Hello, friends! Happy spring! Happy floral dress season! Happy Easter!
We made it through another April Fool’s Day and I gotta say, April 2nd might be my favorite day because we have an entire year mostly free of pranks. You’re either a prank person or you’re not and, as your most gullible friend, I’m here to say that I’m just not a prank person.
I had a friend post an entire wedding photoshoot on Instagram on April Fool’s Day to announce their um… marriage? When everyone congratulated them they were like GUYS THIS WAS A JOKE. Ok, how am I supposed to know an entire wedding dress, suit, and bouquet of flower are meant to make me feel like a fool? I’m gullible but it just means I’m trusting. Fool me once, and it better be good because it’ll never happen again.
Are you celebrating this weekend? Are there cinnamon rolls? Are you hiding Easter eggs? Are you taking it easy? Are you recovering from your second vaccine shot? Are you going for a long Sunday drive to a hidden beach? I want all of it for you… in the most relaxed way possible.
The offering this week is below. Take only what feels good to you today and just know I’m glad you’re here.
• I have so many things to say about today’s first read. It’s absolutely fascinating. I love a story of a cat returning home. I mean… if you didn’t cry at Homeward Bound, are you even human? How’s your “map sense”? I’ve always prided myself on having a good sense of direction but that would absolutely fall apart if someone kidnapped me and dropped me in the southern hemisphere in the middle of the night. Lastly, whose job is it to trap migrating birds and send them to New Jersey? That seems particularly unkind. Why Animals Don’t Get Lost
Tron got lost for a few days when I lived in the French Quarter. I’m beginning to think he just went on a bender in the alleys of Bourbon St.
• Things I feel anxious about this week include the daily reports from the trial of Derek Chauvin and the fact that Voting rights are under attack in Georgia and hi, we’re paying attention. (USA Today)
• I feel like I made the right decision for myself in moving to New Orleans just so I didn’t have to miss New Orleans. How To Pretend You’re In New Orleans Tonight. It feels like we’re slowly coming out of our panini freeze and more of you are coming to town for a visit. I’ll have my spring 2021 New Orleans recommendations up on the blog next week. Unsolicited but I just want you to drink our best wine, eat our best tacos, and dance in the street like we do. (The New York Times)
• A Room of One’s Own Sounds Great… But What If You’re A Mom. The acrobatics that moms do just astounds me. (Lit Hub)
• I’ve cooked on TV for a decade. It’s time to take body shaming off the menu. Alejandra’s openness made me think back to some of the times simply having a female body has gotten me scolded. My goodness, thank goodness we get old and wise enough to recognize it as not ours to take on. (Today)
• Megan Braden Perry to let us know that it’s ok if it’s still scary and we’re not alone. Pandemic Assistance Helped Me Make Ends Meet… But I’m Worried About What Comes Next (Apartment Therapy)
• The world moves so fast and it’s important to remember to slow down for each other. Former Prisoners Struggle To Reenter Society. Of course this article made me think of the work of our friends at Louisiana Parole Project and in loosely related news, we’re having a Prop Sale at The Bakehouse with proceeds going to Parole Project! (NBC, Parole Project, Eventbrite)
• Next weekend is one of our last virtual Bakehouse classes for a bit! We’re making Strawberry Pie together/apart. We have a few in-person classes (can you believe!?) next month (more added soon!) and will continue will a mix of in-person and virtual classes through the year. (Eventbrite)
• This week while gardening I enjoyed this You’re Wrong About podcast episode about how Vanessa Williams super casually because the first black Miss America. (Apple Podcast)
• If you’re a gardener or aspiring gardener I highly recommend you follow my friend Kristin of Dine x Design on Instagram. She planting her spring garden now and offering all sorts of thoughts and tips. Here’s Kristin on terra cotta pots! And with that I’m transplanting my soggy aloe vera plant to terra cotta tomorrow. (Instagram)
• Very popular on the site this weekend: Lemon Ricotta Poppyseed Waffles. (Joy the Baker)
• I love Amy Chaplin’s food (do you have her cookbooks, they’re beautiful!) and want to make a batch of her seeded crackers soon: Seeded Brown Rice Crackers (Instagram)
• There are so many great cookbooks out this spring. One I’m most excited about is the grain-free cookbook: Sweet Laurel Savory. I’ve talked about Sweet Laurel’s first cookbook before. She makes my favorite grain-free chocolate cake and the best almond flour snickerdoodle. (Sweet Laurel, Joy the Baker)
• I’m very excited about the forthcoming issue of Cherry Bombe magazine: The Julia Child Issue. (Cherry Bombe)
• The dress pictured above is a Farm Rio papaya dress that I’ll find truly any excuse to wear. (FarmRio)
I hope you enjoy this Sunday! May all your Easter eggs be filled with cash and mini Cadbury Cream Eggs.
