-I'm a Chaos Muppet, and you?

Last Sunday found me sitting on these damp stairs at Jessica’s place in St. Gabriel making pizzas in what looks like the blink of an eye in the Roccbox pizza oven. I get a lot of questions about that fancy little pizza oven and yes – it’s fantastic. It makes restaurant- quality pizza in your very own backyard in minutes. What most people (myself included) always forget to account for is the two days of stressing over the quality and rise of the pizza dough.  The pizza dough needs to be a certain hydration to cook in the 800 insane degrees of this oven which means Trader Joe’s premade pizza dough won’t cut it. And I’m no one if not the person who will invite everyone over for pizza and then have an internal mini-pani (that’s a small panic attack) about my dough and rise and timing and WHY EXACTLY AM I DOING THIS!?  There’s nothing like stressing things that are well within our control. Is it better than stressing all the things out of our control? Lol, maybe?

As it always does  – the pizza turned out fine, if not great. It was fun to make once I realized the dough was a success though I absolutely had Papa John’s on speed dial should anything have gone sideways.  I think the lesson here is, there’s no such thing as bad pizza and we can relax into that teeny tiny consolation and order in tonight.

•  Mitt Romney takes to The Atlantic with a think piece worth reading America Is in Denial.

•  I was reminded of this obit from Klancy Miller this week and still find it sustaining: Overlooked No More: Georgia Gilmore, Who Fed and Funded the Montgomery Bus Boycott (The New York Times)

•  The static of everything internal and external in Roxanne Gay’s latest Substack offering Feedback Loops came right on time.

•  On my desk (jk it’s my dining room table) is a copy of Jarrett Sleeper’s new book of poetry The 100 Poems. I’ve been reading the poems aloud to myself everyday. Each poem takes a few passes of reading aloud because there isn’t an ounce of punctuation in the whole book but after a few reads, the rhythm and intention reveals itself and it feels like a cool little madness.  You may know Jarrett Sleeper because of his wife, the brilliant Allie Ward of Ologies Podcast. Both of these humans are a delight. (Instagram, Blurb)

•  Are you a Chaos Muppet or an Order Muppet? The fact that I take Loose Coffee into the car (that’s hot coffee in a ceramic mug in my very car cup holder) makes me a Chaos Muppet and there’s just no way (I’m willing) to change that.  (Slate)

•  Now (and I cannot stress this is enough) is the time to fully immerse yourself in tomatoes. Related: Summer Tomato Cobbler with Blue Cheese Biscuits. (Joy the Baker)

•  What are you reading this summer? Did you see Toby’s list of The Best Books For Summer 2022? It’s my favorite list of the year and, since I’m mostly a beach-read person, I’ll be reading each one. (Joy the Baker)

•  The beauty of these Iridescent Martini Glasses suddenly seems hard to live without. (Estelle Colored Glass)

•  This dress is on heavy rotation in my summer wardrobe because it barely touches my body at all, and that is the level of summer we have entered.  (Sezane)

•  If you’re in Houston, meet me at my favorite grocery store (Central Market my gawd!) for a Sweet and Savory Summer Baking Class.  I’ll be baking and oversharing, as per.  And in related / unrelated news – you’ll have to forgive me but I’m on TikTok now because I continue to be a person of the Internet. Kim told me to just get into it and she’s always more right than wrong. (Eventbrite, TikTok)

 •  I’m buying a few copies of  The Reset Workbook by Justin Shiels because I think they’ll make great impromptu gifts. Here’s a tour of the workbook, too! (Amazon, Instagram)

•  It may just be that I’ve had too much coffee but I think….. I thiiiiiiink next month I’m going to start training to run a marathon with the Nike Run Club Marathon Training Program.  Their half marathon training program actually made me a runner so let’s go ahead and see how far this train goes.  Don’t quote me on any of this. This could just be the coffee talking.

Have a wonderful Sunday (+ pizza).

My love to you.

xo Joy