How was your summer?

time flies lets catch up!

Hello friends, it’s been a while since I sat down and wrote something here. I hope you are well and that you had an incredible summer. I have to look back at my photos to see what happened over the last three months. I started a three-month training program with a coach to help me with my content on Eat2gather’s social media platforms. It was intense and at times frustrating, but overall, I learned so much. Social media is a weird creature that messes with my sense of self. I’ve discussed this before, so I won’t delve into it too much, except to say that working with this coach helped me pause, take a look at who I am, what my purpose is in creating content, and focus on that. Ultimately, if I stay true to who I am and what I am trying to accomplish, I will build trust with you all, and honestly, it makes my job a whole lot easier!! So I am on my own now, no more coach, and it has been going really well. I do miss the feedback, but I can feel myself gaining confidence in my work.

Channeling my inner Rocky. haha heehee

I didn’t read as much as I usually do this summer. I’m hoping to ramp up my reading this fall and winter. Although there are a few shows I want to watch on the boob tube, so that will cut into my reading time.

Here’s what I’ve read: How to read a book by Monica Wood gave it four stars. More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova very well written. Heartbreaking, but it left me feeling hopeful for Maddy, the main character. Pack Up the Moon by Kristin Higgins I gave this four stars on Goodreads. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins if you listen to her podcast regularly, you don’t need to read this book. It’s basically several of her most popular podcast episodes put into book form. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy is a fascinating book; the ending is a shocker. Not My Type by E. Jean Carroll (I listened to this one.) I wanted to hear her side of the story, not just what the media had to say. If you find this sort of thing interesting, then I would recommend it. I’m in the middle of The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, loving it, and also reading The Most Fun We Ever Had by Clair Lombardo , liking it, but had to put on hold for my bookclub book. Also reading The Artists Way: a spiritual path to higher creativity by Julia Cameron, if you are creative in any way this book is a must-read. I think even if you are not, it’s a must-read. I’m plugging along with it; self-help books are not books I can fly through.

What are you reading?? I would love to hear. Leave me a note below!

Here’s what I want to watch: the next season of The Morning Show and The Great British Bake Off (I love this show so much, it’s like I could marry it). I’m always watching Seinfeld. Have you watched Black Rabbit? I love Justin Bateman and Jude Law. This one looks like a real nail-biter. The House of Guinness also looks interesting. Of course, I can’t wait for Stranger Things, gosh, I hope they do a really good recap because it’s been a bajillion years since that last season. My dnl and I are always trying to watch something that the guys would not want to watch. We started Sex in the City. If you can believe it I never watched this show! We took a break and started watching Acapulco. It’s cute. I’m trying to learn Spanish, so it’s good for me to watch these shows in Spanish. This show is not all Spanish, it’s Spanglishy.

Ok, your turn, what are you watching?

Ken and I just returned from a road trip out east. He is a huge baseball fan and had never been to the Baseball Hall of Fame, so we drove to Cooperstown and spent a couple of days there. A charming town. We ate at Mel’s which I would highly recommend. Great drinks, amazing food, and excellent service. The next night, we ate at Hawkeye Bar and Grill at the Otesaga Resort Hotel. The view was amazing, and the whole vibe was very Mackinaw Island Grand Hotel, but the food was meh, and the service was worse. We drove from there to the Mets game on Sunday afternoon. Just in case you are ever driving to a Mets baseball game, make sure you Google search Citifield, not Mets Stadium, because then you might end up clicking MetLife Stadium, therefore you would be going to a Giants football game!! Ope! We realized this before we actually arrived and had to do a little reroute. Fun times. This may sound nuts, but we changed our trip at the last minute because the Lions were playing in Baltimore for Monday Night football!! So we then went to Baltimore saw the game. It was amazing, and so fun we said the was the highlight of our baseball trip was seeing Monday night football!! Weird small world story: a young couple sat down in front of us wearing Lions gear, and it turned out they were also from a small suburb right next to ours! Crazy! BTW, the Ravens fans are the best. They were very kind and not scary at all; I thought we might get a few kernels of popcorn thrown on us after the game. 

Nationals Stadium D.C.

Then we took in a Phillies game and a Nationals game, and we ended up skipping the Oriels because the weather was iffy. Let’s see where else we ate…. We ate at Grazie Nonna in D.C.; it was delicious! And Old Ebbits, which is a must. We went for lunch and sat at the bar. Ooh, their dirty martini is the best! 

In Philadelphia, we ate at Monk’s Cafe, where we shared mussels and French fries and had a beer. This place is very old and outstanding; you have to try it if you’re in Philadelphia. I had never been to Philadelphia, and I loved it. So many great restaurants, so much history. We walked all over the city, and yes, we ran up the rocky steps! If you want more details about where we stayed, message me, I’d be happy to share. Then we drove home, but on the way, we had to stop in Detroit because 1. Ainslie’s is there for a medical school rotation, and 2. the Lions had a home game. We met her and her friends at Harry’s to watch the game and have dinner.. It was the best way to end this road trip. 

Now it’s back to reality. I have a long list of recipes coming up. Here is what you really need to try asap!

Apple & Sharp Cheddar Flatbread. Caramelized onions, apples, sharp cheddar, walnuts, rosemary, topped with a sprinkle of flaky salt and a drizzle of olive oil. It’s an appetizer, but I could eat it as a meal. I just had a genius idea to use it as a sandwich bread and stack turkey and bacon in between two slices of this unbelievably scrumptious flatbread. OOOph. Enough about that, then you need to make this…

This fruit crisp, and if you make a batch of my crisp/crumble topping, and store it in the freezer, you can have fruit crisp at a moment’s notice! Just throw some fresh fruit, like berries, peaches, apples, or pears, whatever you prefer, maybe not lemons, in a baking dish, big or small. Top it with my brown sugar and oatmeal crisp topping , and voilà! Dessert is served! If you are a pumpkin spice latte person, then you most definitely need to make this cake!!

Well, it has been great catching up. I would love to hear from you! Leave me a comment below or drop me a line. aka email.

XO, Sheila