Friday, finally!

did this week seem VERY LONG to you, too?

Hi hi!

On my last day of work, I found myself driving with three coworkers in my car. They were all at least a decade younger than me. I told them about how I once sat next to John Cusack at a church service in Chicago when I was covering a story. One of them asked, “Who’s John Cusack?” 

Another said, “You know, the guy in the meme who’s holding the stereo above his head.” 

This is something I can’t stop thinking about. I am obsessed with the idea that even if a random late-80’s rom com is culturally obsolete, John holding the boom box is still iconic to the youths. Have they ever put giant batteries in a boom box? DOES IT EVEN MATTER? WHAT A WORLD!

#DeliciousAF

So far I have only made one thing from Benjamina Ebueh’s beautiful book I’ll Bring Dessert¹, but I loved it so much I’ve made it twice: her burnt Basque cheesecake. Unlike a New York Cheesecake, this is a hardly-sweet, mostly-cream-cheese luxury, and the burnt top lends such a lovely caramel flavor. There’s also something really fun about intentionally burning things!

It comes together super quickly and is absolute perfection with — you guessed it! — CHERRY JAM.

My favorite thing about this recipe is Benjamina’s description of what the cake should look like then it’s done baking: “The cheesecake will be well risen with a dark surface but still very jiggly with a big wobble — it’s a much bigger jiggle than you normally have with other cheesecakes and custards.”

A MUCH BIGGER JIGGLE.

(If you’re not up for buying an entire cookbook for one recipe, I totally get it! Molly Baz has a pretty similar one on Bon Appetit. Also! Cookbooks are such a great thing to check out from your local library!!!)

Out and about

I had the great pleasure last week of doing an event with Kiley Reid for her newest book, Coma and Get It! It was in partnership with the excellent humans at Semicolon Bookstore and held at Haymarket House, an absolutely gorgeous community on the city’s North Side. I ALSO got to meet a Nerdette listener who is also a VERY SKILLED COOKIE DECORATOR. Look at these beauties!!!

THANK YOU KELLY!!!

Book club!

Speaking of books! As you know, we are using the term “book club” pretty loosely over here at the moment, but the book I’ve chosen for June is Kaliane Braadley’s The Ministry of Time. Many of you have already chimed in on the June book club thread with your comments — it’s not too late for you to post! It’s been really fun to see all of your thoughts about this one. I’ll post a summary of some of them this coming Tuesday, along with an announcement about July’s selection! (Can you believe this Tuesday is the last Tuesday of the month? WHAT IS TIME.)

ALSO, I’m super excited to tell y’all that I have a copy of Liz Moore’s phenomenal upcoming novel The God of The Woods, which will go to one lucky paid subscriber next week! That means if you’d like to be entered into the drawing, you should become a paid subscriber! Not only do you get entered into numerous book giveaways each month, you can also get a postcard from me. There are several different giving levels so it’s pretty flexbile. THANK YOU for supporting my work!

Homework

Because I know y’all love homework, I have two little requests for you:

• Send me your delights!!!!! Email gretamjohnsen@substack.com to tell me about something that’s delighting you these days. You know the drill — it can be something silly you spotted on your afternoon walk, a pet basking in a puddle of sunlight, or the fact that your AC is working! Whatever it is, I wanna hear about it! And bonus points for photos. I’d love to add them to this newsletter so we can all share the joy!

• Out of pure curiosity, I’d love for you to answer this question!

All right, that’s it for this week! Thanks for reading, and I’ll talk to you soon!

Greta

P.S. Do you like this email?! Spread the delight and forward it to a friend! (Or spam an enemy, lol!)

1. All the book URLs in this email link to my affiliate page at bookstop.org, where I get a commission if you buy anything. It’s a website that supports local indies, which I love. But the bottom line is that I just want you to read the book, however you get it!