Friends, hi! I’m back!
Welcome back to The Bakehouse Almanac, our monthly ritual that’s part vibe check, part note taped to the fridge. Consider it a mug of coffee slid across the counter, from me to you. It’s a mix of good intentions, short lists, and whatever’s actually on my mind this month. This is a shared table situation, not a monologue — so as always, chime in! Tell me how July feels where you are, what’s baking in your kitchen (or more temperature-sensitive – what kind of ice cream you’re churning), and what’s keeping you cool if you’re anywhere near as hot as we are here in Texas.
Thank you for welcoming Amy and Timmy for the past few almanacs while I learn how to get work done during baby nap times. I always appreciate their perspectives and I just want to thank you for your generous spirit.
This month’s vibe is all-caps FUN. I feel like summer is where I make my best memories every year: sweaty motorcycle rides and the cold shower that follows; the summer Will and his friend Bob all but insisted I learn how to waterski on Lake Hamilton in Arkansas, and we practiced every day after breakfast until I finally got up — drinking half the lake in the process. And this year, a big one: taking my son to California for the first time. To that end, maybe my vibe this month is CALIFORNIA FUN – straight from the bucket list.
So, in honor of memory-making season, let’s crack a crisp can of Diet Dr Pepper alongside a fresh tomato sandwich, and skip our tender toes across the hot concrete from the deck to the pool. We may be absolutely wilting in this summer sun, but we’re going for maximum joy these next few weeks — running amok, making a mess of ourselves, and then heading indoors for air conditioning and cold watermelon. It can all be so good!
Things I Have My Eye On This July
(from recipes to splurges to good reads)
• I’m very much intrigued by this Burnt Honey Salad Dressing over a pile of chunky summer tomatoes, shallots and herbs BUT of course my baking brain can’t help but think about burnt honey in ice cream or buttercream frosting, RIGHT!?
• I probably just need to go through all the purses I’ve used this year to recollect my miscellaneous lipsticks, but if I were to find that I need a little lipstick treat, I hear that these Lisa Eldridge lipsticks are undupable!
• I’m certainly not ready to talk about the holidays yet – that would be insane. BUT I did bookmark this mouthwatering concept for seasoning salt and I will continue to collect little glass jars and the two combined might just be my gifting for the year.
• Naomi Osaka’s Wimbledon entrance: flawless.
• I don’t think I’ll personally be participating in nightiecore but, let’s just note we’ve transitioned from cottagecore. I’m realizing the mid-40s is a critical time to know when a trend is for you and when it is not.
• We could all brush up on how to have deeper conversations with anyone.
• I’m leaving this tab open until I’m ready to splurge on summer in a bottle. Annual Leave’s peach nectar and lychee summer perfume vol.1. I’m intrigued!
• The Art of Being Slightly Unavailable, amen.
• Currently listening to Sam Fender’s People Watching which doesn’t feel like a specifically summer album but it has a distinctly ’90s vibe and depth that feels familiar.
• Between the humidity and the breastfeeding I constantly feel parched. In desperate need of homemade gatorade.
Ice Cream Is the Whole Point
July’s Decidedly In / Respectfully Out
Decidedly In
• Tomato sandwiches / tomato everything
• Ice in every beverage.
• Pool hair / ocean hair
• Calling errands “an outing.”
• Nectarines rinsed in the ocean and eaten outside
• The baby’s first everything.
• A late dinner.
• The color orange.
• Ice cream on a cone.
Respectfully Out
• Turning on the oven after noon.
• Jeans.
• Overplanning anything, really.
• Pretending humidity isn’t personal.
• Warm beverages after 9am.
• Any dinner that requires emotional labor.
That’s all for this month, friends. The time change in California, plus my middle-of-the-night wakeups, is still kicking my butt a little, if I’m honest. I miss our weekly Sunday posts. I miss that rhythm with you. But this is what I have the bandwidth for these days, and I’m grateful to meet you here in this monthly way while life is so full and new.
We’re up early today for one last morning of surfing for Will and one last slow walk down the beach for me and baby John before we head back to the Texas heat sooner than I’d like. I hope this month holds some really sweet and FUN moments for you. Remember, it’s memory-making season! These are the days.
Take good care, stay cool, and keep an eye out for a new cake recipe soon.
xo
Joy
All Comments