Some Nourishing Summer Recs

Books! Foods! TV!

It’s July 2nd, which means it’s only 2 days until the official start of summer here in Seattle. When you only get 1 season of reliable sunshine per year, you take the time to appreciate it.

After a busy start to 2024, and with a book coming out this fall, I’m really feeling the call to slow down this summer and nourish myself. So that’s my word for the next two months. It’s making me wonder, how do we nourish ourselves? Our loved ones? Our neighbors?

In this time of political instability, it’s important to take good care of ourselves, so I’m going to kick off summer with some things that, I hope, will be as nourishing for you as they were for me.

EATS:

I love cooking but not when it’s hot. Fancy salads are my fav in the summer. Here are some good ones:

• this corn salad has received many compliments the two times I’ve made it

• this grilled chicken ramen salad was my top salad last summer

• even if you can’t figure out the fancy spiral cutting technique (I certainly can’t!) this Asian cucumber salad is delicious

• BONUS IDEA: I LOVE this salad formula chart from cooking genius

  Julia Turshen

• BONUS BONUS IDEA: if you’re sick of salad and grilling, but it’s still too hot to cook in the house, make a crockpot meal and plug it in on your porch/balcony/garage/whatever

READS:

My fictional faves are usually funny and/or romantic but with enough substance to stick to my ribs. Here are my top fiction reads of 2025 thus far.

• Hell is a World Without You, Jason Kirk. I haven’t finished this one yet, so it’s slightly risky to recommend it, but if you grew up as a 90’s youth group kid, this will make you cringe and snort-laugh.

• Weyward, Emilia Hart. A spooky, moody read about three generations of witches. Beautifully written and immersive, it should come with a hefty dose of content warnings for sexual assault. Despite that, I enjoyed this book and found it empowering.

• A Long Petal of the Sea, Isabel Allende. TBH, I picked this up because I like a “marriage of convenience” romance trope. This ain’t that. Instead, it’s an epic novel following refugees from the Spanish Civil War who must, later, live through the Chilean military dictatorship. This book holds a prescient reminder of how delicate our political systems are.

• The Future, Naomi Alderman. A sharp tech satire about billionaire bunkers and a doomsday cult? Yes, please.

• Great Big Beautiful Life, Emily Henry. IN THIS HOUSE, WE BELIEVE ALL EMILY HENRY BOOKS ARE GOOD.

• Definitely Better Now, Ava Robinson. Emma is focusing on sobriety and not interested in dating until she meets a sweet IT guy at her office. A sweet romcom with realistic stakes set against a difficult family situation.

VIEWS:

I’m not always up on the latest cinema (I have children) but here are my fav recent movie/TV recs.

• Bodies, Bodies, Bodies (HBO Max) I’m not normally a horror person, but this horror-comedy would be a great summer view, with plenty of Gen-Z skewering to keep it from being too terrifying.

• Companion (HBO Max) Another horror-comedy, this one covering an AI girlfriend who doesn’t realize she’s a bot and the plot to frame her for murder.

• One of Them Days (Netflix) A tight and hilarious buddy comedy about two girls trying to make rent.

• Dying for Sex (Hulu) Based on the true story of a young woman who, in the face of terminal cancer, is determined to finally have good sex before she dies. Touching, sexy, and cathartic. (Content warning for childhood sexual abuse.)

• A French Village (Hoopla, some seasons on Amazon Prime) Have I talked about this one enough? How is this old French show better than 90% of streaming right now? I’ve just started season 2 and I can’t stop watching.

Happy summer! If you have other recommendations, I’d love to read them in the comments!