If you’ve been here for any short amount of time, you’ve likely noticed that Sunday posts are a bit different than most of my mid-week food posts. I use this Sunday space to link to articles I’ve read throughout the week that I’ve found interesting or insightful… sometimes validating feelings that mingle in my guts, other times helping me see a different side of things. Sometimes spicy, pointed, and opinionated in tone. It’s a space for me to be a thinking, feeling, human and share some real-world things that are important to me. I’m not just a recipe machine… but I can be most Monday through Fridays.
I’ve found myself sitting on the couch for the last two hours, picking at the split ends in my hair, wondering how to coffee table got awkwardly far away from the couch because today my feet barely reach. I vacummed this morning. That feels like a long time ago now.
It’s a Saturday night tradition to write these posts, this being the 104th of them. It hasn’t felt good lately and doesn’t feel good tonight. Not everything feels good all the time. Right? Remember?
Here’s was resonated with me this week. Resonated? More like… here’s what’s ringing in my ears. It sounds like an alarm.
• This polarization is a mean-beast: Concern not contempt.
• Beautiful and humbling because we little humans make beautiful things with all our might: How To Make A Chinese Lantern.
• Mary Tyler Moore’s groundbreaking life in pictures. I also really enjoyed this 1995 interview with MTM on Fresh Air.
• The super rich are getting seriously prepared. Doomsday Prep for the Super Rich. I once tried hoarding antibiotics after binge watching Walking Dead for too many hours. Does that count for anything?
• Where Christian Leaders Stand on Trump’s Refugee Policy.
• I support the American Civil Liberties Union and the work they did this weekend. Got your card?
• Maybe seeing people (kinda) talk it out will help: When you love your political opponent. Lemme know if it helps though… asking for a friend.
• Welp… we can all drop the jade eggs now. Gwyneth Paltrow isn’t our gynecologist, apparently.
• For you dinner consideration: Apricot Balsamic Chicken with couscous and arugula. Jam on it.
• I’ve been listening to this beautiful song lately: High Sierra.
• Looking forward to reading: The Best Food Writing 2016
Looking forward to eating: Burnt Green Onion Dip with Curly Kale (I know… it’s like I’ve lost my mind. The whole world has gone nuts, clearly.)
Looking forward to watching: The second season of The Path on Hulu.
Looking forward to listening: They’ve just announced the Jazz Fest 2017 lineup. Jazz Fest is my favorite time of year here in New Orleans and this year is going to sound GREAT.
• The Secret History of The First Cat In Space Tried to convince Tron to step into a harness leash so we can get him into space. So far he hasn’t moved from his sleeping basket.
• This weekend I taught another workshop in the Bakehouse, this time with Suzonne Stirling. We learned how to make the paper camellias above and decorated floral cupcakes (with generous supplies from Paper Mart, Fiskars, PanPastels and Lia Griffith)… we plotted our Mardi Gras costumes and talked about home and family and sugar and paper. I plan on having a more solid and prepared Bakehouse schedule for you this Summer and Fall so you can plan your travel here if you’d like to join us. In the meantime, I’ll be hitting the road this Spring with my new Brunch book Over Easy and there will be pop up events and classes all over the country. More soon! Let’s get together, look each other straight in the face and make beautiful things.
• Tomorrow we’re announcing the winners of the KitchenAid and JtBBakehouse partnership! Check Instagram at 3pm central on Monday January 30th for the winners! In the meantime, if you’d like to submit a photo of your very fine brunch dishes or cocktails, get em up on Instagram with the hashtags #MadeWithKitchenAid and #JtBBakehouse!
xo Joy
Carrie
I love your Sunday posts! Always such a great lists of reads, listens, recipes, randoms… :) But I know that the things I’m reading more lately aren’t the light-hearted, easy to share articles, so I understand your feelings. That being said, I very much appreciate when you share some difficult articles and hope that education ourselves on both the facts of the world and the viewpoints of others helps get us to a better place (in the not-so-distant future!). Thanks for another good roundup <3
Tracy Genheimer
So excited for your new cookbook – I have mine pre-ordered! I also hope to come to the Bakehouse sometime!
Emily
Just so grateful for you and the balance you strike. Thank you.
Misty
must say this was your most boring letitbesunday ever.
