Welcome to Friday Favorites, a weekly series where I share interesting articles, books, fashion finds, recipes and more.
Good Friday favorites morning friends! How was your week? My aunt was visiting this week and I took a few days off for a staycation. We had a wonderful time visiting the botanical gardens, and surrounding small towns, we shopped and read and talked, and laughed and ate lots of good food. At the end of the day we fell into bed exhausted from the fun and ready to do the same the next day.
My mom arrives this coming week, I had the date wrong on the calendar. So now I have time to catch up on a few things and maybe bake her favorite sunshine cake.
What do you have planned for the weekend? A little time soaking up the spring sun? Or time in the garden? Whatever you do I hope that you find time to do something you enjoy.
Ok, on to Friday Favorites!
FRIDAY FAVORITES NO. 529
FOOD
It’s strawberry season so instead of making something sweet why not try this scrumptious, savory recipe for Strawberry Jalepeno Chicken Skillet.
You can’t go wrong with creamy sun dried tomato pasta.
Move over charcuterie boards and make way for charcuterie boxes.
If you love chips and salsa you are going to want to bookmark this easy salsa recipe.
Is there anything better than bread? Yes, homemade country bread fresh from the oven with lots of butter!
LINKS
Judy Bloom Forever Documentary
Big Flowered Big Leaf Hydrangea, why you need them in your garden
16 Life Choices You Shouldn’t Have to Justify to Anyone Else
The Internet Thinks We Don’t Know Its Secret. But I Do.
There are 6 core personalities – but which do you fit into?
TikTok is killing your brain, one short-form video at a time
How to Complete a Stunning Backyard Makeover, Even on a Budget
BOOKS
The After Party
Joan Fortier is the epitome of Texas glamour and the center of the 1950s Houston social scene. Tall, blonde, beautiful, and strong, she dominates the room and the gossip columns. Every man wants her; every woman wants to be her. Devoted to Joan since childhood, Cece Buchanan is either her chaperone or her partner in crime, depending on whom you ask. But when Joan’s radical behavior escalates the summer they are twenty-five, Cece considers it her responsibility to bring her back to the fold, ultimately forcing one provocative choice to appear the only one there is.
A thrilling glimpse into the sphere of the rich and beautiful at a memorable moment in history, The After Party unfurls a story of friendship as obsessive, euphoric, consuming, and complicated as any romance.
Every Day in Tuscany
Frances Mayes—widely published poet, gourmet cook, and travel writer—opens the door to a wondrous new world when she buys and restores an abandoned villa in the spectacular Tuscan countryside. In evocative language, she brings the reader along as she discovers the beauty and simplicity of life in Italy. Mayes also creates dozens of delicious seasonal recipes from her traditional kitchen and simple garden, all of which she includes in the book. Doing for Tuscany what M.F.K. Fisher and Peter Mayle did for Provence, Mayes writes about the tastes and pleasures of a foreign country with gusto and passion.
Aunt Poldi
“Break out the prosecco! There’s a new detective in town – and she’s 60, sexy, wise and utterly adorable. In the first book of what promises to be a smash series, Poldi moves from Munich to Sicily, intent on cheerfully drinking herself to death with a view of the sea. Instead her handyman goes missing, she finds his corpse, and what choice does she have but to solve the crime? To use her favorite saying: Namaste, Poldi!”—People (Book of the Week)
For fans of A Man Called Ove and the novels of Adriana Trigiani, a charming, delightfully sexy, and bighearted novel starring Auntie Poldi, Sicily’s newest amateur sleuth
An Auntie Poldi Adventure
On her sixtieth birthday, Auntie Poldi retires to Sicily, intending to while away the rest of her days with good wine, a view of the sea, and few visitors. But Sicily isn’t quite the tranquil island she thought it would be, and something always seems to get in the way of her relaxation. When her handsome young handyman goes missing—and is discovered murdered—she can’t help but ask questions.
Soon there’s an investigation, a smoldering police inspector, a romantic entanglement, one false lead after another, a rooftop showdown, and finally, of course, Poldi herself, slightly tousled but still perfectly poised.
Life in Five Senses
For more than a decade, Gretchen Rubin had been studying happiness and human nature. Then, one day, a visit to her eye doctor made her realize that she’d been overlooking a key element of happiness: her five senses. She’d spent so much time stuck in her head that she’d allowed the vital sensations of life to slip away, unnoticed. This epiphany lifted her from a state of foggy preoccupation into a world rediscovered by seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching.
In this journey of self-experimentation, Rubin explores the mysteries and joys of the five senses as a path to a happier, more mindful life. Drawing on cutting-edge science, philosophy, literature, and her own efforts to practice what she learns, she investigates the profound power of tuning in to the physical world.
Life in Five Senses is an absorbing, layered story of discovery filled with profound insights and practical suggestions about how to heighten our senses and use our powers of perception to live fuller, richer lives—and, ultimately, how to move through the world with more vitality and love.
NEED 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.
FINDS
DAILY OUTFIT
shirt//white pants//sweater//shoes//bag//book
UNTIL TOMORROW
I hope you enjoyed Friday Favorites and found something to make, bake, read and enjoy. Have a wonderful day!
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.
Don’t forget to visit tomorrow for Weekend Meanderings with Kim and Juliet.
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I love the charcuterie boxes! What a clever idea. The cake looks great too. And we should put ourselves first. Just like they tell you when flying with a child.
Brenda
Brenda, I thought the charcuterie boxes were so cute. The cake is scrumptious! I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Enjoy the visit with your mother.
Thank you William, have a lovely weekend.