Welcome to Friday Favorites, a weekly series where I share interesting articles, books, fashion finds, recipes and more.
Good Friday Favorites morning to you friends. How was your week? I have been glued to the tv and the livestream on my computer watching the events of Queen Elizabeth II funeral. All I can say is wow, I have never seen anything like it and probably never will again in my lifetime. Mourners from across the UK and around the world are waiting in a line that is over 6 miles long and has a 14 hour wait to pay their last respects. An amazing testament to their love, esteem and regard for The Queen.
So far the only thing on my weekend calendar is a trip to the farmers market and dinner with friends. What are your plans?
Ok, let’skip to the good stuff. Grab your coffee, tea, cocoa or wine and settle in for Friday Favorites!
FRIDAY FAVORITES NO. 498
Food
I love salads, admiditly I don’t like to make them because I hate to wash and cut all the ingredients, especially the lettuce. Wedge salads make the task a whole lot easier.

Image Damn Delicious
Loaded with thyme mushrooms and toasted breadcrumbs, brown butter mushroom pasta.
Pasta alla Gracia, made solely with pasta, bacon and cheese. Yes please, this looks easy and delicious.
Rosemary and caramelized onion focaccia, not a pizza but close to it.
In case you missed it, I shared 10 soups that you are going to love and make all Fall and winter long.
Interesting Articles
What America Got Wrong About the Queen, very interesting.
A Look at Queen Elizabeth II’s Royally Fascinating Life in Pictures
Age and Attitude: How You Think About Aging Impacts How You Age
What Living in Italy Has Taught Me About Food
Embroidered “Cakes” Look Just as Moist and Sweet as the Real Thing
Bridgerton fans, here are 14 Movies and Shows Starring Your Favorite Bridgerton Actors.
The Best Small Towns to Visit This Halloween for Haunted Houses, Food Fairs, and More
Heating Your Expensive Apartment is About to Get More Expensive
How To Take A Bath To Cure Everything, From Depression To Eczema
Patina Farm lovers you will be happy to know, all of the animals are moving too!
Books
Novel Advice
Why do we love literature? There are many reasons, of course, but one of them has to be that we find the characters relatable. Even while fictional, their problems and predicaments feel real, speaking to human nature and reality even when wrapped in fantastical or romantic packaging.
When a real-world person has a problem, they turn to their friends, family, therapists—and advice columnists. In Novel Advice, our favorite characters from classic literature do just that, writing in to Aunt Antigone, the “agony aunt for the fictional” who dishes out practical advice, along with a fair dose of snark.
By turns amusing, touching, and enlightening, see what Aunt Antigone has to say about:
-Relationships, with advice for Ophelia and Ishmael about their dating woes
-Careers and Work, when Dr. Jekyll searches for the perfect work/life balance
-Mental Health, when Scarlett O’Hara wants tips about the best way to handle stress
-Finances, in response to Mrs. Bennet’s request for tips to manage her money woes
-Community and Society, as when Hester Prynne writes in for help with her judgy neighbors.
Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf.
Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now enter an unfamiliar court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble?
As Lucrezia sits in constricting finery for a painting intended to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court’s eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up the future of the Ferranese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, the new duchess’s future hangs entirely in the balance.
The Artist & the Garden
This extraordinarily beautiful book gathers together and examines for the first time a delightful collection of English gardens rendered by artists from 1540 to the early nineteenth century, many of which are unknown. Sir Roy Strong, widely recognized for his expertise in both art history and garden history, surveys garden pictures ranging from Elizabethan miniatures to eighteenth-century alfresco conversation pieces, from suites of paintings of a single garden to amateur watercolors. He inquires into the origin of the English garden picture genre, its development prior to the invention of photography, its greatest exponents, its reliability as historical evidence of actual gardens, and its place within the larger European tradition of picturing the garden.
In case you missed a few book recommendations in past Friday Favorites posts, you can find them here.
If you are looking for additional books, movies, or streaming shows check out my friend Katies’ post!
Finds
A few Fall finds for your house.
Are you looking for a wreath for your front door? Look no further, this Wreath has all the colors of Fall, mini pumpkins, berries and leaves.
This Water color pumpkin pillow could be used inside or out.
I bought this door mat last year and I love it, it is still available.
Are you one of those people that matches their morning mug to their mood, or that has a “favorite” mug that make your beverage taste perfect? I am and this cute Pumpkin mug is in my cart to use this fall.
UNTIL TOMORROW
I hope that you enjoyed Friday Favorites no. 498 and that you found something enjoyable to read or to make. I cannot wait to make the
Have a wonderful weekend friends and don’t forget to stop by tomorrow for ”weekend meanderings” with Kim and Juliet! We will have lots to share from coast to coast.
This post contains affiliate links, if you make a purchase I will earn a commission at no cost to you.

You always amaze me with your potpourri of information on Fridays! Love it
A seasonal wreath for my front door is on my wish list. I love the Walmart one you linked. Hopefully I’ll be in the US in February so I can pick up something unique then.
I’d like to have that salad you showed along with the spaghetti. That would be a great meal and wish I could make it myself. One day soon I hope!
Brenda
She touched a lot of lives.
I’m making that pasta dish, it looks delicious. Pinned
I cannot wait to make it. let me know what you think!