Friday Five August 19

Oh, this view. Shall we all meet on these lovely deck chairs somewhere in Italy? I’m an obedient sunscreen user but I do love the devotion to sunbathing you see on the Mediterranean.

Anyway, here’s what’s on my mind as we head into one of the last August weekends, from the infuriating (the untimely firing of Lisa LaFlamme) to the sublime (boozy dessert). Happy Friday!

Well, Lisa LaFlamme was let go from her post as CTV national news anchor and the women of Canada roared back. You can read Leanne Delap’s analysis here in The Kit (yours truly contributed a thought as well.) Who would have thought that letting your grey hair grow out would cause such consternation in the C suite?

If you have plans to hang out and watch a movie this weekend, I strongly recommend I’m Your Man, a German romcom from last year. Not only does it have a female lead in her late 40s (!!), but because it’s not a formulaic American studio comedy, you can’t predict where the plot is going, which is just so refreshing.

This film would be a great bet to watch in deep, dark winter when we all need a lift, but I’m nervous that Crave.ca will boot it from their lineup by then, so I urge you to watch it now. It’s about a scientist who takes part in an experiment living with a robot who has been programmed to be her perfect partner. British actor Dan Stephens (whose German is excellent) plays the robot and after having seen him as the waxed-chested, flamboyant Russian pop idol in Eurovision, I am completely invested in seeing him become a huge star.

My favourite cocktail drink right now is like an amped up Paloma, but with grapefruit sorbet instead of juice to go along with the tequila. You just put a scoop of sorbet in a tallish glass and pour a shot of tequila over. Enjoy with a spoon. So what do we call this, a ‘Paloma’ slushy? Or maybe a ‘Tequila Affogato’ after the classic Italian dessert of espresso poured over vanilla ice cream? Name aside, this works as both a festive early evening cocktail or a simple (but possibly lethal) dessert.

Making your own grapefruit sorbet is easy — just some mixing, heating and stirring. Plus, you can make this even if you don’t have an ice cream machine as the added vodka (alcohol doesn’t freeze) prevents the mixture it from freezing into an unwieldy solid.

Pink Grapefruit Sorbet

Ingredients

3 cups freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice (I buy freshly squeezed juice at the gourmet store having rationalized that it costs the same as buying all those grapefruits. Much easier.)

2 tablespoons light (clear) corn syrup

2/3 cup granulated sugar

3 or 4 tablespoons of vodka

Instructions

Prepare the mixture the day before you want it and let it cool overnight in the fridge before churning or get your mixture assembled and chilling early early in the morning (like, before your coffee) so you can freeze it that afternoon for a late dinner.

In a small saucepan, heat one cup of the grapefruit juice with the granulated sugar and the corn syrup over low heat until the sugars dissolve. Add this mixture to the remaining grapefruit juice, add the vodka and put the whole thing into the freezer to cool for a couple of hours or into the fridge overnight.

The next day, when it is thoroughly chilled, churn it in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer instructions. If you don’t have an ice cream maker you can pour it into a loaf pan or shallow dish, stick it into the freezer and run a fork through it every 30-45 minutes or so while it’s firming up to break up the ice crystals.

If you are one of the silver or blonde tribe, there is nothing like Kérastase Blonde Absolu masque Ultra Violet, $74, Sephora, to bring your hair back from the edge, and light it up so it’s visible from space (I exaggerate, but only slightly.) This mask will keep your hair bright and beautifully moisturized and de-frizzed. (FYI, so many purple shampoos dry your hair out like crazy so don’t overly rely on them but do use a mask and a conditioner a lot if you are silver-haired.)

Silver hair maintenance, step two: L’Oréal’s Color Radiance Purple Reviving Oil, $9,49, Shoppers Drug Mart, is a hair smoothing, yellow-banishing serum-slash-leave-in-treatment you can use between shampoos. Use it sparingly (you can always add more, but you can’t add less) and for heaven’s sake, wash your hands afterwards because it is purple (did I mention that it’s purple?) It is very effective at turning faintly yellowing drying out hair into a silvery, light-reflecting, wonder.

A Pre-Summer Friday Five

Summer is coming (how is it almost June?) and here is the first Friday Five of the season:

When the humidity arrives, you want to be cool without leaving the house in just a bathing suit and look pulled together without feeling smothered in fabric. Athleta’s wide-leg Cabo linen trousers, $99, are structured but breezy. The black is perfect for a fancy evening out while the white, worn with a white top, caramel leather accessories and gold jewelry, would be perfect for an outdoor lunch.

Germany holds asparagus festivals (Spargelzeit!) each May into June, and I think that North American culture is poorer for not sharing this tradition. To honour the greatest green spear of all time, I urge you to make this easy, soothing summer meal of jammy eggs, toast points and asparagus (recipe at the bottom of this post.)

Insanely charismatic French actor Omar Sy stars in The Takedown (Netflix) and I can’t decide if it’s a supremely dumb movie and that you should just (re)watch him in Lupin (also Netflix) or if The Takedown is just what the buddy cop film genre needs: lots of silly action with a forceful anti-racist message. Nothing is as chilling as the terrifyingly and loudly racist little, old white lady character thrown into the mix along with the expected evil white men in suits and prison-tattooed skinheads.

