Friday Favorites No. 542~a weekly series where I share interesting articles, books, fashion finds, recipes and more.
Good Friday Favorites morning friends!
How was your week? It was another hot one here, the last two days I didn’t want to leave the house. The good news is that this weekend it is going to cool off to 83 and that will be a relief for a few days. Is it hot by you? What are you doing to stay cool?
It’s a big weekend at the movies. Do you have plans to see Oppenheimer or Barbie this weekend?
I have lots to share this week on Friday Favorites so let’s get to it!
Food
Chicken satay bowls with peanut sauce one of my favorites to order out, now I can make it at home.
Creamy Orecchiette with Corn and Basil is a great way to use your garden basil and corn!
Melon and prosciutto salad is a colorful addition to your summer table.
Add this scrumptious peach, blackberry and fig cake to your list to make once the heat cools down.
Do you like Starbucks Mocha Macchiato but not the price? Check out Wendys’ recipe to make it at home!
Links
The Remarkable Story Behind the Rediscovery of Princess Diana’s Black-Sheep Sweater
If you like cheesecake and don’t like to bake try this recipe.
The Instant Pot and the Miracle Kitchen Devices of Yesteryear
The Orca Uprising: Whales Are Ramming Boats—but Are They Inspired by Revenge, Grief or Memory?
Here’s what famous landmarks look like as Barbie Dreamhouses, according to AI
Barbie Dream Houses You Can Sleep In
If you have always wanted to take a cruise to Alaska read this post.
On the Go in an Airstream: Outdoor Living with Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks
Books
Books are a part of my life all year but there is just something about summer that makes reading a little more special. Maybe it is the memories of walking to the library as a child and returning with a stack I could barely cary home. Anyone else remember the summer reading challenge from your lock library?
Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter
Western Australia, 1886. After months at sea, a slow boat makes its passage from London to the shores of Bannin Bay. From the deck, young Eliza Brightwell and her family eye their strange, new home. Here is an unforgiving land where fortune sits patiently at the bottom of the ocean, waiting to be claimed by those brave enough to venture into its depths. An ocean where pearl shells bloom to the size of soup plates, where men are coaxed into unthinkable places and unspeakable acts by the promise of unimaginable riches.
Then years later, the pearl-diving boat captained by Eliza’s eccentric father returns after months at sea—without Eliza’s father on it. Whispers from townsfolk point to mutiny or murder. Headstrong Eliza knows it’s up to her to discover who, or what, is really responsible.
As she searches for the truth, Eliza discovers that beneath the glamourous veneer of the pearling industry, lies a dark underbelly of sweltering, stinking decay. The sun-scorched streets of Bannin Bay, a place she once thought she knew so well, are teeming with corruption, prejudice, and blackmail. Just how far is Eliza willing to push herself in order to solve the mystery of her missing father? And what family secrets will come to haunt her along the way?
A murder and a case of mistaken identity brings the police to Hannah Elias’ glitzy, five-story, twenty-room mansion on Central Park West. This is the beginning of an odyssey that moves back and forth in time and reveals the dangerous secrets of a mysterious woman, the fortune she built, and her precipitous fall.
Born in Philadelphia in the late 1800s, Hannah Elias has done things she’s not proud of to survive. Shedding her past, Hannah slips on a new identity before relocating to New York City to become as rich as a robber baron. Hannah quietly invests in the stock market, growing her fortune with the help of businessmen. As the money pours in, Hannah hides her millions across 29 banks. Finally attaining the life she’s always dreamed, she buys a mansion on the Upper West Side and decorates it in gold and first-rate décor, inspired by her idol Cleopatra.
The unsolved murder turns Hannah’s world upside-down and threatens to destroy everything she’s built. When the truth of her identity is uncovered, thousands of protestors gather in front of her stately home. Hounded by the salacious press, the very private Mrs. Elias finds herself alone, ensnared in a scandalous trial, and accused of stealing her fortune from whites.
Packed with glamour, suspense, and drama, populated with real-life luminaries from the period, The Great Mrs. Elias brings a fascinating woman and the age she embodied to glorious, tragic life.
Is there ever a perfect time for love?
When Mimi Huish first visits her dad’s new home in the Cotswolds, she falls in love with Goosebrook and the people who live there. There’s Paddy, with his electric-blue eyes and seductive charm. Friendly and funny Lois makes Mimi laugh. And gorgeous Cal Mathieson is welcoming and charismatic. Though Mimi loves her city life and her career, she’d be very happy to return to the Cotswolds if it meant seeing more of him.
Life is about to take some shocking twists and turns. And Mimi’s path and Cal’s are set to cross again and again—but will it ever be the right time for both of them?
Summer, 1947. Kate Herrick, a war widow, returns to her childhood home for a final visit before the house is sold. But Rose Cottage is not the idyllic paradise she remembers from her youth and someone has been there before her. As Kate uncovers an old secret that haunts the home she thought she knew, she is forced to confront a dark truth from her own past….
Beyond the weedy garden with its riot of rose bushes, nothing had changed. And someone was crossing the bridge to approach the garden gate. Someone I knew well….
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 & SALES
Love this blue dress! The good news is that it is on sale! This dress is too!
Gingham is always in style, the mugs and the rest of the collection are on sale.
Isn’t this blue and white swim suit pretty?
If you use Olaplex shampoo, it is on sale at Nordstrom.
Need a new coat for winter? I like this Ralph Lauren with a crest, it is classic.
Have you shopped the Nordstrom sale? What did you purchase? Is there anything you liked or wanted that sold out?
UNTIL TOMORROW
I hope you enjoyed the recipes, links and books I discovered this week on Friday Favorites No. 542. If you have missed a Friday Favorites post you can find them all here.
I’ll see you tomorrow for Weekend Meanderings with Kim and Juliet.
This post contains affiliate links, if you make a purchase I will earn a small commission at no cost to you.
Interesting about the orcas. I’d be terrified if I saw one ramming a boat I was on! I like the quote about Fridays. Quite apt.
Brenda
Brenda, I agree about the orcas! We watched them from land and on a boat while visiting the San Yuan islands and they are “cute” but scary. Can you even imagine 3 hours of a pod racing your boat? I would never go in the water again.
Have a wonderful weekend, stay cool
I’m counting the days until the end of summer.