Friday Favorites No. 617 from How Sweet Eats, I am Baker, Two of a Kind and more.

Friday Favorites~a weekly series where we share our favorite books, decor, fashion finds, recipes, podcasts, articles and more.

FRIDAY FAVORITES NO. 617

Good morning friends, how has your week been? I am easing into 2025. With the holidays on Wednesday I feel as if I have been on vacation for weeks. The weather has been cold and dreary many of the days so I am holed up in the house living my best cosy life.

This morning it is 32, and the rest of the week will be even colder overnight. I have my fingers crossed for snow but I am not sure that will happen. In the meantime you will find me snuggled up inside with a book and some hot chocolate or tea.

I just finished Ina’s memoir and really enjoyed it and yesterday in the mail I received a stack of magazines. To be honest I prefer the English shelter magazines and get those on my Kindle, it’s not the same as a paper magazine but at least I can read them.

The renovation is at another standstill, we are waiting for the stone to be installed and that will not be until the 9th. After than hopefully there will be a rush of activity.

Tell me about your year so far. What have you been up to? Did you take down your Christmas tree?

Ok, let’s get to Friday Favorites, I have lots to share as always.

FOOD

A little bit of everything this week, comforting cosy meals, a bright veggie meal to get you back on track one of course something sweet.

If you are like me and celebrated the holidays a little too much with rich and tasty food the ultimate veggie sandwich will get your gut and you back on track.

If you want to make a hearty, comforting meal that looks like you cooked all day try this oven polenta with mushrooms and thyme. Once you prep and put it in the oven it is pretty much hands off cooking until you plate it.

This cider braised pot roast is perfect for cold winter days. Serve with mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower for a cosy, comforting meal.

Cherries seem to be all the rage right now, why not make some cherry scones for the weekend.

Cold snowy days means lots of time outside playing in the snow. Treat your family to a hot chocolate tray with all the fixings when them come in out of the cold.

LINKS TO READ+WATCH+LISTEN

Versailles: Science and Splendour

Can You Tell Me How to Get Someone to Save ‘Sesame Street’?

Four Humanitarian Crises That Demand More Attention in 2025

Welcome to Kidulthood Why adults are suddenly into stuffed animals

What will happen in 2025? Predictions and events

A Diet Writer’s Regrets No one has ever known so much about healthy eating and been less successful at following her own advice.

Why Can’t You Just Deal With It?

Does life feel like it’s speeding up? How to slow down time in 2025

3 philosophy classics that are better than self-help books

9 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Choosing a New Gym, According to a Personal Trainer

Banana bends and a well-timed coffee: 31 easy ways to jump-start your energy levels in the new year

BOOKS

A Quiet Life

Set in a close-knit suburb in the grip of winter, A Quiet Life follows three people grappling with loss and finding a tender wisdom in their grief.

Chuck Ayers used to look forward to nothing so much as his annual trip to Hilton Head with his wife, Cat—that yearly taste of relaxation they’d become accustomed to after a lifetime of working and raising two children. Now, just months after Cat’s death, Chuck finds that he can’t let go of her belongings—her favorite towel, the sketchbooks in her desk drawer—as he struggles to pack for a trip he can’t imagine taking without her.

Ella Burke delivers morning newspapers and works at a bridal shop to fill her days while she anxiously awaits news—any piece of information—about her missing daughter. Ella adjusts to life in a new apartment and answers every call on her phone, hoping her daughter will reach out.

After the sudden death of her father, Kirsten Bonato set aside her veterinary school aspirations, finding comfort in the steady routine of working at an animal shelter. But as time passes, old dreams and new romantic interests begin to surface—and Kirsten finds herself at another crossroads.

In this beautiful and profoundly moving novel, three parallel narratives converge in poignant and unexpected ways, as each character bravely presses onward, trying to recover something they have lost. Emotionally riveting and infused with hope, “the soothing tone and warm worldview of this grown-up bedtime story will be good for what ails you” (Kirkus Reviews).

There’s Somethings About Mira

Mira Salvi has the perfect life—a job she loves, a fiancé everyone adores, and the secure future she’s always imagined for herself. Really, she hasn’t a thing to complain about, not even when she has to go on her engagement trip to New York alone.

While playing tourist in the city, Mira chances upon a lost ring, and her social media post to locate its owner goes viral. With everyone trying to claim the ring, only one person seems to want to find its owner as badly as Mira does: journalist Krish Hale. Brooding and arrogant, he will do anything to get to write this story.

As Krish and Mira reluctantly join forces and jump into the adventure of tracing the ring back to where it belongs, Mira begins to wonder if she is in the right place in her own life. She had to have found this ring for a reason…right? Maybe, like the owner of the lost ring, her happy ending hasn’t been written yet either.

Some Other Time

The next step in Ellie Baker’s marriage: divorce. She and her husband, Jonah, are heading to Florida to break it to the family. No great drama to share. After twenty years of marriage, they’ve just fallen out of love. Simple.

Not to their college-age daughter, Maggie, who is devastated. Or to Ellie’s father, Frank, who grows as cold as a retiree can get in Orlando. As for Ellie’s mother, Bunny: no, no, no. She doesn’t want to hear it. After a dreadful weekend, Ellie and Jonah return home to New Jersey with hearts and minds still set on a split. Until the extraordinary morning Ellie wakes up to an alternate version of the present day—one in which she, and a passing stranger named Jonah, never married.

Over the span of an inexplicable week, Ellie sees how her world—and the world of everyone she loves—unfolded through a different course in time. And this time could change everything all over again.

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

I haven’t been shopping since before Christmas but I have been perusing my favorite shops to see the new season looks. Here are a few of my favorite pieces.

This embroidered sweatshirt will add a pop of color to winter days.

Although spring is still a few months away this collar-less jacket can be worn from now until then on inclement weather days.

Looking for a trench with a little personality and plaid?

Add a little heart to your outfit. not only on Valentine’s Day but every day! I think the pop of red is pretty.

UNTIL Next Time

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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