Bluestocking Catalogue #26
I'm back with one recommendation for each sense, including my new fave pool shoes, amazing frozen watermelon mojitos & a poignant YA novel.
Hi, everyone!
It’s good to be back. Thank you for those of you who reached out about my long, unplanned-for sabbatical from writing Bluestocking Catalogue. Once my school went back to four days in person this spring, I simply lacked the energy and time to create this newsletter. I spent Saturdays recovering from the week on the couch, and Sundays preparing for the next week of teaching.
But summer is here, and I’m grateful for the luxury of time to heal from a traumatic year. Which is great for Bluestocking Catalogue, since I’m reading and baking a lot. :) I hope all is well over in your corner of the world, no matter what this season looks like for you. I love the connection this newsletter has brought, especially with those of you I don’t get to talk to regularly otherwise. Thank you for being here and for sharing your thoughts and recipes and book recommendations with me.
I’ve got a lot of solid recommendations today - one for each sense - so let’s dive right in.
Smell: Base Scone Recipe (& brilliant butter trick)
I’ve been in a scones mood this spring, and am happy to report I’ve found a base scone recipe and technique I like. While simple in theory, scones are easy to mess up, with the end result being too dry, too sweet, or too claggy / overworked. I’m not saying that I’ve perfected my own technique - yet - but I am saying that this recipe has yielded solid results several times.
The trick, which Sally lays out, is freezing the butter and then keeping the dough as cold as possible (and even fridging/ freezing again before baking) to keep the butter from melting as you work with it. So don’t skip freezing the butter! (I just keep a stick in my freezer now all the time so that one is handy, just like I keep two sticks on the counter so I have room temperature butter whenever I want it. Don’t worry about it.)
Apart from the frozen butter component, this recipe is simple. I’ve tried the Strawberry Lemon Poppy Seed variation (pictured below), as well as the lemon blueberry and the frozen berry. The Lemon Blueberry is my favorite so far, with the lemon providing the perfect lift to the sweetness of the berries, but they’ve all been quite tasty - and yes, smell amazing while they’re cooking. Next up: lavender.
Taste: Frozen Watermelon Mojitos!!
I had a good feeling about these when they popped up on my Instagram feed yesterday morning - when has Deb from Smitten Kitchen ever lead us wrong? - and let me tell you, they were even better than I was hoping. The texture is perfect, like the frozen popsicles I devoured after summer swim lessons, but with the actual fruit taste of watermelon. The lime provides a perfect amount of tang, and you cannot taste the booze (your call on whether that’s a good or bad thing. :) I did not add any of the optional club water.
I made these last night and split it three ways, and then immediately made another batch because we all wanted more. Like the scones, you do need to cut and freeze watermelon a few hours in advance, but otherwise these come together quickly. This might be the perfect summer drink. I hope you love them as much as I do.
Sight*: Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon
One of the elements I love about excellent YA is how authors often tackle societally relevant themes within the “safety net” of the genre. (Major shoutout to Lana the librarian, who got me into YA as literature in the first place!) Nicola Yoon is a master at weaving nuance into stories about young people exploring identity and love. Her previous excellent books explore themes like the challenges of being a biracial couple, immigration, the complexity of mother/ daughter relationships, and identity.
As Instructions for Dancing begins, protagonist Evie is throwing out her beloved romance novels after her parents’ divorce shakes her beliefs about the world and love. Several surprising encounters lead to her preparing to dance in a local competition; her partner is a boy named X, the grandson of dance studio owners Archibald and Maggie. Throughout the book, Evie’s struggle to surrender to the moment in dance mirrors her internal struggle to live in the present, not the past or future.
Evie often self-sabotages her present happiness because of her anxiety and fear of the future, which I can definitely relate to. As the book concludes, Evie has grown into someone who recognizes the reality that pain is part of life, but that missing out on the present because of fear of the future is no way to live. Without spoiling anything, let me just say that Yoon knows how to end a book. Damn.
I read this book in two sittings in one day. It’s easy to read while still being beautifully written and lyrical. I loved all the characters, especially X’s grandparents, whose love for each other provides steadiness for the other characters and centers the story in many ways. Yoon is my favorite YA author because her craft elevates young love stories into ones with universal resonance. I’d highly recommend Instructions for Dancing.
If you read or have read this one, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
*or sound if you are an audiobooks fan
Touch: New Summer Shoes
In the summer, I wear two sets of shoes: my beloved Chacos and my Birkenstocks. (I already have a slight Chaco tan on my feet. IYKYK.) Well, I’m delighted to announce that I’m expanding my summer shoe repertoire to include what are essentially foam Birkenstocks for all of $17. Kristin Winchester reported on Instagram wearing these feels like walking on a cloud, and she is not wrong. These will be my go-to pool/ beach / puttering around the house shoes this summer. Here’s the Target version, which my sibling Jenn reports are also very comfy.
Listen, I know Crocs are in again, but we can do better.
Sound: The TikTok I Keep Watching
Just trust me and click on the link. You think you’re ready for this, but you’re not.
It feels good to be back. As always, I love to hear from you - you can leave a comment or just reply to this email!
I hope you’re well over there (and that you have a frozen watermelon mojito in your hands stat.) See you next Sunday.
*The Bookshop link for Instructions for Dancing is an affiliate one; if you buy the book using my link, I’ll get a small commission.