Homesick, hurricanes and sympathy baking.
Week 44. Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls.
I’ve been feeling really homesick lately. I’ve moved around a lot, and not many of the places I’ve lived have felt like home. One that has been “home” is Brooklyn, NY and it’s a place that I miss often. I think the increase in homesick-feelings of late is due to being in a new city, the emptiness left by not living with RMT, and having not been back to NYC in 10 months.
I’ve spent a good portion of the last 24-36 hours watching Sandy – and strangely, I keep finding myself wishing I was there riding out the storm with my friends and preparing to help clean up the city that I love so much. I’ve been checking out news, videos, twitter and FB , and making phone calls to the loved ones on the east coast; more than once I’ve found myself expecting to look out side and see rain and debris flying through the air rather than the sunny blue skies of Southern California.
Failure and bulls.
Week 43. Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies.
It was bound to happen. 42 weeks of delicious, flavorful baked things and then…a failure. Not even a massive failure, just a pan of lack-luster, “why-am-I-eating-these” brownies. They sounded delicioius: pumpkin, chocolate, a smattering of spices (including cayenne?! yum!) all topped off with nuts? Count me in.
Turn around.
Around 3pm today I took off on the bike. No destination, no plan, just needing to get out.
I woke up this morning at 4am, fretting about things I have no control over but will inevitably affect my life. Does fretting about it solve anything? Not really. Though I did come up with an action I could take, somewhat relieving The Fret. I fell back asleep, waking up much after my alarm went of and was ignored, my day in a jumble. Everything felt off today. Just slightly out of place, like a picture on a wall that you think is slightly crooked so you keep adjusting it, a little to the left, a little to the right but you can’t seem to get it straight.
I headed up Laurel Canyon, it was filled with traffic. I didn’t mind. It gave me a chance to look at all the houses, the new scenery (everything is new scenery right now). Sick of traffic, I headed west on Mulholland. Free of traffic, but full of sun glare. Tight corners and on coming traffic to my left and a steep drop off to my right. Unable to enjoy the road due to intermittent sun blindness, I feel myself getting frustrated again. Then the obvious occurs to me: ” Nothing has tied you to this path, why don’t you go the other way? No sun. No traffic. Problem solved”. So obvious. At the next intersection, I turned around and headed back the other way, enjoying each turn, each lean, zen-ing out for a few short but cherished miles.
I have a bad habit of continuing down a path, even after it’s obvious it’s not working, solely because it’s the path I decided to take – not because anything, person or logic is keeping me there. I’m stubborn and I’m scared of being “wrong” so I keep on, hoping I can make it work, no matter how hard or frustrating. The smarter thing would be to change paths and find something that works better, has less resistance and still leads me to my goal.
Thanks motorcycle.
Andy Williams is always 3 months late.
Week 42. Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.
Fall is my favorite time of year. I love all the flavors that seem to be in abundance (cinnamon! cloves! pumpkin! squash! roasted _____!), the colors, boots and skirts! (err…although it was 95 and sunny this week…), the return of school (I loved school, big nerd here), HALLOWEEN. The best holiday during the best time of year.
Party Cake.
Week 40. White Out Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting.
I like baking to make other people happy, to bring a smile to their face, a bright spot in their day.
My grandfather’s favorite kind of cake is white cake with milk chocolate frosting. I am glad I got to bake him a cake before I moved. Love you, grandpa!
He insisted on eating the last slice of cake straight off the cardboard. Can’t see a problem with that!
I used Baked’s White Out Cake recipe for the white cake, and the milk chocolate frosting recipe from the Malted Milk Chocolate cake. Delicious!
motobaker 
