Hello sweet friends!
Are you well? I hope you’re well.
I’ve spent the weekend quietly in Austin Texas at a small blog conference keeping to myself. My Dad asked me if I was here to network and I answered him with silence because I was eating my second plate of tacos on my airbnb bed…. aka networking very hard.
I’m teaching myself how to make video content for my site. Turns out that learning involves watching a lot of YouTube videos of teenagers showing me how to work iMovie and transparent overlays. So… listen… life is full of adventure.
I’m back to New Orleans tomorrow. My mom is coming to visit and she’ll be my assistant this week at The Bakehouse. She has no idea how many petit four cakes we have to make.
I hope your day is restful. Here is my Internet offering:
• The kids are right and thank you to Teen Vogue for giving platform to these voices: Emma Gonzalez on Why This Generation Needs Gun Control. Please also see The Most Powerful Moments From March for Our Lives. There’s an image of children shrouded in white, holding up photographs of children killed in school gun violence. It stopped me in my tracks.
• My Life Since the 2012 Sandy Hook Shooting: Scarlett Lewis’s Story. (The Atlantic)
• This spread in Vanity Fair shot by Annie Leibovitz is VERY IMPORTANT. Pay attention to these words and images: Lena Waithe is Changing The Game.
• Let’s consider this worldview and its repercussions – they may be outside of our own experience: The Stop. (Undefeated)
• An incredible glimpse into the life of a really remarkable man. I mean… if someone told me I couldn’t kayak across the Atlantic Ocean I would wholeheartedly agree with them and then go eat a cheeseburger. Youfeelme? Read this: Alone At Sea. (The New York Times Magazine)
• Can you relate to this? Class Anxiety: When You Live a Different Life From Your Parents. (Cup of Jo)
• This time of year has me noticing my dusty baseboards and the cobwebs in the corners. Time for a deep clean and a closet purge. A clean-out closet checklist for Spring thanks to TheKitchn.
• I once dated a guy who had a signature scent. It was something very amber-y mixed with all the nag champa he burned in his apartment. If you’re raising an eyebrow… well, you’re right to – but I come here with no shame and to let you know that I had a great time being 28. I really appreciate a signature scent but, thanks to both indecision and laziness, I haven’t landed on mine yet. Here’s some help for me and hopefully you, too: A Guide To Finding Your Signature Scent. (The Cut)
• Maybe you’re not spending every day listening to Brandi Carlile but I’m here to tell you that you should. By The Way, I Forgive You is a beautiful heart-pulling album. (NPR)
• Because I trust what Ann Friedman recommends, I’m going to listen to this podcast series on my road trip back to New Orleans tomorrow: Five Women. (This American Life)
• If you’re getting into Easter-related egg things this week you might consider: How To Make Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs. I happen to like dying brown eggs because I think it deepens the color. And while you’re dying eggs, why not also make a quick (not really) chocolate chip brioche. (The Kitchn and Joy the Baker)
• You had me at ‘mushroom butter’. You had me at ‘salsa verde’. You had me at ‘buttery rice’. I’ll take it all. Tamar Adler on Saving the Salisbury Steak from TV-Dinner Obscurity. (NYT)
• Perfectly Crisp Mushrooms. I bet we could do this with eggplant too! (Tasting Table)
• This week marks the 1 year anniversary of my brunch book Over Easy! Do you have it? What have you made?
Have the most lovely day! I’ll be back next week with two carrot recipes for you! (They’re good… trust me!)
xo Joy
Lori
I love Over Easy and I’ve made a handful of recipes. The bacon was a crowd pleaser. Made it for my mom’s birthday brunch and Mother’s Day brunch last year!
CK
Your blog and these Sunday links make me so happy :) Thank you.
Laura
Another Austinite here. I would love to know where you visited and what you thought. We’re in a restaurant rut brought on by choice paralysis and always trying to strike the perfect balance of healthy, delicious, and reasonably priced. We almost always land on tacos, of course. I hope you enjoyed your stay. The weather has been amazing here!
Catherine
Hi Joy,
I was in New Orleans this past weekend and as I was sitting at Bacchanal sipping on some wine, I was thinking about how much I appreciate your blog and your insightful Let it Be Sunday posts. Thank you for creating such a great space on the internet full of food, fun and real talk. I fell in love with New Orleans hard, so hopefully I’ll be back soon and can drop by the Bakehouse!
xx
Catherine
Ellie
Brandi Carlile is life and I love that album! Just to get her year up and running she and her wife also just had a brand new baby and she went to March for Our Lives in Seattle with Dave Matthews and I have really earnest daydreams of just running into her someplace in the city and being too earnestly awestruck to speak… Along similar lines, she produced Secret Sisters’ most recent album which was nominated for a Grammy and very worth a listen!
Monika
I absolutely adore your blog posts! They’re so inspirational! I love what you do, and the things you post is exactly the kind of things I’m interested in.
Amy
I attended the Parkland March For Our Lives March. Hearing the one parent speak and get choked up was almost too much for me. He’s started an organization to help have bullet proof doors in schools (his child was shot from a bullet aimed at the door – he wasn’t in the hallway). They also had one child march for each person who lost their lives. Powerful, moving, and gave me a little hope. These kids are amazing.
I have your book Over Easy – I’ve made too many recipes to remember. The blueberry waffles was the most recent – delish!!
Natalie
I bet your airbnb bed was amazing to work on ;)
Thanks for your suggestions. They are usefull indeed!!
Pooja
Thank you again for bringing the world to me. Signature scent deep thoughts: I have been smelling my husband since we were 12 and he is this perfect mix of old spice fresh deodorant and sweat, I literally tell him all the time that the number one reason that I married him is his smell. Then, Old Spice went and changed the formula – I am distraught (I don’t think that is too strong a word). But, what is really funny is how upset everyone else is about it too: https://oldspice.com/en/content/fresh-high-endurance-deodorant.
Wish me luck as I try to adjust to this new norm of smelling a stranger every day. xo
Sara @ Cake Over Steak
If you’re a fan of Brandi Carlile and haven’t yet checked out The Wind and the Wave … do so immediately. ;-)
Melissa
You have such a talent for curating these lists. The Stop is just heartbreaking. I interact with the police very often at work, and they are generally respectful, kind and hardworking, but I am also aware of the privilege granted by both my race and my position at work.
I also work with a lot of Republicans who I used to think were nice people, but then I find out that they think taking a knee during the national anthem is “so disrespectful” and that the second amendment is important for their rights. And I just think, you have children. What if you (and I!?) too, had to teach your children tactics to stay alive when interacting with the police? What if you had to struggle to explain with your eyes to your boys why you were being patted down on the side of the road, while hoping all three of you got out of the interaction with only your dignity injured? Would you feel the same way? Would you vote how you do?
And I also just bought Over Easy and have tried and enjoyed a few recipes. I respect that you have a large following and you make no secret of the coexistence of these things, and you don’t just keep things blithely apolitical because this is a “baking blog.”
I’ve got heartbreak, blended with anxiety and sadness for where we are and where we might still be going, but I’m also finding joy in waffles because here I am feeding my family, too. Thank you.