Hello sweet friends!
Gosh I’m glad for this day, aren’t you?
This week was, as the world does, everything all at once. Last weekend, as I was leaving camp in Texas I heard mention of a storm in the Gulf. In October. So far into hurricane season I did a double take. Turns out it was a fast wollop of a hurricane that passed directly over New Orleans. As I stood at my backdoor watching the storm and willing the tree in my backyard to hold tight, I thought… what is this feeling I have? Oh it’s plain ol’ fear because this is my first actual direct hurricane and I’m riding it out in the dark by myself. I don’t often feel that physical fear feeling, and I’m thankful I don’t have to and also thankful it exists.
The tree snapped and fell away from the house. The entire block came outside to check on one another during the eye of the storm, and here we are on the other side, with power fluctuating and life going on. With power on and off, I’ve made coffee and breakfast on the back porch two mornings this week. Camp Joy skills can also be swapped for hurricane skills. Good note.
I looked down at my thick socks and kitchen clogs all week thinking about the crumpled pair of thigh-high boots laying lazy in the closet. I bought those in a moment of sheer optimism, in a moment when I thought I’d play dress up as a person who made less sensible choices and they’re have their day, or their year… I think maybe this one just isn’t it.
I wonder how this little Sunday (or Monday) ritual of ours finds you. What’s feeling good to you this week?
The offering this week is below. Everything is so much these days, I’m not bombarding us with US election stuff. I hope you find some things that make you like you know something more than you did before. Take only what you need:
โข A chance to undo mass incarceration? This week’s long read: Dying Inside (Reuters)
โข This is a really beautiful listen for your weekend, please: Praise Song for the Kitchen Ghosts (Emergence Magazine)
โข Maybe you relate to many many pieces of this like I do. It floored me. I’m Chronically Ill and Afraid of Being Lazy I don’t mention it often but I struggle with endometriosis and it absolutely floors me at least several days a month. (Elle)
โข Snark: How America Invented The White Woman Who Just Loves Fall. (Jezebel)
โข I appreciate how generous Lynn Chen is with herself in this piece on Cupcakes and Cashmere: How Quarantine Changed My Relationship With My Hair.
โข Scrolling through my friend Scott Hocker’s column on Taste is just a pleasure. I love his food perspective: A Kitchen in New Orleans (Taste)
โข My friend Kim will be lowkey about it but she’s SUCH A GOOD HUMAN and makes a really wonderful podcast called Ladyland. If you haven’t yet listened, I highly recommend. Kim was also featured here Kim Baldwin Invites You to “Meet the Women You Think You Know” Podcast and… I just feel like being curious about other people is such a lovely quality and Kim has it most sincerely. (Ladyland.show and Nashville Scene)
โข Even if you think you know almond flour front to back, there’s at least one gem of a treat in this: How to use almond flour in cooking and baking (Washington Post)
โข Our friend Amy is an English nerd and it shows and we love it: The Tell-Tale Biological Clock (McSweeney’s)
โข My favorite mezcal that’s really lovely by the sip: Gracias a Dios (thankgad.com)
โข Oh friends, have you heard? I made you a holiday magazine! Joy the Baker Magazine is a real-deal, on grocery store shelves, ad-free, recipe magazine available now! You’ll find it on shelves at most grocery stores nationwide as well as Target, Walmart, and Michaels. WHAT!? Totally crazy. All the recipes are shot by Jon Melendez and we’re just really proud of it. I hope it helps you bake your way through this weird holiday season. I’ll have more copies for sale on The Bakehouse Nola site next week but do know that it helps me if you buy it in stores or on Amazon. I’d love to write another and buying it in-stores will help me do that! Ok thanks for letting me say all that. (Amazon)
โข I’m still here teaching Bakehouse Live classes if you’d like to join! No pressure whatsoever. Just happy to bake with you on Zoom if you’d like to! Easy Homemade Pretzel Baking on a Thursday night in November and early Christmas morning cinnamon rolls deep into December! (Eventbrite)
โข I splurged on a treat for myself from one of my favorite scent-makers. Smoke Perfume distilled my favorite flower to wear here: Magnolia Soliforte Perfume and it’s sure to have some magic. I also bought a Smoke Perfume Samples Kit for a gift If I can bear to give it away. (Smoke Perfume)
โข Jon made Pumpkin Conchas. A sweet little baking adventure if you’re looking for one! (The Candid Appetite)
โข Have you ever made my Roasted Vegetable Winter Crumble? It takes the apples and all of the other sweet and spiced things of a crumble, asks them to be savory, substitutes breadcrumbs for sugar and flour, and is completely belly satisfying. (Joy the Baker)
Thank you for spending some time here today. I’m grateful to you.
xo Joy
46 Responses
Thank you Joy for these reads!! I absolutely want to buy your magazine, I hope amazon will be able to ship it to Italy!!
