Friday Favorites No. 520 from Seasons & Suppers, Sheri Silver, The View from Great Island and More

Welcome to Friday Favorites, a weekly series where I share interesting articles, books, fashion finds, recipes and more.

Good morning friends, happy Friday Favorites No. 520.

How was your week, are you ready for a nice long weekend? It’s been a busy week and I am ready to catch up with all of the things that fall by the wayside when you have appointments and meetings.

The weather has been so strange, one day it’s 79 then 50 and 28 overnight. My plants and trees don’t know what to do. Our landscape architect was here yesterday to go over the next phase of the yard as well as check on the existing plants. Like many people, our landscape suffered from multiple days in the teens this winter. We have to do a hard prune, fertilize and then wait to see what happens.

My planters are looking scruffy and bare and I am itching to fill them with something but so far I’ve not come up with a combination I love. Not to mention the garden centers are still a little bare. Have you started planning your garden yet?

Aside from that I am looking at paint colors for the front door and hardware, as well as fabric for 3 pieces that are being reupholstered in the living room. Then stone and wallpaper for the powder bath. Slowly but surely things are taking shape.

I have lots to share today so let’s’ get too it!

FRIDAY FAVORITES NO. 520

Food

Lemon Alfredo Pappardelle pasta, rich, creamy and full of delicious flavors – and can be on the table in only 20 minutes!

Tired of the same old chicken recipes? Try this delicious chicken polenta bake. 

Do you like Thai food? Me too! Sue has a lot of great Thai recipes that you can make at home including this Thai Chicken Salad. 

If you love oranges you will love this orange poppyseed bundt cake. 

It’s cocktail time, this lemocello spritz looks refreshing.

Links

I didn’t Talk About Myself for 24 Hours~interesting.

Do You Know How to Behave? Are You Sure? How to text, tip, ghost, host, and generally exist in polite society today.

A Guide to Yellowstone’s Spinoff Shows

Tips for Staying Sane When Life Feels Out of Control

29 Desserts That Satisfy Cravings—Minus the Sugar Crash

27 Eye-Opening and Invaluable Tips From Top Chefs

Spaghetti for Breakfast

How we choose to snack is tied to how we live our lives — or how we want to

All-Female Pilot Team Made Historic Flyover at the Super Bowl

How a shipping error 100 years ago launched the $30 billion chicken industry

If you want to help the people the victims of the earthquake in Syria and Turkey, here is a list of places to donate. 

Books

The Violin Conspiracy

Growing up Black in rural North Carolina, Ray McMillian’s life is already mapped out. But Ray has a gift and a dream—he’s determined to become a world-class professional violinist, and nothing will stand in his way. Not his mother, who wants him to stop making such a racket; not the fact that he can’t afford a violin suitable to his talents; not even the racism inherent in the world of classical music. 
 
When he discovers that his beat-up, family fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, all his dreams suddenly seem within reach, and together, Ray and his violin take the world by storm. But on the eve of the renowned and cutthroat Tchaikovsky Competition—the Olympics of classical music—the violin is stolen, a ransom note for five million dollars left in its place. Without it, Ray feels like he’s lost a piece of himself. As the competition approaches, Ray must not only reclaim his precious violin, but prove to himself—and the world—that no matter the outcome, there has always been a truly great musician within him.

 Speaking of violins, have you watched The Red Violin? It is from 1998 but it is one of my favorite movies.

I am so excited to read this book, I love the MET and all of it’s treasures.

All the Beauty in the World

Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. But only a select few have unrestricted access to every nook and cranny. They’re the guards who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits, keeping a watchful eye on the two million square foot treasure house. Caught up in his glamorous fledgling career at The New Yorker, Patrick Bringley never thought he’d be one of them. Then his older brother was diagnosed with fatal cancer and he found himself needing to escape the mundane clamor of daily life. So he quit The New Yorker and sought solace in the most beautiful place he knew.

To his surprise and the reader’s delight, this temporary refuge becomes Bringley’s home away from home for a decade. We follow him as he guards delicate treasures from Egypt to Rome, strolls the labyrinths beneath the galleries, wears out nine pairs of company shoes, and marvels at the beautiful works in his care. Bringley enters the museum as a ghost, silent and almost invisible, but soon finds his voice and his tribe: the artworks and their creators and the lively subculture of museum guards—a gorgeous mosaic of artists, musicians, blue-collar stalwarts, immigrants, cutups, and dreamers. As his bonds with his colleagues and the art grow, he comes to understand how fortunate he is to be walled off in this little world, and how much it resembles the best aspects of the larger world to which he gradually, gratefully returns.

A Dress of Toilet Taffeta

Lucy Duff Gordon knows she is talented. She sees color, light, and texture in ways few people can begin to imagine. But is the male dominated world of haute couture, who would use her art for their own gain, ready for her?

When she is deserted by her wealthy husband, Lucy is left penniless with an aging mother and her five-year-old daughter to support. Desperate to survive, Lucy turns to her one true talent to make a living. As a little girl, the dresses she made for her dolls were the envy of her group of playmates. Now, she uses her creative designs and her remarkable eye for color to take her place in the fashion world—failure is not an option.

Then, on a frigid night in 1912, Lucy’s life changes once more, when she becomes one of 706 people to survive the sinking of the Titanic. She could never have imagined the effects the disaster would have on her fashion label Lucile, her marriage to her second husband, and her legacy. But no matter what life throws at her, Lucy will live on as a trailblazing and innovative fashion icon, never letting go of what she worked so hard to earn. This is her story.

Just in Case

If you did not find one of these books to your liking or have already read them you can find all of the books recommended on the blog in My Book Shop on Amazon.

Finds

Outfit of the Day

dress//sweater//ballet flats shoes//sunglasses//perfume//nail polish//bag

There are lots of sales this weekend for Presidents day, this weekend.

Boden

J Crew

H&M

Talbots

UNTIL TOMORROW

Have a great day friends, I hope you found something to read, make or enjoy on Friday Favorites No. 520. If you make one of the featured recipes come back and let us know how you liked it.

Thank you for spending part of your day with me, I always appreciate it. If you have missed a Friday Favorites post you can find them all here. 

I hope to see you back here tomorrow for Weekend Meanderings with Kim and Juliet.

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