Friday Favorites~a weekly series where we share our favorite books, decor, fashion finds, recipes, podcasts, articles and more.
FRIDAY FAVORITES NO. 582
Hello friends, happy Friday to you. We made it to the weekend, what are your plans? Will you be doing anything fun? Now that my front garden beds are filling in I can see which perennials didn’t make it through the winter. So I have a few more flowers to add into the beds and I am going to plant a few seeds. It is a little late but what the heck, it doesn’t get cold here until late November. My first peony is about to bloom! It is amazing how much joy one flower can bring.
Aside from that not much else going on here. I guess if the inside doesn’t look nice right now at least I can make the outside look good. On that note, the structural engineer sent his report, and the permits have been applied for, so things are moving along.
Ok, let’s get to all of my favorites from this week.
FOOD
Today I am sharing two of my favorites, ranch dressing and pasta recipes.
Spaghetti with fra diavolo, a quick and easy homemade pasta sauce and one of my favorites!
Sheet pan Lasagna! Lasagna is one of my “go to” recipes when we have guests and now it is even easier to make.
Do you like ranch dressing? IF so you will love these crispy ranch sweet potatoes!
And this Hot Ranch Chicken and Bacon Sandwich, Grilled chicken with homemade ranch dressing, pepper jack, and Havarti cheese on ciabatta bread, sound delicious to me.
LINKS TO READ+WATCH+LISTEN
Can You Solve Albert Einstein’s Famous House Riddle?
The Impossible Dilemma of a Polar Guide.
Gen Z is the Old Soul generation
Books and looks: gen Z is ‘rediscovering’ the public library
If you are heading to London any time soon you will enjoy An Art Lovers Weekend in London
Victoria Beckham’s collaboration with Mango shows how far designer has come
Bit of a stretch? Louvre to host yoga classes during Paris Olympics
What Actually Happens When You Walk 10,000 Steps a Day
7 Ways to Simplify Your To Do List
Great tips for growing morning glories!
BOOKS
These are the books I currently have on order from Amazon or at the library or have recently read. What are you reading or waiting to be released?
The Reluctant Hotel Keeper
A rescue mission originally thought of as lasting for a year or two turned into a 35 year lifetime love affair with a beautiful old building.
There were to be battles royal with neighbours not wanting their status quo to be altered, and with the local fire authority who sought to impose draconian new safety measures.
John Searancke came to the role of hotelkeeper almost accidentally, and most definitely with much reluctance. After his parents’ marriage fell apart, he was dragooned in, at the age of 22, to pick up the pieces of their new venture, a barely-trading country house hotel that had, frankly, seen better days. Not only was it posting an annual loss, but the fabric of the building was crumbling and there was no money left to make improvements.
Over the years, and with the steepest of learning curves, the grand old building was renovated and transformed to meet the requirements of the modern discerning traveller. Accolades for the hotel and its restaurant were won; together they became a well-regarded destination for a number of celebrities – and those that deemed themselves to be celebrities but were not. Stories abound featuring idiosyncratic guests, overbearing public bodies, fractured family life and animals of all shapes and sizes. The local fire station next door was demolished one foggy night, people were frightened by flying dogs and snakes in the long grass, and there were, as befits a country house, strange goings on in the night. Many were the guests who checked in who really should not have been seen together.
When Charlie Hart first visited Peverels, a small farmhouse that sits lazily on the lip of a hill running down into the Peb Valley, he was at breaking point, grieving the loss of his father and anxious about the impending death of his mother. He and his wife Sybilla felt that their London life had been steadily growing in noise: the noise of grief, the noise of busyness, the noise that comes from the expectations of others and, for Charlie, the constant clamour of dissatisfaction at work.
At Peverels, Charlie found an expanse of untouched meadowland, the perfect setting for an audacious garden. Charlie felt an unquenchable urge to dig, to create something. The days he spent wrestling with the soil in the rose garden were the days in which he mourned the loss of his parents. Gardening has taught him that you can dig for victory, but you can also dig for mental health. As the garden formed around Charlie, he buried his fears and anxieties within it. A garden that is now known as Skymeadow and grows with a lusty, almost biblical vigour.
Island Summers: Memories of a Norwegian Childhood
In 1947 Tilly’s grandmother bought an island. Its name is Småhølmene and it sits just off the coast of Norway. At first sight, the island seems bare, hardly more than a collection of rocks rising determinedly out of the water. But Mor-mor, as she was known, could see that Småhølmene was more than that when she purchased it in exchange for a mink coat. She built a two-storeyed wooden cabin on the island, an enclave against the sea water that would dash against the outlying rocks, galloping up the lagoon to slap against the moored boats. This is where Mor-mor and her young family would come every summer, escaping their mollycoddled life in the English countryside to run wild, get burnt, forage for juniper berries, thieve for gull eggs and swim in the shining sea. Lean and chic, Mor-mor smoked voraciously and scandalised the local villagers by cycling to the shops in nothing but a healthy tan. She loved the island fiercely; in her otherwise turbulent life, its rugged outcrops, messy abundance and promise of absolute solitude were constants that lasted throughout the years. This is the inheritance that Tilly embraced many years later when her own mother brought her family to Småhølmene. And when the island was in danger of being sold, she was spurred to do something that no one else had done before – she decided to spend a winter there, alone with her boyfriend. Fending for themselves, they were utterly cut off from outside help. But, in the silence of the cold, they gradually discovered that even in the bleakest of times, the island could take on new life. Glittering and bittersweet, Island Summerslovingly portrays three generations of women and the island that became so irrevocably part of their lives. Now Mor-mor’s great-grandchildren are taking their turn, enjoying endless summers on Småhølmene, continuing the story that was begun over 50 years ago.
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
I know I say this all the time but I LOVE dresses, especially in Spring and Summer. You can “dress” them up or down, they are comfortable, stylish and look great. This white dress is understated, elegant and a versatile piece that you can wear out for the day or to dinner at night. Add your favorite necklace, sandals and a bag and you are ready for the day.
UNTIL TOMORROW
I hope you enjoyed the recipes, links and books I discovered this week on Friday Favorites. Thank you for spending part of your day with me, your time is valuable and I am grateful that you spend a little of each day with me. Have a wonderful weekend.
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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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