Couldn’t wait to get your magazine! Both the Gouda Brussels and the turkey potpie will be made this weekend for an outdoor Friendsgiving. I’m looking forward to trying (read- devouring) them. Congratulations on making this magazine happen despite all the craziness going on this year! I was thinking about you during the hurricane and am so glad you’re still safe and shining your light for the world!
Oh gosh, migraines! So much time lost. My medical herbalist prescribed a supplement made from the herb butterbur, sold OTC as Petadolex. Worth a look.
Congratulations! You go Joy!!! I’m so excited for you and your magazine! Continue shining your light! Thanks for the great recipes and photos over the years!
Oh Joy! You bring me Joy! I spotted your magazine at Sams Club in Arizona before I read about it. What a wonderful surprise and treat!! I love the recipes and the food pictures are perfect. You are adorable in the magazine. I love the family stories, the tidbits of information and the pantry staple pages. You look beautiful on the cover. I could go on and on. I put down the novel I was reading and read this cover to cover. Will there be more magazines…say โyesโ.
I’ve developed a deep, deep appreciations for mezcal during the pandemic. What began as a one-off decision with a casual friend who lives near by to get dive bar tacos & fancy to-go mezcal cocktails for a park picnic back in late March turned into an every-Saturday ritual, over time switching to cooking dinner and trying our hand at the cocktail. It’s kept us (somewhat) sane, & she’s now my best friend :)
Which is your favorite of the Gracias a Dios? I’d love to add to my growing collection.
Joy! Thank you for mentioning my podcast and the feature in the Nashville Scene. You’re a real one. FYI – Your magazine is my self-care plan for Wednesday. It’s not in Nashville yet, but I snagged a copy from Amazon. XOXO
“Let it be Sunday” is my absolute favorite new ritual. I pour myself a nice, big mug of hot coffee and settle in for a wonderful read of many diverse articles!
Kitchen ghosts was so, so good! Being a migraine sufferer since my early 20’s and now I am in my late 50’s I know all to well the feelings of being accused of being lazy, when you are deathly sick!
Please don’t stop your wonderful Sunday musings!
Oh, headed to Target today to buy your magazine!
The Kitchen Ghost Story really touched me. Thank you for sharing it. I’m sorry you had to experience that hurricane in the dark all by yourself. I’m looking forward to buying your magazine!
Hi Joy, glad to hear that the hurricane didn’t bring any harm to your home. Thanks as always for creating a warm, inviting place on the internet, especially with the upcoming week.
I just saw that magazine up here in a grocery store in Astoria, Oregon. I thought, โlook at that, Iโve followed her for years. Good for her!โ Brava Joy!
The chronic illness article really hits home! Dealing with long Covid/post Covid autonomic nerve dysfunction has left me feeling sick most days. My temp is no longer regulated and can spike 2-3 degrees if I simply get up to make coffee. My heart rate spikes to 110 from 60, just by walking a few steps. The migraines and cluster headaches are daily. I work 2 days/week and it exhausts me! I used to work 50-60 hrs/wk for years!
Oh, and I suffer from PCOS!
Any advice on how to get by appreciated!
Long-time reader here, I just never comment. (but really, I should!)
Thank-you for sharing your life with us!
Glad you are safe after the hurricane.
Blessings and light to you!
Joy! Just ordered your magazine and deeply loved the kitchen ghost story. THANK YOU FOR BEING YOU!
I hate being this person…but can you please share what kind of “kitchen clogs” those are?? Are they Dansko? Or some other brand, they look like real leather! I love them!
You call us your โsweet friendsโ and then send us off to read another race bashing story about White Women and Thanksgiving? Holy goodness does it ever stop? No matter what color you are, the fueling and finger pointing have become so tiresome and silly! Your poor white mother must be offended by this jab at her race. ?Come together, right now ? over thanksgiving.
Wow
You are way, way out of line. Reverse racism isn’t a thing. Please stop.
Um, โyour poor white mother?โ Are you serious?
Take a deep breath, GET A GRIP, keep peopleโs mothers of it, and remember that shutting up is always an option.
This is TRULY not the place for this. TRULY. It feels like maybe you and your book club didn’t get to “White Fragility” this summer, but the Fall is as good as time as any to catch up, with a steaming hot PSL.
I suppose some women are so, so trapped by their whiteness that they cannot enjoy a good bit of snark at their expense when they see it? This coming from the whitest of women. And your very intrusive jab at someone’s MOTHER, on a free blog that you have chosen to seek out and read, is really very bad form, Leanne. Bad form, indeed.
Wow Leanne. I had to close my eyes and shake my head after reading your comment.
