Hi friends!
Me here. Joy. Joy Wilson. Joy the Baker.
That I greet us as friends each and every Sunday is no accident. That’s sincerely how I feel. If you’re here, if you’ve decided to come here beyond where google has landed you in search of a chocolate chip cookie recipe, I consider us friends. What I’ve seen the last few weeks in the comment section here has me feeling like we’ve forgotten we’re friends in baking, if nothing else.
Here’s the thing – I spend a lot of time in the kitchen making and sharing recipes that I’m proud of and my hope is that those recipes find their way to your kitchen and fortify you with the same pride. My work is to help you find joy and care to share in your very own kitchens. On Friday and Saturday I cull through the internet collecting links to things that struck a chord with me in the hopes that they strike a chord with you too, maybe give voice to a thing you’ve felt alone in or never even considered. It’s not groundbreaking, sometimes it’s just a purse I like.
I don’t want you to forget that I’m a person making my way through this year as best I can, just like you. This blog is free99 for you to enjoy and you have the agency to come here or not. Your declarations of disappointment in me, that since you come here and you’ve bought my books and now realize that we might have a political difference makes me feel like you’ve forgotten my humanity. This is me waving hey – it’s me, just a person with her own thoughts, feelings, and experiences. I’m glad you’re here. I want you to be here. It’s ok by me if we agree on everything just as it’s ok by me if don’t agree on much of anything besides cake. I’ve always thought that we have more in common than we have that separates us. Please don’t forget me as a person and not just a website. Please don’t turn this space that I’ve create for us into your political battleground. Please don’t forget that I consider us friends.
The offering this week is below. You know the rules, take only what you need:
• Why We Sigh and I am doing A LOT of sighing this year. (Vice)
• What A Simple Haiku Can Do for a Friendship (The Atlantic)
• What is the best compliment you’ve received lately? What’s the most thoughtful compliment you’ve given? I’m reminded of this old post on Joy the Baker this week: Compliment Club. Ok but like, why is it so hard to accept a compliment? (Joy the Baker and VerilyMag)
• Can I talk you into adding some Billie Holiday to your Sunday because The United States vs Billie Holiday looks incredibly beautiful! I love this version of All The Way. (Vanity Fair and Spotify)
• I’ve been saving this You’re Wrong About podcast deep dive into Princess Diana for a long gardening day and I think today is the day! See also: Princess Diana’s Most Underrated Style Moments (Apple Podcast and Elle)
• Made my dad’s sweet potato pie filling this weekend and needed to make sure it could stay steady in the freezer until the big day: How To Bake and Freeze Pumpkin Pie Before Thanksgiving (The Kitchn)
• If you’re thinking of making fresh rolls for the upcoming holidays, these tips from King Arthur are super helpful: Freeze and Bake Dinner Rolls. (King Arthur Flour)
• This Southern Panzanella Salad is going to be on my Thanksgiving table. It’s a small table this yea so… more bread salad for me. (Joy the Baker)
• We’re about to live that cranberry life: an Oceanspray cranberry harvest, my Cranberry Cream Cheese Rolls, and the sexy cranberry top I’m going to wear at home all winter.
• I’m brainstorming homemade holiday gifts and this a little off season but I want to make a few of these Basket Backpacks. (Delia Creates)
• This Chocolate Fudge Pecan Pie has stopped me in my tracks! It looks like it an underdone brownie pecan pie EXCUSE US! (Love and Olive Oil)
• While we’re talking about pie (and I’ll be talking about pie nonstop until the end of the year) let’s please discuss this Fall-Spice Pudding Pie with GF Nut Crust from queen Erin McDowell. She shared this recipe on Voraciously and if you don’t subscribe to the Washington Posts food section I really do recommend it. (Washington Post)
• My Sunday dinner is going to be these Crunchy Lentil Chicken Tenders thanyouverymuch Food52!
That’s what I have for us today and I’ll have a fresh pie recipe for you next week!
Enjoy this fine Sunday.
My love to you,
xo Joy
Faith Love
Joy, Thank you for creating and curating this space – your warmth and joy and love pours out of every post.
erisa stilley
I’m in catch up mode but, hugs hugs hugs for speaking what is needing to be heard and remembered. Thank you for your graciousness and the heart you pour into what you share. I hope you get a deep, long hug from someone in your circle (maybe while you were in TX!)
samantha campanini
I consider you a friend too! And most of all I consider you a human with ideas and thoughts!!
