Let It Be Sunday, 245!

Hello friends! 

Please excuse the tardy Sunday post two weekends in a row. This is my favorite post to settle on the couch to write on Saturday nights. The past two Saturday nights I’ve been out in the world celebrating this life, and that’s changed up our Sunday routine.  My apologies.  I’m here! We’re back. Thank you for you understanding. 

It’s been a lovely week in both California and New Orleans. I spent some important time with my family grieving the loss of my grandfather. It’s weird when one of you is gone. We looked through piles of old photos and laughed and told stories and felt a lot of gratitude for all the life we’ve lived together.   

Life is everything all at once, isn’t it?

Are you planning your Thanksgiving meal yet?  I’m already trying to figure out a more-tables and more-chairs situation for my gathering because the numbers keep growing. No stress. This is my dream come true. I’ll share my Thanksgiving meal with you soon. It’s a combination of old and new and a lot of the recipes I’ve already shared here.

This week’s collection of links is a combination of weighty and frivolous. Again…. everything all at once. Please take what you want and what you need.  Thanks for being here with me.  It means a lot! xo 

•  It took me more than one, more than two days to finish this short piece because it is heinous and difficult (those are understatements) and pointedly true. I’ll leave it here for you. It’s worth getting to the end as a reminder of the weight and history of words. So you want to talk about lynching? Understand this first. (The Washington Post) 

•  I have a lot of internal conflict with Louisiana and here’s one reason why:  Welcome to “Cancer Alley,” Where Toxic Air Is About To Get Worse. (ProPublica) 

• It’s a very interesting time in America. Here’s an explanation of what’s going on with ayes and nos because sure, it’s a little confusing.  The House of Representatives big impeachment vote, explained. (Vox) 

•  Aaron Sorkin: An Open Letter To Mark Zuckerberg. Lies vs an assault on the truth. (The New York Times) 

•  Honestly I’m ok with this generational discontent. “OK Boomer” Marks the End of Friendly Generational Relations (The New York Times) 

•  I very much appreciate these conversations on friendship: On Being Happy For and Jealous of a Friend at the Same Time. (The Atlantic) 

•  I made vegan biscuits and shared them on Instagram yesterday (pictured above).  The base recipe is these Buttermilk Biscuits.  Instead of cow butter I used Earth Balance. I added Violife cheese shreds and a few tablespoons of chopped herbs from the garden.  I skipped the egg and buttermilk and subbed 1 cup of unsweetened cashew milk mixed with 1 1/2 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds.  I let the mixture sit for 5 minutes before stirring into the biscuits.  I had about 2 tablespoons of the cashew milk mixture I didn’t need in the biscuit dough so I brushed it on top of the biscuits before baking. 

Favorites for these vegan biscuits: Earth Balance / Joi Cashew Milk / Violife Cheese 

•  I have been looking forward to this album for months! Michael Kiwanuka: one of the greatest albums of the decade.  (The Guardian) Go listen! (Spotify) 

•  This week I’m also listening to The Highwomen. (Spotify) 

•  We’re starting to build out spring classes at The Bakehouse! The best way to find out about classes is to follow Joy the Baker on Eventbrite (there’s a little Follow button on the right).  Also – we offer gift cards now if you’d like to gift a class to a friend! 

•  It’s gumbo season, welcome to gumbo season! This is the best recipe I’ve found on the internet: Fried Chicken and Andouille Gumbo from Donald Link. (Saveur) 

•  I slowly putting together this year’s Thanksgiving meal (I’ll have a house full of friends and my parents, too!). This skillet of potatoes is definitely on the menu: Sweet and Savory Mashed Potatoes with Fried Onions (Joy the Baker) 

• Braised Onion Sauce for our weeknight pasta dinner. Thank you Food52! 

•  I love these flavors this time of year: Chocolate Pudding Cake with Orange and Nutmeg. (Joy the Baker) 

•  Everlane is my uniform at this point. These pants are a favorite. (Everlane) 

Let’s do some good today. Even if it’s just a few loads of laundry. 

My love to you.

xo Joy