Welcome to Sunday! A note before we get to our Sunday offering from our friend Toby! Joy the Baker has always been a space where I can learn and grow and experiment. You’ve been witness to it all and I’m so thankful. Truth is, Joy the Baker requires more that what I can offer you on my own. Joy the Baker is me alongside a small but mighty team who I would like for you to meet and know. Meet the team! Abby Mallett edits the posts here on Joy the Baker and will offer occasional posts. Toby Lowenfels and Kim Baldwin will each contribute to our Sunday offerings once a month and I so appreciate their perspectives. Jon Melendez takes a majority of the photographs here for years now and he’s the best home cook I know so… we’re blessed. I’ll still write and produce the majority of blog posts here but just know that I’ve brought on people that I adore to fill you with more inspiration that I can offer alone. Going forward, take a look at the author line just below the title so you know who you’re reading. I’m so thrilled that you’re here. Thank you. Here’s Toby.
Hello, friends!
Have you done anything brand new lately? I’m in the process of becoming a substitute teacher and can’t wait ‘til all my paperwork is cleared. I have zero experience teaching and have no idea what to expect. But I’m enjoying the anticipation of stepping out of my comfort zone. I’ll make sure to check in next month to let you know how it goes and, in the meantime, here’s some Internet I’ve been enjoying…
Xo,
Toby
• This Talk Easy podcast episode with Cate Blanchett is transcendent. She discusses everything from death to photography and, since she’s trying to get one of her kids to sleep, she’s kind of whispering the whole time. I was soothed. (Talk Easy)
• Joy’s One-Pot Greek Oregano Chicken is everything I hope for in a one-pot meal. It’s easy and flavorful and made my kitchen smell delicious. Most importantly, it’s easy to clean up. Only change I made was throwing in the entire jar of kalamata olives. I figure you can never have too many. (Joy the Baker)
• PSA: You can see Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith and Ray Liotta as babies in 1987’s Something Wild, which is currently streaming. Jonathan Demme directs this movie, and it’s a whole vibe. (Amazon)
• There’s one thing I can never turn down, and that’s a Stevie Nicks profile. This one in particular is written by Tavi Gevinson, so you know it’s good. There are so many gems here, including Stevie explaining the entire plot of Storks. (New Yorker)
• I had fun incorporating my friends’ answers into this post, “25 Morning Routine Ideas to Make Waking Up Enjoyable.” What would you add? I feel like we’re on a lifelong journey together to make it through the mornings. We can do this. (What’s Up Moms)
• I’ll admit I’m pretty tired of Instagram in general. But I still can’t resist a super-niche account. My latest fave is @AbandonedPaintings. It’s just some dude in Brooklyn—at least that’s where I assume he is—sharing pics of beautiful trash strewn about the city. (Instagram)
• The book bans make me so sick, I can’t really even talk about it. There’s never any reason to ban a book. Period. Full stop. Anyway, I appreciated this guide to reading all the books that schools want to ban. Some of these I haven’t read in years and some I’ve never heard of tbh. Book club, anyone? (The Atlantic)
• I bought my husband a steak package from Holy Grail Steak Co for Valentine’s Day and, hubba hubba, that’s some quality meat. It was definitely a splurge but I felt the need to go big after giving him socks last year. (Holy Grail)
• My friend, Cynthia, whose parents are from Nigeria, recently had the most adorable baby. I’m always curious to hear about how other cultures treat postpartum care. She said her mom made this Nigerian Chicken Pepper Soup, which I’d love to try once I gather all those spices. (Epicurious)
• Having gone through more friend breakups than I’d care to admit, I identified with this deep dive on friendship heartbreak. I started to share an excerpt but realized I was highlighting the entire text. (The Atlantic)
• Evil Witches is one of those newsletters I save specifically for my lunch break. It’s produced by Claire Zulkey, a journalist who runs a tight editorial calendar and excels at crowdsourcing. I guess it’s technically aimed toward moms but I’d like it even if I didn’t have kids. (Substack)
• I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I’m loving the soundtrack for Drive My Car. It’s written by Eiko Ishibashi, a Japanese multi-instrumentalist and composer. And it makes staring at a Google doc all afternoon feel profound. (Spotify)
• After having an unexpected cry earlier this week, I can appreciate this Wesley Morris essay: The Power of a Good Cry. “Tom Cruise muscles out his tears so it’s not crying so much as a bench press. Angela Bassett’s face becomes a furious scene of quaking, hazy devastation; napalm in the mourning.” Dang. (New York Times)
• Love her or hate her, you know if Gwyneth Paltrow invited you to her beautifully bonkers home in Montecito, you’d pack your toothbrush in two seconds flat. (YouTube)
• Finally, am I the only one who desperately wants to take a nap on this viral butter sofa? (Instagram)
Jen S
Oooh hello to the JTB Team! Happy to have an introduction and landing post to get to know you all a little bit better.