Here’s the thing. I can actually hold space for your frustration and fragility. You know why I thought that article was interesting? Sure, it was a bit snarky but it also has some really interesting historical facts about the commodification of this time of year. That’s why I included it in my Sunday list. The list that every week I encourage you to take only what you need. That sort of means that you don’t have to be here and do this if it doesn’t feel good to you.
That being said, you really crossed the line in dragging Mrs. Wilson into it. Honestly, how dare you. Poor form from you. I’m absolutely not taking it on. Just letting you know you’re waaaaay over the line.
Joy, I cannot wait to pick up your magazine, feeling optimistic about Tuesday, will make a special trip to go out and get it. Glad to read you are safe too from the hurricane, geez the fear is real.
So glad you and your neighbors are okay Joy! I grew up in Biloxi and lived in New Orleans for a little while when I was in High School. It has been a rough year for Louisiana and other places with all those hurricanes and storms.
Do you have a favorite Mezcal of this brand that you like to sip on? It looks like there are quite a few to choose from? (My favorite mezcal thatโs really lovely by the sip: Gracias a Dios)
Thank you, Joy!!! I am really excited to pick up your magazine!
I love your magazine! Spotted it on Friday and snapped it up! Canโt wait to start cooking my way through it. Wonderful photos! Made your veggie crumble last spring and it is so addictive. Yum.
Sorry about your tree. So hard to replace. I hope Tron is weathering the storms as well.
As soon as you posted on Instagram about your magazine I went out and bought it at our local grocery store. I LOVE IT and thank you for doing this!
Thank you for posting the article on disabilities. I was a migraine sufferer for years. I lost a lot of my 20’s and 30’s to this affliction which at the time was treated as just a sign of a woman’s “nerves.” You can’t see a migraine but I literally couldn’t function for 24-36 hours. I was treated as weak and lacking in some sort of moral fortitude. It took years to develop any sort of confidence and that occurred only as I got older and the migraines eased away.
I hear you, Margie! My migraines started when I was probably 14 or 15 years old. For the first few years they knocked me out completely. I had problems with orientation and balance when the episode started and they lasted 24+ hours as yours. And they are the reason I am still afraid to drive a car (because I had an episode when driving on a highway). I was also afraid to travel alone but I lost that fear in my 30s while traveling solo in Africa. As you said, as I am getting older I am more and more confident about taking a space and time for myself. But still, I feel guilty sometimes because there is so much more to do.
Thank you both so much for mentioning migraines. That was what I was thinking of when reading that article as well. I’m in my 30s and have only just gotten up from a 2 week stint of terrible migraines that left me unable to do much of anything. I go through what I call a “down time” every month when they come on. My to-do list sits on my desk mocking me for not being able to complete the simplest tasks. It helps knowing others are struggling with similar issues and we’re all still out here living life, taking breaks when we need to and working through it.
I feel like I’ve “wasted” my 20s (I’m 32 now) with depression and fatigue, just found out I have PCOS– I’ve always felt so behind everyone (single and kid-less in the Midwest), I’m glad (or not?) to hear others feel they’ve lost decades of time, too. If that makes sense? I guess it brings comfort.
I can never look at any of your offerings from the Washington Post as I donโt subscribe.
Hi Holly, I too, do not subscribe to The Washington Post either and for some reason when Joy posts and links us there it always works.
Re: scared of being lazy: there is chronically ill and disabled community out there. Weโve got you. Sending so much love
Love the “Praise Song for Kitchen Ghosts”. Thank you for sharing that, and the other items.
Iโve been on an Instagram break and didnโt know about your magazine until just now, so glad you posted it!! Ordered it immediately and canโt wait :)
Hi, Joy,
Just ordered your new magazine from Amazon. Excited to get it.
Glad you made it through the storm safely. The second half was a wild ride! We just got power back last night. Hope itโs the last one this season.
Take care,
Yvonne
Yes, I did make your Roasted Vegetable Winter Crumble and it was wonderful, thanks for asking :D
I just ordered your magazine from Amazon and am looking forward to receiving it!
The kitchen ghost story is just wonderful. Thank you for sharing.
Joy , I saw your magazine on the shelf in my local Sobeys in Nova Scotia, Canada the other day so obviously I had to buy a copy. I am so excited to use the extra hour today to have a good read of it and pick some recipes for our neighbourhood cookie exchange! Happy Sunday and stay safe.
Morning Joy! Heading to Target this morning to pick up your magazine. So excited?
Love your Sunday thoughts.
Hi Joy Just thought Iโd mention that if someone has the Target Circle app, your mag is 15% off…so a little more to spend on ingredients for all the bakes!
@Kim, I have the app, too, but cannot find the magazine. Can you share how you searched for it-what you used?
Hi Joy,
Is there a way to get you holรฌday magazine outside of the US?
I love your recipes and “Let it be Sunday”
Barbara