This week’s digest is guest edited by Joanna Goddard, the founder and editor of the influential lifestyle website Cup of Jo and writer of Big Salad on Substack. Joanna’s recap of her first date after divorce was one of Big Salad’s most popular posts. If you enjoy Joanna’s selection today, head over to Big Salad and subscribe for great finds, life advice, and dating gossip.
I work from home—in a blue rocking chair in my bedroom, to be exact—and sometimes, especially during a busy day, I’ll crave that kind of watercooler conversation you have with colleagues when you work in an office.
One thing that scratches that itch? Substack newsletters. The voice-y ones I subscribe to feel like chatting with old friends, and it’s really fun to hear what everyone’s up to and into these days. Recently I discovered an expensive-looking open-stitch sweater, bookmarked a chickpea recipe to make for dinner this week, and got a recommendation of a pulpy page-turner.
My own newsletter—Big Salad—covers life advice, fun finds, and dating gossip, and I gravitate toward newsletters with similar themes. Here are a few I loved this week.
FOOD
“Adam Roberts, the warm and funny cookbook writer, shares two April Bloomfield recipes inspired by a recent visit to Sailor, the Fort Greene restaurant he calls the “hottest reservation in town” (editor’s note: strongly agree!)”
—Adam Roberts in The Amateur Gourmet Newsletter
What did I serve with said focaccia? Another April Bloomfield recipe, this one for a spring vegetable soup. Honestly, this recipe is a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of thing.... I used Jerusalem artichokes that I found at the farmers’ market Sunday morning. I also used green garlic, ramps (yes, ramps are here!), Swiss chard, and asparagus.
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DESIGN
“I spend my entire life online, so sometimes I feel like I’ve seen everything. But when I open Ali LaBelle’s newsletter À La Carte, her curation always feels fresh and new. Such a rare pleasure!”
—Ali LaBelle in À La Carte
The newest trend in celebrity relatability photography is the flower haul. Just this month we’ve seen both Jeremy Allen White and Rihanna with armfuls of bouquets (à la that iconic Meryl Streep photo), and I don’t think it’ll be the last of it; I’d bet money that shots of Ben Affleck emerging from the Brentwood farmers’ market will crop up any day now.
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BUSINESS
“Emily Sundberg just gets it. In her daily newsletter (every damn day!), she reports on business trends and what they mean for our lives, and I love how she puts a usually-stoic selfie at the top of each issue. In this deep dive, below, she chats with food writers like Mina Park and Clare de Boer about the state of food media”
—Emily in Feed Me
If the best food editors were found in the offices of Conde Nast (4 Times Square, not 1 WTC, you know better), the best food TikTokers were found at 2am in someone’s walk-up apartment kitchen, and the best food writers on Substack are coming from everywhere.
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COMICS
“Cartoonist Brooke Barker first won my heart with her Instagram account Sad Animal Facts, so I was thrilled to discover her newsletter with cartoons and musings about daily life. I always laugh and come away a little gentler”
—Brooke Barker in Never Not Nervous
Is there anything people think you’re good at that you’re actually faking? In high school, before I developed this system [for remembering names], everyone I met just had personal nicknames in my mind that I never said out loud. “Girl who burns a lot of CDs” and “kid who works at Gap,” people who could have been potential friends if I’d remembered their names.
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BOOKS
“I always devour Tembe Denton-Hurst’s monthly recaps, which are chock-full of personal anecdotes, shopping finds, and book recs. Also, how cute is this detail from her highlight reel? ‘My grandma became a paid subscriber of Extracurricular and then called to tell me she wanted book recommendations. For obvious reasons, this made my whole week’”
—Tembe Denton-Hurst in Extracurricular
I love a rainy day, and March gave us a lot of them. For me a rainy day is explicit communication from the universe that I don’t need to be productive in the way a sunny day demands. A sunny day asks me to go for a walk outdoors or to get out of bed, lest I waste good weather.
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STYLE
“No writer makes me laugh like Hunter Harris. With an encyclopedic knowledge of movies and TV, she never hesitates to dispatch her strongest opinions on everything from Love Is Blind to Leonardo DiCaprio’s dating life. Bonus: She also has great travel and style recs”
—Hunter Harris in Hung Up
What do you watch movies in? Sweatpants? Jeans? God forbid leggings? 99% of the movies I watch I’m wearing Jambys. This color is so good I could not wait for Andrew to remember that I wanted a pair. I ordered them on the website myself. Men have no sense of urgency, and I urgently needed this color.
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PARENTING
“Jenny, Jenny, Jenny. I’ve read her work for decades and I hope to read it for many more. With a warm, reassuring voice, she writes about family life, entertaining friends, and everyday pleasures. Plus, her parenting advice is always spot-on”
—Jenny Rosenstrach in Dinner: A Love Story
As my kids begin to sketch out road maps for their futures, it’s so tempting to say at every juncture: This is how I did it or This is how it was done back then or You have to learn to do it this way. I’m their mother, so it’s impossible to shut off the advice valve completely, but I’m doing my best to actually exercise restraint, to not add to the stress and frustration. Why Am I Talking. WAIT. Try it out with a young adult near you.
