starting over yet again

Does anyone remember that episode of SATC, when Charlotte was attempting to get through a rough patch in her life with a mèlange of self-help books? I always thought the completely obvious titles were funny, and the one I used as a header for this post was particularly memorable.  My BFF Rose and I have often referenced it over the years, and I have decided to employ it here as I attempt, yet again, to get back to this little space.

It will not surprise you to know that the main reason behind my lack of blogging stamina is pictured above, my staggeringly handsome and sweet little partner of every day.  Though he still naps (gloriously) every day, he often ends up snuggled up on our bed, under his favorite Thomas blanket, and while there are always things that need doing, I crave these cozy moments together.  They won't last forever.  

I'm trying to be a better planner with my blogging-writing a couple of posts at a time and saving up, so hopefully it won't be so quiet here.  I've said before how nice and satisfying it is to be able to post something-there are days when it might be the only non-domestic thing I accomplish.  I was researching ideas for A's third birthday party (HOW CAN IT BE?!) and all it took to get me fired up about writing again was checking out a few fun blogs.  I'll never be known by more than my loyal few of course, but blogging can really be such a nice hobby.  

In sum, there will be more here soon!  Our favorite books as of late.  Report from my latest Kings of Leon concert.  Multiple salmon recipes.  Deep and meaningful thoughts about Divergent.  Basically, what you have come to expect from me.  

See you soon!

chocolate-coconut pound cake

Though the lack of posts suggests otherwise, I have actually been making quite a few things that are blog-worthy. I have a back-log of "bloggable" recipes that probably extends to August, so when I eventually get around to posting about wonderful summery things like quinoa salad with nectarines and feta, it should not come as a surprise.  

In addition to multiple batches of both this olive oil and apricot granola and Megan Gordon's divine hazelnut-cacao nib variation, there has been oven-roasted salmon with cauliflower.  Lemon-rosemary scones.  Multiple batches of my dear, dear sister-in-law's banana curry.  Deep dish apple pie.  Steak cobbler with gruyere biscuits.  And not one, but three loaves of grapefruit olive oil cake.  Clearly, I have been depriving everyone of much deliciousness.

Instead of sharing one of the myriad of successes coming out of my humble kitchen, however, I'm going to tell you about a cake.  Spontaneous cooking or baking is not something that I do often.  I tend to need lots of planning time.  It's not unusual for me to reject a dish out of hand if I don't have every last ingredient at the ready.  Pretty much the only things I make that are totally spur of the moment are scrambled eggs and bowls of cereal.  And clearly that last one doesn't count.

However, when I saw a recipe for a buttermilk-based coconut and chocolate pound cake in my latest Bon Appetit, I decided that I needed it right then.  As it happened, I had a fresh carton of buttermilk in the fridge-I've been trying to keep it stocked so that I can make waffles and pancakes on the weekend-and as I continue to be totally captivated with any recipe that features coconut flakes, I have a surplus of them in my pantry.

Totally going against my normal routine, I decided to whip up the cake while A and I were eating our lunch.  I am forever getting up getting him things anyway, so it seemed like a decent use of my time.  It came together quickly, and I had a wonderful treat to look forward to as an afternoon snack.  I emerged into the kitchen after our nap time routine to the heavenly scent of deep, dark chocolate and slowly roasting coconut.

The final product was just as wonderful as it looks.  Not too sweet, with a subtle, pleasing hint of coconut from the coconut oil and the perfect, slightly bitter taste of dark chocolate.  It was very sturdy, and kept well for a week four days.  I can't wait to make it again. 

Chocolate-Coconut Pound Cake, adapted from Bon Appetit, March 2014

1/4 cup unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup virgin coconut oil, room temperature

1 1/2 cups plus 1 tbsp. sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1. Preheat oven to 325.  Butter an 8 x 4 loaf pan; line with parchment paper, leaving a generous overhang on long sides.  

2. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl; set aside.  

3. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat oil, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 cups sugar until pale and fluffy, 5-7 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend between additions; beat until mixture is very light and doubled in volume, 5-8 minutes.  Add vanilla. 

4. Reduce mixer speed to low and add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients (do not over mix; it will cause cake to buckle and split).  Scrape batter into prepared pan and run a spatula through the center, creating a canal.  Sprinkle with coconut and remaining 1 tbsp. sugar.  

5. Bake cake, tenting with foil if coconut browns too much before cake is done (it should be very dark and toasted), until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 70-80 minutes.  Transfer pan to a wire rack; let cake cook in pan 20 minutes before turning out. 

academy awards review 2014

Ah!  Where does the time go?  How do I have literally dozens of ideas for blog posts in my brain (which, by the way, is apparently significantly smaller than it was prior to having a baby) and yet here I type, almost one MONTH since my last post?!  It's a good thing I don't have an actual blogging niche-no way would I make it in the "mommy-blogging" or "food-blogging" or "entertainment-blogging" world.

