Recommended Reading / 20.

Every Monday, words to start the week. 

This week: an essay entitled "Sweet Southern Dreams" from Saveur three winters ago, in which food editor Ben Mims beautifully recalls the elaborate layer cakes of his Southern youth — red velvet, walnut spice, a legendary coconut — while also telling the story of coming out to his mother at the age of 25. I came across it while reading James Oseland's recommendations for best cookbooks of 2014 and loved it instantly. Oseland, the magazine's former editor-in-chief, calls it his "favorite Saveur story of all time." See for yourself, here.

A few more, just because:
-Whiskey toothpaste.
-"The History of 'Loving' to Read".
-The oldest living things in the world include 80,000 year old trees in Utah, and 100,000 year old sea grass in the waters off of Spain.
-And finally, my favorite ice cream shop in the city is serving breakfast through the month of February, including a sundae made with yogurt and apricot sorbet, and a sweet take on the biggest trend in toast: avocado ice cream on Japanese white bread with condensed milk, olive oil, and sea salt. Mmm.

More recommended reading, here. Image by Todd Coleman for Saveur.