Two Important Pasta Recipes and My Obsession with Alice Coltrane

Hello dear friends.

I mean this most sincerely – how are you?

I’m ok. I can tell you, I can’t remember ever feeling the way I’ve felt this week. The best way I can describe it is maybe… soul tired? But I know it’s not permanent because GodAlmighty nothing is.

It feels like this has been the week that non-black people acknowledged systemic racism in our culture and took to both the streets and Instagram about it. Not just individuals but companies too.  Look, even Australia is fed up.  Everyone is like WOW, WAIT – it’s been this bad forever!? Black folks are like… YEA. Do you finally get it?  Moreover, what are you going to do about it!? So ok ok ok… now that we say we see it – we can’t, next week, pretend like we don’t see it. Have we finally had enough? (New York Times)

This weekend in New Orleans we get a visit from tropical storm Cristobal and lol, we’ll either be fine or not fine. Maybe somewhere in between but who knows in this year of our Lord 2020.  My friend Scott and I were talking about it. He said that living in New Orleans you’re “committed to impermanence”.  We live on soft ground with plenty of reminders that the wind and water can change our course despite our best plans. It’s a good exercise, all of it. I’ll eat my freezer and cook outside on my gas stove if/when the power goes out.

The offering this week is below. You’ll only take what you need, I just know it.

•  That black square on Instagram.  Why It’s So Hard To Center Black Voices: the pressure around performative internets trends. The  (Medium)

•  In difficult news that I didn’t know: Alaska has the highest rate of sexual abuse in the nation. These stories are difficult and far too numerous: Unheard (ProPublica)

•  I feel like this kind of big, bold and beautiful art reminds us of what it means to be humans on the Earth, the celebrate that in weird and colorful ways. To change how we see things and to feel inspired to do big positive things for each other:  Christo’s incredible life work.  My family and I went to see the umbrellas in California when I was 10 and I remember rubbing a swatch of the yellow fabric we got as a little sample all the way home. (The Guardian)

•  Roxanne Gay on suddenly quarantine living with her long distance fiancé. I very much relate to her ‘I am me – this is it’ stance on love and relationships and this is such a tender share. Feels good. It feels downright holy to be good to each other and seen for the good.  Getting To Know You, Getting To Know All About You. (Medium)

•  There’s so much human in here: The Remaking of Steve Buschemi ( GQ)

•  Listening to only Alice Coltrane (Spotify)

•  This week we celebrated Giving Tuesday in New Orleans and I donated to Made in New Orleans, a foundation that supports, mentors, and advocates for people of color in the hospitality industry. If this is something that you connect to, feel free to donate here.  (MiNO Foundation)

•  This weekend I’m watching our friend Lynn Chen’s new movie: I Will Make You Mine —–> you can rent it here on Amazon. (I Will Make You Mine and Amazon)

•  Cherry Bombe has this list of black lady-owned food businesses you can support.  I’m happy to be exposed to so many new products! (Instagram because as of Saturday night I couldn’t get the link to work on the Cherry Bombe site, sorry!)

•  A new bread book is coming out soon and y’all it’s a good one: New World Sourdough by Bryan Ford.  If you’re new to this sourdough starter life it’s a great introduction with lots of hand-holding and really creative recipes. (Indiebound)

•  This weekend I’m baking a stash of buttermilk biscuits I’ve had hidden in the freezer from our first Bakehouse Live class in the early weeks of quarantine, and a loaf of banana bread as I’ve been letting my bananas ripen to past their prime all week.  Comfort classics – that’s where I’m at.  (Joy the Baker)

•  There are also two pastas I want to make because IsweartoGod if you try to take carbs away from me right now we’regoingtohaveaproblem: Scott Hocker’s Fideo and Timothy Pakron’s Quick and Dirty Pasta (it’s vegan!). (Taste and Mississippi Vegan)

•  In an effort to give my brain a break this week my mind wandered to, of all things, umbrellas.  (I was grasping for something – anything.) I googled ‘umbrella hats’ to do a little digging about why they never took off. They seem so much more practical that the handheld version. AANNNYYYWAY, I am not alone: Umbrellas Suck. Consider the Umbrella Hat. Ya know… umbrellas and the ‘arc of the moral universe’. (Vice)

Big love to you today.

xo Joy