The annual Academy Awards, that favorite evening of mine, took place last Sunday (well, technically, last Sunday plus a few days), and I can think of no better way to hopefully end yet another blogging drought.  You should know that I first typed "draught" and had to change it.  Either I'm thinking too much about adult beverages or my "mommy" brain has struck again.

While the planning and execution of Academy Awards celebrations has become significantly more challenging since the birth of my little sweetheart, and the actual time I spend watching the awards is pitifully short, I still eagerly anticipate them.  This year was no different than the four years preceding-I devised an Academy Awards menu and put together costumes for our little family.  My extended family here is incredibly decent and supportive of my awards show love, and they all take part as well.  Perhaps some day, long into the future, I might actually be on top of things enough to have a proper party, where friends are invited too, but for now I am content with our more intimate family gatherings.

Without further adieu, I am going to include a little list here of the things I enjoyed about this year's party and show.  As I and many other bloggers before me have ruminated, a blog is something of a scrapbook-it will be fun to look back and remember the highlights.

best Oscar fashion: Guys, I can sum up the fashion of the year in two words: boring and safe.  The red carpet was a bummer.  These were my three favorite looks of the night, and while Lupita truly looked spectacular, the gowns on both Julia Roberts and Cate Blanchett, while beautiful, were not what I wanted to see.

best Oscar moments: 

Pharrell Williams' performance of "Happy"-Of course I watched this and had to download the song and play it approximately 1 million times.  

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the acceptance speeches of both supporting actors, Lupita Nyong'o and Jared Leto-I was pleasantly surprised by Jared Leto's speech, because I had expected it to be either patronizing or weird.  And of course Lupita was touching and charming all at once.  

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and of course, the most popular selfie of all time (at the time of this posting): 

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I was able to watch the full show during the week after it aired (my toddler, still recovering from an ear infection, wasn't too keen on the Oscars), so I can attest to it being a good one.  Ellen is a great choice for a host, not too controversial or vain and definitely funny.  

Oscar films-inspired party menu: 

pizza (Her)

moon-shaped rosemary and gruyere crackers (Gravity)

Irish soda bread (Philomena)

Texas sheet cake (Dallas Buyers Club)

blackberry cobbler with drop cream biscuits (12 Years a Slave)

beer (Nebraska)

champagne (Wolf of Wall Street)

Sadly, we didn't get in a good representative dish for American Hustle or Captain Phillips. The crackers were a Smitten Kitchen recipe and were unsurprisingly delicious.  Both desserts were wonderful, and I will be making them again (Homesick Texan and Sara Foster's Southern Kitchen, respectively).  If I had had all the time in the world and perhaps a baby-sitter on the eve of the show, I would definitely have found out a way to incorporate lobster in the menu (inspired by Wolf of Wall Street).  

costumes: 

me: Philomena.  Literally.

SH: Theodore (Her). Complete with a mustache. 

A: outfitted in a long-sleeved t-shirt emblazoned with a Maersk logo (Captain Phillips).  

mother and father-in-law: completely decked out in American Hustle-inspired costumes.  As usual, they looked the best.  

sister-in-law: Magdalene girl, inspired by Philomena.  And so appropriate, since she will be giving birth any day now.

brother-in-law: Jordan Belfort (Wolf of Wall Street).  Striped suit, striped shirt. He looked the part.

BFF Rose: Kate Grant (June Squibb's character in Nebraska).  

personal favorite of all the movies this year: I should say Philomena, and I DID love it.  But I'm embarrassed to admit that it was The Wolf of Wall Street.  Don't judge me!  

browsing history: first post of 2014!

It's been a considerable amount of time since I compiled a group of particularly interesting gems.  I don't know what my loyal few have done without me.  How HAVE you gone on? 

I admit that there is really no good excuse to bring Jack Bauer back.  We had closure.  Yet I am still completely excited about this mini-season.  I'm intrigued by the London setting, but why has Chloe become Lisbeth Salander?

Fashion inspired by Franny and Zooey.  I think I might have to start checking out this feature, despite my sad lack of style.

Michael Pollan provides thoughtful info on the paleo diet. 

Excerpt from a talk by my favorite, Molly Wizenberg.  Love her so, so much.

Some uses for my massive quantities of Meyer lemons that do not involve making Molly's French lemon yogurt cake over and over.

I never thought I would enjoy Matt Damon as much as I do.  He continues to be great.

