Hello friends!
My favorite thing to do every morning is pick out the coffee cup I’m going to use. A luxury of having exactly too many mugs is that you get to choose from an array of places, memories, and gifts from friends when you’re selecting a cup. This morning I picked a cup my friend Amy gave me a few years back because the colors reminded her of my blog header. It’s just like offering a little kindness to myself each morning. It’s Friday for me and the coffee is extra muddy. We’re just going to go with it.
This week – ya know. We’re in it. In the food world, Bon Appetit (the cool kids) both imploded and exploded for high-key disparities between it’s white and brown staff, and for just like… really bad behavior of some of the men in at the top of the Bon App food chain. Folks are coming with receipts and this is a shake-out.
In the meantime I’m in here trying to keep my head down and work. I’m taking big bites this summer, let’s see if I can chew it all. I don’t love that analogy, but we’ll let it stand.
I hope you’re well this week. I hope you find some steadiness this morning, this week. It’s one of those things we have to fight for for ourselves and I’m rooting for you and me.
The offering this week is below. It’s a bounty. As always, take only what you need:
• Our friend Julia Turshen has always had her eye on disparities in the food world and we appreciate her work. This is a piece from Julia two years ago: To Change Racial Disparity in Food, Let’s Start With Cookbooks (Eater)
• My house is slowly but surely turning into a cookbook library and three of my favorites from black women are: Edna Lewis’ In Pursuit of Flavor – an absolute treasure a heartfelt authority of southern food. Cheryl Day’s Back In The Day Bakery Cookbook – a solid baking book of stand-by classics. Soul Food Love by Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams. Tasting Rome co-written by Kristina Gill which is the trip to Rome I have yet to take and first introduced me to Maritozzi con la Panna. There are truly so many others but these are some of my favorites top-of-mind. (Indiebound)
• I feel lucky to have befriended Kim Rhodes this year. Her words are strong and thoughtful: How I Feel Right Now as a Black Woman (Cup of Jo)
• I don’t take for granted that I might have skated through Mardi Gras season without contracting COVID-19 so y’all I’m still playin’ it real safe out here in these streets. But, is America is Giving Up On The Pandemic? I’m considering these words from an ER doctor: What I Feel Comfortable Doing and wondering when I’ll feel safe buying a plane ticket home to see my parents. (The Atlantic and Slate)
• Ok wait – can we just take a moment to remember how incredible our bodies are and how we need to keep moving them around as best we can. A Single Session of Exercise Alters 9,815 Molecules In Our Blood. Maybe this is the motivation I need because I literally thought of my molecules when I was slow-jogging this morning. (NY Times)
• Do you subscribe to the Samantha Irby’s newsletter? I recommend. (SubStack)
• Let’s talk about books! I really love to read spooky / thriller books during the summer months. On my list this summer is Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke and In The Woods by Tana French. (Indiebound and Tana French)
• I’ve watched this clip of Lady Gaga singing Million Reasons on Howard Stern more times than I’d like to admit. This next link is NOT for you if the f-word or the b-word rustles your feathers (is that the right phrase?). Is that pro-hib-it-ed? Thankful to all my friends who are more active on TikTok and send me the good stuff (Anastasia, thank you.) (YouTube and Tik-Tok)
• The Bakehouse is hosing a Bake Sale to benefit MiNO and GrowDat New Orleans. It’s a local sale and presale details go up on The Bakehouse site on Monday! If you aren’t local but you still want to donate, we’d love that of course! (Instagram and The Bakehouse Nola)
• Our friend Jocelyn’s of Grandbaby Cakes made Banana Fritters and we’re here for it! Do you follow Jocelyn? We’ve traveled together on press trips and she’s just as hilarious and joyous as she seems – and her baby girl is the cutest. (Grandbaby Cakes)
• Do you follow Olive and Artisan? Karlee has the sweetest blog and some of the best Instagram stories. We met a couple years ago when I was almost literally drowning in cake batter for an event in Portland and she bailed me out of the weeds hour after hour to make a boatload of cakes. She’s ride or die. This week she made The Perfect Sugar Cookie. I trust her when she says perfect. (Olive and Artisan)
• Deb made an Any Fruit Galette which is exactly the thing we should be doing all summer. (Smitten Kitchen)
• I’m re-reading this Going It Alone: why I chose single motherhood and I dunno what’s brewing but here we are. (The Guardian)
• One of the most lovely little shops in New Orleans in C’mere where you’ll find the sweetest, tiniest food jewelry and loads of goods from other local artists. It’s like… we all try to make space for one another here in New Orleans. Local artist Ed Wycliffe has transformed his New Orleans bow tie business into a mask endeavor. You can learn about it here: Bow Shoeshoe. (C’mere and Kickstarter)
• I’m finishing this post up on Friday morning and looking forward to a weekend camping trip wherein I’M IN CHARGE OF ALL THE FOOD. It’s my favorite thing. Would y’all be interested in my weekend camping menu? It’s a lot of marinades and foil and tape to label food by day so no one ruins my grand plans, lol. Lemme know. (Food and Wine)
• We discussed this week but you’re definitely making a Summer Bucket List this year, right? (Joy the Baker)
• Last year this week we discussed meatballs, Drake, underwear… the usual: Let It Be Sunday, 226! (Joy the Baker)
Have a lovely Sunday.
