The Weekly Wrap: January 11, 2026

Our freezer has four different kinds of baked goods in it right now. There are two breakfast items - peanut butter oatmeal muffins and an astounding number of cream scones. There are also two kinds of cookies - snickerdoodles and chocolate ginger. Oh! And I just now remembered the four mini sweet breads my mom brought for the holidays.

I have a love hate relationship with these items.

I hate how much space all of this takes up. We have a large freezer, but the many Ziploc bags of baked goods amount to about a quarter of our storage space. I hate that I forget these items are in there so they stick around for a long time. And, when I do remember them, I hate how easy it is to give myself a treat. 

At the same time, I love that we have these treats on hand. It's so easy to pull out one or two individual items and defrost them from whoever wants them. Breakfast on a busy morning? Solved. A quick afternoon sweet? Don't mind if I do! I love that we save money by using what's on hand instead of buying something from the myriad of local bakeries. Most importantly, I love that freezing things reduces our food waste. Nothing goes stale on the counter, or grows mold and ends up in our compost bin.

So, yes, the freezer is crowded. And, yes, I sometimes side-eye it when I’m digging around for whatever I need to defrost for the next day's dinner. But, overall, it feels like a small trade-off for convenience, savings, and less waste.

How do you handle "excess" baked goods?

---

• You can't pay attention to everything. [WSJ - may be paywalled]
• Our accents are slipping away. [The Atlantic - gift link]
• This was inevitable in the design. [Embedded]
• Consider having more than one email address. [Lifehacker]
• The power of daydreaming. [WaPo - gift link]

• The ghost in the trees. [Atlas Obscura]
• Build your community. It's worth it. [Life Kit]
• Let's build many more mini forests. [Short Wave]

• We finished the last three episodes of Top Guns: The Next Generation. I lost track of how many times we giggled when things looked ripped from Top Gun: Maverick. There are also hints of the soundtrack playing all over the place. This may have been a rah-rah, armed forces documentary, but it was still a great piece of storytelling. It highlighted just how difficult it is to become a fighter pilot. [Hulu]

• I liked the outcome of this baked feta mushroom pasta but, for how much work it is, I expected more. There are several different steps to putting this together. I do wonder if you could get away with less intermittent mixing. Also, I added extra black pepper to my bowl and it helped oomph up the flavor. [Eating Well]
• Sweet and spicy gochujang chicken bowls was another new recipe. It was also less prissy and quite flavorful. I love how fast stir fries come together. I honestly eyeballed most of the ingredients, but things turned out great. There need to be more nuts in hot dishes. They're such a good addition in terms of both flavor and texture. [Ambitious Kitchen]