Northern California Family Reunion

Hello friends! Happy Sunday from your favorite baker on the back of a motorcycle. I’m in Northern California with Will at my family reunion. We have too much food and more water guns than people it’s all going really well  my heart is full up.

This week’s Sunday reads come from my dear friend Toby Lowenfels. Toby loves love and sends a Valentine’s Day card of her sweet three children every year. I have every card saved. Toby is the most voracious reader I know and anytime I need a book I head to her Instagram page her Instagram page. She always knows the vibe. We’re lucky to have Toby’s offerings this Sunday  as always, take only what you need. Here’s Toby:

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There’s a part in Sally Rooney’s new book, Beautiful World, Where Are You, when Eileen, one of two philosophical protagonists, describes her diary. She calls it ‘the life book’. Each day she’d write one short entry describing something that made her happy or brought her pleasure. I guess some folks might call this a gratitude journal. But when Sally Rooney comes up with it, well, it sounds more chic.

Anyway, I glommed onto this idea during the dog days of summer and I couldn’t possibly bore you with my own entries. So here’s the Internet version, a collection of links that brought me pleasure over the week. 

The image above is from my family’s recent visit to Key Largo, where we sampled every piece of key lime pie we could find. Get a load of those majestic peaks! Naturally, I had to look into the pie’s history and find out why it used to be called Hooker Pie. 

I love giving my eyeballs a break via Diedrich Bader, whose name you might not know but whose face you’ll surely recognize because you’ve seen him in a million things. 

As a devoted mango eater, I found the semi-illicit world of WhatsAppo mango importing positively gripping. Please DM if you have any leads on where I can find a Pakistani mango in Nashville.

Whenever the news gets me down, I reach for poetry. Last week, I was randomly scrolling through the Poetry Foundation site when I discovered Girl Soup by Sawako Nakayasu. Take a breather. 

If there’s one thing I cannot resist, it’s a story about being lost at sea. Buckle up because this one is A Trip. 

How to Be Happier is a snappy 14-year-old video from Queen E. Jean that still holds true. 

I laid down last Sunday to read a few pages of Justine by Forsyth Harmon and take a rainy afternoon nap. It was a real plan. But the nap never happened because I became so engrossed in this novella that’ll make you feel like a 17-year-old for an hour. Mix tapes and all. 

Oh, wow. My kids and I are fascinated by River Runner. Click to drop a raindrop anywhere in the United States—including your neighborhood—then watch where it ends up. Brilliant.

The Keep It episode where the crew interviews Jennifer Coolidge was fun to listen to on the heels of the White Lotus finale. Coolidge gets real when talking about vanity, the show, New Orleans…does it even matter? I could listen to her talk about anything under the sun.

This tale of how Alan Alda met his wife = true romance. 

I have made Joy’s Marrakesh Carrots twice now, it’s so dang good. In fact, I even gave it a kid-friendly tweak and highlighted it in my quick dinner newsletter. 

Speaking of newsletters, Noah Kalina’s always arrives during the Monday morning slump, delivering the right amount of pretty pep. This week’s glimpse outside her bedroom window was exceptionally exquisite. 

My husband rarely dips into our Amazon account but, when he does, I have to smile. His latest purchase is every quality you hope to find in a partner: reliable, kinda spicy. 

Earlier this month I was riding in the back of an Uber and the driver was playing the most beautiful music I’d ever heard. This is not an exaggeration. I couldn’t place the singer’s nationality or even the vibe. Was it reggae? Soul? Jazz? I had to ask him before I got out and it ended up being Nigerian-French singer Asa, who I have now been playing nonstop. 

And, finally, CoJ’s guide to helping women in Afghanistan, would not necessarily be filed under links that brought me pleasure this week. But it is important and worthy of our time. 

That’s all for Sunday, friends.
My love to you.
xo Joy

Toby, THANK YOU!