Friday Favorites from Cooking Classy, Modern Farmhouse Eats, Family Style Food and More

Easy recipes to add to your meal plan, books recommendations, fashion finds and more this week on Friday Favorites.

Good morning friends. It has been a week of celebrations, Pi Day, “spring ahead”, St.Patrick’s day” and of course disappointment as the war in Ukraine rages on. It’s been 4 weeks since the war started and there seems to be no end in sight. In Ukraine life as they know it has stopped, for the rest of us our lives keep going. I urge you, keep Ukraine in your heart and in your prayers, don’t forget their sacrifices and suffering.

I hope you find something to make, read and enjoy this week on Friday Favorites, it is my favorite post to write each week.

Friday Favorites: Food, Finds, Books and More

Food

Grilled chicken burrito bowls, refreshing, easy and a great addition to your meal plan.

Creamy Dijon Chicken with Mashed Potatoes is the perfect meal for Sunday dinner.

Creamy Lemon Pasta looks easy, delicious and comforting.

Pickled carrots perfect for salads, tacos and more.

In case you missed it, this week I shared how to make easy and delicious bakery style cream cheese danish at home.

House, Home and Garden

12 Simple Ways To Add Colour To Your Home This Spring, Danish Style

23 Gorgeous Sunroom Ideas for Creating Your Own Slice of Paradise

Interesting Reads

What We Wear: A Reading List on Fashion and Our Complex Relationship to Clothes

Humans Evolved to Play Music

How to Stop Overthinking and Start Trusting Your Gut

How to Use the Two-Week Rule to  Optimize Your Bucket List

We’re Killing Ourselves with Work

Harriet Tubman Was Also a Naturalist

Janet Sobel: The Woman Written Out of History

Diane Keaton answers 37 of life’s most pressing questions. Dian Keaton has a new book coming out this month, you can preorder it on Amazon.

Discover Europe’s Under The Radar Gems

Shrinkflation:How Companies Are Hiding Inflation Without Charging You More

Inside the Succession Drama at Scholastic, Where ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Clifford’ Hang in the Balance

Inside Putin’s Circle — the Real Russian Elite

Books

The Storyteller of Casablanca

Morocco, 1941. With France having fallen to Nazi occupation, twelve-year-old Josie has fled with her family to Casablanca, where they await safe passage to America. Life here is as intense as the sun, every sight, smell and sound overwhelming to the senses in a city filled with extraordinary characters. It’s a world away from the trouble back home—and Josie loves it.

Seventy years later, another new arrival in the intoxicating port city, Zoe, is struggling—with her marriage, her baby daughter and her new life as an expat in an unfamiliar place. But when she discovers a small wooden box and a diary from the 1940s beneath the floorboards of her daughter’s bedroom, Zoe enters the inner world of young Josie, who once looked out on the same view of the Atlantic Ocean, but who knew a very different Casablanca.

It’s not long before Zoe begins to see her adopted city through Josie’s eyes. But can a new perspective help her turn tragedy into hope, and find the comfort she needs to heal her broken heart?

Borderland

Borderland tells the story of Ukraine. A thousand years ago it was the center of the first great Slav civilization, Kievan Rus. In 1240, the Mongols invaded from the east, and for the next seven centureies, Ukraine was split between warring neighbors: Lithuanians, Poles, Russians, Austrians, and Tatars. Again and again, borderland turned into battlefield: during the Cossack risings of the seventeenth century, Russia’s wars with Sweden in the eighteenth, the Civil War of 1918-1920, and under Nazi occupation. Ukraine finally won independence in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bigger than France and a populous as Britain, it has the potential to become one of the most powerful states in Europe. In this finely written and penetrating book, Anna Reid combines research and her own experiences to chart Ukraine’s tragic past. Talking to peasants and politicians, rabbis and racketeers, dissidents and paramilitaries, survivors of Stalin’s famine and of Nazi labor camps, she reveals the layers of myth and propaganda that wrap this divided land. From the Polish churches of Lviv to the coal mines of the Russian-speaking Donbass, from the Galician shtetlech to the Tatar shantytowns of Crimea, the book explores Ukraine’s struggle to build itself a national identity, and identity that faces up to a bloody past, and embraces all the peoples within its borders.

Friday’s Daughter

Teensie MacAllester’s two elder sisters consider her an insignificant appendage to their illustrious family. For fifteen years they have been delighted to let her care for their ailing relatives. After all, Teensie is both a nurse and a Friday’s child, naturally loving and giving.

As Teensie deferred her life, a dream sustained her: autocratic King MacAllester promised her the bulk of his estate. But when King’s will is read it divides his property equally among his daughters. Teensie’s share is scarcely enough to make a new start. Her sisters have a solution: Teensie can continue to serve as the family care-giver. But Teensie is determined to claim a life of her own. Throwing off the yoke of family expectations, Teensie sets in motion some surprising changes.

The Mask Carvers Son

Set in turn of the century Japan in the world of the Noh theater, and in Paris during the heady days when French Impressionism was the avant-garde, this heartbreaking, beautifully written novel tells of a young Japanese artist who sacrifices everything: family, love and wealth for his art.

A Master Noh mask carver dedicates his life to his art, turning his back on love after a series of tragic events leaves him devastated. Kiyoki, his only son, defies his father and the demands of cultural tradition to follow his dream of becoming a painter in the western style. Kiyoki journeys to Paris, where he lives the life of an exile, unable to break the bonds of tradition, until he finds his heart leads him back to Japan, where he at last discovers himself as an artist.

Finds

I have flowers and gardens on my mind this week. I thought this tablecloth would be perfect not only for Spring, but Easter and all summer long as well. I also like these blue and white napkins, the set comes with some flowered and some polk a dot.

Boden just released some beautiful and colorful pieces for summer, including this linen shirt, this classic green dress and this fun tote.

Did you read anything interesting this week? Do you have a book, podcast, tv or movie recommendation? Or a new recipe that you think we should try? Please share your thoughts, finds and more in the comments.

That is it for this week my friends, thank you for spending part of your day with me. Have a wonderful and safe weekend. Don’t forget to stop by tomorrow and join Kim, Juliet and I as we share out Saturday meanderings.

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