not necessarily in this order

  We made a trio of cookies to get us through the holiday this year and fill out some small gift boxes for Lil Momma’s friend crew. Baking cookies is such a weird nostalgia thing for me because while my grandmother, Mimi, loved baking and always had these tins of homemade cookies she’d pull out after dinner for all of us, my own mother (her daughter) thought baking was the worst thing in the world and I grew up thinking the best chocolate chip cookies were Betty Crocker’s bag ones. (A fact that horrified my Mr when we first started dating, haha!) I’ve come to really enjoy baking in the last decade or so and love to try a new recipe each Christmas along with our family favorites. LM loves to help now, which warms my heart, even if that help is more measuring and taste testing vs cleaning up. Our new recipe for this year was for Chocolate Crinkle Cookies from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe ! Described as “ They are a delightful cross between a soft, chewy chocolate cookie and a rich, fudgy brow...

Oh my stars, food is so messy and full of feelings sometimes, right? This post is kind of about cookies but it’s also kind of about coming out of challenging times and not the best habits and it’s also kind of about being stuck in a rut. We’re having a weird health fall/winter. Obviously, I’m not going to go too deep and no one is in imminent danger and we’re all ok - but some of us are having to focus more on how much sugar and carbs we are  having and some of us are having to think more about fiber and movement. And, as our resident anxious worrying overthinker, I’m trying to make a plan, haha! Added on to that is we are in this transitional year for Christmas and New Year’s where we are reimagining so much of how we do holidays together after losing my mom - the possibilities are endless, which is exciting and hard and weird. When so much has changed, what we hold on to are these traditions that remain and, for us, that’s our Christmas desserts. We are a cookie family, especiall...

What a week it’s been! Matilda Memories Well, we did more than survive Lil Momma’s long-awaited and bumpier than expected journey to playing her first lead/main character role for her musical theater class recital! The  drama  of the lead up weighed heavily on us both – waiting to leave for the  5pm  show on Saturday felt ENDLESS – but she was able to get her head in the right place and go in with an equal amount of nerves and confidence. Let me tell you, from the moment she said her first line to the moment she screamed her last and ran from the stage, the girl was on FIRE! My parental bias is balanced with an undergraduate focus in theater criticism / reviewing, but I have to say she was one of the best parts of the production. She got a ton of laughs, a few gasps here and there, and made it through the hard song like a boss. I think we all are so relieved that this is over, but I’m so glad it can be reframed as a lesson (or lessons) and a good experience vs. what ...

Well, we made it! It was one of those weird life moments where the day itself was significantly less stressful than it has been in past years (weighed down so much by logistics and illness), which made us all feel incredibly guilty for enjoying our “all pajamas, appetizers and dessert forward, sad-and-fun-and-small ” Christmas. We felt our feels and had some laughs and memories and had a lovely day together, which was the best part.  I had leaned in on prioritizing bakes to give us things to do. I stand by this strategy; however, we could end up with a significant amount of desserts for only three people. It is what it is. I’ll start with the random one: on Christmas Eve Eve, Luke and I decided we needed a cake-like dessert for us to eat because we are not going to eat the one Lil Momma was making (a favorite of her and my mom, but too sugary and cool whip-y for me and too peppermint for Luke. We have been watching the Christmas Masterclass episodes of the Great British Bake Off w...

What a week, what a week… I have been seeing all these memes about the audacity of people still sending emails and work tasks when it’s basically the limbo that is Christmas week into New Year’s and I feel like life doubled down to make it super real to me!     Work has been oof the past few days as I found out me (and a bunch of us) are  losing our assigned workspaces  in the office and need to be cleaned out by mid-January. I always knew it was a possibility, but such a bummer to hear about this of all weeks (and with no warning / appeal) (and right before my 10 days off) and have to communicate to 30+ unsuspecting folks I sit nearby. I mean, I have no intention of going  in 4 days  a week just to ensure I can be assigned a desk again, but it’s hard to deal with change when there’s no good reason. This all may be my hatred of packing, too, haha! There are worse things, but airing a small grievance felt right? Random penguin to transition into holiday top...

thoughts from the week that was First, thank you all for the kind thoughts on my last post. It’s a challenge to see my family bounce back so easily from COVID while I’m still having issues (see below), but I for sure have a better sense now of what’s  baby steps towards feeling better  vs.  pushing it too hard, too soon, too fast  and am just taking each day slowly.  School vacation week was a blur of working when I could and keeping Lil Momma happily distracted. A few highlights: — Hamilton  was such a lovely experience! LM was incredibly excited and soaked up every single second. She sobbed her eyes out during  It’s Quiet Uptown  and left saying “ I finally understand standing ovations! I want to ovation all the way home!” -My guy and I got each other 3 months of subscription boxes for Christmas. He’s really enjoyed his snack boxes from Austria and now Brazil and I, surprising us both, am  loving cookie of the month deliveries ! Last month,...

holiday baking edition The four cookies of this Christmas! Not only did we make cookie tins for close friends, but I also  dared not to make a centerpiece dessert for Christmas day , and instead  went all in on these four cookies  - which we’ve gone on to enjoy all vacation week*! high . #2 (top right) for the underdog surprise of this Christmas for us! Lil’ Momma asked me to find a Norwegian cookie to make to honor her and Brian’s heritage. I found this recipe for a Sandnøtter Christmas Cookies with Lemon , which was perfect as my girl loves lemon. However, I paused when it came time to bake them on Christmas Eve; they seemed too simple and the only lemon flavor came from zest; would that be enough? I went for it, though, and these are absolutely amazing - all 3 of us loved them ! The outside is crisp and the inside is as light as clouds; they dissolve in your mouth. Even better, they have a ton of lemon flavor! I will make these forever, and with all different types o...