With this post, I've officially done a monthly favorites post every month for a year! Despite this July being busier than I expected, I don't have too many things to include for last month. However, I did get to try new dessert places, found my new favorite dancer, and even read an entire book series in July.
Cream Bar
If you're from the Chicagoland area, you've surely heard of Woodfield Mall, one of the best and biggest malls in the area. Not far from there is a fun ice cream sandwich place called Cream Bar. This little restaurant has lots of ice cream flavors and kinds of cookies to create your perfect ice cream sandwich. You can even make a brownie ice cream sandwich or a brownie cookie ice cream sandwich like I did!
While it can be difficult to eat the creation like an actual sandwich, it's delicious all the same ― spoon or no spoon. The ice cream is nice and creamy, and I believe the cookies and brownies are baked daily, so they're fresh! I had a chocolate chip cookie and Oreo brownie with chocolate ice cream and almonds. The cookie was nice, soft, and chewy, which is how I like my cookies. The Oreo brownie was nice and decadent, and the Oreo pieces were a fun touch. If you're ever in the area, I'd definitely recommend going there.
While it can be difficult to eat the creation like an actual sandwich, it's delicious all the same ― spoon or no spoon. The ice cream is nice and creamy, and I believe the cookies and brownies are baked daily, so they're fresh! I had a chocolate chip cookie and Oreo brownie with chocolate ice cream and almonds. The cookie was nice, soft, and chewy, which is how I like my cookies. The Oreo brownie was nice and decadent, and the Oreo pieces were a fun touch. If you're ever in the area, I'd definitely recommend going there.
Firecakes
Chicagoland has a lot of awesome doughnut places, including Firecakes. I actually first discovered them on Facebook in either a video about a doughnut birthday cake or a video about doughnut ice cream sandwiches. Regardless, I knew I needed to try this place after discovering them.
I was in Oak Park for a job interview and was ecstatic when I found out there's a Firecakes right by where I had my interview. So I brought my sister along with me to try their doughnuts. We liked the idea of a doughnut birthday cake ― especially since our brother's birthday was around that time ― but we knew the doughnut ice cream sandwich was a must. You can either customize your own ice cream sandwich or order one of the featured creations on the menu. I decided to make my own with a triple rich chocolate cake doughnut, Tahitian vanilla ice cream, and white chocolate pearls.
The donut was nice and chocolaty but not too sweet. The ice cream was really good, and the pearls (which aren't really visible in the picture) added a nice crunch. Like my Cream Bar ice cream sandwich, it was difficult to eat as an actual sandwich, but it still tasted just as good with a fork.
We also bought some of their doughnuts to take home, including the Wildflower Honey Glazed, Tahitian Vanilla Iced, and Sprinkle. Those were all delicious as well and were some of the best doughnuts I'd ever had. They were still soft and scrumptious one or two days after we bought them, which I can't say about other doughnut places.
I was in Oak Park for a job interview and was ecstatic when I found out there's a Firecakes right by where I had my interview. So I brought my sister along with me to try their doughnuts. We liked the idea of a doughnut birthday cake ― especially since our brother's birthday was around that time ― but we knew the doughnut ice cream sandwich was a must. You can either customize your own ice cream sandwich or order one of the featured creations on the menu. I decided to make my own with a triple rich chocolate cake doughnut, Tahitian vanilla ice cream, and white chocolate pearls.
The donut was nice and chocolaty but not too sweet. The ice cream was really good, and the pearls (which aren't really visible in the picture) added a nice crunch. Like my Cream Bar ice cream sandwich, it was difficult to eat as an actual sandwich, but it still tasted just as good with a fork.
We also bought some of their doughnuts to take home, including the Wildflower Honey Glazed, Tahitian Vanilla Iced, and Sprinkle. Those were all delicious as well and were some of the best doughnuts I'd ever had. They were still soft and scrumptious one or two days after we bought them, which I can't say about other doughnut places.
Michael Dameski
If you read last month's favorites post, this guy should be familiar. In June, his first appearance on World of Dance aired, and his second appearance aired just last week. His dance for The Duels last week was outstanding. It had all of the same qualities from his first dance ― the power, precision, emotion, and technique ― but was just on another level. My favorite part is at 1:01 when his movement is just spot on with the music. It just portrays and conveys such a powerful moment of trying to hold on.
I've recently watched more of his dance videos and have just been blown away by his talent and ability. He's my new favorite dancer. I could go on and on about why he's amazing, or you could just watch his dance above and/or read all about his greatness on my other blog, The Twin Trio.
The To All the Boys I've Loved Before series
I've wanted to read this series for four years but never got around to it until last month. The first two books were part of a "buy two get one free" deal, and the third was in the clearance section at Books-a-Million. There was no way I could pass that deal up, so I knew it was time to finally read the series. Plus, with the Netflix movie adaptation coming soon, the timing was perfect.
Throughout the course of the entire series, protagonist Lara Jean Covey's growth is evident. From the first book where her secret love letters to all of her crushes get sent to the boys to the the second book where she's in her first relationship to the last book where she's figuring out where she'll be going to college, the reader goes along for the journey. The series is all about the unexpected and how that can actually be good. And while it's sort of a rom-com in novel form, I didn't find anything super cliche. Plus, I have to give it bonus points for the Asian-American representation. I can't remember the last time I read a YA novel that had an Asian-American teenager as the protagonist.
Flying Tomato dress from Marshalls
I randomly found this dress at a Marshalls one day on a clearance rack. The stripes and tropical plants and floral design are so fun and contrast. I didn't have anything like this in my closet, so I thought it was worth a try for $13 even though it was a large and I'm usually a small or medium. So I tried it on and fell in love with it. It's super comfy and isn't tight at all ― probably because it's a size bigger than my normal ― but isn't too loose or big anywhere. At first glance, the design may seem like too much, but it actually works nicely to create a vibrant dress that's unlike anything I've ever seen. Since buying this dress, I actually found multiple others at different Marshalls that weren't on clearance, so this was a definite steal for me. I still don't know why this was on clearance, because nothing's wrong with it, but I'm not going to complain or question it anymore.
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