June Books And Bakes
Better late than never - here are the June Books and Bakes!
I started off June by finishing Beatriz Williams’ Schuyler Sisters series. I learned about Beatriz Williams from one of my pseudo aunts, who is also one of my favorite authors, Harper McDavid. Her book Zapata shines a light on a lot of the craziness that goes down in the oil industry, particularly on the Texas/Mexico border. Anyhow, Williams has now become one of my favorite authors and I have been trying to pace myself so I don’t binge all her books at once. The woman who narrates some of her audiobooks, Kathleen McInerney is amazing. I always enjoy listening to her and Williams’ writing is excellent. I appreciate how creative Williams is with her dual narratives. One of the Schuyler Sister books dual narratives is actually the same character, just in two different periods of her life which I found super interesting.
I have never been a coconut fan (except in a piña colada!) but one of my sisters introduced me to Ina Garten’s recipe for coconut cupcakes and I love them. Here’s the recipe - https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/coconut-cupcakes. The coconut is subtle but the flakes that are included in the cupcakes themselves give them a great texture. And as far as I am concerned, you can never go wrong with cream cheese frosting. A hot tip for anyone who tries this recipe is that the frosting recipe makes WAY too much frosting for 24 cupcakes. I halved the recipe the second time I made them and I still had extra! The recipe also says it makes 18-20 cupcakes. Every time I have made them, it makes a full 24 and the cupcakes are not small.
I paused reading The Only Plane In The Sky in May because I had to return it to the library but I got to finish it in June when I got off the hold list again. It’s an oral history of September 11, 2001 so it’s only available as an audiobook. The author Garret M. Graff has collected the stories of a multitude of people and how they experienced 9/11. It includes firefighters who responded to the crash and went to rescue people at the twin towers as well as the crash site in Pennsylvania, air traffic controllers who were desperately trying to figure out what happened and what they could still prevent, family members of people who were missing and/or killed, government officials trying to make sense of it all and respond at the same time, as well as some of the people on Air Force One who were tasked with protecting President George W. Bush. It was certainly sad to listen to but I also appreciated hearing everyone’s perspectives, emotions, crisis management, fears, and hopes of what they could still do. I was one month away from being seven when 9/11 occurred but it’s a day that’s burned into my memory. I’ll never forget sitting on this little red chair in our family room watching the towers fall on tv. I often find that when talking about 9/11, people are interested in sharing their own experience of that day and how it affected them. It’s not a book for the faint of heart but if you like history and are interested in how people experienced and were shaped by that day, this is definitely a good listen. It also occurred to me while listening that this year is going to be the 25th anniversary of the attacks of 9/11. That sort of blew my mind and I am interested to see what, if anything, takes place in remembrance.
I made the same Yellow Cake with Fudge Frosting from TheCakeBlog.com that I made in May but this time in cupcake form. It’s one of my new go-to recipes and it’s always good! It also freezes really well so I’ll freeze either slices or cupcakes and just pull some out when I need a sweet treat. I am also kind of a child and still love milk. I love to pair it with chocolate and a cold glass of milk goes perfectly with these cupcakes.
I have never read Remarkably Bright Creatures which I read for a new book club that I joined at my favorite local indie bookstore. The book club reads books that have been turned into movies so it’s right up my alley! I really enjoyed the book and thought the movie was fine. Sally Fields knocked it out of the park but I still didn’t really enjoy the movie. I think a lot of that had to do with pacing and most people in the book club felt the same way.
A classic apple tart is popular in my family, especially a traditional European one that isn’t super sweet. We had some extra granny smith apples and so we made it on a whim for dessert one night. It was fun to sit down with my mom and sister to peel the apples and just chat. Sometimes tart isn’t always the best left over but I took some to work the next day and utilized some of the Starbucks whipped cream and had a great snack out of it on my lunch break!
Our virtual book club book for June was Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke and it’s going to require its own blog post. There is just so much to say and unpack! And as you can imagine, everyone in the book club had major thoughts and opinions. Check back on the blog soon to read my review and learn about the mistake I found in the audiobook. 😳
I posted it on Instagram but this month my mom ran out of flour and sugar! What a travesty. When I came home from Costco with three big bags of each she laughed at me but I told her it could never happen again!
I did already finish some books in July but you’ll have to check back in a couple of weeks to see what I read and what I concocted in the kitchen!
