Friday Favorites from Country Cleaver, Climbing Grier Mountain, Grandbaby Cakes, Sidewalk Shoes and More

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Good morning friends! I hope that you had a great week. Mine was great; my state entered Phase 2 and my yoga studio opened back up with a limited number of people. It was so nice to see friends and be back to a little bit or normalcy. This weekend my step-father will be visiting so we will be doing a lot of catching up and barbecuing. 

Enjoy my finds this week.

Food

Doesn’t this One Pot Lemon Basil Pasta from Country Cleaver look easy and delicious?

I want to make this Anit-ipasta Cheese Bread from Climbing Grier Mountain this weekend. 

I haven’t been to a party lately but if I went to one that served these baked party sandwiches with brown sugar glaze I would eat eat an entire pan. They look delicious. 

I’ve always want to try Milk Bread, and this Chocolate Milk Bread from The Little Epicurean looks even better than the plain. 

Strawberry Shortcake Cake from Grandbaby Cakes looks like the perfect summer treat. 

I will be having one of these Raspberry Daiquiri from Sidewalk Shoes this weekend. 

Articles

I Don’t Feel Like Buying Things Anymore.

Your Brain May Not Be Able to Distinguish a Digital Reproduction of an Artwork From the Real Thing, a New Study Suggests

Why New York City’s Public Spaces Are Under Threat Due to COVID-19

6 experts on how capitalism will emerge after COVID-19

‘People Are Unaware of Their History’: Why Museums Are Collecting Artifacts From the Black Lives Matter Protests as They’re Happening

The Millennial Mental Health Crisis

How community fridges are fixing a broken food system.

The Gone with the Wind Conundrum. 

You’re Never to Old To Regain that Lost Muscle and You Can Do It At Home

If you love interior design and fabric Effortless Style shared her favorite online fabric resources!

Books

The Art of Beatrix Potter

There aren’t many books more beloved than The Tale of Peter Rabbit and even fewer authors as iconic as Beatrix Potter. Her characters—Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle Duck, and all the rest—exist in a charmed world filled with flowers and gardens. In Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life, bestselling author Marta McDowell explores the origins of Beatrix Potter’s love of gardening and plants and shows how this passion came to be reflected in her work. The book begins with a gardener’s biography, highlighting the key moments and places throughout her life that helped define her. Next, follow Beatrix Potter through a year in her garden, with a season-by-season overview of what is blooming that truly brings her gardens alive. The book culminates in a traveler’s guide, with information on how and where to visit Potter’s gardens today.

The Apple Tree

Meet me in the meadow in twelve years.

On the evening of her eighteenth birthday, Drew Caldwell learns that her childhood best friend, River, will soon be leaving her. Crestfallen by this news, Drew devises a plan with River:

In twelve years, they will meet again in the meadow they discovered during their senior year of high school. There, they will reclaim special objects they have hidden in an old barn and wild apple tree, and they will be together again.

Drew moves on to college life, where she finds that school, friends, and boys are not exactly what she thought they’d be. As the years go by, River becomes more and more of a distant, mysterious phantom—until the unexpected happens.

A story revolving around growth and meaning, The Apple Tree is an emotional journey with the uplifting message to keep moving forward and upward, no matter what twists and turns alter your course.

A Pairs All Your Own

“My time in Paris,” says New York Times–bestselling author Paula McLain (The Paris Wife), “was like no one else’s ever.” For each of the eighteen bestselling authors in this warm, inspiring, and charming collection of personal essays on the City of Light, nothing could be more true.

While all of the women writers featured here have written books connected to Paris, their personal stories of the city are wildly different. Meg Waite Clayton (The Race for Paris) and M. J. Rose (The Book of Lost Fragrances) share the romantic secrets that have made Paris the destination for lovers for hundreds of years. Susan Vreeland (The Girl in Hyacinth Blue) and J. Courtney Sullivan (The Engagements) peek behind the stereotype of snobbish Parisians to show us the genuine kindness of real people. 

From book club favorites Paula McLain, Therese Anne Fowler (Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald), and anthology editor Eleanor Brown (The Light of Paris) to mystery writer Cara Black (Murder in the Marais), historical author Lauren Willig (The Secret History of the Pink Carnation), and memoirist Julie Powell (Julie and Julia), these Parisian memoirs range from laugh-out-loud funny to wistfully romantic to thoughtfully somber and reflective.
 
Perfect for armchair travelers and veterans of Parisian pilgrimages alike, readers will delight in these brand-new tales from their most beloved authors.

The Lending Library

When the Chatsworth library closes indefinitely, Dodie Fairisle loses her sanctuary. How is a small-town art teacher supposed to cope without the never-ending life advice and enjoyment that books give her? Well, when she’s as resourceful and generous as Dodie, she turns her sunroom into her very own little lending library.

At first just a hobby, this lit lovers’ haven opens up her world in incredible ways. She knows books are powerful, and soon enough they help her forge friendships between her zany neighbors—and attract an exciting new romance.

But when the chance to adopt an orphaned child brings Dodie’s secret dream of motherhood within reach, everything else suddenly seems less important. Finding herself at a crossroads, Dodie must figure out what it means to live a full, happy life. If only there were a book that could tell her what to do…

Finds

If you are looking for a unique Father’s Day gift for dad, this hair on hide leather catchall is a great gift. It unsnaps so that you can store it or travel with it and it is great for keys, change, your watch and more. 

Or some great coasters for his man cave. 

My husband has a set of these Shun knives and loves them. 

He has this branding iron and cutting board too, he actually branded all of the cutting boards in the house and occasionally brands his steaks. 

That’s it for this week. Please share your favorite recipes, books, movies, podcasts or whatever else you found this week that you like. Have a happy and safe weekend.