Dolce & Gabbana’s Light Blue Italian Love, 50 ml edt, $108, Sephora, is lemon-and-green-apple-with-flowers classic Light Blue set atop a richly musky and woody base. It’s quietly cozy and warming on cooler evenings but still irrefutably light and summery for those (you know they’re coming) humid days ahead.

I am easing myself into reading giant doorstopper summer novels by rereading Utz, paperback, $17, Chapters.Indigo, Bruce Chatwin’s slender 154 page novel about a porcelain collector living in Russian occupied Prague.

Asparagus & Eggs

Steam about six or seven asparagus spears per person (after having trimmed or snapped off the woody ends) four to five minutes until softened but not mushy.

If you have your own method for creating jammy eggs, then please use it. This is mine: slide two room-temperature eggs per person into water in a small saucepan on the stove and set the dial up to high. When the water begins to boil furiously, set the timer for 4 minutes exactly, turn the dial to medium high and keep an eye on it. Drain and plunge your eggs into cold water after the four minutes to stop them cooking. Peel them as soon as you can.

Meanwhile, toast and lightly butter some generously sliced sourdough and cut into points (toast points taste better than squares and the ends get dipped into your jammy yolks.)

Bisect your eggs lengthwise and arrange with the steamed asparagus spears in shallow pasta bowls, surround with buttered toast points, shave some parmesan into generous curls with a vegetable peeler and arrange on top. Finally, drizzle each dish with some peppery olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt crystals and a grinding of fresh pepper and that’s it. Early summer in a bowl.

Your Friday Five #2

The Emmys take place this Sunday (September 19th at 8 p.m. est on CBS) and Jean Smart is nominated for her roles in HBO’s Hacks (above) and HBO’s Mare of Easttown (both on Crave in Canada.) If you haven’t yet watched Hacks, you need to binge all 10 episodes right now. I envy you.

Chanel Baume Essentiel Multi Use Glow Stick in Golden Light, $60, helps you keep a summery radiance straight into fall and prevents that “ghostly and faintly unwell” look from taking hold. This shimmery bronze stick is lightly pigmented so you can apply it with abandon on cheekbones, eyelids, and the bridge of your nose to look instantly better, glowier. And it works for all skin tones (just use a lighter hand if you are English-rose pale.)

But Mama Always Put Vodka in Her Sangria by the late Julia Reed should have won prizes for the title alone. This 2014 mix of stories, history and recipes can forcibly yank you out of a bad mood and her easy champagne cocktail of a sugar cube soaked in grapefruit bitters with prosecco poured over could easily become your party mainstay.

Pattern Beauty by Tracee Ellis Ross is the latest BIPOC-owned beauty brand to come to Sephora and I was curious to try the On the Go Curl Hair Kit , $31, Sephora, to see if its rich products could quiet my frizz. One attempt later and I have coaxed actual curls from straw. And the scent is suitably luxe — light and fresh but sophisticated. Next up, trying the hair Treatment Mask which has a richer ‘could be an expensive perfume’ fragrance. I am all in.

Sure, Issey Miyake’s new A Drop d’Issey, $142, Shoppers Drug Mart, is ostensibly a warm weather fragrance, given its pure lilac central note, but why not wear it to stay in blissful denial about the icy months ahead?

Your Friday Five

On the last weekend of August, let’s socialize, inspired by this clever, smoke-centric reimagining of Slim Aarons’ iconic poolside photos, shot by Hype Williams for Jay-Z’s Monogram cannabis company.

Bottom row, from left to right: Even if you don’t have a Palm Springs retreat at your disposal, you can still share a fancy drink outdoors with friends. Dunk puréed fruit popsicles (I like local Toronto brand Happy Pops) head first into glasses of prosecco or champagne for cocktails that are festive but not overly sweet. Created at New York’s Conrad Hotel’s Loopy Doopy bar, they’re easy to assemble and are much more than mere Instagram bait.

I often think about the ‘bowls’ of cigarettes’ at Mary-Kate Olsen’s 2015 wedding reception with now ex-spouse Olivier Sarkozy. The 2021 Covid-anxiety version of this has to be offering your guests Ace Valley Pinners in Indica Kosher Kush. These skinny joints come eight to a pack and contain only .3 mg of thc instead of the usual .5 mg. No passing around, everyone gets their own and voilà, you are cooler than an Olsen twin.

Matrix Biolage Coconut Infusion spray, $24, Chatters.ca, detangles and hydrates that unruly mess on the top of your head, turning frizz into beachy waves and infusing hair with a light coconut scent. It’ll be perfect come November for that summery fragrance alone.

Why isn’t eucalyptus more of a standard deodorant scent? Decidedly genderless, this bracing and clean-smelling Caudalie Vinofresh natural stick deodorant, $18.50, Sephora, promises 24 hour protection and is ideal when engaging with others outside in the late summer steam.

If you are hiding inside with the AC blasting, waiting for fall, you should watch '“Shetland” (the first four seasons are available on Netflix) set on the windy and cold Scottish island of the same name. With only a wee bit of violence, it’s mainly soothing, with detective Jimmy Perez (Douglas Henshall) wearing one of his many wooly jumpers, while interviewing suspects outdoors in yet another impossibly beautiful Scottish locale.