I commend you to want to help sub teach. It’s hard, takes flexibility and patience to learn how to get the kids’ attention and engage with them all. I stepped away, personal reasons, from preschool teaching and know I may jump back into education in some capacity in the future.
Thanks for the links as I now have numerous tabs open to read through. :)
My morning routine isn’t the best this Winter and am looking for ways to kick start my day positively.
chelsea
I’m ready for our banned book booklub!
Dottie
So great to know the rest of the staff Joy. Thank you for sharing their names and what they do to contribute to your wonderful business.
I enjoyed Toby’s Sunday post. Good luck with becoming a substitute teacher. The kids will be lucky to have you as their teacher.
I added some of the “controversial” books to my reading list, since I haven’t read several of them. A book club is a great idea!
Kay
So glad you’re pursuing subbing! I wish my district would open up applications again coz there’s NONE. Get a special education approval and I’ll love you even more! (Plus our classes are the best)
samantha campanini
Thank you for these suggestions!
Susan
Ali Velshi hosts a Banned Book Club every Sunday morning on MSNBC. I love him for doing it, but I love him for much that he does.
Michelle
I am sick and tired of these ignorant do gooders trying to ban books in schools. Honestly who raised the idiots? In the KC MO area school board meetings students were coming to the meetings to protest the bans.
Stella
So may I extend a hearty welcome to the team. I’ve enjoyed all of your past contributions and really look forward to more. Toby, good luck on the teaching front. I personally loved teaching 3rd grade, it’s a sweet spot and I miss it. Unfortunately, the pandemic made my decision not to return to the classroom for me, but I know you will rise to the challenge.
Beth
As an elementary school teacher, I can attest the substitute shortage is VERY real and also a VERY real problem (I have students that haven’t had direct instruction in about a week for 2 subjects and instead had to sit in random classes during those periods). So, THANK YOU for applying!
Leah
I enjoyed this read a lot. Thank you! I loved the morning routines and found my engineer partner good music for looking at spreadsheets— win win. ??
akbright
Thanks for stepping up to Student Teach! I work as a paraprofessional/teaching assistant, and as far as where I live, we are in dire need of student teachers, so thank you!
Toby
Yes. I kept seeing articles about the shortage and am excited to help out.
Stacy
Great list! I am genuinely considering that egg cooker I never knew I needed. The Atlantic article is reeeeeally important…but as a teacher the wording of the title irks me. It’s not SCHOOLS that are necessarily wanting these books banned, but other people that want schools to ban them :)
Toby
Get the egg cooker!! And, wow, you’re right about that headline. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.
Ramona Puckett
Thank you, Toby, I really enjoyed reading your post!
toby
thank YOU, Ramona!
Donna
Toby,
Welcome to the wonderfully frustrating, fulfilling world of being” just a sub.” To survive you need to remember that you aren’t there to make best friends. ( you’ll lose their attention and respect quickly if you go that route.) Firm, fair, honest ( hey I don’t know that answer..let’s look it up together) and a sense of humor goes a long way. Enjoy every minute of each day. You are making a difference im the life of a child.
Julia
Thank you
toby
happy Sunday, Julia!