Monthly Musings: June 2020
Hello, friends! Welcome to another Monthly Musings post, this one easing us into June! How are we halfway through the year already?
I spent a lot of time over the past few weeks moving Passionate Baker from Tumblr to WordPress & boy, what a journey! The two platforms are so incredibly different, I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all. You might notice that some links lead nowhere, some images won’t align properly, or that some pages are simply blank. It’s still a work in progress. Thank you for baring with me while I continue to figure it out. And a major shout-out to Boyfriend, my two best gal-gals, and my sister, all of whom had to put up with a lot of nonsensical coding talk. I am grateful.
This week is a big one for me. Tomorrow is my first real day back at work since the Covid-19 pandemic began. I gotta say: I’m equal parts terrified to go out into the world again & yet happy to see my work friends again. It’s kind of a lot to take in. I’m ready to take this baby step towards a new normal, but I’m not going to push myself too hard, and I know that’s okay right now.
The offering this month is below. As always, I hope you find something useful to take away with you, be it a recipe or a book recommendation. I surely hope you take the Chicken Ruby recipe, that bad boy is a keeper. Enjoy!
Monthly Musings: June
One of the things I love about the new blog layout is how photo oriented it is. I’ve wanted the blog to look like this for literally years. Now that it does, I can frequently be found just staring at how pretty it is. My favourite page to marvel at is the Travel Page. Isn’t she a beaut?
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Related: I’m also kind of obsessed with the new comment section. It sounds like a dumb thing to be excited about, but Tumblr didn’t have a comment section! If you feel like commenting on any of my posts, please do! And know that if you do, I’ll be over here jumping up & down with excitement.
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Did you catch my San Gimignano post? It’s the second post in my Tuscan travel series and it’s filled with all of the information you could ever need about the little hilltop gem. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it! Next up is Siena and it’s gonna be gooood.
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It feels strange to write this post & not mention the horrible reality that has come to light recently. There are really no words I can add to the tragedy. We all need to do better, try harder, and educate ourselves. I signed up for Rachel Cargle’s free 30 day #dothework email course, which provides daily information on ways to be actively anti-racist.
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We have been ‘social distancing’ for so long now that I’ve stopped keeping count of the days. I do know that it’s been long enough for everything I cleaned during my initial crazy cleaning phase to get dusty again. Sigh.
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Over the course of the last month, we have loved one dinner above all others: Chicken Ruby Curry. I’ve already made it twice. We. Are. Obsessed. I posted about it last week in my What We’re Eating During Lockdown post, but just in case you missed it I thought I’d share again.
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My little sister is finding her feet in the kitchen of late and I am here! for! it! Hardly a day passes when she doesn’t ring me up to talk about her new excursion into the culinary world and it’s so nice. Welcome to the club, Kid, you’re doing great! Now.. when are we getting some of your focaccia?
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I recently enrolled myself in the PUFF School of Pastry Sourdough School Course. I’ve been making sourdough for a little over a year now, but the course was so incredibly helpful! There are videos, detailed instructions and a PDF downloadable recipe. The bread is glorious, and the entire course is free. Want to bake along with me?
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Wearing masks out & about isn’t a mandatory thing here, but it’s something that makes us feel a bit safer. I recently secured us some super cute handmade, washable cotton masks from a creative lady in Cork. They’re perfect!
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This is going to sound strange, but I’m having a tough time identifying with my hands recently. They look and feel a lot older than I am expecting them to feel? I don’t know…it’s kinda trippy. The good news is that although I feel this way, I am nowhere near getting fat from my backside injected into my hands, nor will I ever be. For that I am grateful.
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Have you seen Little Fires Everywhere yet? We just finished it and we both really enjoyed it. I read the book last year – also really good – and other than a few of the obvious differences I thought the show was quite a faithful adaption! Also I’m sorry but I just love Reese. Yes sure, she always plays mostly the same character, but that’s why we like her. Right?
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What have you been reading lately? I was very reluctant to get to the end of my beloved Harry Potter series, but thankfully found a wonderful book to follow-up with: Where the Crawdads Sing. It took me a second to get into, but I ended up loving it and have since gotten Boyfriend onto it.
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An oldie but a goodie: Ultimate Fudge Brownies. I’m slowly working my way back through old posts to update the photos and these brownies were my latest project. They’re so good & fudgy!
Let’s catch up again next month, okay?
Hugs,
Vicki xo