Welcome to the Friday Five
A joyful, cathartic weekly roundup
Hello angels,
Happy Friday. In the words of HRH Beyoncé, “I can’t believe we made it. This is what we thankful for.” Friday Five is a weekly series where I’ll share five amazing things with all of you, because I’m deeply thankful to have you as a subscriber! FriFi (*Urkel Voice* Did I do that? 👀) will usually include a recipe, a piece of music, perhaps some news, books, or poetry, and things that brought me joy on the internet. On some Fridays you’ll have a special guest sharing their fives with you. I’d be honored if you started your Fridays with this, but feel free to read whenever you need a little boost, and share it with someone who you’re thankful for.
Music: “Hell N Back” is a lovely track by British singer-songwriter, Bakar. It was the first single on his 2019 debut album, details a dysfunctional yet loving relationship, and is the kind of tune that pairs nicely with preparing food or drink in the kitchen. You’ll start singing the chorus by your second listen.
Poem: “The Coming of Light” by Mark Strand, shared via the incredible Instagram account, Poetry is Not a Luxury (also an Audre Lorde book!) — support their Patreon here. This poem reads like a meditation to me, or a sweet lullaby, ethereal and dazzling:
Recipe: Via Carota’s Vinaigrette (NYTCooking or Blue Cayenne). As a society, we aren’t talking about salad dressing enough. Dressing needs a delicate balance between acidity, sweetness, and fat, needs to emulsify in the right way, needs to feel layered, needs seasoning… anyway, I don’t think you’re ready for this dressing (cue Destiny’s Child backup vocals: I don’t think you can handle it WOOH!). Just kidding. I promise that you can handle this dressing, which NYTCooking calls “a salad dressing so savory and delicious that you can eat spoonfuls of it” that does not “overwhelm the delicate lettuces.” You just want your lettuces to be whelmed and this does the job flawlessly. You don’t need to make the full salad recipe with its melange of greens to enjoy this dressing, with warm water that mellows the vinegar and a cold water rinse to make your shallots milder but still shallot-y. And if you think I am overly thirsty for this dressing, I’ll add one more quote from the recipe, authored by the icon Samin Nosrat: “It’s so good that you might even be tempted to pour it into a glass and top it off with sparkling water.*”
*If you pour this divine dressing that contains *two* types of mustard into sparkling water, you are legally obligated to call me and tell me how it tastes.
Social Media Follow: The adorable London-based bear you know and love, Paddington, is on Twitter. His tweets are a blissful reprieve from ~80% of my feed — see below for reference:
It’s not all cake and marmalade either — you think you may know the vibes, but you have no idea. He released a powerful statement when Paddington 2 (rightfully) became the highest ranking movie on Rotten Tomatoes, beating Citizen Kane:
Joyful Internet Content: Three tweets curated just for you:
We are all Destiny’s Children. Have a beautiful weekend.
xo, Roya