Joy the Baker

Let It Be Sunday, 159!

by 34 Comments

New Orleans is a city, yes – but it’s also a spirit, a feeling, and a force.  This past week the entire city had their hands in the air and their feet dancing across the ground in thanks and celebration for our very being, for our wildness, for the brokenness, for the wholeness, for the rain that fell, and the sun that surprised us all come Tuesday.  It was a really special Mardi Gras, as it always is.  

Maybe you weren’t dancing in the streets, but my goodness, I hope you snuck that joy into some part of your week.  It’s essential.  Especially when our days can so often be so dark.  

I know that we’re mourning more often than we ought to these days.

Here is my Sunday offering. Fair warning, a lot of these articles ended up being from the New York Times, if you have an article cap.  I didn’t realize when I collected these links, but next week I’ll be more conscious because I understand not everyone has a subscription. 

•  Why do we have to keep living through this?  Because we won’t enact common sense gun laws. Honestly… at this point, what will it take? Congress.  How To Call Your Representative About Gun Control. And VOTE!

•  Jada Yuan has the incredible task of going to each of the 52 places on the 52 Places to Go in 2018 list and New Orleans is the first stop on her list.  Starting an Intimidating World Tour in the Big Easy.  You nailed it, Jada.  You understand it down here.  

•  WOW.  These are really powerful thoughts about Lent.  What would a self-imposted emptiness and wandering reveal? What Will You Give Up For Lent?  

•  This is incredible:  Finding a Lost Strain of Rice and Clues to Slave Cooking.  B.J. Dennis is doing the blessed work of honoring Southern culture through food.

•  This is an interesting read:  The Transgressive Appeal of the Comedy Murder Podcast.  We’re really hit on something that acknowledges, quells and feeds our anxieties all at the same time.  Still though, I’m gonna stay sexy and try very hard not to get murdered. 

•  Tara Jensen’s words are beautiful and heartfelt and I’m deeply excited for her new book:  How I Crushed Years of Regret into a Fragrant Mess of Flour 

•  “When we let convenience decide everything, we surrender too much.”  The Tyranny of Convenience. 

•  I found these words poignant.  Figuring out why you’re going to give of your time and money can help build the foundation of where and how.  Ya know?  How to make a personal plan for giving

•  Successful singlehood.  For the record, I’ve nailed it.  For a better marriage, act like a single person.

•  Here to tell you that this recipe really holds up:  Chocolate Beet Cake with Beet Cream Cheese Frosting. 

•  Deb made these Korean Short Ribs and answered all of our questions about the Instant Pot and we’re genuinely grateful. 

•  Our boss-friend Ellen of Hedley & Bennett shows us her lovely home (and giant pig).  Ellen and Casey’s Los Angeles Home

•  Mmmkay watch me live in this sweater. 

•  A classic Whiskey Sour. 

I hope this day is a good day.

xo Joy

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Jacquie

    The mention of B.J. Dennis made me think of culinary historian Michael W. Twitty – have you heard of him? https://afroculinaria.com/about/ His book “The Cooking Gene” which traces the connection between food & family history from Africa to America and slavery to freedom sounds fascinating

    Reply

  3. Jenn I

    I am doing my best to ssdgm, but reading that article made me rage blind. I don’t have to be drunk, or even be drinking, to listen to MFM. In fact, 90% of the time I listen to any podcast is while I’m driving cross country. Just because we’re women doesn’t mean we wander around with a wine glass permanently attached to our hand in our designated wine cardigan. Grrr.

    Reply

  4. christine weeks

    Totally love your Sunday posts, so insightful and truth telling. Always gives my monday’s a brighter spot!!
    :)

    Reply

  5. Monica

    I love that beet cake! Back when you first posted it I made it for a party and didn’t tell anyone there were beets in it until everyone was saying how yummy it was (mostly because there were quite a few picky eaters attending and I knew they wouldn’t even try it). I have some frozen cooked beets in the freezer and I might have to make it again! :)

    Reply

  6. Martha in KS

    Shhhhh – here’s a secret. You can erase your Browsing History & the NYT article counter starts again at 0. If that doesn’t work with your browser, you can copy the article title into another window & you can open it. There are ways!

    Reply

  9. Marilyn

    Thanks for the heads up about NYT articles. Since many sites.now have paywalls, would you consider simply citing the sourse of your links? Then your readers coukd decide BEFORE they click.
    Love the round ups, you’ve directed me to many great articles I’d otherwise would have missed!

    Reply

  10. Kayla

    Thank you for posting the article on how to call your representative. As silly as it sounds I’ve wanted to call but had some anxiety around what to do on that call. I always look forward to your Sunday posts.

