Is This Just Summer '98?, and a Half Birthday Cake

It's another fine Sunday, indeed.

Well, funny meeting you here on a Sunday! I’m so glad you made it. Let’s get into it!

Let It Be Sunday, 525!

This week’s Let It Be Sunday post comes from a familiar name you might not think you know—but you definitely do. Karlee Sisler Flores is the woman behind the lens of Joy the Baker, my brilliant, hilarious friend, and my favorite Aquarius. She’s popped into guest posts here and there to wax poetic about cheap ramen and the best and worst marriage advice, but today marks her proper debut: her very first Sunday post. And it’s a treat.

Karlee takes us on a scroll through her curious and nostalgic mind, where Delilah’s soft voice meets YA heartbreak, frangipane finds its rightful place in every dessert, and… is summer 2025 is spiritually aligned with summer 1998? You’ll find her dream garden (it’s no-dig, thank you very much), must-have self tanner, and a cold-weather HomeGoods haul that’s arrive, unsurprisingly… aggressively early.

Read it here! The Sunday Scroll: Karlee Edition

What Should We Make This Week?

If the answer is takeout, I very much respect it. But if the answer is a fridge salad that makes for excellent leftovers, maybe a cake, maybe some ice cream eaten straight from the container at the kitchen counter—well then, I’ve got some delicious ideas for you:

• Asparagus Spoon Salad A salad tastes better on a spoon - I don’t know how to explain it. The tender-crisp asparagus, creamy white beans, and lemony dressing makes me feel like a person who definitely drinks enough water and always remembers to stretch before the workout. And this salad makes excellent leftovers for snacking at the fridge before actual dinner.

• Coffee Ice Cream without an ice cream maker If you have heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, and a strong opinion about cold brew, you must make this. It’s dangerously easy thanks to the truly glorious combined texture of whipped cream and sweetened condensed milk making a fluffy and somehow stretchy ice cream without the big machine.

• No-Bake Birthday Cake You need a birthday cake in… JULY? Gotchu - and you don’t even have to turn on the oven because we’re making an entire layer cake with Rice Krispie Treats alone. Claim this idea as all yours! You’re the genius.

Let’s Celebrate Something, Shall We?

Here’s your gentle nudge: if you’ve got a friend with a January or February birthday, do a little calendar math and see if their half birthday is coming up. I recently did this to celebrate Will’s December birthday in June and I’ll tell ya - it was a delight for both of us! I feel like this summer could use a little pep in its step, and half a birthday cake is a surprisingly powerful morale booster.

A few weeks ago, I made a half batch of Everybody’s Chocolate Birthday Cake (aka The Actual Best Chocolate Cake) and turned it into a Half Birthday Cake by slicing the layers in half (semi-circles, naturally), layering in stabilized peanut butter whipped cream and sliced bananas, and… driving it 50 miles across Texas like it was a precious artifact. It was. We made it.

You could also make the full recipe and pop one layer in the freezer like a forward-thinking dessert magician. Either way, it’s a sweet little way to remind someone (or yourself) that life is full of reasons to celebrate, even the halfway ones.

In Case You Missed It

I wrote an essay on The Biggest Lesson My Motorcycle Has Taught Me and it’s for paid subscribers but I thiiiiink each one of you can click to read on paid article for free. I’ll be writing more personal essays of this style every month or so. Thanks for reading!

See you next week!

My love to you,

Joy