With a Little Help from My Friends
#BirthdayCakesforPeace + handmade pottery = a new collaboration
I’m excited to announce #birthdaycakesforpeace’s first collaboration with ceramist Jackie Sedlock jackiesedlockpottery. Hailing from Pownal, Vermont, Jackie is making plates (and maybe even a cake platter or two) for the #birthdaycakesforpeace fundraiser supporting wckitchen and I’m baking the birthday cakes.
We’ll be posting pottery + cake photos on IG (+ we may even do a Live from my kitchen!) and her ceramics will be available to purchase with proceeds going directly to World Central Kitchen.
Here’s a bit about Jackie - this wide-open-hearted artist, friend and collaborator who is also host to pottery workshops, artist retreats, classes and walks in the woods. Jackie’s guesthouse was a sanctuary when I made my first tentative steps back into the world after surgeries. Please stay tuned as this collaboration unfolds this summer. More details to come next month.
NB: #birthdaycakesforpeace is still a virtual bake sale, as in the cakes aren’t being shipped anywhere unless you want to come visit me in Vermont and take a cake back home with you. But I’m happy to share recipes, ideas, potential collaborations, and hopefully-maybe you’ll even be inspired to cook and post your own virtual, home-baked #birthdaycakesforpeace - the fundraising link lives on my IG profile aliberlow and is there to share.
Meanwhile, here are a few more things I’d like to share:
• In the response to the Supreme Court’s apparent readiness to revoke the Constitutional right to abortion, this Saturday, May 14th, massive protests around the country are being organized by the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Women’s March, UltraViolet, and MoveOn, according to Jezebel.com. To find a rally go here.
• We’re in the midst of National Nurses Week which runs from May 6th- 12th. Last year when I got sick, I was very lucky to have incredible nurses, many of whom were also WOC trained (Wound, Ostomy, and/or Continence) to help me heal from an emergency abdominal surgery that left me with a temporary colostomy.
Apparently, not every hospital is necessarily staffed with WOC trained nurses. These nurses made a huge difference in how I came to terms with my stoma, colostomy, and ultimately, my body. They not only helped save my life, but because of their training, they were also able to take care of my mental and emotional health in those first, critical days of recovery and adjustment. Because an ostomy is totally mind-bending. And a stoma is an amazing, miraculous bit of medical ingenuity. So, in honor of National Nurses Week, I baked a cake for them and dropped it off at the hospital, as a small token of my appreciation. Here’s a photo:
It’s the Vanilla Buttermilk Cake from Yossy Arefi’s book Snacking Cakes, frosted with a black chocolate buttercream.
Okay, a few more things…
• Quitted is Holly Whitaker and Emily McDowell’s podcast. This episode with Koa Beck, the author of White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind - is particularly poignant as ‘we’ embark (what ‘We’? Who is ‘We’?) on collectively protecting the human right to bodily autonomy in this nation.
• Chef Carla Contreras’ podcast episode with Victoria Granof victoriagranof about her creative process, mentoring, daily meditation, chickpeas, and the color rumba orange #showupfully
• Celebrate your friends! Ngina Johnson was on PBS! Shout out to this woman who shows up everyday for children as a foster mom and as the Director of the Early Learning Center at the Genesis Center in Providence RI. Air date 5/8/22.
• Please read my pal Amy Halloran’s essay on Cake from her newsletter Dear Bread which is always informative and generous. I thoroughly enjoy how Amy weaves history, her kitchen, grains and her seemingly infinite well of knowledge and curiosity. Find her on IG flourambassador and read/purchase her book, The New Bread Basket.
• Artist, musician and now acclaimed author Sofi Thanhauser (yesfutureyes on IG) wrote the book Worn; A People’s History of Clothing a social history shining bright lights into corners of the clothing industry, similarly to what Michael Pollan did in Omnivore’s Dilemma. Sofi spent ten years writing, researching and traveling. This book is elegant, engaging, challenging, stunning. Every page written and every book talk Sofi does, is another window into our daily dressing. Brava dear Sofi!
And lastly, the song With a Little Help from My Friends that I used for the title of this essay, was written by John Lennon / Paul McCartney.
That’s it for now. Until next time, thanks for reading, happy spring + happy cooking!
~ ali