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“It’s good to learn from your mistakes. It’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes.” – Warren Buffett I lost my job last month at an overly ambitious digital media startup that billed itself as “The Messenger.” Remember that line from Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster and the first president of what was originally called ‘The Facebook?’ He famousl…
22 days ago · 26 likes · 6 comments · Al Lewis
I dislike sending newsletters! I figured if you wanted to see what I'm teaching, publishing, or if you want to connect with me you’d look on my socials or my website. I figured if you wanted to read my horoscopes, you’d go directly where they were published. I didn’t have anything to send in a newsletter that you couldn’t find elsewhere, so I didn’t fee…
a month ago · 27 likes · 9 comments · Annabel Gat
As a designer I’ve always concerned myself with the end use of my designs. Who would wear it and where? There was always a practical application for my work which now seems démodé. Now as a stylist I’m coming at it from a different angle. Though the runways offer inspiration, little of it is applicable or even obtainable for the needs of my clients (mai…
3 days ago · 1 like · 3 comments · Jolain Muller
Welcome to It Pays the Bills In any given cafe, there’s probably at least one person working on their screenplay. Restaurants are often staffed with actors or singers waiting for their big break; teachers, instructional designers, even civil servants are sometimes creatives trying to survive. Artists are lurking everywhere, hopefully doing these jobs “in…
3 days ago · Cristina Jerney
Welcome, love you, and…watch out! Date Cinnamon Roll Cookies ahead…
4 days ago · 11 likes · 6 comments · Samah Dada
Hello, whether you be weary traveler, kindred spirit, or inquisitive soul – welcome to what I call The 7–10 Split, a mighty coalescence of my varied interests. For those that don’t quite know me yet, I am Theo Kandel, an aspiring(!): songwriter, singer, writer, illustrator, and bowler. I say “aspiring(!)” because I guess I’ll never…
5 days ago · 6 likes · 6 comments · Theo Kandel
 | | Joanna Goddard 2mo Yes yes yes! Parenting is a form of activism. One of my life goals is to raise my two boys to become kind, gentle, open-hearted men. Excited for this next generation of people. | | Parenting is a form of activism. We can change the world based on how we raise our kids. Sometimes, all it takes is a few well-timed questions to get kids to start seeing things…” — Melinda Wenner Moyer | | |
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| | Joanna Goddard 19d A Dress-Up Day to re-style all the clothes in your closet. Love this! | | https://substack.com/@shoprat/note/c-51877580 | | |
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| | Joanna Goddard 1mo How do you comfort a friend after a breakup? Say two words… | | My long-time advice is to say two words: ‘What else?’ It shows that you’ll be there for your friend, patiently and gladly, while they obsess and mourn for as long as it takes. My…” — Joanna Goddard | | |
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 | | Kent Peterson 18h You’ve heard of Little Free Libraries, but does your town have a Free Sled Library? Superior, Wisconsin does. Of course the snow is damn near all gone now but there’s always next year. | |  | | |
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 | | Elif Shafak 8d “As a woman I have no country. As a woman I want no country. As a woman my country is the whole world.” The inimitable, unforgettable Virginia Woolf. It was the anniversary of the day she left this world, every year around this time I whisper her name to the river. | |  | | |
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 | | Cole Haddon 2d I just discovered this hilarious book dedication from Ben Philippe’s novel THE FIELD GUIDE TO THE NORTH AMERICAN TEENAGER (2019). But wow, it’s so good, it almost risks being the thing your whole book is measured against. Imagine spending a year or years writing something only to accidentally overshadow it with history’s most perfect sixteen-word short story! | |  | | |
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 | | James Frio 4d I have never thought of this as a platform to share artwork - Hello, I’m James, an illustrator working in animation. Here is some of my work. If you like this sort of thing, then let’s connect! I’m looking forward to posting more work here :) | |  | | |
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 | | Margaret Atwood 8d Thank you, but I didn’t actually get cancelled in any meaningful way. Valiant attempts were made to drown me (figuratively), but since I don’t have a job I can’t be fired, I’m a tough old bat, I’m too elderly to give much of a poop about my future “career,” it’s not the first hanging party and book-burning featuring myself, and it seems that my Dear Readers were having none of it. Thank you, Dear Readers. It is for… | | |
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Substack Reads is a weekly roundup of writing, ideas, art, and audio from the world of Substack. Posts are recommended by staff and readers, and this week’s edition was curated by Joanna Goddard and edited by Substack’s Hannah Ray. Subscribe to Joanna’s Substack Big Salad, and follow @cupofjo on Instagram.
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