Hello and happy Friday everyone! Hope you all had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend! I’m looking forward to sleeping in a bit. I’m also hoping to catch up on my house work (blah), do some meal planning, grocery shopping and do a post or two for next week :) I have so many posts planned! I just need to set aside some time to get them done!
My week was a mixture of both celebration and of loss. This week, a dear friend of mine passed away after a year-long battle with cancer. My heart is so very sad, but I am happy she will no longer suffer. I wish her family peace and comfort during this difficult time. She will be greatly missed by so many people. She was one of the most lovely, funny people I’ve ever met. A heart of true gold! She always made me feel so welcome in her life and I’ll never forget her. In her passing, she has taught me one last lesson – life is too short to delay doing what you want to do. It’s a lesson I already knew, but her passing has reinforced the urgency. I’m going to try and start working towards goals I’ve been putting off and dedicate my (hopeful) success to her honour.
This week, we also celebrated my mom’s birthday . Last night, my family and I went to a fantastic restaurant called La Fiesta. La Fiesta is an El Salvadorian restaurant that sells the most delicious pupusas. Yum! For dessert, the owner brought out my mom a slice of their pineapple molasses cake dusted with cinnamon. Wow. It was unreal.
Any way…down to business. For those of you who’ve followed The Fig Tree for a while, you may remember I used to post my favourite links from the week in a series called “Link Love” every Friday. I had a lot of fun putting those posts together each week and spotlighting some of my favourite bloggers. I’ve decided to start the feature up again, but will now call it “Friday Favourites” – so that I can also make mention of music, books, ingredients, blogs, posts, products etc I’m loving. So, let’s get this started! :)
I love a good cauliflower curry! This Cauliflower Chickpea Cashew Curry from The Curvy Carrot looks amazing! And this Cauliflower Yellow Lentil Curry from Pinch of Yum….yum indeed!
Looking for the perfect, healthy dessert!? Check out Roasted Bananas with Toasted Coconut by A Couple Cooks. Also be sure to check out their new initiative (that I think is just great!): The Healthy + Whole Project.
One of my favourite cookbook authors, Chloe Coscarelli, has released a fantastic new dessert cookbook: Chloe’s Vegan Desserts. It’s awesome. It’s rare to find a cookbook where I want to make every single recipe. Her vegan cream brûlée recipe looks to-die-for!
My friend Caitlin (aka. The Vegan Chickpea) posted this incredibly delicious looking Ratatouille Stew this week. I’m drooling! And if you’re craving something sweet, you have to make these Biscoff Chocolate Cupcakes from Once Upon A Cutting Board.
Check out Emilie’s tutorial on making homemade ricotta! I cannot wait to try this out.
An awesome, easy tutorial on Whiperberry: DIY Faux Slate Chalkboard Photo Background. Love the look of this!
Kristy’s recap on Keepin’ It Kind of her culinary adventures in NYC recently has me desperate to move to NYC.
This past week I watched Perks of Being a Wallflower and I adored it. Fantastic characters and a strong storyline. Days after watching the movie, I still was thinking about it. Highly recommended!
Looking for a good book to read? I’m currently in the middle of Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris. Very interesting plot line!
And finally, this week I’m loving music by Passenger – a fantastic singer, song-writer from the UK.
i’m so sorry to hear about your friend, courtney <3 it must be such a hard time and your positive outlook is amazing.
i was actually thinking recently that i missed your friday round-ups. thanks for including me in this one <3 such amazing links you also included!
i've been wanting to see perks of being a wallflower. i have to convince dayv to watch it soon ;)
Thanks Caitlin. It’s been a tough few days thinking about my friend and her family left behind. Just reminds me how fragile life is and how we need to take on each day with optimism and energy.
I missed doing the round-ups. I’m glad you remembered my friday round-ups from last spring. It was so much fun putting those together every week. And you HAVE to watch Perks of Being A Wallflower. I have a feeling you’ll love it as much as I did :)
Thanks for sharing my link; I’m excited to see this feature and look forward to more! Also so sorry to hear about your friend, but what a lovely tribute you wrote to her.
You are most welcome! Those cupcakes look amazing! I cannot wait to give them a try. I love biscoff! :)
And thank you. It’s been a tough few days thinking of my friend and her family. Life is just too short.
Hey Courtney, I’m very sorry to learn about your dear friend :( My condolences.
I think it’s great that you can still see some positive out of a difficult situation. Life IS short, and I’m glad your friend had so many friends and family who loved her in her own life.
Thanks Stephanie :) It’s so very true. When I think of how many people her passing has affected, I’m humbled by just how many lives she’s touched. She had so many wonderful friends, family members, co-workers etc. She definitely made a difference in many lives.
YAY for Friday Favorites – so happy this is back!