Hitting Pan: May 2023

Last month's empties

Hello and welcome to another monthly installment of Things I Used Up and Look Forward to Purchasing Again.

It’s almost the end of June and I’m just now writing about everything that made my life better in May. Summer is like that. Here we go!

Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz

Is this the best Ben and Jerry’s flavor ever? Actually? Yes. Fight me!

Strawberries

Based on my findings this weekend, strawberries are out. Raspberries are in. I didn’t make a single shortcake.

Kashi GO Crunch

When I was pregnant with Cosmo in the summer of 2009, it was an amazing time for peaches and also for this cereal. I don’t know how much experience you have had with 3rd trimester pregnant people, but please step aside so they can get through.

Every Saturday in peach season, I would purchase at least 7 peaches of varying ripeness from Toigo farms to last me the whole week, and every morning I would dice the most perfect peach and place it on top of a bowl of Kashi. (I’m a yellow peach person, but occasionally a white one would get in there.) Separately, I would chill about a cup of rice milk with several ice cubes until it was truly freezing cold; IT HAD TO BE VERY VERY COLD BECAUSE IT HAD TO BE. I’d pour the rice milk over the cereal and peach and add a sprinkle of flaky salt. After that, Cosmo and I were on our way. The cereal is still in the regular household rotation.

Nécessaire Deodorant

I never wear antiperspirant and almost all fragrances give me a headache and make me upset. The eucalyptus flavor of Necessaire’s deodorant is the exception. It’s got a light, refreshing scent, and a roller ball applicator that I love. You can see that this is an image of a new bottle; I finished mine and re-upped.

My Mom’s Lilacs

Speaking of fragrances: my mom’s lilacs were bodacious this summer. I cut a ton and brought them back to Brooklyn with me in the car; most ethereal and heavenly ride ever! The season is too short; I’m grateful I caught it and stretched it out by one more week.

How to Write an Autobiographical Novel

I am reading a lot of books about writing (ie, craft of), memory, and memoirs. No reason! On the heels of Stay True, which I wrote about last month, I finished Alexander Chee’s bestseller. I didn’t tear through it, exactly, but that’s probably because my laptop hogs so much room in my bed (gotta stop doing that). It’s an excellent book. Essays about the author’s life are interwoven with his thoughts and guidance on writing—his own, his students, and the reader’s. There’s one essay about the lavish rose garden he created in a dilapidated Brooklyn backyard that is sticking with me.

Anything you want me to opine about? Ingredient things, beauty/body products, books, shows, podcasts, etc? LMK in the comments!