My love to you.
xo Joy
Amy
The only “prank” I’ve ever enjoyed was from a friend who announced silly or dramatic things every April 1 and sometimes included images. A couple years ago she posted a “pregnancy announcment” of over-the-top maternity photoshoot pictures (diaphonous gowns backlit in a wheat field, two nude people in a bathtub filled with rose petals and a large pregnant belly, that kind of thing) with her face and sometimes her husband’s face photoshopped into them. That summer they had a baby and when some people were surprised she referred to her April pregnancy announcement.
Jenny
Great articles as usual, I’m on team ban April fools day too, Ug! I’m way too gullible!
Also cannot believe we are still talking about women’s bodies being too much of anything.
Sina
Thanks so much for pointing out Alejandra Ramos’ piece, this is a really important issue.
Also, I’ll order Ilona Bannister’s book at my local bookstore!
As always, thank you for the wonderful list!
Janel Barthe
I had an Easter dress this year that I wore to my daughter’s lunch in the Irish Channel. Forgot to take a photo, but it was lavendar, green, pink and yellow. Hubby and I could hardly button the neckline because of the tiny buttons and loops, No worries, I had a safety pin standing by…determined to go pretty. Incidentally, my girl just moved back to New Orleans after 25 years…couldn’t stand it. Happy happy all around.
Paula
Those episodes of You’re Wrong About are packed with SO MUCH HISTORY about the Miss America pageant that I always suspected but never knew. I’m just finishing up part I of the Vanessa Williams story. Every time I listen to that podcast I find myself nodding emphatically along or saying, “WHAT” out loud to myself. I think I have to pick up the Vanessa Williams autobiography now, because she sounds like an even more amazing woman than I already knew she was!
Jessica Mosich
Well I just spent a good hour on the Farm. Now I have a growing wish list. At least I can be responsible for planting trees in the Amazon. Thanks for the referral! And you just feel free to where that dress any old day! You look like spring personified.
Dee
Tron on a bender….lol…Some day you will have to tell how he went missing….you must have been frantic…
Allison
Definitely bawled at Homeward Bound…when Shadow finally came over that hill? I was finished! Still love that fluffy trio <3
Isabel
As a scientist who studies how our brains help us navigate, I loved the first story! It was like finding out two friends from different worlds are acquainted with each other. Thank you for another lovely Sunday list <3
Deb
Cinnamon rolls always on Easter…it’s a good time to let things rise.
Kaylee
Making your GT carrot cake cinnamon rolls as we speak! Happy Easter indeed :)
Kaylee
Ack – I mean GF!
Kristin
Just enjoyed an Easter Sunrise Service in a tulip feild….first ever and definitely will do again!
Allison Gillenwater
I have visited New Orleans twice and often dream of my next visit. One day I hope to become a resident if only for a shot time to see if it is as magical as i imagine( i have no doubt it will be). I can’t imagine everyone who visits doesn’t feel the same.
Joan
Love your weekly newsletter. It’s thoughtful, inspirational, and yummy. I ordered the magazine about Julia Child. I grew up watching her. Can’t wait till I can attend a cooking class in person.
Michele
Love the dress!
Carol
That dress is everything!
Laura
Hi Joy!
Happy Easter! Thank you for such a lovely offering each week. I hope you have rest and good health this holiday. I have been eagerly following your endo journey as I believe I may have it as well. I hope you are truly doing well.
As a GA voter, my own state leadership disgusts me. I feel as though so much of this was done as a reaction to the false narrative of “the big steal” and because of the fact that we have two awesome democratic senators. Not all of the law is bad (see the amazing ladies at the Pantsuit Politics podcast for all the nuance here), but the bad parts are VERY bad. But there’s hope! People are paying attention and the more painful boycotts we endure in our state, the more R leaders will feel pressure. Thanks for highlighting this.
I have your Carrot Icebox cake in the fridge, all ready to celebrate with my vaccinated family this afternoon. So thankful. Looking forward to it!
Thanks again!
samantha campanini
I’m spending this Easter moving out!! It’s the second time of my life that I move out on Easter, probably I have a fetish for that!
Dee
Thank you …again for making my Sunday @work bearable