your “gray” time!

    • It’s crazy, I love hummus, I love salad, and here I am at almost 48, never putting the two together.
      “if you asked them to come up with something stupid to do I’m sure they’d manage” lolololol omg sob. Once my sons told me that they and their friends were racing in abandoned shopping carts and I had to do some major yoga breathing after hearing that.

  5. Enjoy your down time, Nicole! I look forward to your next post. I’m in the middle of some down time as well, and it’s been very nice.

  6. Enjoy your detox. See you when you return. Meanwhile, I am going to check out your playlists.

  7. Erin Etheridge says

    Oh Nicole I always get a frisson of excitement/disbelief when I see you mention my blog! I’m so very grateful for your support and I’m so pleased to have you in my corner.

    While we’re talking grocery budgets, I thought ours was shocking at about $1,000 a month—for five of us. But unfortunately for me, two of my three sons are in growth spurt into adolescence right as the inflation is inflating. Boo.

    • Well, you know I love your writing so much!!!
      I’m over double what you are spending, which is INSANE. The adolescent growth spurt, and then just adolescence in general, well, the food needs cannot be underestimated!

  8. I have to laugh at your Irish pub on March 17 idea, because years ago, my stitch and bitch group met in an Irish pub, and we, naively, thought nothing of it when our regular Monday night fell on that date. We were shocked! All these people! Mondays nights were chosen because it was generally a very quite night, and it was crazy to see it packed to overflowing.

  9. We’ve also been binge-watching The Reluctant Traveler. Eugene Levy is one of my favorite actors, and that show is a lot of fun to watch.

    That salad sounds delicious. I’m not a fan of hummus, but honestly, it’s the foods you wouldn’t think to combine that taste the best. This is evidence that I should expand my palate more.

    Enjoy your detox. 😘

  10. I’ve not tried hummus in a salad, but why not? I love my big salads! I had to laugh at the shitshow description of St. Patty’s Day. My husband will only work from home on that day because of all the drunks downtown for the parade. He said it’s hard to avoid the vomit on the sidewalks. So gross!

    I’m a good 10-15 years older than you, but the Forever 35 podcast sounds delightful. I loved my Sun In! I will tune in and try it. I always listen to podcasts on my walks, so with Spring coming, I will need some new ones.

    Enjoy your blogger break.

  11. We might have to pony up for a month of Apple TV when the whole series is released. We binged both seasons of Ted Lasso when we had a free month for one reason or another. I’m curious to see how the show can find new directions to go.

    Rex is such a handsome boy. Those eyes!

    Enjoy your detox,but do come back soon! We need to know what you’re eating and reading!

  12. This is a packed post and I laughed out loud at parts. *not gonna scroll back to jog my memory because I’m about to board my flight to Ireland . . . although not quite sure. The woman with the microphone does not speak clear english and I have no clue what she is saying.

    Anyway, I look forward to checking out some of these podcasts.

  13. I always read too fast the first time and got “I had never considered putting humans in a salad before” WELL I SHOULD HOPE NOT NICOLE. Honestly, hummus IN a salad doesn’t appeal to me overly – just, like, a big ol’ dollop right in the salad? Is that not an odd texture mix? I guess I”ll have to live with the mystery until you’re back.
    I am even now watching yet another excellent tv series (Scottish) about a murder podcast. Because I only read books about podcasts and watch shows about them, still can’t actually make myself listen to them. Sigh.

    • No, I gave up eating humans on my salads LONG ago!! So the hummus was on the plate, kind of circling the salad? It does sound like an odd combination but it worked so well with the crispness of the kale.

  14. Wow, there is a lot here. These articles you linked to sound really interesting- I’m going to go back and read them all. The “product recall” segments of Forever 35 sound intriguing- i’m Gen X and I was laughing wile remembering some of those (Sun in? Yes!).
    Anyway, you know you’re making everyone a little nervous about this “digital detox” of yours! I’m sure you need it…. enjoy it and we’ll be eagerly anticipating your return!

  15. Enjoy your digital detox, Nicole! ‘Tis the season after all (Lent). Your detox precipitates my own as I will have to learn to do without your cheer, care, humor, and book recs for a while. Definitely going to try hummus in today’s salad. I’ve been into podcasts at all… is that weird?

