2022 Favorites

Even though it's hard to believe another year is almost over, that means that it's one of my favorite times- lists of the best things of the year! I love hearing what everyone loved, from music to movies to products. It's always so fun to see how these things change each year too. Today I'll be sharing my favorites in a few categories- Entertainment, Books, Food, and Products! Let's get to it.

Entertainment

- movie: Everything Everywhere All At Once. I saw this on a plane ride, and I already want to re-watch it at home. This is one of the most visually interesting movies that I've ever seen, and even though the story line is really out there I was captivated! I don't think I've ever seen a movie like this, and I want everyone to watch just so I can talk about it. A runner up that I just watched on Netflix is Bullet Train, which was so entertaining and hilarious. Plus- it made me nostalgic for Japan!

- tv show: According to my Sling TV roundup, I only watched tennis this year (which is pretty accurate). I didn't love any of the shows that I watched this year, but I will probably pick Never Have I Ever as my favorite. It's a great show that people of all ages can relate to and enjoy, and was much less toxic than Tell Me Lies (which kind of reminded me of the college version of NHIE). Runner up would be the competition show Drink Master on Netflix! I'm always a sucker for competition reality shows.

- music: Awaken My Love by Childish Gambino. This isn't a new album (it came out in 2016), but we've been buying a ton of new music for our record player (a favorite down below) and this is the one that I've been listening to the most! I love the blend of different genres, and Donald Glover is such a talented musician. Runners up that came out this year are Renaissance by Beyonce, Harry's House by Harry Styles, and Un Verano Sin Ti by Bad Bunny.

Books

- book club book: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. This was such a tough pick for me because I loved a lot of the books we read, and all of them were so different! But- if I was to re-read any book or remember one the most it would be this. It's also funny because I've tried to read this book a few times and could never get into it, but having to read it for Book Club forced me to keep going and now it's one of my favorites! This is also one of the few times that I liked the movie almost as much as the book, so if you haven't watched it I would recommend (it's on Netflix now!)

- Goodreads winner: Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley. It was also hard to pick this, because I gave 6 of the books a five-star rating! This one was so different from any book I've ever read though, and was such an interesting look into a culture I don't know anything about. It was fascinating, but behind all of that was just a good story.

- other: The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb. A mystery set in the world of classical music with a focus of discrimination in the orchestral world- sounds like a lot but it all works in this book. Such a great and unique story that is hard to put down.

Food

- recipe: Pretty much anything that I've tried in the Korean Vegan cookbook! I want to cook out of this book a lot more next year because everything has been so amazing, and given me an excuse to visit H Mart a lot more. Maybe I'll incorporate this into a challenge for next year?

- Bake Off recipe : This year in general was really disappointing for the Great British Bake Off for me (not the contestants- they were amazing! Just the challenges and recipes). I only ended up making about half of the recipes and was not really into most of them. So, my favorite was easy to decide and was the spring rolls from pastry week. The process to make them was challenging but not impossible, and the end product was so delicious.

- restaurant : It's so hard for me to pick just one restaurant for this category, because there are some places I only went to once but had a great experience, and then one restaurant that I went to a few times but have loved. So- I'll share a bit of both! The repeat winner is Averde, which is owned by Chef Katsuji (who you might recognize from Top Chef). The food there is always very fun and whimsical, and they have the best cocktails of any restaurant I've been to! Another repeat winner is Irregardless, which is a heavily plant-based restaurant. I will say that I thought the brunch was way better than dinner, but both meals I've had there have been interesting and very fresh tasting. On the other side, I've only been to Dirty V (a vegan burger / hot dog place) and Cortez (seafood) once but really want to go back because it was an amazing experience!

Products

- under $20: This was the year that I got into crocheting, and luckily for me all the supplies are relatively inexpensive! I got this hook set which works great, and have been finding yarn at Joann and Michaels (look for coupons or wait for sales!), as well as online at Lion Brand's website.

- house stuff: I love all of the projects we did around the house since we bought it to really make it feel like ours, but probably my favorite would have to be our wallpaper in the powder room. I've always wanted to try wallpapering but was intimidated about the process, but it was so worth the hard work! It's definitely not perfect, but every time I go in there I'm so proud of doing it myself and love the look.

- fun stuff: I guess I'm officially a millennial because I bought a record player. There's just something about putting on a new record in the morning and having it play through while you start your day that I've been loving! I've also been enjoying visiting new record stores- one of my favorites has been The Pour House which has new and used records, and is also a concert venue! We went to a few shows here this year and it's such a great spot.

Tell me some of your favorites from the past year!!