Strawberry banana bread and bell hooks on the work of self-love

A sliced loaf of strawberry banana bread (Image by Immaculate Bites)

Welcome to installment #57 of GetSomeJoy’s Daily Breakfast Situation, a weekday check-in with recipes, joy-flavored stories, and tools for thriving.

I been gone for a minute, now I’m back with the jump-off. Shoutout to taking breaks when your spirit feels ashy and weary.

This past Sunday, GetSomeJoy launched another four-week Literary Therapy series. In each session, we use mindfulness, introspective writing, and group discussion to center joy, tap into our creativity, and cultivate tools for thriving in this raggedy moment in history.

This time, we started with “Caregiving, Creative Outlets, and Joy Action Plans” because it can be easy to forget or overlook our needs while pouring into people we love. I’m thankful for everyone who came through to write and share about navigating the emotions and responsibilities of giving and receiving care.

Come write about feelings (and guilt, shame and grace) with me this Sunday @ 3pm EST. Register here.

This Sunday, we unpack and reframe how we talk to and about ourselves during “Literary Therapy: Guilt, Shame and Grace.” You should join us.

Anyhow, after making two days of dishes disappear, I had a giant bowl of buttery grits with smoked Gouda, bacon and my last hash brown crisped to perfection in the air fryer, and scrambled eggs with sautéed onions and peppers for breakfast. With a cup of Café Bustelo. And some pushups!

But for now: a strawberry banana bread recipe from Immaculate Bites because you is important.

Strawberry banana bread. She know she fine. (Image by Immaculate Bites)

Here’s how Imma describes it:

Strawberry Banana Bread is the go-to comfort food that works as a breakfast, dessert, or snack. you’ve got an over-the-top good-for-everything quick bread.

This excites me in an I-gasped-and-reached-for-my-nipple kind of way because I’d never considered adding strawberries to banana bread. Nuts? Chile, I guess. Chocolate? Fa sho. Descendants of certain coastal villages in Hell add raisins. But this was made for me. You never know where your next blessing is coming from.

Now, I’m fantasizing about a blueberry-banana bust down. Or sprinkling in some lemon, lime, or orange zest to brighten shit up?

Or maybe letting my homegirl, Miss Finely Diced Candied Ginger, run free all up and through the dancerie?

Me + Myself, agreeing to all the above

I trust you’ll make the right decision.

Strawberry Banana Bread

A few things to moisturize your spirit:

• Have you listened to Miss Mojo’s Juicy EP? She says it “invites its listeners into the world of a Fat Black Trans femcee from Brooklyn NYC as she navigates, lust, love, and reclamation.” Get your life right here.

• This week, the world lost a generous, brilliant, courageous giant whose love changed my life. Author and activist bell hooks (Gloria Jean Watkins) passed away at the age of 69, leaving behind a massive library of life-changing work and immeasurable impact on those who encountered her words. In 2013, she spoke to Shondaland’s Abigail Bereola about the difficult yet rewarding work of self-love.

Self-love begins with taking that fearless inventory where you’re able to go into the attic or the closet of yourself and see what’s there. What do you appreciate about yourself? How do you interact with other people?

Tough Love With bell hooks

• Kevin Pang of America’s Test Kitchen and his father Jeffrey Pang made shumai in the debut episode of their Chinese home cooking show, Hunger Pangs.

Dassit. Come back next week for more breakfast positivity.

Step into the GetSomeJoy Universe to keep the party going.

Literary Therapy Winter Series