This photo is a meditation on sitting and waiting.
I’ve been in the kitchen this week experimenting with recipes that are outside of my wheelhouse. That use of the word ‘wheelhouse’ is 100% ridiculous. Please know that I know.
Here’s the deal: gnocchi is really hard to make. Actually, it’s fairly easy to make gnocchi dough, but to actually make GOOD gnocchi must take some sort of selling of a soul to the Devil. Or practice. Maybe I just need a lot of practice.
I hope this week has treated you to a new adventure or two (in the kitchen or out)… or at least some really good coffee. Something fine and good.
This is what the Internet wanted us to know this week. The Internet was actually yelling all sorts of nonsense at us, and I’ve fiddled (yes, fiddled) it down t0 the following.
If you need me, I’ll be making Liege Waffles with Ilana.
• This week, Hilary Clinton testified in front of the House Select Committee about the September 11, 2012 attack in Libya. It’s a big deal. If you’re not sure why… understandable. Benghazi, Explained
• What we lose when memory gets lost. The Deviousness of Dementia
• Does self-deprecating harm or help you socially? I guess it matters how much you care about what people think about you.
• Why Too Much Choice is Stressing Us Out. We’re the worst. I mean… we really are.
• Terry Gross and the art of opening up. My favorite Terry Gross interview is with author and illustrator Maurice Sendak near the end of his life. It’s so sincere it’s completely disarming. On Life, Death, and Children’s Literature
• How Match.com helped us hook up and find love since 1995… and oh how far we’ve come, right?
• The untold story of the Ermahgerd Girl. The Internet is the weirdest.
• The real reason germs spread in Winter. The dry cold air is gettin’ us down. Stay moist, my friends.
• Tracy made Caramel Apple Floats which, I think along with a flu shot, will help banish all Winter illnesses.
• Let’s make Oven Ribs this week!
• File under: Things I Baked This Week That I Didn’t Take Pictures Of. BBQ Chicken Legs (delicious) and Gluten-Free Chocolate Brownie Cookies (hella good).
I hope you have the most wonderful Sunday.
xo Joy
The Queen of Dreaming
Great post! ;)
https://justsem.wordpress.com/
Emily
Gnocchi are hard! We had an epic failure one Passover when we thought we’d be clever and make gnocchi with matzoh meal flour. We put a couple of tester gnocchi in the pot of boiling water and… they disappeared! I guess flour is pretty key to holding it all together. (We salvaged them by frying them which was quite delicious).
I came across this recipe recently:
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/03/ricotta-gnocchi-homemade-food-lab-recipe.html
and the ricotta gnocchi I’ve made came out really well! Much tastier than any of the potato gnocchi I’ve tried to make, and while it wasn’t quite as fast as cooking pasta out of a bag (I mean… silly claim, recipe author), it was a lot faster than processing potatoes!
I have been thinking a lot about making pierogis, though… and those will certainly contain potato.
Mandy
Pro tip: Don’t post opinionated articles about controversial political, religious, etc topics if you don’t want to push away your readers. We come here learn your recipes and awesome foodie ways, take in your awesome photography, and click links to articles regarding occasional neutral current events, topics, & trends. You are not an authority one way or the other on political matters, so please keep it neutral. It’s like when actors/celebrities are outspoken about whatever political cause they support…we just like your movies, we do not want to hear your opinions especially b/c that is not your job!
Thx.
joythebaker
Girl… please.
Michelle
you. are. amazing
Susan
Joy,
I support you posting whatever you want. It’s your blog. And yes you are a thinking feeling person. We all don’t have to agree on everything. The articles you post are interesting, regardless of whether they fit everyone’s world views or not. We all need to be able to learn from each other, even if we disagree on an issue. Truth is, no one side is always right, and most often the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
You keep sharing.
shallowdeep
This post is my favorite thing about starting a new week. Also, because I’m a 12 year old boy stuck in a 35 year old woman’s body, I giggled at your use of moist.
i”ll see myself out.
cristinaelisemoreno
If you haven’t already, you should listen to Marc Maron’s podcast with Terry Gross. She cursed! It was delightful.
joythebaker
you’re right! it’s so great!
Hannah
I love these Sunday posts so much—keep ’em coming! Also, I made your sausage and mushroom risotto this weekend, and it brought comfort and joy to my belly and the bellies of those around me. Thanks for the delicious recipe!
joythebaker
right on right on!
Connie Chung
thank you times a bajillion. i always look forward to this round up.
Lynn @ The Actor's Diet
I love Terry Gross so much!!! Especially when she talks about how she doesn’t know how to cook.
Danielle
Thank you Joy! I really enjoy visiting here on Sundays to see your weekly links. As well as all the yummy treats throughout the week! Good luck with the gnocchi’s. I’m sure you’ll nail it! Enjoy the week and thanks for the inspiration! ??
joythebaker
Gnocchi fail is ok by me.
Larkin
Joy, this is my absolutely favorite post to read on Sundays. I always start here before diving into the NY Times and Washington Post. Thanks so much!
Susan
The post about dementia really touched me. I spent a year as my father’s caregiver after my mother’s death. That year nearly broke me, but I am glad I did it. He is now in an assisted living facility that has a memory care unit, although he is not in that unit yet. It was when he became more unsteady and was falling, that we needed to make a decision to put him in the AL facility. Luckily we found a private facility with only 75 residents that has such personal care that the facility and its staff have been a blessing to us. Na dluckily he has the finances to be able to be there.
Dementia is tough.
While Dad still knows me and my sisters and our families, I am beginning to see him struggle a little as to which one of his daughters I am. There are occasions he has confused my son, with my son’s uncle, my brother, who died in 1972 at the age of 19. (My son is the spitting image of my brother who I named him after.)
The writer’s account of having the same conversation multiple times during the day is spot on. The repetitive motions are spot on. My father constantly looks at his watch and if he has long sleeves on, check the buttons at his cuffs.
The hardest part now is when he looks at me and says “I have a serious question to ask you?” I know what’s coming next.
“Did I lose my wife?”
“Was I at her funeral?”
“I don’t remember it.”
I now ask him what he does remember about Mom and he will go through his list of how she was a good wife, a good mother, a good grandmother and a good cook.
I tell him he remembers the important things about her.
joythebaker
Susan, thank you so much for sharing this. The part of life where we care for our aging people is so hard, often in the most unexpected and humbling ways. You are such a godsend to your father right now. You’re doing the hard and loving work.
Alex
Great post! My favorite Terry Gross interview is the one with Maurice Sendak as well. I go back and listen to it ever so often, it is so sad and honest and brilliant. I lost it when he told Terry that he most assuredly will go before she does, and then he won’t have to miss her.
Suzonne Stirling
I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your “Let It Be Sunday” posts. Indeed, it is Sunday, and raining, and I’m drinking coffee and catching up on the world, just as you intended. Thanks for sifting through and finding thought provoking articles. The Internet at its best. Happy Sunday!
joythebaker
thank you Suzonne! I know I’ll run into you around New Orleans one of these days!
Dominique
Your Benghazi article is another cover up of what really happened in Libya. It’s a shame that the Hillary supporters just don’t want to know the truth. Hillary knew full well from day one the attack on Benghazi was not prompted by a video and yet her and the entire Obama administration told the american people and the victim’s families it was from a video for weeks. Obama was running a campaign at the time telling the american people al qaeda was on the run. An american ambassador and three other americans killed by islamic terrorists didn’t fit that narrative.
joythebaker
Thanks for the comment Dominique! What articles are you reading about Benghazi that feel honest and not like overt political coverup? I’d love to know (Tone: inquisitive and not sarcastic at all.)