Hi friends! Good Sunday morning to you. Let’s breathe it in. Let’s take a moment for ourselves.
I had a bit of a cry last Friday. It was the sort of cry that starts off about one thing (I was sad about the passing of Justice Ginsburg because it’s hard to lose a great American) and then I was just crying about all that we’ve lost this year. I’m not much of a crier but I feel especially torn apart by the news cycle and our current reality.
And yet here we are, on a Sunday where the sun shines and the coffee is hot. I’ve spend another week trying to be a good friend, a good daughter, a thoughtful sister, a decent gardener, a cuddly cat mom, an enthusiastic baking teacher, and an active citizen. I spent another Saturday teaching a BakeAway class (we made potato rolls and homemade butter) with my strong but mighty Bakehouse team and an aggressive amount of screens and flour (pictured above). We’re just going to keep going and stop to scream a bit if we need to.
The offering this week is below. Take only what you need.
• “Criminal law is not meant to respond to every sorrow and grief. And that is, that is true here. But my heart breaks for the loss of Miss Taylor.” The limits of law. (AP)
• I feel anxious about how we get through this election and how we get through this winter but time will pass and it’s to us to be steady and alert, alive and kind: How We Survive the Winter. (The Atlantic)
• The Race to Redesign Sugar. This makes me…. I dunno, tired. (The New Yorker)
• “If a person gets hot during quarantine and no one’s around to see it, are they actually hot?” The answer is yes, my friends. Also, UGH literally HOW!? Some people are getting hotter than the pandemic. How dare they? (The Washington Post)
• A neighbor asked for a tomato. This is where the story gets weird. This story is dark and honesty is feels like a New Orleans moment, too. (The Washington Post)
• Our friend Karlee made this Peanut Butter Crunch Cake that reminds me of a peanut butter version of Texas Sheet Cake and I am here for it. (Olive and Artisan)
• Please tuck me in here and say nightnight: King Ranch Casserole. (Texas Monthly)
• Cozy: Chicken and Pumpkin Dumplings (Joy the Baker)
• Have you pre-ordered what is sure to be THE BEST PIE BOOK EVER WRITTEN by our friend Erin McDowell? The Book on Pie. When you pre-order you get an extra entire chapter of the book (because Erin is an endless wealth of knowledge on pie and her editors had to cut so much) so… ya know, join me in this pre-order.
• A few of you have asked about the apron above and I’ll tell ya – it’s my favorite linen apron that wears well folded over halfway AND drapes really nicely if you wear it as a full apron. It’s our Bakehouse apron in partnership with Not Perfect Linen and you can get the best apron here!
• Correct, you will catch me in this Seemore Sausage sweatshirt truly all fall. (Goldbelly)
• It’s official – we need to figure out some sort of snack pen pal chain. (Eater)
My love to you today and tomorrow and the next!
xo Joy
photo above by pal Trevor Ekanger.
samantha campanini
Thank you so much!!
sasha lindberg
Thank you for the pie book rec Joy!! Your recs always hold so much weight with me, you know good stuff!!
May I return the favor? I read this years ago and it was simply a delight. I actually know some of the people featured in the book which made it extra special. I hope you’ll check it out. Pascal is just a really lovely person as well.
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/american-pie-slices-of-life-and-pie-from-americas-back-roads_pascale-le-draoulec/590447/
Also, may I offer my favorite pie recipe in return for all of the lovely ones you’ve given me?
From my friend Hillary:
Blueberry cream pie
Mix 1 cup sour cream, I egg, 1tsp vanilla, 3/4 c sugar, 2 T flour, 1/2 tsp salt. Fold in 21/2- 3 cups fresh blueberries. Pour into a pie shell, prebaked for 10 minutes. Bake at 400, 25 m.
Mix together: 3 T flour, 2 T soft butter, 3 T chopped pecans until crumbly. Crumble over baked pie, bake 10 more minutes or until nice and golden. Cool, chill, eat.
Awesome if you ever have huckleberries to sub! Also good with chopped peaches, mixed berries too.
Love you Joy. You hang in there.
Sasha
Catharine G
The Atlantic article made so much sense to me! Good one. Cannot wait to make the pb crunch cake. Wanted to read the Washington Post article, but they make you subscribe to read their stuff :(
Kelly-Anne
Woah, the tomato story caught me by surprise! Thank you for sharing
Carissa E
Omg a snack pen pal chain would be the best!! My new snack obsession is li hing gummy bears that my family sends from Hawaii. Yay snacks! (:
Lucy Remitz
Great links this week – have to preorder that pie book! Also, really loved the snacks pen pal idea. I’m in Ireland if anyone fancies a swap ;)
Meagan
That tomato story!? Woah.
Deanie
I thought the same thing!
Vaughan
For comfort I had to make your Easy Cinnamon Roll Muffins this morning. I substituted jaggery and ghee for the brown sugar and soft butter in the topping that gets swirled into them.
Excellent they were and with a tiny taste of India. Since we can’t actually travel to other countries now, we can travel through our food.
You’re the best.
Namaste.
For people wondering about ghee (browned clarified butter) it’s easy to make your own and much less expensive. Jaggery is Indian sugar.