The other evening I started writing a list of things I miss lately—but upon returning to it, I’ve decided on a different approach. Rather than talk about them wistfully, as if they’re too far gone, I’m going to talk about how much I like them. I’m going to catalog them as beautiful, shimmering, bright moments to look forward to, because they are all small things that I’ll happily encounter soon enough.
Read moreLEMON GOOEY BUTTER CAKE
Is it really dinner if there isn’t any dessert?
Rational adult answer: Yes, yes, it certainly is. Honest adult answer: Frankly, no. Not at all. Dessert is the “closure” to a meal, and if romantic comedies have taught us anything, we all need closure.
Sure, I’ve usually got frozen cookie dough balls waiting at the ready in our freezer to be baked off at the last minute (and by baked off I mean eaten frozen and raw by twos and threes in his case, or in my case, dug through and mined for the chocolate chips. Oops). And yes, there's generally a pint of ice cream tucked behind the frozen peas.
Read moreSOURDOUGH FOCACCIA
A few things I’ve learned lately—some small and some big—might be useful to pass along to the world at large (that’s you). We’re always learning, aren’t we? At least, I hope we are. I hope I’m able to remain open to adapting, to changing, to letting in new ideas and habits and ways of being. I hope I become more and more flexible as I move through the world. If nothing else, the present crisis has forced me—and most of us—into this by necessity. We can’t hold onto, or replicate, the same patterns of our lives, and so we adapt to new ones.
Read moreCardamom Sourdough Banana Bread
What’s the mood in your kitchen these days? Are you experimenting more? Baking bread when you never did before? Making cakes for absolutely no reason and then, obviously, eating them all while pretending you’re really just “sampling” a few bites here and there until BOOM…the cake pan is scraped clean? Maybe you’re really quite sick of cooking altogether and feeling as if life is one giant parade of dirty dishes begging to be washed. Maybe you’re somewhere in the middle: just getting by, cooking the same general things, riffing more simply out of necessity and lack of normal grocery access. Maybe you’re getting adventurous with more time at home to finally cook your way through Ina Garten’s Instagram feed—massive cocktails and all—and discovering that you can, in fact, make anything from fresh gnocchi to biscuits to a killer chocolate cake all from scratch.
Read moreEGG YOLK CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Let me preface this entire post by saying in an official capacity as a responsible human being (and employee of a flour company): DO NOT EAT RAW COOKIE DOUGH. But in my unofficial capacity as a real human being with thoughts and feelings and tastebuds: raw cookie dough is an unparalleled delicacy and should be awarded seventeen Michelin stars, if that were a thing.
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