Summer Girls

The girls are engaged! Plus beach days and the new Ops!

We have big news in the This Needs Hot Sauce universe: my sister Leah is engaged to the lovely Erika!! We spent the weekend celebrating with many special guests and I’m so excited for them (and relieved to no longer be keeping a secret). Erika planned such a beautiful proposal at the bar where they had their first date and Lizzi and I were in charge of getting Leah’s nails done without arousing suspicion (challenging). It all worked out and culminated in a gorgeous celebration with friends and family and set the whole weekend off on a positive note. Leah and Erika have been an incredible source of support to me this year (I stayed in their apartment for weeks after the breakup and it was the softest place to land during a terrible time) and I’m so happy for them as they enter this new chapter.

The joy for these two! The flowers are from my mom’s yard and they were stunning

After returning from Maine, I had a little pity party about having no other travel lined up for the summer. The solution is to remember how much there is to do in this city I’m lucky enough to call home and this long weekend was a perfect example of that. I plan to channel this energy for the rest of the summer and I’m looking forward to it. Lizzi stayed with me this weekend and having a guest was great encouragement to go seize the day and seize the summer.

Now, let’s dive in.

Something to cook:

Lizzi and I decided to bake for Julianne’s annual rooftop party and we made two stellar recipes from Smitten Kitchen Keepers: chocolate chip cookies with walnut brittle (we skipped making the brittle for time and added walnuts) and peach crumb bars with peaches and nectarines. Her recipes are some of my favorites for summer. Both earned rave reviews and it was fun to bake together. Plus, now I have cookie dough in the freezer for emergencies.

Also on Julianne’s roof, we had veggie dogs (I added crushed ruffle chips, ketchup, grainy mustard and mayo), watermelon and pickles. A colorful plate at a very fun party. Julianne also used it as a time to fundraise for organizations doing very important work right now, including RAICES, the Trevor Project, and Planned Parenthood.

There’s nothing better than cooking dinner after many days of eating out, even if it’s something simple. I made a simple pesto pasta for Julianne, Alli, and me. Storebought pesto is always improved with some lemon, chili flake, and parmesan cheese. I also add nutritional yeast because your girl needs Vitamin B12 and chili crisp salad sprinkles, which I’m obsessed with. On the side, we had kale salad because nothing hits like a vegetable after a long weekend

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Something to order:

We celebrated Leah’s birthday (the day before her engagement) with a family dinner at Cozy Royale. It was my parents’ first time there and of course, they loved it. I got my usual favorites: the kale caesar with fries and the olives with blue cheese. And for birthday singing purposes, we tried the sticky toffee pudding, which was excellent.

Lizzi is a great houseguest because she goes on runs and returns with treats, usually from Nick and Sons. We tried many pastries over the course of her visit and you can’t go wrong, especially with the savory danish.

Erika planned the perfect engagement party at Tuffet. We ate pizza, cheese, and other snacks, toasted the couple, took lots of pictures, and recapped the past few weeks of deception.

On the fourth, Lizzi and I grabbed lunch at Lella Alimentari to fuel our baking. We split a piadine and a kale salad.

A top tier neighborhood lunch

It doesn’t feel like summer until I’ve had a beach day and we’ve now entered summer. Leah, Erika, Lizzi, Miranda and I took the ferry to the Rockaways and went straight to Rippers for veggie burgers, fries, and limeade. I swam in the ocean, devoured a beach read, and soaked up the sun (with SPF, of course).

Making use of my manicure

Ops, one of my longtime favorite restaurants, just opened a location in the East Village. I had to check it out with Lizzi, a longtime Ops fan (we pretended we were going here the night of the proposal and actually went a few days later). The space is bigger and not as lived in and unique as the Bushwick one (fair) but the food and wine are on par. We tried two new pizzas—the trapanese with artichokes, pesto trapanese, greens, and fontina and the classic Tarvernetta, a midwest style pie with a cracker like crust. The rest of the menu is pretty similar but without the square pie. We drank an almost salty Spanish skin contact wine and a chilled red. After dinner, we got ice cream at Davey’s and retired home to watch Sex and the City.

Salad, tavernetta pizza, and trapense pizza at Ops

Something to read:

My friend Noah opened Bui’s BBQ, a barbecue pop up featuring smoked wings and excellent elote. Bui’s is named after a beloved food truck and Noah puts so much love into his food. DM to order the next drop.

Drones are monitoring for sharks at the Rockaways—we got lucky the day we went but did see the dog in a shark lifevest.

Sending solidarity to the striking workers of DC33 in Philadelphia. Gloria, a local teacher and influencer, is documenting the strikes and their effects so well.

I don’t camp or cook in campfires but these campfire nachos from

Ali Slagle

sound delightful

I’ve been reading

Adam Roberts

for over a decade (he taught me how to make good roasted broccoli) and was so sad to read about his Parkinson’s diagnosis. He wrote about the experience with humor and grace and I’m rooting for him.

Building a home after a breakup is a journey and it’s so exciting how

Emily Fedner

built hers (and now owns it).

An Eating Disorder Got in the Way of My Travel Dreams—but My Recovery Helped Me Reclaim the World

A fun interview with

Devin Williams

and

Emilia Petrarca

Sherrilyn Ifill

on the history of allowing perpetrators of state-sanctioned violence to mask their identities

How Trump Upended 60 Years of Civil Rights in Two Months

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I hope your weekend was filled with love! Thanks for being here!

xo, Abigail