Well hello and welcome to another weekend! They’re showing some rain and thunderstorms our way. We’re going to see The Odyssey on Sunday and we’re also popping out to a local baseball game. And of course: laundry, grocery shopping, tidying up, and a bit of meal prep. The usual stuff!

You may have noticed that the email blasts look little different this week! I changed service providers over the last couple weeks so that I could make this aspect of my work the best it can be. AI continues to bring challenges to the realm of online recipe publishing, favoring quick answers that are averaged across thousands of inputs rather than helpful content made by human beings. Email signups have become increasingly important. If you value the work that I share here and have not subscribed yet, I would love to have you! You can sign up here. And of course if you have feedback on the email system, I’m always open to learning more.

Okay, on to the links and reads this week. Take care out there!

5 Things I’m Reading:

1. The Comforting Resurgence of ‘Grandma Hobbies’ via The NYT (gift link)
2. Meet All The Middle Aged Women Who Don’t Exist via Charlotte’s Book on Substack
3. Skill nostalgia via Aeon
4. Our Plastic-Surgery Nightmare via The New Yorker (non-paywalled link here)
5. The Flower Bearers by Rachel Eliza Griffiths (for Lilith Lit book club!)

5 Things I’m Enjoying:

1. Starting basil vinegar this weekend!
2. Really on a 90s/early 2000s movie spree lately. This list from Brittany arrived right on time: 20 Nostalgic Movies for Summer Days
3. Unreasonably excited that Natura Market is stocking my fave West Life unsweetened vanilla soy milk here in Canada. This is the one thing that I really miss from our USA grocery trips. It’s creamy, has a light ingredient list, and froths up so well for flat whites/lattes. I have tried all the brands available here and none of them really do it for me! Open to suggestions if you have them of course :)
4. Saw this hair mousse recommended by Kurt Vile (of all people lol) and grabbed some on sale recently. I’ve had some really nice curl clumps and volume with it! Also just doing my whole curly hair routine in the shower (soaking wet hair makes the clumps/spirals form nicely) has made life a lot easier–no need to mop up the bathroom floor every time!
5. I recently learned about Source Preferences in Google search. Essentially you can tell Google your preferred sites/blogs and it will bring up results from those sources when you search for relevant things (rather than AI nonsense!). If you’d like to see my recipes more often in your search results, you can add The First Mess to your source preferences here.

5 Questions:

1. Favorite savory stone fruit recipes?
   I’ve got a few! Grilled Tofu with Peach, Almond Butter & Miso Sauce, Black Lentil Salad with Peaches, Tomatoes & Fresh Basil Vinaigrette, Zucchini Spaghetti with Pumpkin Seed Pesto & Peaches, Summer Peach & Tomato Panzanella, Shaved Zucchini Salad with Plums, Herbs & Almonds, Cauliflower Salad with Nectarines & Pistachio Dukkah, and Fresh Summer Salad with Arugula, Corn & Spicy Cashew Dressing.
2. I got a mandolin a few months back and have been loving it! But I’ve noticed with some vegetables (radishes, salad turnips) the slices all end up sticking in a clump when I add them to greens and go to toss the final salad! Any suggestions to prevent clumps?
   This happens to me as well! You can submerge all of your slices in a bowl of water and swish them around first, then pat dry before adding to greens/other salads. Another option is to keep moving the mandoline around as you’re slicing (I have a large cutting board, so that makes it easier). You can also toss the mandoline-sliced ingredients in vinaigrette separately before adding to the main salad–the oil in the vinaigrette and hand tossing friction will help the slices to separate.
3. Have you ever considered doing savory muffins for a breakfast option?
   Yes, working on a basic corn muffin recipe for the site that folks can riff off of. Will be sharing in the fall for soup/chili season. Stay tuned!
4. Did you try the Pinch of Yum s’mores bars with the Dandies creme?
   I did and while the marshmallow/chocolate part was totally fine, I think I messed up the egg replacement in the cookie part. My cookies were a tad hard and extra caramelized–may have been the brand of vegan butter I used. Also, we’ve suspected that our oven is wonky for a while and this could be a factor. I need to bite the bullet and just replace it honestly. Bars were still good and tasty though!
5. Do you have any healthy GF dessert ideas that are not banana based?
   Yep! Lemon Bars, Chocolate Orange Cheesecake, Rhubarb Mango Crumble (can sub any seasonal fruit for filling), and in my cookbook, I recommend the Coconut Cream Tart (page 247), Raw Raspberry Cheesecake (page 249), or the Earl Grey Tiramisu (page 265).

Pinned Recipes This Week:

1. Vegan Red Pepper Pasta with Charred Corn & Basil
2. Summer Veg & Tofu Skewers with Blueberry BBQ Sauce
3. Shaved Zucchini Salad with Plums, Herbs & Almonds
4. Zucchini Spaghetti with Pumpkin Seed Pesto & Peaches
5. Fresh Summer Salad with Arugula, Corn & Spicy Cashew Dressing