Light and Love

Many people have asked why it is that I stopped writing and disappeared from the blogosphere for so many months.  My first answer was that things had ceased to make me happy so I simply had nothing to write about. 

Life has changed drastically, many times over, since last I posted and while this statement was honest, it was too simple.  Rather, I seem to have lost my way and instead of subjecting you to all the gory details, I will instead talk about the international network of family and friends that helped me back to where I now stand.

I don’t think we ever realize how truly blessed we are by these networks of love and light until whatever crisis we are dealing with is so big that we cease to give anything back.  Instead, it becomes a one-way relationship of unending support, met by the same bleak, negative, pit of despair response.  Far from self-pitying, it is simply that hard to see past the darkness sometimes.  But coming out on the other side of it and realizing that it was those who love you most that kept you going, regardless of what you couldn’t give them at the time, is truly humbling and inspiring.

So instead of describing my woes and the harrowing adventures that brought me here, I would like to thank my family and friends for their endless support and say to you, that it is because of your love and belief in me that I can once again begin to stand on my own and believe in myself.

In short, I am back, no, I have arrived at a new beginning; not because of what I experienced but because of the people who helped me through it. 

Thank you.  I cannot think of a better way to kick off the Christmas season than to acknowledge that I would not be the same without you.

Merry Christmas

~ Let your faith be bigger than your fear; faith in yourself, faith in the unknown, and faith in others.

Things I Should Not Have Done

Cooking is for once, among the ill fated categories of things better left alone; specifically cajun cooking.  I can cook a basic étouffée, crab cakes, and the best beignets you've ever had but mention the word cajun and expect 'chargrilled' instead of 'blackened' and 'roof-of-your mouth burning' instead of 'mouth watering.'

What my 'cajun blackened, trout po-boy,' should have looked like...

We all have that one thing we just cannot cook or bake and sadly I attempted mine this past evening.  What started out as an attempt to throw proverbial caution to the wind and master my food nemesis, ended up a, for once not chargrilled, but overly salted and peppered, fried trout mess.  Being my stubborn self, I ate it anyway as it was not completely inedible and jubilantly ran it all off this morning.

What it more closely resembled.

I bring this to light, not as an adventure or inspirational feature but as the comical musings of a sleep deprived grad student, obviously just close enough to the edge of crazy to cook something that I know will end up looking like the charcoal it was supposed to be grilled over.

I think i'll leave the cajun food to the experts and happily wander back to my soups, salads, non-blackened main dishes, and of course, baking : )

The 'Best,' Chocolate Chip Cookie Ever

A recent trend I have noticed is that everyone seems to be posting about their discovery of the absolute best chocolate chip cookie recipe they have ever come across.  Now for those who think that the oven is just another out-of-season, sweater storage device (don't laugh, i've seen it!) this is nothing even remotely earth shattering but for those of us who number among the baking obsessed, it's downright frustrating.

I discovered my ultimate chocolate chip recipe and posted it here, last Autumn.  I have seen two more come up in just the last week here and here.  Fortunately, I have another get-together coming up this weekend so I think i'll give the less complicated one a try and we'll see who's cookie comes out on top (yes, I admit to my laziness but blame it on Summer ; ).

I'm sure there are many more of you out there with 'ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipes,' to share so please post yours as well!

Bacon Chocolate Chip cookies?  This would have never
occurred to me but apparently some people love them!

Happy Wednesday everyone!  It's been a crazy week thus far and we're only half-way there but at least I will have plenty of stories to tell when it's over.

Things I Did Not Do Yesterday

Yesterday I did not do an amazing amount of work on my dissertation so that a magical, fully outlined copy is now resting on the desk in front of me....ahem...

One framboise and one pistache macaron from
Paul's Bakery

Instead, I recovered from my bout of under-the-weatherness with my favorite macarons from Paul (only had one because they are huge!  Perhaps i'll switch to Laduree next time), a breakfast pizza for dinner, and a bottle of wine from my absolute favorite region of France, Burgundy.

Attempt number two at this recipe.  I know some people might
be grossed out by the eggs but don't let the addition fool you.
I had this for the first time in Italy and I thought it was going
to be gross as well but it's absolute heaven when you get it right!

It was a strange sort of combination for a strange sort of day but overall it was heaven with a mix of things I have either been meaning to make again or just plain missed.

I don't normally post about wine
or alcohol but it is so hard to find
a good burgundy outside of France
and I missed it so much that I finally
went looking for one.

I hope everyone is having a good week thus far and looking forward to Friday!

Mexican Food in England

The answer to this is that there is precious little, at least as far as my tex-mex taste buds are concerned.  You can imagine my trepidation then when I was overtaken by a sudden craving for Mexican food during a late afternoon review session yesterday with only the knowledge of a Cantina Laredo, the Texas Embassy, and a Chipotle, all fairly far from my location.

I probably looked quite odd searching for Mexican takeaway on my laptop whilst revising but after a bit of research courtesy of Google, I found quite a few fast food places nearby and settled on one promisingly named Mas Burritos.

Venturing to the restaurant, I obtained a burrito massive enough to feed a small army.  It was incredibly tasty and I am glad to say that my estimation of London's Mexican food is much improved.

As an additional plus, I will have left over burrito for quite a while!

Happy Wednesday everyone, we're halfway there!

Baking Insanity

This message will be brief as it is already 2:30 am (running a little late ; P ) and I am typing with one hand, given a very ungainly spill in the park this morning while running that has left me annoyingly slower than usual.

Regardless of my lack of normal speed, today's multitasking has finally finished, albeit later than originally planned.  All in all, I have tackled a new raspberry scone recipe (I added the raspberries in but you can use pretty much any fruit you want) and sugar cookie recipe, followed by a hopefully successful frosting recipe tomorrow morning.

Here's to a bit of sleep and a lovely day, celebrating the royal wedding with a good dose of my baking insanity thrown in for good measure.

Ps. The caramel shortbread bars turned out great!  The most helpful comments were the ones that suggested letting the chocolate cool before pouring it onto the colder caramel and bringing them up to room temperature before cutting them.

Caramel Chocolate Shotbread

Tonight I am starting on this classic recipe for a British treat to be served at the royal wedding (I cringe to say that) party on Friday.  It's an easy but quite long process so though I am not looking forward to it terribly much, they should be incredibly tasty when they're done and perfect for Friday!

Tomorrow will be more late night baking so that I can take full advantage of sleeping in on Friday.  I'll keep you posted on my delicious insanity; wish me luck!