Alice
I´m a bit late leaving a comment, I just read your last two Sunday postings and I´m so sorry to hear that the polarisation of your country also has reached the beautiful, friendly space you´ve created. I live in Norway and I follow your country´s politics closely from afar. I´ve also followed your lovely website for many years. You bring me so much joy, I love your writing and your openess and your boundless humanity. Thank you so much for all you´ve offered us so far. Big hugs.
Alita
I’m a week late, but wanted to add my appreciation. Thank you for your recipes (especially your dad’s sweet potato pie), your kindness, your Sunday posts, and for sharing a sense of connection with your readers. Happy Thanksgiving!
Maggie
Yes, Yaara! I look forward to your thoughtful collection of links each week and I so appreciate your presence and how you show up here.
Alex
The You’re Wrong About Princess Diana series is so, so good and so heartbreaking (as is the OJ Simpson one), I hope you enjoyed it! (And, sorry about the haters, not sure who goes around just assuming people’s political views are one way and then throwing a tantrum when that assumption is shattered, but they won’t be missed.)
Amy
We’re all wired to hold onto negative comments more than positive ones, so let me add to the sea of positive ones: I look forward to coming to the blog every Sunday. I know that there’s a lot of work and thought that goes into the recipes and posts on this site, and I have nothing but heartfelt thanks to you Joy for making this warm space open to all. Keep doing you!
Cheryl
I’m just tired of people being ugly. Civility, respect, and sharing of ideas are a battleground now. Whining, victimizing, and cruelty have become the norm. Some people get their nourishment from hate and chaos. ‘Nough said about that. I have enjoyed your Sunday offerings forever. Thank you. And, I ‘take what I need and leave the rest’, as does the rest of your fan club. Hugs…
Molly in Nashville TN
We’re all different. We’re all the same. We can come together here for your gracious words and sweet posts (food included!!). This life is SO hard sometimes. We need each other. There’s no time for divisiveness. Love our neighbors…we’ll be the better for it.
Your blog is a treasure. Love always!
Nel
As a Mississippi Gulf Coastian (hi from Bay St. Louis!) we’re practically neighbors, and each Sunday as I read your blog I think of you as such. Covid has kept me away from NOLA, and I miss it terribly. Thank you for keeping me connected! And as for the naysayers, as Simon’s sign says, “Be nice or Leave!” (I love how well curated your suggestions are, and I enjoy seeking out the diverse paths they take.)
Sarah
Hi Joy – I, too, am appalled at the harsh language and vitriol that lives in comment sections these days. It seems no blog is safe, no social media post is safe and everyone wants the platform to speak their mind no matter what comes out. In an effort to understand I went back and re-read the comments on your Sunday post last week. Wow. From a very thoughtful dissenting comment met with accusations of homophobia, racism and xenophobia to a commenter on a young lady’s post telling her she “lost her binkie” in the most condescending tone possible to people saying they will no longer support you for your political views and this should just be a food blog. It’s all very…icky. I find that all people need to be held to a standard of decency regardless of their opinion. Freedom of speech is wonderful. You can say what you want, you can do what you want but that does not mean it goes without consequence. I think this election proves that very clearly. In the spirit of full transparency, I am a registered Republican and have not voted for a President in the last 2 elections. I really fall more in the independent category with conservative leanings. Anyways, what I hope that people will come to understand is that there are people who genuinely feel that Democrats do not represent their beliefs and also really struggle with where the Republican party has gone in recent years. If anything, these years have allowed for a thorough examination of what I hold to be dear and true. There is clearly a deep, deep divide in our country and my thoughts on how we got here are not for this comment section. All this to say that everyone on all sides needs to take a mirror and examine their hearts. If anything parenthood has taught me, it’s that you can’t dictate another human being. You can try to teach them what you believe and guide their decisions based on the foundation that you believe is right, but submission to your thoughts? Nope. Free will is real and people are free and should be free to make their own decisions. Should there be discourse on what we believe in an effort to come to a common ground or some semblance of understanding? Of course! Blatant disrespect, name calling, labeling, divisive, hateful language should be called out and addressed. No matter who it comes from. I feel like this is a safe space to share my thoughts and for that, Joy, I am appreciative. Keep on, keeping on and your recipes and insight really bring a light in the darkness.
Beth Pollock
I’m an occasional recipe browser – I love your recipes and I consider you a friend too! Thanks for everything you do.
xo