Katie
Girrrll…. this week was tough. I’m just now reading your Sunday post. I’m tired. Is it cookie time yet? (Just kidding, I already ate cupcakes today (notkiddingiwantcookies)). Keep on truckin’, JtB!
gracefullkitchen
I love these Sunday posts and this is one of my favorite yet. That song though!!! LOVE!
Shani mantra
You always keep me woke and comforted on Sundays such as these <3
Kayla
Commenting for the first time to echo what everyone else has said. Let it Be Sunday has become a Monday tradition for me. With the weight of the week ahead of me, I sit down at work each Monday morning and reset with your words, links, and kind energy. You manage to be real, vulnerable, and raw (so refreshing), while still positive and empathetic. I aspire to be like you. Thank you for all you do and for who you are. Sending love and light your way.
Jessica
I always look forward to your Sunday post. I hope the not-good feels are a reflection of the state of the world, and not of the state of your heart. Either way, you’ve got a whole lot of love from all of your readers. *hugs*
suwanneerose
I pin and email so much of your Sunday list. Thank you. I can’t wait to visit the Bakehouse one of these days. The flowers you made the other day are amazing. I hope you’ll consider a stop at Inkwood Books in Tampa on your tour:
http://www.inkwoodbooks.com
My friends and I would love to see you there.
Shellie Andrews
I typically read this post on Monday mornings. Today is a particularly sad Monday morning. I am a Canadian and today I am shocked, saddened and angered by an attack on a mosque in Quebec City that killed 6 and injured several others. I felt the same when I heard about the travel ban implemented by the President of the United States(I can’t bring myself to say his name). I cannot believe that these things happen in two of the biggest nations in the world that were founded and built by those escaping religious persecution in their homeland. Am I proud to be Canadian, you bet. I am proud that my country has welcomed over 40,000 refugees since our current Prime Minister took office. I would be a little more proud if he, and all other world leaders, would have the guts to condemn the actions of the US President.
Thank you, Joy, for your thoughtful posts.
Gabrielle
High Sierra is *so* beautiful! Oh my goodness.
Kourtney
Chiming in to say that your Let it be Sunday posts are appreciated very much. It’s hard to make sense of the world these days and I often find solace in your words and those in your recommended links. Thanks for putting them together and sharing your feelings. It’s comforting to know we’re all in this together.
erika
I will comment every week because I love these posts. Thank you for addressing what is going on. I’ve really become uninterested in the people that ignore everything going on. It’s too important for us to pretend it isn’t happening. I NEED to know that other people are just as upset as I am. it helps me. thank you.
Melanie
I look forward to your Let It Be Sunday posts every week. Thank you for sharing with us!
Kate
Your Sunday posts are beautiful. The way you are able to articulate your feelings and share your honest feelings/state of how you are being in that moment or that week is wonderful and the first commenter put it perfectly- thanks for putting your neck out. You are brave. Keep the Sunday posts coming :)
Ellen
Thanks for your willingness to address what is an obvious schism in America today; there is large risk that as a blogger you’ll lose readership for doing so. What I’ve come to know in my absolute heart of hearts is that you have to be honest with yourself and if others choose to leave/hate/ignore you for it then so be it. We’ve taught our children to be courageous, not to rush into things blindly or stupidly but to have the courage to do the right thing or take a risk. I applaud your courage with your Sunday blogs, I thoroughly enjoy them!
Ayat
Hi, Joy. I’ve followed your site for a while now, but I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve commented. I always look forward to your Sunday posts. I appreciate that along with delicious recipes you are willing to share parts of who you are with your readers. I know I’ve had my eyes opened to new ideas, products, recipes, realities of our world, and so on, from what you post. Thank you!
Jenny
Your Sunday posts always feel like a conversation with an old friend and that’s what I love about them.
francetaste
You always have links I never would have found otherwise. That first one, about concern not contempt, is fantastic.
Lo
Chiming in to agree that I always come back for the Sunday posts. After the election, after the inauguration– both times I thought “well Joy’s Sunday post will have some ways to make sense of it.” And I’m a news/longform hound, but you always find things I haven’t seen yet. It’s lovely. Happy carnival season :)
Leslie
Another fan chimes in: I, too, love your posts, but especially Sunday. Keep up the good work. We must stand together in these difficult times and you give us a much needed ray of light.
