1) thank you thank you and thank you to all the nice and reassuring comments about my danish. thanks for using words like pretty and yummy and delicious. it made me feel tons better. you guys rooooooooock.

2) okay. brace yourselves for this one. because it took me a while to decide if I should let you all in on this or not. when Craig moved in, he brought with him his PS2. and a little game called…God of War. and I’ve been playing it somewhat (read: completely) obsessively since Sunday. and I won it last night (woot woot!). but now…there’s God of War 2. and it’s the reason why I even played the first one. because they incorporate all these mythological characters and stories and I just love mythology. so that’s where I’ve been.

let me make it perfectly clear. I haven’t been posting because I’ve been playing a video game. (what have I become?!)

for the June Daring Bakers Challenge (my second round as a D.B.), we made Danish Braids.

I wish I had wonderful praises to sing of this Danish. I wish I could use words like flaky and buttery, or divine and delicious. but I’d be lying if I did. because my Danish Braid was a Danish flop. as a matter of fact, the Danish would probably appreciate it if I didn’t lump my baked good into the category of “great things that come from Denmark” (the only other that comes to mind being one Prince Hamlet).

and it’s okay. really. I’m not going to be all bitter and grumpy about it. I mean, I can just blame it on the weather, right? at +70% humidity most days, I think that seems fair.

wonder what we’re making next month…

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be sure to check out some of the other goodies created by other spectacular members of the Daring Bakers Blogroll!

Craig’s apartment was broken into while we were away. for the second time. a backwards sort of “welcome home” present.

we’ve packed up most of his belongings and moved him to a safer place (i.e. my apartment), so I’ll be spending the next few nights merging our belongings, fluffing up the nest, and trying to help him feel more at home (and safe). will have goodies for you when I return. promises.

in approximately 1.5 hours, Craig and I will be cruising our way to a cabin on a lake in Kentucky. waiting for us there will be my favorite members of his family, a couple jet skis, the promise of sun+water (and hopefully a little snackie — 5 hour drive can make a girl hungry). it’s my first official vacation of the summer and I couldn’t be more excited.

I do hope you all have such a great weekend. try to get in a walk in the sun (or clouds, if you don’t have such great luck), a couple chapters from a good book (try David Sedaris’ new one–hilarious), and definitely a couple good bites to eat (or drink). cheerio!

from this day forward, I will be eternally gratefully to one ms. Natalie of Perry’s Plate. though she doesn’t know it, ms. Natalie introduced me to Microsoft OneNote, the answer to my digital recipe mess. no more will I have recipes saved in folders on my hard drive, bookmarked on my favorites list, pinned in my bloglines, and saved to my kaboodle. no more will I waste my precious time searching for something inspiring, something with avacado, something I saw two weeks ago and was that on Orangette or Smitten Kitchen?

now, every recipe that you beauties share with me gets tucked into my virtual notebook, under a virtual tab, on a virtual page. and if you’re nice enough to provide a pretty picture, well I can just drag&drop that sucker on there.

thankyouthankyouthankyou, ms. Natalie. you win.

more and more, I’m finding myself thinking about pizza. I’m pretty sure it’s because someone talks about all the great varieties she enjoys so much. once I figured out how easy it was to whip up my own crust (thin crust = no rise!), there was pretty much no stopping me from adding it into the weekly rotation.

I try to keep things pretty light when it comes to my pizza (a much tougher feat when Craig-the-carnivore is involved in the process), and it doesn’t get much lighter than the tasty number I tossed together after coming home from the gym a few nights ago. I didn’t have much on hand, just a can of petite diced tomatoes and some parmesan cheese. but those combined on top of a crust seasoned with garlic, basil, and olive oil turned into the perfect meal to enjoy while watching a couple episodes of Weeds and relaxing through a quiet evening with mr.cat.

basil+garlic whole wheat thin crust pizza
{courtesy of dLife}

3/4 to 1 cup all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon quick-rise active dry yeast (I used regular)
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup very warm water (120˚ to 130ºF)
1 teaspoon yellow cornmeal

Whisk together 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, yeast, basil and salt.

In a small cup blend the oil with garlic and stir with water into the flour mixture. Take 1/4 cup all-purpose flour and stir it into the mixture until dough forms that is soft and slightly sticky, adding 1/4 cup of the remaining flour if necessary to prevent mixture from sticking.

On a lightly floured surface knead the dough for about 5 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Take the dough and shape into a ball then cover the ball with an inverted bowl or clean towel and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Place oven rack on the lowest position possible and preheat to 400ºF. Take a 12-inch pizza pan or baking sheet and spray with nonstick cooking spray then sprinkle with cornmeal and set aside. On a lightly floured surface roll the dough into a large circle and transfer to the prepared pan, and then stretch the dough so it reaches out to the edge of the pan. (If the dough is rolled too much it becomes heavy and dense so it is best to stretch the dough to fit the pan.)

Adorn with your favorite toppings and bake 20-25 minutes. Enjoy!

