Let It Be Sunday, 310!

Hello friends, 

Welcome to another Sunday. How are you? Really. Have your socks on and your mug full of something warm in your hands? 

I don’t quite know how to describe this past week. It was cold – really so cold. It was without our beloved Mardi Gras  It was without the daily energy I’m used to mustering. I just didn’t have it this week.  Is this pandemic fatigue? A bit of everything fatigue?

There has been more sun this weekend than the past week offered, and that helped me find the energy to step into the garden to cut back all the freeze damage from my plants.  I remembered my sweet neighbor gave me an envelope of zinnia seeds and I tossed the entire lot into a pot of soil. I don’t know if they’ll grow but even just that simple action made me feel hopeful for a beautiful spring.  

The offering this week is below. My brain is a little scattershot but here we are in it together. As always, take only what you need:

•  We’ve all had our thoughts with our neighbors in the Texas snow (!!!) this week. They’ve been without essential services, in the bitter cold, still in a pandemic, under boil water advisories.  Ya know, too much.  Why the Deep Freeze Caused Texas To Lose Power. Even as the states thaw out, check on your Texas friends. (Scientific American) 

•  How Texans Are Surviving The Texas Freeze. (Texas Monthly) 

•  How To Help Texans Recover From the Winter Disaster. The Bakehouse is donating proceeds from this month’s classes to the North Texas Food Bank and Houston Mutual Aid so thank you for helping us help! (Texas Monthly) 

•  The Voices of the Pandemic series from The Washington Post is really honest: “Tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll start to feel better.”

•  The hope in imagining A Quite Possibly Wonderful Summer. (The Atlantic) 

•  In Praise of Cold-Calling Your Friend.  I’m less of a cold caller and more of a care package sender (which actually sometimes prompts a cold call). I like to send chocolate or ice cream. I mean…. this is why I have friends. (Medium, BonBonBon, Jeni’s) 

•  Will gave me a flowering orchid a year ago and I’ve somehow managed to meet its needs such that it is growing a new flowering branch! If you’ve ever cared about an orchid in your life you know this is a very big deal. I’m repotting the orchid today and just… please pray for me. We’ve come so far. (Gardenista)

•  Still very much on a pizza journey.  Earlier this week I was supposed to have an outside pizza party with friends which, because of the arctic temperature, found me making just myself a King Arthur Flour’s Gluten Free Pizza indoors. I was skeptical because the dough literally looked like spackling compound but I’ll tell ya – it was so good I made the pizza two nights in a row. Today I’m making pizza from this Overnight Fermented Pizza Crust for a little outside pizza lunch with friends.  

•  There are two recipes I found on Instagram this week that really caught my eyed.  This Raspberry Mousse made with raw cashews and this simple and cozy soup from Local Haven. (Instagram) 

•  I’ve had a taste for the warm and soupy lately: Caramelized Banana Oatmeal Breakfast. (Joy the Baker) 

•  I’ve been craving Bran Muffins like you wouldn’t believe. What does that mean? (Ambitious Kitchen) 

Thanks for taking me as I am today. Have a wonderful Sunday! 

My love to you. 

xo Joy