What is Dalgona Candy and who are the Carbonara Police?

I’ve handed our Sunday links over to our friend Toby Lowenfels.  Please enjoy! 

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Hello, friends!
It’s Toby again and I’m so happy to be here. Many thanks to Joy for inviting me back. 

Let me tell you something that I do: read a piece of clickbait titled, “10 Foods to Brighten Your Mood” and see pistachios on the list. Buy a bag of pistachios (shelled, lightly salted) then sprinkle a handful on my lunch salad. Check my mood and find that it’s bright enough. Wait two hours. Return to the bag of pistachios and eat the remains in one fell swoop. Check my mood and find that I’m slightly disgusted but pleased to have my pistachio intake for the month. 

Below are some other items that’ll brighten your mood if consumed properly. I’ll leave them here for you on this fine Sunday morning, because after this last year+, we all deserve to eat the whole bag…

•  Do you have a favorite harpist? You should! Mine is Mary Lattimore and listening to her music is the best possible way to start or end your day. Lucky for us, she’s going on tour this fall. You’ll definitely want to catch her if she shows up in your town. (Songkick.com)

•  I never knew that carbonara could cause such a controversy, but it has apparently gone off the rails. Chaos. (Tastecooking) 

•  As a lifelong book club enthusiast, I found this piece of gay-rights history fascinating. (The New Yorker) 

•  I’m currently involved in three different text threads of The Way Down, the HBO series about a freaky-deaky religious group. One of these group chats even features a screenshot from another group’s texts of a friend’s cousin’s neighbor who knew someone in the cult. Six degrees, ya’ll. (AVClub)

•  Personally, I can’t wait to try the restorative power of turning myself upside down. (QZ) 

•  New quarters will feature Maya Angelou, Sally Ride, Anna May Wong, Nina Otero-Warren, and Wilma Mankiller. This is excellent news. I mean, when’s the last time you were excited about coins? (NPR) 

•  My latest obsession is Stephanie H. Shih, a ceramic artist who explores concepts of home through the lens of Asian-American identity. She makes Spam look brilliant. (Instagram) 

•  File this one under tools you can use: a site that tells you how long it’ll take to read a book. (Howlongtoread.com)

•  I am actually in love with the most beautiful man on Instagram. The style. The grace. It’s too much. I creepishly stalked him after reading his essay on film novelizations when I was trying to decide if I wanted to read Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Anyway, this is way too much backstory. Go look at André’s outfits.  (Instagram and Substack) 

•  Nashville moms have two staples: key rings and tennis skirts. They’re both adorable and utilitarian. But the key ring is easier for me to execute than the tennis skirt. After my feed conveniently served me an ad for this beaded number, I followed my own advice and bought one for myself and one for my bestie. Zero regrets.  (Inkalloy.com and Whatsupmoms.com)

•  Snack and Destroy is the delicious filling every inbox could use right now. It’s a weekly newsletter dedicated to snacks, candy, and rock n’ roll. I couldn’t hit subscribe fast enough. (Snackanddestroy.com)

•  Recently, I wanted to bring dinner to a sick friend. So I made Joy’s Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup because it looked comforting and soupy without being too heavy. I also made a batch for my family, with non-vegan grilled cheese, and am here to report that it’s delicious + kid-approved.  (Joy the Baker) 

•  There’s no way I would’ve made it through this stupid pandemic without the WhoWeekly podcast. Do I honestly care about half the celeb gossip Bobby and Lindsey discuss? Not really. But I am here for the chemistry of their friendship and how well they play off each other. And, fine, maybe I care a little about who Rita Ora’s dating. (WhoWeekly.us) 

•  I can’t stop watching Squid Game-inspired dalgona candy tutorials. Please send help. Or granulated sugar. (TikTok)

•  In case we needed more reasons to bow down to Patti Smith and Bob Dylan, they top the list of singers who have the highest vocabularies. Isn’t data beautiful?  (Word.tips) 

•  Behold, a perfect tweet. (Twitter) 

Toby Lowenfels is a writer & mother living in Nashville. You can follow her daily musings @tobyfels.