Friday Favorites~a weekly series where we share our favorite books, decor, fashion finds, recipes, podcasts, articles and more.
FRIDAY FAVORITES NO.574
Good morning friends and a happy Friday to you. Its March, and the last day of winter is just a couple of weeks away. The yellow harbingers of spring are swaying in the wind and budding on the trees. All and all this winter was very mild, sadly no snow but we did have a stretch of cold winter days. Now we seem to be in the gray rainy season, soon to follow after is green pollen season and then Spring.
How was your week? Any plans for the weekend? We have friends in town this weekend and I could not be more excited. There will be lots of laughs, food, spirits and time spent exploring the village and beyond.
This week I am sharing some books to get your mood off of the weird weather, a few easy recipes and lots more so let’s get to it.
FOOD
Bake Tortellini with Sausage, an easy and delicious meal for weeknights and weekends.
It doesn’t get much better than a 30 minute meal. I cannot wait to try this Thai Basil Beef Noodles.
Roasted Cauliflower, Sweet Potato, Chickpea Bowl, spiced roasted cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and chickpeas are combined with greens, quinoa, cucumber, avocado, pickled red onions, and tahini dressing to make a delicious and healthy bowl!
An easy, classic Ina Garten banana cake is the perfect sweet treat for the weekend.
LINKS TO READ+WATCH+LISTEN
Jeremiah Brent Meditates on the Meaning of Home
This is the Best Exercise for Living Longer
Loeffler Randall’s Founder Keeps a Fully Stocked Candlestick Rack in Her New Kitchen
We Asked 3 Chefs to Name the Best Boxed Cake Mix and They All Said the Same One
How To Focus On Self Compassion
The writers from This is Glamerous have created a new website, Hyperreality.
Chintz Home Decor: Your Complete Guide to Timeless Charm
What are the spoon and fork theories?
BOOKS~ ON MY LIST AND MY Kindle
Nothing could be more out of character, but after fifty-nine years of marriage, as her husband Bernard’s health declines, and her friends’ lives become focused on their grandchildren—which Jenny never had—Jenny decides she wants a little something for herself. So she secretly applies to be a contestant on the prime-time TV show Britain Bakes.
Whisked into an unfamiliar world of cameras and timed challenges, Jenny delights in a new-found independence. But that independence, and the stress of the competition, starts to unearth memories buried decades ago. Chocolate teacakes remind her of a furtive errand involving a wedding ring; sugared doughnuts call up a stranger’s kind act; a simple cottage loaf brings back the moment her life changed forever.
With her baking star rising, Jenny struggles to keep a lid on that first secret—a long-concealed deceit that threatens to shatter the very foundations of her marriage. It’s the only time in six decades that she’s kept something from Bernard. By putting herself in the limelight, has Jenny created a recipe for disaster?
Agatha Arch’s life shatters when she discovers her husband in their backyard shed, in flagrante delicto, giving the local dog walker some heavy petting. Suddenly, Agatha finds herself face to face with everything that frightens her…and that’s a loooooong list.
Agatha keeps those she loves close. Everyone else, she keeps as far away as possible. So she’s a mystery to nearly everyone in her New England town. To her husband, she’s a saucy, no-B.S. writer. To her Facebook Moms group, she’s a provocateur. To her neighbor, she’s a standoffish pain in the butt. To her sons, she’s chocolate pudding with marshmallows. And to her shrink, she’s a bundle of nerves on the brink of a cataclysmic implosion.
Defying her abundant assortment of anxieties, Agatha dons her “spy pants”–a pair of khakis whose many pockets she crams with binoculars, fishing line, scissors, flashlight, a Leatherman Super Tool 300 EOD, candy, and other espionage essentials–and sets out to spy on her husband and the dog walker. Along the way, she finds another intriguing target to follow: a mysterious young woman who’s panhandling on the busiest street in town.
It’s all a bit much for timorous Agatha. But with the help of her Bear Grylls bobblehead, a trio of goats, and a dog named Balderdash, Agatha may just find the courage to build a better life.
Eve expected Sally to come festooned with suitcases and overnight bags packed with everything she owned, but she was wrong. She arrived on foot, with a rucksack and a carrier bag. “I just walked away,” she said, climbing on to the boat. Eve knew what she meant.
Meet Eve, who has left her thirty-year career to become a Free Spirit; Sally, who has waved goodbye to her indifferent husband and two grown-up children; and Anastasia, a defiantly independent narrowboat-dweller, who is suddenly landlocked and vulnerable.
Before they quite know what they’ve done, Sally and Eve agree to drive Anastasia’s narrowboat on a journey through the canals of England, as she awaits a life-saving operation. As they glide gently – and not so gently – through the countryside, the eccentricities and challenges of narrowboat life draw them inexorably together, and a tender and unforgettable story unfolds. At summer’s end, all three women must decide whether to return to the lives they left behind, or forge a new path forward.
Candid, hilarious, and uplifting, Anne Youngson’s The Narrowboat Summer is a celebration of the power of friendship and new experiences to change one’s life, at any age.
MORE BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
If you have already read these books or missed something I have featured before on the blog check out My Bookshop on Amazon.
SHOPPING
OUTFIT OF THE DAY
Strips shirts look great with slacks, jeans, shorts and skirts. These versatile, classic pieces can be worn season to season and year after year.
Spring Finds
UNTIL TOMORROW
I hope you enjoyed the recipes, links and books I discovered this week on Friday Favorites.
What is your favorite book that you read this month?
Tell me about your favorite podcast?
Last but not least, share a favorite recipe that we should make.
Follow along with us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
Don’t forget that Kim, Juliet and I will be back tomorrow on Weekend Meanderings!
If you have missed a Friday Favorites post you can find them all here.
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Best book for February was The Mystery Guest. Making quiche last week with a forgotten recipe was quite delicious. And I don’t listen to podcasts but I do read the transcripts of the Lazy Genius once a month to gleam any ways to be more efficient in my day to day. Happy Friday!
Quite is always a great idea! I listen to the Lazy Genius too! I admit that I do sometimes just read the notes as well, especially if I am pressed for time and like the podcast episode. I personally love th history podcasts.
The Mystery Guest is a great book!
HAve a wonderful weekend!
Hello Elizabeth, what a wonderful post to read this lazy Saturday morning (in Australia). Thank you for the recipes, I’ve bookmarked them all. And the article on the chintz rooms is lovely, no chintz for me, however, I can appreciate the beauty of the rooms, same for the kitchen with the candles on display. Enjoy your weekend.