    Reply

  11. Michelle

    I read how to call your congressman. Marco Rubio wants to run for president again. I don’t live in his state but I have no problem calling his office and telling him how I feel about his “now is not the time to talk about gun control”. I am so sick of that phrase. THEY DO NOTHING. I hope these young people who march in March get others to vote these jerks out of office. Enough if Enough.

    Reply

  12. Shayna

    I really enjoyed reading your blog post. The title really caught my attention. Your posts about Sundays are very fun to read. Thank you for sharing. #diglitclass

    Reply

  13. Taste of France

    Beet cake? Why not (it works with carrots and zucchini)? Must try this.
    Despite having a tight budget, I subscribe to the NYT. Excellent journalism is expensive, but it’s indispensable to democracy.

    Reply

  14. Concerned citizens

    I am so tired of people demanding gun laws. When drunk drivers kill moreally people every year. Why don’t we take cars away from people. All we need to do us putt 3 armed veterans or retired police officers into every school. That would slove this problem.
    Every actor, political canidate has armed escorts why don’t our children?

    Reply

    • lauren k.

      i don’t agree with your sentiment in general, but that’s okay. it is important that you know, though, that virtually all schools already staff security personnel, and it hasn’t solved the problem.

      Reply

    • Anne

      When the number of deaths from firearms and the number of deaths from drunk driving accidents both numbered above 33,000 in the US in 2016 (source: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm), I’m not sure the fact that 142 *more* people died from drunk driving accidents in 2016 is statistically significant—it certainly doesn’t justify your false moral outrage. In addition, many schools and colleges *do* have armed security guards—my university even had its own police force, and this was 15 years ago—and yet school shootings continue to happen despite such precautions.

      Reply

    • YCoh

      For one thing, cars serve a purpose other than vehicular manslaughter. Guns, especially automatic, semi-automatic, and high-capacity weapons, don’t serve a reasonable purpose other than damaging people, animals, and property.
      I come from a country with armed guards in schools. We also have common sense gun laws that require background checks, medical and psychological reviews, marksmanship classes, and renewal of license exams. Kind of like a stronger version of getting a driver’s license.

      Reply

    • Susan

      It’s a false equivalency. There are far more car owners overall than gun owners. You cannot compare the two.
      As far as why don’t our children have armed escorts? Because that is mentally detrimental to a child. It teaches the child to be fearful. And honestly, it’s a shame that celebrities and political candidates need them. That right there shows there is a problem. No one should need to feel threatened in a way that they need to have constant armed guards to stay safe.

      Reply

    • Cait

      There are tons of regulations on cars that aren’t on guns. You have to pass a skills test to get a license. There are regulations on what is street legal (you can’t have a Formula One engine in your car, you can’t have windows too tinted, etc.) Roads are consistently policed. If you drive your car in an unsafe manner, your license can be suspended. No one seems to have problems with those regulations. Also, as someone else posted, the main purpose of a car is not to kill someone, it’s to transport people. The main purpose of a gun is to kill.

      Reply

  16. Claire, UK

    As an outsider looking in, I appreciate that there is a lot that I just don’t understand about American culture. But when a man walked into a school in the UK in 1996 and shot thirty two people, killing sixteen of them (five and six year old children, and their teacher), it took the UK government less than a year to ban most handguns and most of the remainder were banned just a few months later. I was only a child at the time, but it seemed to me that the public were overwhelmingly in favour of a ban, with objections coming from a small minority. We never had the same gun culture that exists in the US, but your children are being murdered and I just don’t understand why the first of these horrific crimes didn’t trigger the same kind of response that it did here.

    Reply

  17. Kathleen

    My theme for Lent a few years ago was a quote from the wonderful Richard Rohr: “Quietly pay attention to different things.” I think this might be my Lenten discipline this year, too. Thanks for being you- I am so glad your voice is out there in this totally screwed-up and also awesome world.

    Reply

  19. Abi

    Love that beet cake! Have made it over and over for my niece’s birthday over the years and that pink frosting is so so perfect.

    Reply

  20. Weezie

    Well, Joy, I finally made it to New Orleans. I can’t thank you enough for your posts and pictures and for igniting the fire in me to see this amazing place. I get it, lady. I f*cking get it.
    I keep hoping I’ll run into you at District or Turkey and the Wolf, just so I can thank you for being you. I hope your weekend is as delightful as you are.

    Reply

  24. Beth

    I love your Let it Be Sunday posts! One request- would it be possible for you to indicate which of the linked articles are from the New York Times? I don’t have a subscription (and can’t currently afford one) so I get a limited number of article reads a month, and it’d be helpful to know if I’m clicking through to a NYT article.

    Reply

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