A few days ago, I decided that I wanted to bake a cake from scratch this weekend, and yesterday, I did (how's that for follow-through?). Sort of. I made cupcakes. Pink Lemonade Cupcakes, to be specific. They were delicious. The recipe only yields nine cupcakes, which is still too many if you live alone and have a severe cupcake addiction. I dropped four of them off at my cousin Traci's house, took two to my parents, and saved one for Kelly, which I delivered tonight on my way to the grocery store. I ate one myself last night and well, I suppose it's possible that I had the last one for breakfast this morning. Here's a photo of one, if you're curious. Tasty little thing.
I have a new theory about why people were never very unhealthy in terms of consuming excesses of sugar and junk food back in my grandmother's time - it has to do with how expensive it is to bake a cake and how much labor is involved. It makes me want to save cake for occasions - birthdays, holidays - and to only bake from scratch from now on. We'll see how that goes.
I've been cooking a lot lately. Definitely not every day, but I'm getting there - baby steps. I'm working to build up a solid bank of personally tried and true recipes, adding something new every week and keeping up with favorites. It might not seem like much, but trust me; it's a pretty big deal for a single girl who was completely anti-kitchen a few months ago.
I'm leaving on Saturday to visit Missy for a week in the great state of Massachusetts where I will enjoy lots of snuggles and New Englandy food, but for this week, I've committed to eating at home every day. Here are a few of the things I'll be cooking:
Roasted Potatoes and Lemon with Dill
Oma's Sour Cream Chicken (made this last week and it is so good)
Oven Roasted Garlic Brussels Sprouts
In November, I'm going to start cracking open my favorite cookbooks (hey, just because I haven't enjoyed cooking for myself historically doesn't mean that I don't love cookbooks or that I don't know my way around a kitchen - I was raised by an amazing cook, and one does pick up a thing or two over a lifetime at her mother's knee), and I'm pretty excited about that. Can't always depend on food blogs to tell me what's good, after all, can I?
I'm Melanie - a small city dwelling single gal in her mid-30s, born and raised in the American south. I am unabashedly enthusiastic, silly, and often quite loud. I take my camera everywhere. I believe in food, serendipity, National Public Radio, and the power of good.