*I did not bake the crust before adding the toppings, but afterward I wish I had. It wasn’t quite as crispy as I had hoped, but that was also partly because my rumbling tummy forced me to pull the pizza out and devour it a little preemptively (whoops).

it’s not you; it’s me.

last week, I suddenly realized that it was June. and somewhere in my daily blog-readings I read “June is the new January” and that idea has been riding around in my pocket every day since then. and I’ve been realizing more and more that the hollow, somewhat-lonely feeling that haunts my first morning minutes is one of discontent and a lack of fulfillment. and I’ve been wondering what steps to take to fill up those holes and rediscover that sense of purpose that used to move me swiftly along through each day.

(”into the light {at home in the light}” by blue algae creative)

passion.

balance.

simplicity.

I need more of these in my life, I realized. I was forgetting what I loved.

so I’ve been on something of an “internet diet.” cutting back on the info-overload I was trying to take in each day. making more time for life off-line. for walks to the wine shop down the street, for making pizza, for stitching up my very first quilt, for embroidering with aqua thread, for overdosing on netflix instant queue, for reading books that remind me why I wanted to write in the first place.

I’m still working on it. but I’ve got a plan for this little bloggie that I think will help me to create a neat little braid of those elements I’ve been lacking. stick with me. I’m at my best in the summertime.

last night I ate rhubarb/strawberry pie (with ice cream) for dinner. and a pickle.

not because I don’t believe in proper nutrition. and not because I was low on options.

I ate pie for dinner because, in the midst of making said pie, I talked to my mom and learned about my grandma’s breast cancer. and even though it’s just a tiny little bump to be removed by a tiny little bit of surgery and a tiny stint of radiation, it still stops my heart and chokes my throat. because it’s one more case in my family history of cancer. one more standard procedure that could escalate into something terrible.

I don’t really know how pie and pickles fit into this equation. all I know is that my heart hurts.

I have this pinboard hanging on the wall above mr.cat’s favorite chair. it’s full of mostly sepia-tinted images and a few poems on yellowed pages torn from my two favorite poetry books. there’s something very nostalgic about it all. something that makes my heart hurt a little, that makes me ache a bit for days long gone and emotions of the past. my favorite piece in the collage is a small scrap of tea-stained paper on which I scribbled a quote from Catcher in the Rye; “ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row.” I’m always amazed by how much is bundled up in that tiny little phrase.

yesterday, I was thinking about how I have a tendency to wish for the past to return. to step into my time machine and stretch certain periods of my life out just a tad more, to make it all last just a little longer. each visit to Kirksville makes it more and more obvious to me that my college days are done, and that they cannot be revisited just by driving a handful of miles and collecting all my old friends back into my arms. ‘everybody tries to go back somewhere some day.’ I keep trying, and each time I drive home, I find realization and acceptance sinking further and further into my bones.

yesterday, I looked around me and did an inventory of my life and my blessings. a reality check on what I wanted in life right now, on where I wanted to go and who I wanted to be with. and I found that I am just exactly where I want to be. it occurred to me that life moves in phases and that those phases can seldom be appreciated until we move beyond them. and so I let go of my past phases. and embraced the one I’m in. the one where I discover a new place+new friends+new hobbies+new loves. but more importantly, the one where I start to plan my “grown up” future. where I think about a wedding+children+a husband+a career+a place to call home. where I realize that nostalgia has its time and its place, but that I also have my own. and that is right here and right now.

I’ve been keeping a secret for a while.

and, ok, that’s not really that big of a deal, because, well…I’m good at secrets.

but I reeeeaaally wanted to tell you. so it was the super hard kind of secret. the kind where you have to keep your fingers on track when they’re typing so they don’t spell out the wrong words.

but now. I can tell you. yay!

you might have noticed a new little logo over the sidebar. it’s a pretty colorful little number denoting my status as a member of the Daring Bakers. I’ve had my eye on this group for some time. I’ve admired them from afar, letting off little coos of “oooh” and “aaah” once each month when they unfurl their fantastic baking-feat-of-the-month. and I hoped that one day I would be able to join their ranks. but I was so nervous. so timid and shy about my abilities. (and trust me, I still am.) but I went ahead and took the plunge.

so here I am. May 28th. unveiling day number one for this brand new daring baker. and this is what we have:

roasted lemon & vanilla opera cake

now, I don’t want to be a downer and all self-loathing about my first attempt at some daring baking. so I’ll say real quickly that my little opera cake pales in comparison with some of the more lovely specimens out there. I know I skimped on the buttercream. because, well, I’m just not much of a sweets person. and I thought, heck, if I’m putting all this effort into this cake, might as well make so that I”ll actually want to eat it. (and in the end, it really was too sweet for me.) but I was so so proud of myself for actually getting through the pages&pages of that recipe without making any mistakes. I think my true moment of accomplishment surfaced late late last night. Craig stopped by after work just to pop in and say hello…and ask for another piece of cake.

so there you have it. my big (little) secret. can’t wait til next month.