Hello, from here.

I just lit a candle.  

I just lit a candle and took a lap around my house, passing shoes my feet discarded under the dining room table and a pile of dishes in the sink I’ve promised myself I’ll wash later. As is always true, there’s no escaping myself – especially these days. 

How are you? 

If you’re anything like me, you vacillate wildly and frequently between:

• I’m an introvert this self-quarantine is like … totally fine, I have streaming television and a few dollars in the bank

and

• This is not ok. I am not ok. We are not ok. Will I ever make money again? Will people I know get sick? Do I have enough pasta?

This is us.

I’m here to tell you with confidence today that I’m ok – and today you’re ok too. You’re not alone in this, the weirdest time we’ve ever experienced. 

I’m not here with a list of tasks for you to make this time super productive. I mean… maybe you want to sit on the couch and stare at your legs for 45-minutes. I’m not here to tell you that’s a bad idea. Sounds pretty chill if you ask me. 

It feels like we become our most human humans at times like these.  We revert to the thing that brings us comfort and happiness – the thing that helps us express who we are and how we feel, in all of the ways we’re feeling right now. For me that’s baking and sharing it with all of you.  For some of my friends it’s singing (find the #LiveFromHome concerts on Instagram). For some of us it’s writing poems for our souls to feel and no one to read.  Wherever your joy lies, find pockets of time to sink into those spaces. Just for the sake of itself… and for your sanity and to let your heart sing. 

Here’s what I’m doing to, ya know… BE: 

•  Walking to the park and doing yoga on my own.  I listen to this Mad About You playlist and do just a ton ton of sun salutations. 

•  I’ve been listening to some podcasts that are pretty out of my wheelhouse and I found real value in this particular podcast episode of Reality Riffing.  It’s not all my jam but there’s some interesting stuff in there. 

•  I’ve learned how to change my oil (I have an ’87 Jeep Cherokee) and charge / change the battery. I’m out here tryna learn about this car (because hey it kinda breaks sometimes). 

• Join in Julia Turshen’s #foodwritenow movement on Instagram. 

•  I’m connecting with my friends, all of them really, but especially the friends who have been laid off or had to close up shop, or layoff their employee friends. It’s all so unprecedented and all moving so quickly – checking in goes a long way. 

•  Re-reading An Everlasting Meal because it feels good and talks about onions and beans so reverantly. In related news, I’m eating a lot of beans, but that’s nothing new. 

•  Buying gift cards and product to support my food industry friends being hit very hard by these times. I strongly encourage you to do the same in your community. 

•  I’m committed to keeping us connected at The Bakehouse though that’s no longer possible in person. The hallmark of The Bakehouse has been to bring this sweet online community together in person. It’s been the highlight of my life to build a humble but hungry community and then invite them into my kitchen. I’m still committed to that task.  I’ve put together three (to start) Bakehouse Live Zoom classes (because we all live on Zoom now).  These are Bakehouse-style workshops that I teach live – from my kitchen to you in yours!  You can bake along or save simply watch and bake later on your own.  

I’ve priced the classes at what I hope is a reasonable rate because I want to make this accessible to you.  A majority of the proceeds will go to benefit the New Orleans Women’s and Children’s Center as well as Second Harvest Food Bank.  I also plan to support whatever nonprofit puts together a fund to support New Orleans restaurant staff suddenly laid off in these times. That is evolving and I’ll keep you updated. 

There are so many ways for us to stay connected. Let’s stay committed to it. Let’s observe our ability to contain ourselves and make small sacrifices for the common good. Let’s keep the faith in and for each other. 

My love to you.

Joy