Joy The Baker

If you haven't already noticed, I have a thing for cupcakes. 

                                                                                     

 And I stay up all night reading blogs.

 As a result, I am always crabby the following day.

Therefore, tonight I have a bedtime of eleven o clock. Seem pathetic? I don’t mind, it should do me some good. 

So the point of all that being I have to write quickly. Ignore incomplete sentences, misspelled words… I think you got it.

Joy lives in Las Angeles, and is a baker. She is a stranger to me, but I am absolutely smitten with her blog, which seems to reveal much of her personality. I am obsessed with her writing style, photographs and of course, I am head over heels in love with her food. I have barely even begun attempting her recipes for I’d rather not butcher them. But even the pictures are so enticing and delicious I want to print and gobble them all up. So the temptation is too great. Give me a few extra hours and I will massacre the kitchen and a perfect pie.

Here is a list of things that I wish for.

        1.  I wish I were a better cook/baker.

        2.   I wish Joy would teach and befriend me.

        3. I wish the kitchen cleaned itself.

      Okay, I am getting nowhere here and simply rambling on.

I need to share my last idea though, before I shut off my lamp and lie in bed only to stare at the unseen ceiling. I am making a June 15^th resolution. At least once a week, for the rest of the summer, I will bake a delicious dessert from Joy the Baker’s blog. Secondly, I will cook a healthy meal, at least once a week as well, found on my other favorite blogs. Sound like a plan? It sounds simple and fairly effortless. I definitely wouldn’t say that I’m being too ambitious but still I hope I can manage.

Now, to my three, occasional readers.  

I would kill to have taken these photos, but unfortunately none of them are mine. 

They were taken by Joy the Baker, of course, and so all credit goes to her. What an inspiration. 

I am purchasing a new macro lens for my camera. 

Uncontainable anticipation. Feel free to join in on the excitement. 

Last Note. I promise. Look at these, don't they just look positively yummy? And as hard as this is to believe, they taste even better than they appear. Absurd? I know. 

I'm a little late. But finally off to count sheep. 

Pleasant Picnics

Rest, is currently an unfamiliar word.  I am absolutely exhausted and have been going non-stop. These last few days with the kids have been full of lemonade stands, art classes, dress up, picnics and swimming.  Today Chloe, Emily and I dressed up as princesses and we all enjoyed a nice picnic lunch which consisted of... 

Tuna Melts 

                                       

                                                     Cucumber Sandwiches & Watermelon

             

Cheese & Crackers

                                  

Everything was so delicious that a chicken decided to come over for a quick a bite to eat.

     We then played a game of “little dog” for hours on end in the pool. We called Chloe little dog and the game basically consisted of Emily and I trying to save her from Trenton. Trenton had no problem persistently beating us with wet noodles when he felt the need. Afterwards, my mother and I headed to Austin where we stopped at my school and then went shoe shopping. We concluded our outing by stopping at Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt, where I enjoyed some pistachio yogurt with loads of toppings. The fact that I don’t even reside in the same city as its location yet have still managed to visit Tutti Frutti three times in the last week or so, is absolutely ridiculous. Oh well, it’s a fairly healthy obsession. I then made it home just in time for my “Mommy & Me” Swimming Class. Now here’s a quick story behind this one, my Aunt’s best friend is pregnant but still would like her two year old to take these classes. Yet she herself really isn’t too comfortable being in the water given she is due very soon. So for now, I’m the mommy. Emily just stopped by and delivered an invitation to her birthday party, which I’m sure will be darling. Anyway, for the rest of the night I plan on sitting back, relaxing, and doing absolutely nothing.

