Friends, hello. I’m back!
Welcome back to The Bakehouse Almanac, our monthly ritual that’s part mood check, part fridge note. Consider that coffee mug slide across the counter from me to you. Here’s to good intentions, short lists, and whatever’s really on my mind this month. This is a shared table situation, not a monologue, so as always, call. Tell me how July feels where you are, what’s baking in your kitchen (or more temperature-sensitive, what kind of ice cream you’re crushing), and what cools you down if you’re as hot as we are in Texas.
Thanks for the welcome Amy: and: team for the last few almanacs while I learn how to get the job done while the baby naps. I always appreciate their perspective and just want to say thank you for your generous spirit.
That’s the vibe this month all caps FUN!. I feel like summer is where I make my best memories every year; summer, Will and his friend Bob insisted that I learn to water ski on Lake Hamilton in Arkansas, and we practiced every day after breakfast until I finally got up to drink half of the lake. And this year, a big one. taking my son to California for the first time. To that end, maybe my mood this month is CALIFORNIA FUN bucket list.
So in honor of the memory-making season, let’s crack open a crisp can of Diet Dr Pepper next to a fresh tomato sandwich and run our delicate fingers across warm concrete from the deck to the pool. We may be absolutely wilting in this summer sun, but we’re going for maximum joy during these few weeks of running around, messing around, and then heading inside for air conditioning and cold watermelon. Everything can be so good.
Things I’m keeping my eye on this July
(from recipes to luxury to good reads)
• I am very interested in this Burnt honey salad dressing a pile of summer tomatoes, shallots and herbs BUT of course my brain can’t help but think of burnt honey in ice cream or butter frosting, RIGHT?
• I’ll probably just have to go through all the purses I’ve used this year to remember my different lipsticks, but if I find myself needing some lipstick, I hear these Lisa Eldridge lipstick are incredible!
• I’m certainly not ready to talk about the holidays yet, that would be crazy. BUT I have bookmarked this exciting salty seasoning concept and I will continue to collect little glass jars, and the two together may be my gift for the year.
• Naomi Osaka’s Wimbledon entrance: flawless.
• I don’t think I will personally participate nightiecore: but, let’s just mention that we’ve moved on from cottagecore. I realize that your mid-40s is an important time to know when a trend is for you and when it isn’t.
• We could all use a brush how to have deeper conversations with someone
• I leave this tab out until I’m ready to pop it in a bottle in the summer. Annual leaf peach nectar and lychee summer perfume vol.1. I am interested!
• The art of being slightly inaccessibleevery
• Currently listening Sam Fender’s People Watching which doesn’t feel like a particularly summery album, but has a distinct ’90s vibe and depth that feels familiar.
• Between moisturizing and breastfeeding, I feel dry all the time. In desperate need Homemade Gatorade.
The ice cream is the whole point
July decisively in / respectfully out
Decisively In:
• Tomato sandwiches / tomato everything
• Ice in every drink.
• Pool hair / ocean hair
• Calling things a “walk”.
• Nectarines were washed in the ocean and eaten outdoors
• Everything comes first for the child.
• A: late dinner.
• Orange color.
• Ice cream on a cone.
Respectfully out
• Turning on the stove in the afternoon.
• Jeans.
• Over planning something, really.
• Faking wetness is not personal.
• Hot drinks after 9am.
• Any dinner that requires emotional labor.
That’s it for this month, friends! The time change in California, plus my midnight wakings, still kicks my ass a bit, to be honest. I miss our weekly Sunday posts. I miss that rhythm with you. But that’s what I have bandwidth for these days, and I’m grateful to meet you here on a monthly basis while life is so full and new.
We’re up early today for one last morning of surfing for Will and one last slow walk on the beach for baby John and I before I head back to the Texas heat sooner than I’d like. I hope this month holds some really sweet and fun times for you. Remember, ’tis the season to make memories. These are days.
Well take care, stay cool and stay tuned for a new cake recipe soon!
xo:
Joy