My love to you.
xo Joy
Shellie
I made the Any Fruit Galette yesterday because why not? I opted for strawberry rhubarb since I had been gifted rhubarb from my favourite coffee shop, had just picked berries from the local u-pick and had pie dough in the freezer. So delicious that I regretted leaving the rest of it at my parent’s house.
Stay safe, wash your hands and wear a mask.
katy
here’s another great cookbook for you: Sweets by Patty Pinner. Loaded with stories about her family, who moved from the South to Michigan. Every recipe has a little paragraph about which female member of the family came up with it. So loving and comforting – sometimes I just read it, without cooking from it. It’s that good.
Anna Marie
Making the Happy Wife, Happy Life Chocolate Cake for our 10 year anniversary, coming up on the 21st. Thank you for the link. And thank you for all your wonderful lists, Joy. We will all get through this eventually. We may not fit any of our old clothes, but we will eat well.
Batwood
Yes on the camping menu. Just went camping this weekend and I need a better menu for sure.
Christian
I read the Wych Elm by Tana French a while ago and it was so good that I wanted to read In the Woods etc., but I just finished that one and The Likeness and I really didn’t find them as good … I think just because they’re the kind of procedurals where the cops keep breaking the rules and making consistently terrible decisions, and I can’t suspend my disbelief anymore because like … by the end of the second book everyone should have been fired about 4 times already.
raychel
Tana French is the best. You’re going to read In the Woods and the fall down the Tana French rabbit hole and read them all this summer (welcome to my life last summer). She has a new book out in October, so you’re perfectly timed to finish the Dublin Murder Squad series and then dive into her new one.
Tui Campbell
Your Sunday post are always my favourite way to destress on my Monday (NZL time) with my coffee.
It may be winter here but I think I’m going to NEED that camping menu. I have plans for my summer that involve me, my husband and kids, finally busting out the tent, a smoky camp fire and the beach.
Stay safe out there and enjoy your summer.
Karena Gruber
Thank you for reminding me that I don’t have to use the same coffee mug Every Single Morning.
Also, I would love to see your camping menu, which is on the summer bucket list.
Abbi
I love seeing that others are percolating the idea of single motherhood. I’m single at 32. Which isn’t old, except by midwestern standards. I’ve taken foster parenting classes, browsed adoption sites, and even considered sperm banks (or, *ahem* sperm donors). Will she do it? Only time will tell!
AG
Yes please to a camping menu! We car camp most weekends in the summer and love to get creative!
Kate
In the Woods got me hooked on Tana French. All of the books in that series are incredible! Can’t wait to hear what you think.
Sarah K
Yes please share your camping food list! We are doing lots of camping this year in lieu of a faraway vacation so I am looking for inspiration.
Elizabeth
Yes please to your camping menu!
Allison
Yes to the ritual of selecting a mug each morning and yes to Attica Locke; she is one of my favorites.
Jenn P
I was going hiking this morning so I gave your Sunday post a quick glimpse, realized there were too many things for me to look at today, and let it open on my browser to sift through later. It’s one of my favorite posts, every week.
In my mug cabinet (which is fully overflowing) I have Every Day Mugs and Weekend Mugs. My every day mugs are the ones I drink out of Monday – Friday, when it’s truly a vessel to get the coffee to my face as quickly as possible. The Weekend Mugs are the ones that have more meaning, that have been collected and given over the years.
Please share your camping menu/process. I’ve been camping more and more often, and am often short on ideas and recipes. Help.
Victoria
The comments today are as good as the post itself! I second all of it except the pregnancy—but I’d second that if I were able. You’ve built a great community here. Thanks for sharing with us.
Vicki
Would love to see your camping menu plans.
Bonnie
Loved In the Woods! So good. Enjoy.
caroline
Your parents couldn’t have chosen a more fitting name for you, Joy.
Thank you for the gifts of light and reflection that you bring to us each week.
And thank you for bringing our attention to the masks being sold by Bow Shoeshoe.
Not only are they absolutely stunning and obviously crafted with a lot of love, they promise to do a lot of good in the world. (Only 4 days left on Kickstarter? Let’s all buy some quick!)