Perfecting an Art

"Chocolate cream pie! You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when nothing is sure and when I say nothing, I mean nothing. You can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. That's such a comfort." - Julie Powell

Although it would be lovely to make an effort to compose such a charming dessert as a chocolate cream pie, I have not ventured to do so. But instead I undertook a much simpler project; I endeavored to create sugar cookies. I intended to fashion them into pleasant little shapes of all sorts using cookie cutters and then add touches of colorful icing here or there.  But to my dismay, we were lacking in both supply of icing and cookie cutters, which reminds me I need to restock soon. Anyhow, this discovery did not stifle my efforts. I prepared the dough, which was much thicker than I had expected it to be. For a quick second, the thought that I just might have added a bit too much flour flashed across my mind; you see I adore cooking but that doesn’t mean I avoid all error. To be honest, I constantly am making mistakes, but that’s okay, it is just the kitchen, my ingredients and I. Thinking upon the fact that I have the rest of my life for improvement is a great comfort. Anyway, after rolling and cutting the dough into squares, I placed it into the oven and waited patiently; cleaning up the mess I had managed to produce in the process.The oven beeped, a cool glass of milk was poured into a tall glass.  

Chocolate chips struggled to stand upright on a warm, buttery cookie and as I felt it crumble in my mouth, awakening and exciting my taste buds, I knew I had not labored in vain.  

Cooking is an art. It requires imagination to invent. I cannot help but feel a sense of accomplishment after preparing something in the kitchen. The fact that it involves all of the five senses captures my attention and excites me.  One hears a sizzle when sauteing green beans, and smells a sweet aroma as coffee cake bakes in the oven.  It is impossible to prepare pizza without the faculty of touch, tossing and shaping the dough. It is wonderful when one sees the masterpiece she has created, when her bread pudding with white chocolate and raspberry sauce is perfectly prepared. But consuming one's piece of accomplishment is the greatest of all, because it is the time when the gift of taste is put into action. Tasting design and hard work is not only inspiring but delicious.

Snow and Sensitivity

"Some of nature's most exquisite handiwork is on a miniature scale, as anyone knows who has applied a magnifying glass to a snowflake."

On Tuesday, February 23, 2010, it snowed.

Yes, I said it, SNOW not only in Austin but also in Bastrop TX. I was enthralled in the beauty of it all. I stayed outside until my hands were red as a ripe tomato and completely frozen. It fell so gently yet in a brilliant kind of way. Snow seems to purify everything, adorning trivial objects with beauty. This makes me think of 1 John 1:7. "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." His blood covers all of my sin and removes all guilt and condemnation, He remembers the past no more. He takes me in His arms and looks past all imperfection. A parent will love their child even when he or she misbehaves, but disobedience can still result in pain. Lately I have been thinking about how great His love is for His children. And even though He loves me unconditionally and does not hold my faults against me, my sin still saddens His heart. So I ask myself, “What do I do?” For I am a sinner, and will always fall short of His glory. As I previously discussed my disobedience hurts the one I love, and when one truly loves another they themselves feel grief when causing the other pain. So I desire to be more sensitive to sin. For I want to immediately recognize my wrongdoing and cry out for repentance. I'll work at obedience but when I find myself in sin I want to quickly be able to run from it, instead of dwelling in disobedience. I long to be sensitive to the sin around me so I can pray instead of accepting it as the norm. Break my heart for what breaks Yours.

Simple Joys

Have you ever noticed how ordinary things can immediately brighten your day? A teacher at my school had us all write down those moments where we were brought joy by something simple.

Butterflies, Bouquets or Bunnies?

Chocolate Chip Pancakes?

Warm Fuzzy Slippers?

Ribbon & Rainbows?

Ice Cream & Icicles?

A Cupcake?

But I’ve realized that it sometimes doesn’t even take seeing an object or experiencing a moment to have joy. Words and thoughts in themselves can bring contentment. My hair is not tied in a pretty pink ribbon right now, and outside my window there is no rainbow, but when I think of such things I cannot help but to have a happy heart.

Lighthearted

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky is by no means a waste of time.” -Sir John Lubbock

 I think Father smiles down on us when He sees us taking delight in his creation. As I sit in bed this Friday morning, listening to songs so sweetly composed by the birds outside my window, I am quiet and undisturbed. Taking note of the wind and how it encourages flowers to dance, and listening to streams gently flow is all very comforting. So why am I even writing this blog? In all probability what I type shall be trite and insignificant yet I do not mind, for writing brings tranquility. The sun was just peaking through my window; there is something about light. I am not talking about the artificial kind but light displayed by the sun. It is captivating and lifts ones spirit. I want to learn how to lift people's spirits. Maybe the wind could be my teacher? Or the flowers that play.