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/

HAPPY EASTER

"...Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time."

- Martin Luther.

Before the bustle and the brunches, the colored eggs and the chocolate bunnies, the new dresses and the dreaded ties we should all take a moment and remember what the Easter season is really about. 

Death. 

It is about death. And only when you remember that fact, when you reflect on the blackness of sin and suffering and death sentences does the glory and beauty and wonder of the resurrection truly stand out. 

So soon enough we will sing and celebrate. But for today...? For today we grieve.

If February finds me reading Jane Austen, March and April typically find me yearning for a little bit more modern British authors. Like P.G. Wodehouse, Rosamunde Pilcher, Agatha Christie. A few days spent reading about weekends in the country, afternoon tea, armfuls of daffodils, the lambing season, wools and tweeds and misty morning walks down green and deserted lanes and I am more than ready for the oftentimes slow in coming, most times downright elusive Wisconsin Spring. And I am also filled with fond reminiscences of the Spring I spent, 8 years ago now, in England and Scotland.

This week...

San Diego

...was citrus trees and birds-of-paradise, not checking email and not setting alarms, early morning mocking birds and late night tacos, tidal pools and sea lions, dolphins and rattlesnakes, ocean kayaking and ferry rides, oh so much sunburn and even more salt water...

This week...

...was phone calls from friends and a new hair cut, returning blackbirds and foggy morning drives, candlelight suppers and rosy sunrises, packed suitcases and early morning flights to warmer places...