Gail Hardie
It is a lovely Sunday in Charleston – ocean breezes blowing the winds of change headed our way. We are hopeful the confederate monuments that dot the Holy City will soon be removed. In the meantime most of us shelter in place whenever possible as the virus continues to strike. Shelter means lots of baking and reading. And this week I baked Deb’s strawberry galette and read Attica Locke – one of my fav mystery writers. How perfect that my fav food blogger would mention both! Much love to you – stay well and continue to shine your light brightly – xx
Lori Brown
Yes, please on the sharing of your camping menu. About to plan for a weekend at the river at the end of the month. Would love some delicious inspiration ??
HOLLY
It’s my new Sunday am ritual to read your Let it be Sunday blog. Really enjoying it. Would love to know camping menu and am looking forward to the best sugar cookie from Olive and Artisan.
Meghan
I would love to see your camping menu!
Dorothy
Joy,
Your Sunday offerings never disappoint. Love seeing Tron make a cameo. Would love to see your camping menu AND how you’ll keep your food refrigerated.
Thanks ?
Elena
Re: feathers – ruffles?
(I’m a linguist – apologies!)
joythebaker
You’re right you’re right you’re absolutely right. You know what’s funny – that was low-key bothering me.
Karin Holland
Yes, please share your camping menu! I just got back from a week in Yellowstone and could use some fresh ideas.
Gena
If you loved In The Woods by Tana French, be sure to check out The Secret Place and The Witch Elm. I’d read Tana writing descriptions of paint colors. Her writing is gorgeous and evocative.
Abbi
omg I love Tana French. It starts dark and just. keeps. getting. darker.
Leigh
I also would like to see your camping menu. We are going next weekend.
Erin
Would love to see your camping menu!
Janet
Would love to see what you planned to cook on your camp out.
Lauren
Me too! Going camping this next weekend as well.
Meg
Thanks for the intro to Olive and Artisan — she’s new to me and I love the aesthetic.
Abby A
I would love to know what you brought on your camping trip!
Rachael
Joy, thank you for being you. I have been reading your blog for many years, and have been drawn back to it a lot lately as a place I can mentally take a deep breath of fresh air, while still feeling grounded in this very complex world of ours. Thank you for balancing the dark things with joy, thank you for providing windows into other people’s real experiences. Thank you for being so genuine. Thank you for the always delicious food, and the nourishing brain food, too.
Mary B
Just want to echo this comment, and thank Rachael for saying it better than I could have! (and also, a big YES PLEASE to seeing how you put together your camping menu, Joy!)
Karen
That goes ditto for me!
SARAH
Comment echoed as well :) You put into words what I couldn’t.
Anne
Reading these posts is so comforting and inspiring and if I can think of new adjectives to explain my delight, I will list them here when I do. You’re great. Thanks for being you.
Caroline
You are always a grounding moment in my Sunday morning routine. Sending love from a chilly front stoop in Ann Arbor, Mi.
Whitney
I found out yesterday that I am unexpectedly pregnant with our third baby… during a pandemic. A lot of feelings going on here. But I woke up this morning looking forward to sneaking out to the porch with my (now limited to one a day) cup of coffee to read your post. Isn’t the exercise piece fascinating? I’ve been pretty inconsistent with exercise, but you can just feel those little molecules doing their thing afterwards, and it’s never a choice I regret when the work is done.
And the flying, yes. My husband is in a high risk group and we live in one of the hardest hit areas, so we’re trying to be really cautious. I don’t think we’ll have school in the Fall, and our families live across the country. That’s one of the hardest parts, isn’t it? I know you must miss your family and the ability to pick up and visit whenever you feel immensely.
Thank you for being a beautiful and truthful part of this world. I know we don’t actually know each other, but I appreciate just knowing you’re out there a neighbor in this world.
Kathryn Lambert
Mazel Tov! Congratulations on your pregnancy. I wish you happiness and good health, for you, your pregnancy and your family.
Rianna
Camp menu please! I’m used to improvising and choosing what to eat at the time I need to cook it for myself, but I feel a desperate need to plan everything out when cooking for other people.
Alice
I would love to learn more about your camp cooking plans! Camping is something it looks like we still might be able to do this summer (ahhh 2020?!!) and I’d love to do it up right!
Karen T
I also choose my mug….sometimes to reflect my mood in the AM, sometimes to help my mood. Right now I have an abundant Rae Dunn mugs with words on them..from WISH to I cant even…..and then there are mugs given to me by friends or by my mom who passed. I find choosing my mug instead of randomly pulling one from the cabinet is kind of a mindfulness or meditation while my coffee is making. I enjoy your blog…it is a comforting and inspiring place to be. Thank you.
Terry Covington
The Choosing of the Mug is a very important ritual! My mom laughs when I invoke it when I visit her, but I love choosing a mug every morning depending on my mood and – as you say – the memories it invokes. This year I bought 5 of a lovely mug, one for me, one for my mom, and one for each of my 3 kids – and presented them, saying that when we drink from them we can feel connected with each other. This was just before the pandemic, and we haven’t seen each other for a while – so I guess it was intuitive. But I’m glad to hear I’m not alone in finding these small daily actions important.