NIcky Gilkison
I love these posts. I look forward to them every Monday (cause I’m in New Zealand). Thank you Joy. X
Kathryn
I have to chime in too. I love your recipes (chocolate icing is my go to) but I love love your Sunday posts and read them each week. It feels wrong not to acknowledge what is going on in the world and I applaud your insight and bravery for being real and wonderfully human. You are a light, Joy! Keep shining!
Laura
I really appreciate these posts, Joy. I will donate to the ACLU and the Committee to Protect Journalists. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and I think we got kinda complacent these last few years. xo
Betty
I so agree with “all of the above.” I appreciate that you are expressing your feelings about what is going on now in the USA. I think we all need to do it now MORE THAN EVER! I struggle with the word “CHRISTIAN.” I know we’re not to judge – but when Trump has been so blatant espousing things that are so “unlike Christ” (in my opinion) and yet he was elected by the Christian Right . . . I’m just at a loss. And Barrack and Michelle – what a class act! If there were pictures of Michelle on the internet like the nude ones of Melania – and of her intertwined while nude with another woman . . O M G !!! I’m probably much older than most of you commenting here, but I’ve never been so heart-sick or disillusioned with our country as I am now. I live in Kansas, and things are extremely grim here now! We have a conservative governor (Brownback) who is gutting the education budget, the arts, child welfare, you name it! My hope is that I wilI live to see things turn around!
Shelle
Please know, to me, your Sunday words are important. I am one of those with a cup of coffee and some quiet time that looks forward to reading your post, the links and your thoughts. This weekend, this weekend has been hard thank you for not shying away from those feelings.
Ellen
Joy, you are an accomplished and beautiful young woman with insight far beyond your years. Let It Be Sunday is an amazing and much enJOYed contribution! We all can profit by reading these links that I for one would never discover on my own, computer challenged as I am. Thank-you for your awesome blog and don’t change a thing, it’s already perfectly you!
Annie Brokenbourgh
Joy, your recipes are to die for but your Sunday’s are even bettah!
Chelsea
Joy, you are among a small handful (very small. Maybe more like a tiny pinch) of food bloggers that make me feel like it’s okay for my own positions and concerns to slip into my writing about whatever recipe is on deck. It doesn’t feel right, often, to ignore what’s just on the other side of the carefully posed table. Thanks for the courage!
Laura
I love your recipe posts, but the reason I read your blog is for the Sunday posts. Your links always include something that makes me think; these compilations are a weekly treat for me. Thank you.
Catherine Chapa
“Let it be Sunday” is such a fun and informative part of my Sunday routine…along with copious amounts of coffee and The New York Times! Keep these posts coming and please don’t censor YOUR thoughts and opinions on YOUR blog, they are uniquely yours and bring even more depth and personality to this awesome space!
Kristie
Your Sunday posts are a weekly thing I look forward to. I hope that you never feel that you need to censor yourself, especially in these trying times. The only way we will all be able to get through this, with minimal damage, is to be able to be open and responsive and to listen to eachother. xo
Anne
I’m another reader who loves these posts! You always provide something that makes me think. Thanks for using your little corner of the internet to nourish body, mind, and soul.
Sally
Joy I look forward to reading your interesting, informative and delicious post each Sunday. Thank you for continuing to share your feelings about the world around us and including something good to eat.
Martha
Joy I always look forward to your Sunday posts. They open my eyes to things that enlighten me, frighten me, educate me, entertain me, a perfect mix. Please stay just the way you are. Xoxoxo
Susan
Sad state of affairs this weekend. I’m sending some cash to both Planned Parenthood and the ACLU this week. Thanks for the links and for showing up when it is hard.
Natalie
I love your Sunday posts…they are part of my Sunday morning coffee ritual. Today I joined the ACLU-as a Canadian, living in Canada.
Kate
My husband and son have so many and varied food allergies that I can’t really cook any of your recipes, although I still love reading them. I came here for your Sunday posts because they take me outside of my own personal internet bubble. Thank you for being willing to stick your neck out.
Marlene Slavich
Really want the bake house schedule. My daughter and I want a class. Have you thought about something with children? I’ve got two grandsons (6&8) coming this summer, and I’m looking for fun stuff to do with them. Not just drop them on you, but a baking with grandma kind of thing!
