Our kids never had birthday parties. Let me rephrase that, for they’ve had more than their fair share, to be honest. But they were between our different sides of the family, combined with cousins or not, and even packaged up with holiday picnics. My kids don’t suffer a lack of fanfare; but we haven’t thrown … [Read more…]
Can you believe it? 3 years ago today I felt compelled to put myself out into the universe through this blog and here I am today, transformed by the experience. What an amazing journey this has taken me on! As the story goes, when I started this blog, it was at the beginning of my … [Read more…]
Gâteau Basque is a cross between a cake, a cookie, and a pie and supposedly originated in the Basque region of France. There are two versions, according to Joe Pastry: the Basque version with a cherry filling and the French version with pastry cream. While I adore pastry cream, since I already had an abundance … [Read more…]
I expected to be a little more refined by this point in my life. To have moved on from the struggling 20s to a sense of being more settled, having matured and grown up. Instead, I find the bar is still far out of reach and while I keep trying, I swear someone is moving … [Read more…]
My blueberry bushes are starting to ripen, green berries changing to shades of light pink to deep purple. I hope we can harvest some this year; last year, the birds got to them first. Clearly they were delicious. Blueberries are pretty easy to grow, especially dwarf varieties. Put them in large containers and be sure … [Read more…]
Changes of season are a mixed blessing for me. While I love seeing how the world is constantly evolving, working its way through the growth cycle, it tends to bring a very negative side effect to me: sinusitis. Any time the weather rapidly alters, a sinus infection sets in. This has been my norm since … [Read more…]
When I first joined #BundtaMonth, I thought I’d have problems coming up with reasons to bake a cake every month. I was wrong. I should have remembered: we like to party at work. Or eat, at least. Nobody ever turns down cake there. This month’s theme was tropical cakes, which fit in quite nicely with … [Read more…]
I never was a huge cake fan, always preferring brownies or cookies to the mess inherent with cakes. But it may just be because, for most of my life, the only cake I ate was the kind that came out of a box. Bonus points for ease of use, and always exceptionally moist, but also … [Read more…]
You know Old Man Winter will be here soon when the crates of clementines start making their appearance at grocery stores. Winter time is clementine time, and I am grateful for them. Easily peeled little bursts of flavor, they’re inexpensive and well-loved by my spawn. We have them in the fridge as long as we can … [Read more…]
It’s dark these days. Very dark. I wake up before dawn. I leave for work just as the sun is starting to make its way over the hill behind our house. And by the time my work day is complete, it’s dark again. Winter will be upon us soon, though I can feel the oppression … [Read more…]