Friday Favorites No. 668 from Kathleen Ashmore, How Sweet Eats, Half Baked Harvest and more.

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

Friday Favorites No. 668

Good morning friends! I hope that the first week of the new year has been good. Did you ease back into your routine or hit the ground running?

We hit the ground running with appointments, home projects and work. Now I’m ready for the weekend. So far the only plans are attending my nephews Eagle Scout award ceremony and after party. Today I am spending the day with my mom who is here for the ceremony.

I am curious, do you organize and purge after the holidays? While I cull Christmas decor and organize it I don’t do a whole house clean. Honestly, after the run up to Christmas I am weary, not to mention that we have a whole winter to putter and organize.

Kim, Juliet and I will be back tomorrow for Weekend Meanderings! Ok, let’s get to the good stuff.

FOOD

Bowl meals are some of my favorites, soups, salads, rice bowls and even dessert. Here are a few of my favorites from this week.

Crispy rice tuna bowl with cucumbers, lots of sriracha and toasted sesame seeds. My husband loves this and makes it or a version of this often.

Asian Chicken Salad with Orange-Sesame Vinaigrette fast, fresh and delicious.

Move over grilled chicken, make way for Peruvian inspired roasted chicken with a rice and a spicy green sauce. 

I still have bags of cranberries in my fridge, do you? If so why not try this cranberry apple bread with streusel topping.

LINKS TO READ+WATCH+LISTEN

5 women’s health myths, debunked by doctors

New food pyramid puts meat, cheese and vegetables at the top

12 Famous Quotes Everyone Misattributes

The Viral “5-Finger Breathing” Technique Will Calm You In An Instant

Why do people eat spicy food? Even when it hurst to eat it?

The Menu Items That Keep Getting More Expensive — and the Surprising One That Isn’t

The insiders changing how we think about flying

The Salt Path and 2025’s most scandalous books

Gen Z’s war against leggings

Reference Books Are Carved and Cut Into Sculptures That Transform Knowledge Into Art

BOOKS

Notwithstanding

As the world around it marches forward, the bucolic English village of Notwithstanding remains unchanged. It is, as it always has been, a place of pubs and cricket pitches, where local eccentrics—a retired colonel who has eschewed clothes, a spiritualist living with the ghost of her husband, and a dog named Archibald Scott-Moncrieff—almost fit in. In this delightfully evocative collection of stories, in which a young couple falls in and out of love by letter alone, an eleven-year-old boy battles a monstrous fish, and a man of the cloth has a premonition of death, Louis de Bernières conjures up a rural idyll long since forgotten. Funny, bittersweet, and deeply felt, Notwithstanding is the bestselling author of Corelli’s Mandolin at his most enchanting.

When the Sky Fell Apart

Jersey, June 1940. It starts with the burning man on the beach just after the bombs land, obliterating the last shred of hope that Hitler will avert his attention from the Channel Islands. Within weeks, twelve thousand German troops land on the Jersey beaches, heralding a new era of occupation.

For ten-year-old Claudine, it means a re-education under German rule, and as she befriends one of the soldiers, she inadvertently opens the gateway to a more sinister influence in her home with devastating consequences.

For Maurice, a local fisherman, it means protecting his sick wife at all costs—even if it endangers his own life.

Edith, the island’s unofficial homeopath, is an islander through to her bones. But even she can’t save everyone, no matter how hard she tries.

And as for English doctor Tim Carter—on the arrival of the brutal German Commandant, he becomes the subject of a terrifying regime that causes the locals to brand him a traitor, unaware of the torment he suffers in an effort to save them.

When the Sky Fell Apart is a heartbreaking chorus of the resilience of the human spirit. It introduces an exciting new voice in literary fiction.

Theo of Golden

One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…

His name is Theo. And he asks a lot more questions than he answers.

Theo visits the local coffeehouse, where ninety-two pencil portraits hang on the walls, portraits of the people of Golden done by a local artist. He begins purchasing them, one at a time, and putting them back in the hands of their “rightful owners.” With each exchange, a story is told, a friendship born, and a life altered.

A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is a beautifully crafted novel about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the invisible threads of kindness that bind us to one another.

Looking for more books?

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

Just because the holidays are over it doesn’t mean that you have to put away your plaid. This week I paired one of my favorite plaid skirts with a warm cosy sweater and boots. This outfit can be worn to work, out for the day, to church or to dinner. It is cosy, comfy, warm and stylish. Most of these pieces are on sale, in the after Christmas sales which are still going strong.

The bracelet and the bag would make great Valentine’s Day gifts!

Click the images to see the outfit separates

UNTIL TOMORROW

I hope you enjoyed the recipes, links and books I discovered this week on Friday Favorites. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for Weekend Meanderings with Kim and Juliet!

I hope that you have a wonderful day, thank you for spending part of it with me.

Before you go, tell me what was the best things that you read, watched or did this week?

Don’t forget to follow us on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. And last but not least, if you like Pinecones & Acorns share it with a friend!

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One My Radar~Valentine’s Day