D'Arcy
Joy, I’ve been lurking here silently, readin’ and creepin’, for like five whole years! I have never even cooked a single recipe. I love your photography and your food sense, but more recently I’ve been coming back religiously to your Sunday posts as I sit in bed with my morning coffee. There’s something about your voice that’s so relatable, and smart, and compassionate. It’s a real comfort, especially now. Thanks so much for all of it.
Stasha
I look forward to these Sunday posts all week and you never disappoint. Sometimes spicy, sometimes pointed, but always appreciated!
anonymous
Good on those people for trying to talk to their parents, I guess. I just can’t, and mine didn’t even vote for Trump, just some other sleazy R.
Janine Helligar
I want to take this opportunity to thank President Obama and Lady Michelle for their sterling service and their magnificent efforts on behalf of ALL Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity or nationality, gender, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic group, or political sympathies.
Barack Obama is a man to respect, to admire, and to emulate. And his Lady Michelle is a class act all the way! They may not be perfect, but they are still flawless.
Joy, thank you for being courageous enough to take on stand for what YOU believe is good, right, and true. If we among the sane are to save the future, we need more and more people to do just that: Stand up against this insanity! We must resist ignorance, stupidity, and evil. We just must!
sharon
Add me to the list of people who start their Sunday with your posts! Love them. Please keep them coming.
Chiara
I appreciate that you present a few links in line with the current tragic political situation. I feel a lot of bloggers live in their happy bubble and that makes me so nauseated.
Jess Mann
It’s scary to be in this country right now.
I also feel like a lot of that fear is being used to keep us compliant, inactive, and submissive.
The more of us building bunkers and canning seventy years worth of beans, the fewer of us marching in protest or paying attention to what’s going on, or even taking care of our neighbors whose needs might be much more than our own.
The whole divided we fall, united we stand thing, it’s very important right now.
Anyhoo, keep posting these things. They remind us we’re all still out there, feeling our feels, and doing our best to be good to each other.
Andrea
I look forward to your Sunday posts every weekend. Sometimes sassy, sometimes sad, always uplifting and informative!
Don’t go changin’!
Kathleen Royston
Just want to chime in and say how much Let it Be Sunday means to me– I’m a pastor, and my Sunday morning routine involves reading Let it Be Sunday and drinking a wickedly strong cup of English Breakfast. Your fire and humor are deeply grounding and remind me that above all, we are called to be human beings. And I love that. Such a blessing. Thanks for doing your thing, even when (especially when) it does not feel like sunshine and unicorns and rainbows. Because you are telling the truth.
Amy
I always enjoy these posts every Sunday and feel that even though I feel a sense of unease with recent events that the importance of learning more and expanding our knowledge is so important. To read articles from different spheres and viewpoints to my own is how I can reflect and move forward with the next week. I also really enjoyed reading the article on the first cat in space though to make me smile.
Thiana
I love your recipes but I love the commentary on your “Let it be Sunday” posts more. Never apologize for being a feeling, thinking human being with integrity and depth. I believe it is time for all of us, especially those with any sort of following, to step forward and speak. I’m waiting for all the Christians in this country for whom Trump believes he is speaking, to step forward – the brand of Christianity being currently expressed does not resemble the Christianity from my childhood…I am in despair because I feel that the darkest human impulses were the real winners in this election and I’m terrified that they will not be contained. Anyway I vote for you to keep expressing your thoughts on the current situation with honesty and by the way thank you.
Kayleigh
Oh Joy, never change. People like you–people who stand up for what they believe in–are lights in darkness. I like coming hear and reading this Sunday mornings. Makes me feel oddly come about the world even when things aren’t going so well. Like a little blast of zen. If I’m being quite honest, sometimes reading your words makes me feel like I’ve got things together okay. I usually don’t comment because I don’t have anything to add, but I want to add my voice to those of the people who support you and are glad you do what you do. Anyway, thanks for another great Sunday post. :)
Nancy K
Add me to the list as well. Joy, I find your posts so insightful, thought provoking as well as reassuring and calming.
Thank you.
Jacquie
Thank you for remaining “spicy, pointed, and opinionated in tone”. It’s never been more important to stand up against injustice and oppression but I’m aware that for food bloggers it’s putting yourself out there, so I respect that you aren’t shying away from it in these posts.
Amanda
I come every Sunday for these posts. Your intro often seems to align with how I’m feeling…and when it doesn’t its usually a good reminder of how others might be feeling. And your links always include something to challenge me. Thank you for helping the internet become a more manageable place