The final (?) trailer for Divergent has arrived.  Considering that it arrived just before the first trailer for The Fault in our Stars, I am still struggling a bit with the fact that Ansel Elgort, who plays Gus in TFIOS, is Caleb Prior in Divergent.  So brother in one, lover in another.  A bit weird.  On a positive note, both look like solid adaptations.  John Green, the author of The Fault in our Stars, has actively expressed support for the film's production and this first trailer, which is always encouraging for those of us who need the film adaptations to be faithful to the books.

The Fault in our Stars first trailer:

A nice way to review Phillip Seymour Hoffman's best scenes.  I'm especially partial to Along Came Polly.  The most light-hearted fare of the bunch to be sure.  He was a fine talent.

Delancey!

I could have included this in my latest "browsing history" post, which, I PROMISE, is forthcoming. However, Molly's book trailer truly deserves its own post.  I am ridiculously excited about Delancey.  A Homemade Life is one of my favorite books in general (outside of the cookbook category, even!)-I've read it over and over, and I feel about it the same way one might feel about a warm, familiar blanket.  There is something intimate and welcoming about Molly's writing-she is funny and wry to be sure, but also emotional.  You feel as if you know her personally once you've read even a chapter or two.  Sometimes I will stop in the midst of a page (or blog post) and wish that I could just talk to her.  As though she is my old friend.

Needless to say, Delancey was long ago pre-ordered for me. I'm pretty sure I placed my order on the day that it became an option.  There wasn't even any cover art at the time.  I know, I might have a problem.

If you haven't read A Homemade Life, I highly recommend it (obviously).  It happens to be a Kindle Monthly 100 Pick for February, which means that it's only $1.99.  Far more exciting than the price is the fact that if you do order it as an ebook now, you'll receive a bonus chapter of Delancey.  I'm jealous (it should not surprise you that I own the book in both print and ebook formats).

lessons from the snowy day

Ezra Jack Keats pictured with Madeline L'Engle-they won the Newbery and Caldecott awards in 1963.  What an auspicious year! 

I'll be the first one to tell you that the joys and pleasures obtained from reading a good book are not exclusive to that age of adulthood when you can truly comprehend its value.  I've written before on my mother's tendency to hold back certain books from me until I was deemed "ready" to read them.  Most of the time, this had little or nothing to do with the book's more mature content, but rather my mother's desire that I be at a point in my life when I could really appreciate it.  Of course, she was right, 100% of the time.  I am quite sure that I would not have given Lonesome Dove the proper respect had I devoured it when I first heard about it, for example, and I'm certainly glad that I never met Pat Conroy's novels until I was an actual adult.

Though books and literature hold great significance in my life, and I happily tout the importance of exposing children to good books at a young age, I never dwelled much on the idea of being "ready" for a children's book.  I am well-versed on the classics, and I can probably list at least forty Caldecott and/or Newbery winners from the last century.  There is no elementary classroom library in which I wouldn't feel completely comfortable.  Yet, I have neglected to consider some of these wonderful books as instructive and meaningful to me now, in my current state of life as a youngish mom of a boisterous toddler.  It took, of all things, a special anniversary edition of The Snowy Day to inspire me to pay a bit more attention when I am reading to my little one.

Granted, the story itself, with its beguiling, simple watercolor illustrations was not in and of itself what inspired this post.  It was this quote, which appeared in the special section at the end of the book, that really captured my attention.

I realize now that we have so many levels of experience that even when we are despairing and we feel cut off and alone, other, life-saving forces are working through the sadness.  Like strata of water in hard rock.  Where do they come from?  Sometimes I would feel that life was one vast desert, relentless, remorseless, and I could pick up a stone and water would spurt out.  Hidden fountains of feeling we carry inside us, and we don't know it.  I wonder what ripples of laughter and joy and love are buried-to surface one day just as the meaning of Peter's pictures had finally emerged for me.

Isn't that beautiful?  I loved the notion of "hidden fountains of feeling" and the idea that hope and joy and wonder are present even in the midst of the harder times of our lives that will inevitably come.  I suppose it's that idea of wonder that comes across so eloquently in The Snowy Day, which  depicts Peter's day in a slow, quiet fashion, yet never strays from giving the reader the strong sensation of how each little moment of his day, even something as simple as tapping a snow-covered tree with a stick, filled him with awe.

mood lifter

I have yet to meet anyone who didn't get caught up in the blissfully satisfying experience of watching Pitch Perfect.  Even my husband succumbed to its charms.  I have the soundtrack, but sometimes I prefer to relive that last scene.  It's guaranteed to make even the staunchest enemy of acapella smile.  

P.S. This might be a good time to mention that I was something of an "aca groupie" in college.