Welcome back, everyone!
How are we all doing?
I can feel the seasonal depression kicking in, so I had a whole day over the weekend to just really chill. My partner handled all the decision-making for the day, got me settled in a blanket nest on the couch, and surprised me with a copy of Luigi’s Mansion 3 on the Switch.
Anyone else feeling the SAD pangs yet?
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Sarah shared this link with me and now I’m sharing it with all of you! This is a site that ranks apps (especially reproductive health ones!) on how private and secure they are. There are also other categories of apps and smart tech.
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Author Claribel Ortega was asking on Twitter for book recommendations that felt like the show Only Murders in the Building. I know some of the Bitchery and SBTB staff have enjoyed the series!
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This one was sent in by EC Spurlock! A wonderful write up on how Nalini Singh avoid the “protagonist problem.” I admittedly wasn’t familiar with this concept, so I went down quite the fun rabbit hole!
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If you have little ones or enjoy children’s lit, here is a wonderful round-up of witchy books! I will note that the graphic novel set of recommendations is particularly stellar.
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Author Natalie Zina Walschots chronicled some of her great and very weird, local cookbook discoveries! I remember these community cookbooks; we had one for our Girl Scout Troop. I also think this would make for a fun dinner party idea.
Me, @JairusKhan, @iColpitts & @maxwellander are at the 70 Mile Yard Sale in PEI. I have made it my mission to buy every weird local event cookbook I can find. There are riches here.
Example 1: Whisker Bees Cookies from the Best of Xi Beta Mu. pic.twitter.com/QhJZA7q4yo
— Natalie Zed (@NatalieZed) September 17, 2022
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Don’t forget to share what cool or interesting things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
My mom had a Junior League cookbook that included a recipe for “Prizewinning Chocolate Sheet Cake” that became a family tradition (though we use butter instead of “oleo.”) All the recipes were submitted by people like Mrs. Gordon Park or Mrs. James Atwater (Catherine).
Which reminds me of this amazing NYT article about said cookbook (and which includes a similar recipe): https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/15/dining/lunch-with-deborah-c-brittain-tacos-stir-fries-cake-junior-league-102.html
Oh, and this Alexis Hall review contains the best postscript-I feel like I might need to change my screen name to Boastful Plum.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5044805402
“PS—the head of a dick is described herein as a “boastful plum” which was a bit of a highlight. Romance has given me a deep fondness for emotionally expressive genitals. Boastful plum is definitely a step up from “fur divide” which popped up a couple of times in The Books of Blood, and left me genuinely confused for a moment or two before I realised it was supposed to refer to someone’s vulva. I’d been thinking…fjord? Like the forested ones?”
Very excited that I have (and use) one of the cookbooks in that thread (Let Us Break Bread Together).
MAGPIE MURDERS!!! If you’re looking for something to read &/or watch.
The book is terrific & the author has done a damn fine job of adapting it for streaming. The acting, the production design, it’s all excellent.
I’m re-reading the sequel, MOONFLOWER MURDERS, which is also headed for the small screen; the script has already been written, per the author.
He says there is a third book coming (current title is NINE MURDERS IN MEXICO) although no date has been given yet.
These witchy book recs from A Mighty Girl are excellent. Can confirm “I Am A Witch’s Cat” by Harriet Muncaster is adorable and enchanting to the target age group.
I would also include Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon aka T. Kingfisher.
The SAD is starting to get real, yeah. I added candy corn lights to the living room bookshelf for cheer that isn’t TOO cheery (I will burn out on Christmas if I pay attention to it at all before like mid-Nov)… Which I don’t think is a solution, but it’s fun anyway. Trying to get outside a lot on sunny days is prolly the most important thing.
I can’t think of community cookbooks without remembering that awesome and entertaining podcast interview SB Sarah did. (Episode 463. Women and Poison in History with Mikki Kendall.)
I think I’ll go re-listen!
@FashionablyEvil-I started baking pretty young, and I had a recipe for Texas Sheet Cake (chocolate) that I made so often, I knew the recipe by heart. So I lost track of the recipe, and as oh so many years went by, I couldn’t remember the recipe! Luckily I found a similar one, and it is still as big a hit as it was in the 1960’s 🙂
I collect vintage cookbooks, and I love those old spiral community ones.
@ReadKnitSnark: Poison clusters! That is absolutely one of my favorite episodes.
Luigi’s Mansion 3 is SO FUN. I’m so glad you got it.
I have a collection of community/church/organization cookbooks I’ve amassed by inheriting/given to me/etc… I may have even purchased a few. You can find the strangest recipes, but also the best comfort food in them. Lots of regional specialties, too.
My favorite is called “‘Sinfully Delicious’ Recipes” – it was produced by the women’s guild at my grandmother’s church many years ago.
Any recommendations for SAD lights?
I had not heard of Only Murders in the Building, google tells me it’s a cozy mystery with Steve Martin, strong Westing Game vibes. Sign me up!
There’s lots of good recs in Claribel Ortega’s twitter thread above. Some kind twitter person linked to this blog with even more recs https://www.thirdplacebooks.com/blog/cozy-mysteries-read-after-binging-only-murders-building
For SAD lights-I just read a NYT article that recommended this site: https://medicine.yale.edu/psychiatry/research/programs/clinical_people/winter/obtain/