Friday Favorites~a weekly series where we share our favorite books, decor, fashion finds, recipes, podcasts, articles and more.
Friday Favorites No. 669
Good morning friends, how was your week? Mine was great but I am happy it is Fri-yay. Friday is my favorite day of the week, it’s the end of work and the gateway to relaxation, rest and a sprinkle of fun.
For my weekly weather report I can tell you that winter is back…for now. It’s been in the 20-30s in the morning and this week the high is only going to be 50. This makes me positively gleeful. No snow on the horizon but I will keep you posted.
Aside from that I am still finding my footing for the new year, what about you?
Don’t forget Kim, Juliet and I will be here tomorrow for Weekend Meanderings sharing lots of fun things. Ok, let’s get to the good stuff.
FOOD
This week I was clearly hungry and in need of a little comfort food, but there is a salad featured as well.
Pizza twists are my two favorite things rolled into one, yeast rolls and pizza! These scrumptious treats are perfect for the weekend and the Super Bowl too!
Looking for a new winter salad? Try this shaved Brussel sprout salad with kale, candies walnuts, avocado and a delicious dressing.
Chicken soup is a winter staple, so why not add this chicken pasta soup to your repertoire?
Why not treat yourself to a double chocolate muffin?
LINKS TO READ+WATCH+LISTEN
British Design Meets Northern California Style in This Mill Valley Home
These Four U.S. Cities Were Voted Among the Most Inauthentic in the World
Some Gifted Dogs Can Learn New Toy Names by Eavesdropping on Owners
A Hidden Blob of Water Has Abruptly Reappeared in the Atlantic
Cold Plunging for Women: Why Colder isn’t Always Better
Saks’ Downfall Is a Make-or-Break Moment for Macy’s
Charleston’s new design district takes shape
The latest Friends & Fiction interview with Jane Ann Krentz.
Aimed at the growing number of young Chinese who live alone, a new app asks: ‘Are you dead?’
BOOKS
Saltwater & Silence
Sissy, 89, swims every morning in the cold Cornish sea, her days steeped in ritual and silence. But beneath her calm surface lies the ache of an old rift: the night Shannon left after an explosive argument, vanishing without a trace.
Janet, spirited and curious, senses the absences in her family’s story. Her search for answers leads her through scattered clues—an old address in Brighton, a defunct gallery, a faded newspaper clipping—until a different life begins to emerge: Shannon’s.
Living quietly in Scotland under another name, Shannon believes the past is best left buried. But when she learns of Janet’s search, she returns to Cornwall, unseen, to watch from a distance. Fog blurs the shoreline the morning Sissy and Shannon finally meet again—two women tethered by blood, broken time, and unspoken love.
As Sissy’s birthday draws them all—Shannon, Kim, Janet—together again, Saltwater & Silence becomes a story of reconciliation, quiet resilience, and the rhythms of healing. Months later, Sissy’s swims continue, as steady and enduring as the tide.
The Heart Shaped Tin
One August day, months after her marriage abruptly ended, a heart-shaped baking tin fell at Bee Wilson’s feet: the same one she had used to bake her wedding cake twenty-three years prior. This discovery struck a wave of emotions that propelled her search for others who have attached magical and personal properties to the objects in their kitchens.
Wilson’s best-selling Consider the Fork considered how kitchen items changed the way we eat; in The Heart-Shaped Tin, she delves into how these objects change the way we live. She meets people who open up about a favorite wooden spoon, a salt shaker inherited from a parent, and a vintage corkscrew collection. Our beloved items become powerful symbols of identity and memory, representing friendship, grief, love, superstition, safety, and even political resistance. Crossing continents, cultures, and time periods, Wilson deftly moves between a 5,000-year-old bottle for drinking chocolate and her children’s favorite melon baller; a metal spoon made by a Holocaust survivor and her mother’s silver-plated toast rack; a bombarded Ukrainian kitchen cabinet and her grandfather’s Wedgwood teapot. In telling these stories, she comes to terms with her grief over the dissolution of her marriage and the loss of her mother after a battle with dementia. The heart-shaped tin, in the end, becomes a moving reminder of the power of new beginnings.
The Shop On Hidden Lane
The Harper and the Wells families have regarded each other with deep suspicion for four generations. The Harpers have been known to offer their psychic talents for less-than-legal purposes, and the powerful Wells clan has a reputation for playing both sides of the street. But for all the years of history and distrust between them, there is a mysterious pact binding the two. They share the responsibility for protecting a long-buried and very dangerous secret.
Sophy Harper and Luke Wells are shocked to learn that her aunt and his uncle have been sleeping together—and now they are both missing. Not only that, but the last traces of them are at the scene of a murder soaked in negative paranormal energy. Clearly, someone is willing to kill to obtain the secret their families have been charged with protecting. Despite their mutual distrust, which, as far as Sophy is concerned extends to Luke’s hellhound of a dog, they both know that the terms of the pact must be honored.
Their investigation uncovers a psychic trail leading to a bizarre desert art colony where nothing is as it seems. But Luke and Sophy are concealing a few secrets, too. By a strange twist of fate, a Harper and a Wells have no choice but to trust each other and the fierce attraction that is binding them as surely as the pact between the families.
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
You can be comfortable and cozy inside or out wearing jeans, a t-shirt, a soft sweatshirt, clogs and of course coat if headed outside. This outfit is colorful with hints of Spring but warm too.
On a side note, it is a great time to buy winter coats, sweaters, some of my favorite fair isle sweaters are still available. Don’t forget other winter essentials, gloves, cashmere scarves, now that the stores are shifting stock to spring.
See more of my outfits, separates and home decor on ShopMy and below.
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?
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On My Radar~The Cosy Edit
your recipes are messed up today
Thank you for letting me know. I have fixed them. Have a wonderful weekend.