Today is another review en fotos day, and mostly just in horrible Blackberry ones (Must. Get. Camera.), though I feel a little bit better about my poor photo quality after reading this week that Joy the Baker started off using an even older camera phone. Bah, I'm just lazy. Anyway, these days have been mostly cooking, baking, and milling about my apartment in boot-slippers while drinking copious amounts of Harney and Sons tea and reading too. many. books and stressing over The Meat Parade. Along with the book-length or long poems I've been using for research (Littlefoot, Pinion, Crash Dome, Song of Myself, Venison, and I-don't-care-what-you-say-this-is-a-poem-too As I Lay Dying), I have been obsessed with cookbooks, mostly this one, and this one, though I definitely haven't outgrown Miss Dahl. David Tanis' "Heart of the Artichoke," is giving her personal essays a run for their money though-- a cookbook with top ten kitchen rituals as the first chapter? And a bread recipe for "An Honest Loaf? Sold. Not to mention the totally refreshing declaration that all a cook needs is water, fire, a good knife, and his hands. Love, love, love.
I don't have any photos from my birthday hike, as it turns out, which is too bad because it was a particularly beautiful day, and my friend's dog was particularly adorable and photogenic. We're planning on doing the same hike after Thanksgiving dinner, so I'll be sure to document then. In the meantime, please indulge my girlish need to brag about some of my gifts and activities-- it turns out that living alone in a hayloft makes it difficult to share the experience of opening really good presents without having to take to the inter webs to boast.
So this has been my life (generally) lately:
Phaidon makes the most beautiful books, and I got this on clearance at B&N for $14! J.Crew catalogs also make lovely lunch buddies. Lunch was: chicken pesto sandwiches on homemade spelt mini loaves, sparkling water, hot peppered portabello soup.
My lovely birthday pile from my family: it was truly an exercise of restraint that only a 26-year-old could commit to: not to open any of these enticing packages for the whole three days they sat on my table before my actual birthday. Though I hated the wait, I was glad I did.
Makes my heart go pitter patter...
I was lucky enough to get TWO Anthro gifts this year: my initials in these gorgeous mugs from my mostly companion...
...and this beauty from the G-pas. What I love about this shirt is that I never would have picked it out on my own, but LOVED the way the pattern breaks my usual solids or horizontal stripes habit.
This beautiful Tory Burch tote I've been lusting after is the perfect computer and book bag, and I've been carrying it with me absolutely everywhere. Love is an understatement. 
Also from my sweet parents: a Wildflour cake waiting under my name on the day. Never mind that it's called Better Than Sex Cake. It was delicious.
I'm a little obsessed with my mini loaf pan, though I've decided I prefer it for quick breads rather than yeast ones. This was Sophie Dahl's Musician's Breakfast bread-- it's a really simple spelt loaf that takes absolutely no brains to make at all, though it's a little on the saltless side and tastes best straight out of the oven.
My lovely friend MC and I have begun a weekly ritual of Sunday Night Dinners, where we debrief the week and gear up for the next, over several glasses of wine, Grey's Anatomy episodes, and some ambitious recipe we'd feel too intimidated to try alone. My favorite so far has been a pumpkin mascarpone risotto, though I'm really excited for the squid pasta we're going to try next. Also on the list: Challah!
(P.S. that apron was a gift from the owner of a restaurant that hosted a reading I was lucky enough to participate in over the weekend. After I read part of the Meat Parade, the owner saw me admiring his meat-covered apron and unceremoniously gifted it to me. It was a total delight. I plan on wearing it for inspiration as I continue to hack at the thing.)
I can't remember when this happened, but I walked out onto my porch one day and was greeted with this totally surreal, saturated world. Unbelievable.
Life is busy, and I've been working on trying to avoid the Floof Parade as much as possible by reading really good books, having long, positive conversations with close friends, and spending as much time as possible indulging in "good for me," time, like slow long runs and slow long recipes. I know that sounds super self-helpy, but anxiety- and depression-prone people do what they gotta do.
Happy Monday!
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