No really, you have to make this
("No really, you have to make/read/buy this" really sums me up, doesn't it?)
Not only am I a lipstick fiend, I'm a lip balm fiend too. I have two next to my bed, one in my car, and one in my purse at all times. Remember when there was all that hysteria about people being addicted to lip balm? The horrors! Such innocent times we were living in then. There are a lot of great lip balms out there, but one of my favorites is Jack Black Intense Lip Therapy. I usually get like six of them when the Sephora sale is on during the holidays and stash them everywhere. It's moisturizing, but doesn't have that tingly sensation that a lot of lip balms have and I hate, it's easy to squeeze out of the tube, and it stays on your lips long enough that you don't have to constantly reapply. Perfect for the beach or anytime you'll be outdoors for a while.
When I was a teenager, I went through a period of reading a bunch of steamy romance novels when my roommate at camp brought a huge box of them, but after that I didn't read or even really think about romance novels for well over 15 years. (And now I have one coming out in less than a year, and another that I'm writing right now, life is fun and weird, you guys.) My gateway to romance as an adult was Georgette Heyer's Regency romances. I had a very difficult year a few years back, and I think I read twenty of them in about two months, and proceeded to re- and re-read my favorites on basically a monthly basis. I have many favorites of hers (and a few that I loathe -- as you might expect, all of them have some pretty retrograde gender roles, but some of them take that way too far. And there's also some racism and anti-semitism that comes up in a few, fair warning), but my absolute favorite is Black Sheep. You've got a spirited, independent, almost but not quite rebellious woman, and a man who cares nothing for social conventions but who she reluctantly falls in love with, and you pair it with fantastic revenge on a scoundrel who is trying to take advantage of her wealthy niece, and it's all very swoon worthy. Read it this summer and ask me for more recommendations, or if you've already read it, tell me what your favorite Heyer is.
Here's a recipe for my favorite summer condiment: chimichurri sauce. I make it all the time and never use a real recipe for it but for you, I wrote you a recipe-ish for it because I love you and it just so much. Just this week, I made a big batch of it to put on salmon for dinner one night. The next day I added a big dollop or two to a quinoa salad with feta and cherry tomatoes (this would be just as good, or maybe better, as an orzo salad, which was my original idea, but I had quinoa in the house but no orzo). And the next day I added another big dollop to lemon juice and olive oil and whisked to make a great salad dressing for my dinner salad. And this weekend I think I'm going to sear some skirt steak (my favorite cut of steak for weekday meals) and pile it on top. It's super easy if you have a food processor -- I took my life in my hands and used my recalled Cuisinart blade to make this, because they have not yet sent me a new one! -- and keeps (covered, in the fridge) for at least a week. There are many recipes online for this and I'm sure they're all great, but here's how I do it:
One bunch flat leaf parsley
One bunch cilantro (if you're a cilantro hater, just use all parsley)
2 cloves of garlic
a pinch of red pepper flakes
a big pinch of kosher salt
about a tablespoon of red wine vinegar
1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil
(Yes, saying one bunch is vague, because bunches are often all different sizes, but let's be real -- most of us are not going to be harvesting these herbs from our Ina Garten-like herb gardens, so what you're going to buy from the store is a bunch, that's why the olive oil amount is a range!)
Wash the herbs and dry them super well. Chop the leaves off of the stems (you don't have to be precious about it, if some stems get in there it's fine) and put them in your food processor (If you don't have a food processor or blender chop all of this stuff up really finely and throw it in a bowl). Add everything but the liquids and chop it all up, stop the machine, stir, and chop again. Then add the liquids -- the smaller amount of olive oil first and process until it's all combined, then check it to see if it needs more. I like my chimichurri sauce to be about the texture to sit on a spoon without dripping off, but to still be saucy enough to spread easily, but you might like yours more liquid, so test and decide (and you can always add more liquid later, but it's hard to take it out!). Boom, you're done. Put on top of or stir into anything you like.