  16. I’m looking forward to clicking on the podcast links! I have never listened to one so maybe I’ll dip my toes in soon, when I have a bit more free time.

    Oh, man. When I tell people my grocery bill is $1K per month, they look at me like I’m crazy. There’s only 2 of us most of the time now; my son comes home every so often from school and his palate goes from really inexpensive (like Cracker Barrel Mac n Cheese) to expensive (like Prime grade NY Steak or Tenderloin) but he does still eat a lot. I don’t know how some of my friends with 3 family members say they spend $60 per week on groceries because my husband and I don’t have expensive meal plans but we still need more than $60 per week for the 2 of us!

    Enjoy your digital detox! I have needed and taken those myself every so often.

  17. I’ve been listening to Excuse My Grandma lately. It’s fun with short podcasts that entertain me. I’m between the ages of the granddaughter [in her 20s] and the grandmother [in her 70s] so I kind of get them both, but not entirely.

    Eugene Levy’s new show, The Reluctant Traveler, sounds wonderful. We don’t have Apple TV so that’ll have to wait for me. You know about Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix, right? That’s one that I never would have thought I’d like, but I do.

  18. I love everything about this post. My favorite salad place on campus has a salad with hummus and it is a revelation. I sometimes make one at home, but I haven’t got the proportions right yet.

  19. Oh, there’s such a long road between kale and romaine, right? Both have their place but it gives the whole dish a different vibe if switched to me!!

  20. I love someone who can appreciate a good kale salad… and hummus on top of it? Yum!

    Enjoy your detox, we all need it every once in a while. I haven’t been as present (hence the comment galore) but it was more because of being busy, no intentional detox.
    Be well my friend.

  21. Ted Lasso! I need to restart my Apple TV subscription so I can watch season 3. I’m looking forward to it!

    Enjoy your blogging break, and I hope you come back refreshed.

  22. Omg! So many great recommendations here. I can’t wait to hear the one about Gen X products. I’m feeling very nostalgic lately!

  23. I love everything about this post. My favorite salad place on campus has a salad with hummus and it is a revelation. I sometimes make one at home, but I haven’t got the proportions right yet.

  24. Thanks for the shout-out of The Story Club. You are one of the most supportive bloggers out there and I appreciate you! And, if you love hummus, Ruth Reichl’s book, My Kitchen Year has a great recipe for it. Though she does (crazily) ask you to remove the skins of the garbanzo beans, which seems excessive but does make a difference and I treated the job like a zen moment. The book itself is a recipe/memoir type of thing that I think you would love as well.

  25. Good call on postponing your date night/dinner!!
    I’d just read something about Bozoma St. John last week…where and what did I actually read? I can not tell you, but I recognize her name.
    Thanks for all the recommendations. We love Ted Lasso, but also on Apple TV+ is
    Shrinking (Harrison Ford–such a good show) and Dear, Edward. (touching, great writing)

    • Bozoma St John has a book out! I want to read it. Maybe you saw some buzz about it?
      I’ve heard good things about Shrinking, but haven’t heard Dear, Edward! Will look it up!

  26. Lisa of Lisa’s Yarns says

    Ok 3rd attempt to leave this comment! Gah.

    Well you have sold me on Forever 35! I have dabbled in it before but need to add it to my feed. Love the products recall episodes. Those must be so nostalgic to listen to!

    I hope you are enjoying your digital detox – Im hoping you are detoxing on a beach!! I have had an unintentional digital detox for the last 2-3 weeks since work continues to be a sh!tshow.

    That santorini salad sounds amazing!!

    • I was indeed detoxing on a beach! Ding ding ding! You’re the winner! Now I’m trying to catch up with reality. Good luck with work, I’m sure it’s just insane right now.

  27. I really need to try Forever 35… you recommend it and every time I think, “I should try that”. Maybe this time is the charm?
    Also? I use hummus every night on my salad. With vinegar. Best “dressing” ever. 🙂 Glad you’re on board now! but I might have to fly to Calgary to partake in that salad…not on St. Patrick’s day, though. Smart move to postpone.

  28. I love everything about this post.

  29. Take use of your free time.I eagerly await your next post. I’m also in the midst of some downtime, which has been extremely enjoyable.
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