The Friday Five, 7/1/22: 5 things I've been up to this week

This has been a busy week, with a lot of good food and events going on. Next week promises to be more of the same and I'm also looking forward to the 4th of July holiday and the extra day off of work. 

Pork Tomahawk at BARDA Detroit - delicious

What I've been up to this week:

1. Seeing movies in the theater. Lots of them. On Friday I saw Elvis, which I would give like maybe 4.25/5—it's worth seeing in a theater just for Austin Butler's performance, which was FANTASTIC, but the narrator, Colonel Parker, played by Tom Hanks, was kinda weird. I read later that Butler sings the earlier songs as himself but later they mixed his voice with Elvis's—pretty cool. On Saturday, I saw Lightyear in 3D, which, as a Toy Story fan, I unfortunately found to be just okay ... it's worth seeing still but I'd give it 3/5 and wait for it to come to Disney+. Then last night I saw a press screening of Where the Crawdads Sing, which I was SUPER excited about, because I love the book—it was one of my book club's very first picks. It won't be in theaters until July 15th so you'll have to wait until closer till then for my review. 
2. Going out to eat. On Friday, after the movie, I picked up some Del Taco takeout—I prefer their chicken tacos, but apparently if you register for their new app, you get two free beef tacos, so I got those and also threw in one chicken taco. Last Saturday, my parents and I got Hungry Howie's takeout per usual, which is always good, and on Sunday, my boyfriend and I joined some of his coworkers and their significant others at BARDA in Detroit, which I hadn't tried yet and wanted to. It's pretty pricey but all of the food was very good—as one would expect, because it was a James Beard award nominee this year. On Monday, I met up with a friend in Novi, and we had Siam Spicy for dinner, and I also introduced her to Crumbl after, since she hadn't been. Last night, before the movie, my boyfriend and I had dinner at Jolly Pumpkin—their nachos are always fabulous, and we also got a pizza, which was just okay. Unfortunately service was not great (rather rude) which was offputting. 
3. First in-person Yelp event in 2 years! Not that I've been counting, but my last in-person Yelp event was February 2020 at Yum Village. Yelp has *just* started returning to in-person events—it did a coffee shop event and a few others—but this was the first one in my vicinity that I was able to make it to. It was held at Hazel's in Birmingham (formerly Hazel and Ravines, and before that, The Stand) and it was seafood- and cocktail-focused. I mostly don't eat seafood, except for some sushi, but we were taught how to make three different cocktails, all at our seats, which was fantastic. I did try some of the whitefish dip (too smoky for me though) and the opening appetizer was their chips and French onion dip, which was great. It was very nice to see some of my Yelp friends again, and Hazel's is a beautiful venue, as well. We needed some "real food" after that (an entree) so we stopped by Brooklyn Pizza, which was also very good; I used to go there when they had their $1 Monday slices special, unfortunately they were running out of slices on Tuesday night (only had margherita) so we did two half-pizzas instead, which were tasty.
4. Cooking. I finished up a Marley Spoon box this week and then we received a free Purple Carrot box, courtesy of my friend Amy, who had an invite to share. This was my first time trying Purple Carrot—on Wednesday for lunch I made the "herby penne and zucchini ribbons" and unfortunately it was just okay; I'm not sure if it was because the penne was gluten-free, or I overcooked it, but it was pretty rigid. On Wednesday night, however, we made the "summer squash flatbread," with dairy-free sour cream and vegan parmesan, and that was delicious. I have one more meal to make which I will make later, Tarragon Noodles, and it comes with homemade ramen noodles, which I was impressed by. Purple Carrot is a vegan/dairy-free meal kit, I believe, and although it's not worth the $79.50 per week (three meals, for two people), I've been enjoying it overall. Next week I am back to Hello Fresh, which will be nice because I haven't had it for a while. 
5. Binging TV shows. I forgot that The Summer I Turned Pretty was up on Prime, and I finished that (only seven episodes) this week. I'm also caught up on Ms. Marvel, on Disney+, and my boyfriend and I finished Tokyo Vice, on HBO Max—starring Ansel Elgort, and I feel like it got zero publicity for some reason—and started the new Umbrella Academy season. I also finished up the new Rutherford Falls (Peacock) season last week, and now I need a new lunch show. I finished The First Lady, on Showtime, as well, which was excellent, and definitely worth seeing.
6. Fireworks in Walled Lake. Bonus # this week as I forgot to add this—Saturday night, Walled Lake put on its annual fireworks show. My parents live adjacent to the lake and I joined them for it, and my boyfriend showed up later as well. I think they had some technical difficulties at first, because it started later, but they always put on a great show—apparently it's some WL private citizen that pays for it, too (not the city), and it costs about $30,000 per year, which is crazy. This year it lasted about 20 minutes. You can check out my Instagram reel I made, as well. 

Fireworks in Walled Lake