This week...

...was snow showers and afternoon tea, the first Lilac leaves unfurling and dense carpets of blue flowers, sunlight and long shadows late into the evening, full moons and oh so, so many walks...

My Latest Consignment Store Scores...

Eight brand new, tags-still on, IKEA placemats. Two beautifully shaped Pfaltzgraff mixing bowls. An antiqued wire basket. And a Shabby Chic brand bed tray with folding legs. Needless to say... I am pretty excited.

The first delicate flowers of Spring...

Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.

-Roger Miller 

Deep thoughts, on a Spring day, curtesy of C.S. Lewis

"My own experience is something like this. I am progressing along the path of life in my ordinary, contentedly fallen and godless condition, absorbed in a merry meeting with my friends for the morrow or a bit of work that tickles my vanity today, a holiday or a new book, when suddenly a stab of abdominal pain that threatens serious disease or a headline in the newspapers that threatens us all with destruction, sends this whole pack of cards tumbling down. At first I am overwhelmed, and all my little happinesses look like broken toys. Then, slowly and reluctantly, bit by bit, I try to bring myself into the frame of mind that I should be in at all times. I remind myself that all these toys were never intended to possess my heart, that my true good is in another world and my only real treasure is Christ. And perhaps, by God's grace, I succeed, and for a day or two become a creature drawing its strength from the right sources. But the moment the threat is withdrawn, my whole nature leaps back to the toys: I am even anxious, God forgive me, to banish from my mind the only thing that supported me under the threat because it is now associated with the misery of those few days. Thus the terrible necessity of tribulation is only too clear. God has had me for but forty-eight hours and then only by dint of taking everything else away from me. Let him but sheathe that sword for a moment and I behave like a puppy when the hated bath is over - I shake myself as dry as I can and race off to reacquire my comfortable dirtiness, if not in the nearest manure heap, at least in the nearest flower bed. And that is why tribulations cannot cease until God either sees us remade or sees that our remaking is now hopeless."

- C.S. Lewis. From the book The Problem of Pain.

Anyone who knows me well knows how much I absolutely ADORE C.S. Lewis. My day doesn't end until I have read at least a small portion from one of his many books. (His non-fiction works, I should specify...) In fact, so encompassing is my obsession that at the age of two my daughter would sit and pretend 'read' from my cookbooks and if you asked her what she was doing her prompt answer was "reading Lewis." His wise words have comforted me during so many difficult times in my life. And they have also encouraged, strengthened and calmed. But in the last several weeks, during national tragedies, local heartaches and personal loss he has challenged me. For his above experience is, of course, mine. As it is everyones. So when we wonder, when we question, when we look around us with disbelieving eyes at so much unstoppable sadness and suffering and grief and words seem to fail us, we need to remember there is a reason. God is at work. He is endeavoring to show us, as many times as it takes, the utter brokenness of our beloved toys before it is too late. 

This week...

...was starting seeds in egg cartons and hanging laundry out to dry, yard work and mud-caked wellingtons, pancakes and popcorn, lemon blossoms and Tulips almost, nearly, finally ready to bloom.

This week...

...was brunches with dearest friends and princess ballerina birthday parties, walks in the spring rain and early morning thunderstorms, afternoon naps and cookie dough fudge, shopping trips and girl's night out on the town...

Spoon and level

This is Cookie Dough Fudge. And it is delicious. Dangerously so. Especially when eaten on yet another dreary, drizzly day. Especially when eaten off a Wedgwood saucer. 

Look at it sitting there. It seems the very soul of decadence, doesn’t it? But what if I were to tell you there isn’t one ‘bad’ ingredient in it. Not one. No butter. No sugar. No flour or eggs or milk. Don’t believe me? Check out the recipe for yourself. And then make some. 

You don’t have to save it for dreary, drizzly days. (Though good luck finding one that isn’t this April...) And you don’t have to eat it off a Wedgwood saucer. I do however recommend making half a batch to begin with. Because you’ll want to eat it all in about a day and having a smaller quantity might enable you, as it did me, to pace yourself.  And I also recommend freezing it. So it stays more fudge-like and doesn’t start to melt away on you. And also so that you, too, can leave satisfying little teeth marks behind when you bite into it.


http://www.tgipaleo.com/2012/12/16/cookie-dough-fudge/

"April is the cruelest month...

...breeding lilacs out of the dead land,

mixing memory and desire,

stirring dull roots with spring rain."

T.S. Eliot

I don't know if I agree that April is exactly 'cruel' but the waiting and the watching and the pooling puddles of muddy water mocking me from the very spot I so want to start planting my garden do seem a bit hard to take at times.

This week...

...was Blueberry cookies and Easter lunches, hunting for plastic eggs and bright baskets of candy, spring dresses and open-toed shoes, starry nights and cloudless days, Snowdrops and Crocuses, picnics on deserted, windswept beaches and the freshest maple syrup tasting like golden, liquid, springtime sun...

Spoon and Level

March is typically one big birthday party around here. But this year, with my husband hitting a rather ‘milestone’ age we pulled out all the stops. At least dessert wise. A lover of all things pumpkin is my husband. So when I came across the recipe for the above Cinnamon Cheesecake cupcakes with Pumpkin Pie frosting I just knew they’d fit the bill. And boy, did they ever. Filled with all the stuff I don’t eat, for me they have been merely a visual delight. But my daughter and my husband have been raving.

They are fun to make. Quite fun. The best part being the scooping of an entire, beautifully smooth and of course void of any cracks, crustless pumpkin pie into a pastry bag. And using it as the frosting. Because when the recipe says pumpkin pie frosting, it isn’t being coy. It’s literally Pumpkin pie frosting. And seriously, what’s not to love about that?

(As I side note I made the cheesecake crusts gluten free by simply using gluten free gingersnaps.) 


http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/cinnamon-mini-cheesecakes-with-pumpkin-pie-frosting/

This week...

...was more daffodils and pumpkin bars, cinnamon cheesecakes and colored eggs, warmer, sunny days and cold, moonlit nights, breakfasts with friends and new dresses for Easter, bike rides and windy morning walks...

Spoon and Level

For Easter lunch with my husband's family I made the above cookies...Buttery Blueberry Pancake Cookies. They were quite delicious and completely allergen free. You'll find the recipe below. I did end up adding my own twist though. Any recipe with the word 'pancake' in it seems, only naturally, to need syrup. So I heated, over med heat, about 1/4 of a cup of coconut sugar, 2 drops almond extract and a good-ish drizzle of vanilla together. Then I added 2-ish TBS of coconut butter (Earth Balance brand...) and stirred continuously until the mixture bubbled like molten lava. Then just a pinch of sea salt... (Don't you like how exact I am with my measurements? Can you believe I used to find it impossible to cook without a detailed recipe? I've come a long way, apparently.)...and you're done. Just spoon it over the cooled cookies and pop them all in the fridge to chill. Perfect.


http://realsustenance.com/buttery-blueberry-pancake-cookies-glutengraineggstarchsoy-free-with-directions-to-make-sugar-free/