Welcome to Friday Favorites, a weekly series where I share interesting articles, books, fashion finds, recipes and more!
Good morning friends, it’s Friday and that means it is time for Friday Favorites. I have been traveling all week and I am ready to unpack, and settle in at home. I also want to check on my flowers. A few weeks ago I planted my peony roots, and a bunch of seeds and they were just popping out of the ground when I left. Hopefully nothing(deer) ate them.
I have so many great things to share with you this week, including a few sweet treats, interesting articles, books and some finds that you might like for your mom or yourself. Get yourself a coffee, tea or chocolate and settle in for a nice long Friday favorites post.
Friday Favorites from Country Cleaver, Blue Bowl, Salt & Lavender and More
Favorite Food

Image Don’t Go Bacon My Heart
I could eat pizza or pasta for every meal, anyone else? Lemon Pasta is one of the new additions to my repertoire, it has 5 ingredients and is an easy and delicious meal. You might also enjoy Creamy Lemon Pasta.
43 Chicken Breast Recipes You’ll Actually Love Eating
Bourbon Pecan Sticky Buns, a wonderful treat to make this weekend or for your mom for Mother’s Day.
It’s strawberry season, why not make Classic Strawberry Shortcake.
Or Pound Cake with Fresh Berries.

Image Blue Bowl
On Friday night we have a cocktail on the porch and decompress from the week. Tonight I will be making Mixed Berry Mojitos.
Interting Articles
Plant Your Cocktail Garden Now
Rethinking Topiary: A Garden Tradition, Loosened Up
My Father Always Told Me Oatmeal Saved His Family. Now I Finally Understand How
When Buying in Bulk is Actually a Waste of Money
At war with the whole world’: why Putin might be planning a long conflict in Ukraine.
The New York Times Book Review’ at a Crossroads
Making Concessions: A Tale of Capitalism, Control, and Snacks
31 New Page-to-Screen Adaptations to Add to Your 2022 Reading List
The Rise and Fall of World’s Fairs
Friday Favorite Books
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains.
The Second Mrs. Astor
Madeleine Talmage Force is just seventeen when she attracts the attention of John Jacob “Jack” Astor. Madeleine is beautiful, intelligent, and solidly upper-class, but the Astors are in a league apart. Jack’s mother was the Mrs. Astor, American royalty and New York’s most formidable socialite. Jack is dashing and industrious—a hero of the Spanish-American war, an inventor, and a canny businessman. Despite their twenty-nine-year age difference, and the scandal of Jack’s recent divorce, Madeleine falls headlong into love—and becomes the press’s favorite target.
On their extended honeymoon in Egypt, the newlyweds finally find a measure of peace from photographers and journalists. Madeleine feels truly alive for the first time—and is happily pregnant. The couple plans to return home in the spring of 1912, aboard an opulent new ocean liner. When the ship hits an iceberg close to midnight on April 14th, there is no immediate panic. The swift, state-of-the-art RMS Titanic seems unsinkable. As Jack helps Madeleine into a lifeboat, he assures her that he’ll see her soon in New York…
Four months later, at the Astors’ Fifth Avenue mansion, a widowed Madeleine gives birth to their son. In the wake of the disaster, the press has elevated her to the status of virtuous, tragic heroine. But Madeleine’s most important decision still lies ahead: whether to accept the role assigned to her, or carve out her own remarkable path…
The Last Goddess(Free with Amazon Prime)
Last in a centuries-old lineage of healing women, Dora Idesová was raised by her aunt Surmena in the White Carpathians. Resistant to superstition, Dora grew up hearing stories of the “goddesses” who were said to conjure love and curses and, through divine connection, cure the spirit and the body. Now an academic, Dora is researching the tales that for generations spellbound the hillside where she grew up. As the mysteries become truths, they reveal a stunning discovery that reaches back from the witch trials of the seventeenth century through Nazi-occupied Germany. Embarking on an emotional journey, Dora is about to find out how deeply and fatefully she is entwined with secret tradition.
Beautifully weaving together fact, folklore, and fiction, Kateřina Tučková draws on the stories of her ancestors to explore the extraordinary history of goddesses who walked the earth.
Just a Reminder
You can find all of the books that I have recommended on the blog and on my Friday Favorites post on my Pinterest board My Bookshop.
Favorite Finds
Chambray Serving Platters make a great gift for mom or for yourself. They will look beautiful at your summer parties.
I love this fun summer sweater, and the seersucker pants too!
Just in case you missed it
This week I shared THE SEASON OF NEW BEGINNINGS: 7 WAYS TO CELEBRATE SPRING.
UNTIL TOMORROW
That is it for this week my friends, I hope that you enjoyed my Friday Favorites post. If you make one of the recipes or read one of the books please let me know how you liked them. While you are doing that please share a book that you recently enjoyed or a recipe that you made.
Thank you for spending part of your day with me and don’t forget that tomorrow I am joining my friends Kim and Juliet for weekend meanderings.
This post contains affiliate links, if you click on a link I will earn a small commission.

I could eat pasta every day. This Italian girl loves it but as you get older the hips not so much. Isn’t lemon spaghettis awesome?
So many good things, today! The pasta and sticky buns look amazing! Happy weekend!!
DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU BREATH IN YOUR STOMACH SHOULD GO OUT?
WHEN YOU RELEASE STOMACH SHOULD GO TOWARDS THE SPINE!
THERE IS YOUR FACT OF THE DAY!
Elizabeth, you are a font of knowledge. I did not know that! Have a wonderful weekend.
Wonderful shares EIizabeth, I always enjoy your Friday favorites! Best wishes for a lovely weekend. xx
Jeanne, I hope that you had a wonderful holiday. I so enjoyed your adventures and stunning photos. Thank you for coming to visit! Have a wonderful weekend.xx
Have a funtastic week-end!
Many lovely links.
Thank you May. Have a wonderful weekend.
So many good ones! Every time a see anything with berries, it makes me smile! I want some of the buns, but just started a diet. LOL! thank you for sharing such great favorites!
Thank you Melba! Save the recipe just in case you want to make them later. Have a wonderful week!