Alright Let's Do This! Birthday Bake Sale for Charity

Hi there!  So, my birthday is coming up and this year I was trying to figure out what to do.  With everything, and I mean everything going on in the world right now, and especially the U.S.  I have been trying to find my voice, especially on social media and nothing has really felt right.  I kept trying to figure out if I could take part in the Baker's Against Racism movement(?), but felt weird about it since I am just an at home baker.  Any who, I came up with the idea to do a birthday bake sale for charity, put it out there on Instagram to see what people thought and enough people said "Yas!" so let's do this!  Here's the scoop:

Lemon Blueberry Crumble Muffins & A Question...

Do you ever dream of living in another city for even just a year?  Like where in the world would you live if you knew you could find a job, live comfortably and have your family with you? (Now I should add...if Covid weren't a thing.) In an imaginary world where it wouldn’t shake up family life, but you could explore a new place, have adventures in a new city, experience new things.  Maybe it's for two years and not just one.  I personally think about this often, especially now with the world the way it is, but then can never take the jump.  Like for years I have dreamed about living in New York.  People have said it would eat me alive or I would hate it, but it has never been those things that have scared me.  It’s more that I have never wanted to shake things up.  I live for a schedule, I never want to do something my family might seriously question, but maybe someday…

(Studying for an event the last time I was in NYC...

enjoying the space and this blueberry muffin at Magnolia bakery.)

Blueberry muffins make me think of two things: making blueberry muffins from a box as a kid at home and trips to New York when you grab a muffin and a coffee for breakfast (especially if you happen to be near the Magnolia Bakery on the Upper West side).  Muffins as a kid were a special treat, made even more special when they were served at dinner time.  Now though I only take the time to make them for breakfast, and these blueberry muffins I made two weekends in a row when my sister-in-law stopped through Richmond and then my dad the following weekend.  (Side note: I must admit I LOVE cooking breakfast for people.  It is my favorite meal of the day, and I don't tend to go all out just for myself.)  These muffins are a take on Joy the Baker's browned butter blueberry muffins and easy to throw together.  I love that they call for melted butter, which is such a simple thing, but can make life so much easier sometimes.  So, if you are having guests in town, or you just want some muffins, give these a try this summer when blueberries are at their best!

Life, Friends & Sweet Potato Ginger Granola

My best guy friend recently (well you know in the past two months) said I should start this again, but I wasn’t even sure where to begin.  I didn’t want to talk about Covid and being quarantined that’s for sure.  I also didn’t want to talk about all the cake and blondies I have eaten since March.  So, instead I started to think back on past posts.  To when I was truly loving this, and it was when I was just being straight up myself; getting the thoughts out of my head that sometimes just get stuck.  So, let’s start here with summer.

  

This summer is a little different, and a lot strange, but summer always makes me think about friends and acquaintances past and present.  I am a summer child, a Leo, and even as a child I never really minded that my birthday wasn’t in the middle of the school year because I just tried to see as many friends as possible over the summer.  In my 20’s, and probably even now, I have always felt like summer was my time to come out of my shell and have a little more fun.  As a child, it was also when I spent more time messing around in the kitchen baking.  Now however it always leaves me thinking in the quiet moments about the past.  About the people that come in and out of our lives and those that stay a little while or a lifetime.  

I am one of those people that still has friends from daycare, and I truly mean pre-kindergarten daycare.  While we may not see each other nearly as much as we want to, I still very much care about them. (Even now my very closest girlfriends are from middle school and high school, and I don’t know what I would do without them.)  As I grow up though, I think more over the summer about how friends have had an impact on my life.  Like if it weren’t for a couple of people, I definitely never would have dreamed of running a marathon, or three, and if it weren’t for James, who was the one who encouraged me to start this again, I definitely would never have gotten on a road bike, ever clipped in, or even attempted to ride 100 miles in a day.  There are other friends though, who later became just acquaintances, who pop up on LinkedIn or Facebook or wherever, that sometimes I wish I just had the guts to reach out to after all these years.  To say the things, I wish I had always said, to keep up with them and remain friends or just actually let them know I am thinking about them without just liking an Instagram post.  And I get it, there are people who come into our lives and aren’t meant to stay in them, but do you ever truly wish or dream about closure, or even about becoming friends with some of them again.  I literally, on multiple occasions, have dreamt about running into an old friend and finally being able to say the things that went unsaid, but I am not sure I will ever say F*** It and actually reach out to them. 

Pumpkin Apple Pecan Streusel Muffins

Good morning! Good afternoon! Hello!  Sometimes I sit in front of the computer or my little notebook and have no idea what to share here.  I mean my life isn't that interesting, and let's be real here a minute, but social media makes me feel like I always need to have something new and exciting going on.  When really I just want to focus on is the beauty in the everyday things...like the morning light through the fall leaves, snuggles with my pup and quality time with friends and family.  Therefore, I have consciously been trying to not be on my phone checking Instagram and Facebook as often.  I have been trying to pay attention to what is actually going on around me and living life instead.

sometimes you just gotta look up... 

Apple, Cinnamon Chip & Pecan Scones

I think I have hit my quarter life crisis, just a few years late.  I have been doing a lot of thinking this year, and I feel like it has gotten me a whole lot of no where.  I have hit this point in life where I don't know what's next in life, but I feel very unsettled.  Have you ever felt this way?  Unsettled really is the best way for me to describe it.  Charles and I's friends all fall between married and having kids or single.  The thing about it is that I don't really think I want to have kids.  I have always kind felt that if I ever (because this was a thought long before I knew Charles.) had kids I would adopt, because there are so many children out there who need a good home.  But is that really what we want to do? I don't know.  Or should I dive into my career, grow my business, and see where it takes me?  I don't ever really mention God here because I am 100% fine with everyone having their own beliefs...you do you...but I have been talking at God a lot over the past several months, hoping I will get shoved in the right direction.  I am a pretty firm believer that if it's meant to be it will be.  For right now though, I am just trying to get back to baking to help clear my head.

Just in time for Fall...Browned Butter Apple Cider Cake

It's time, I am ready to embrace fall.  Give me all of the apples and pumpkin spice.  Bring on the flannel, vests and boots.  It's time for college football Saturdays with cider and bourbon or beer.  As a child and even until recent years I thought summer was my favorite season, but I truly have a growing love for fall.  I love that the days roll from warm into chilly nights, and they leave you wishing for a bonfire and s'mores.  

There is also just something about the changing of the seasons, which makes me feel like you can start fresh again.  That you can try to once again start paying attention to the little things in life that often times mean the most.  Fall to me is a time to settle down a bit, to dig back into work and refocus on how I want to finish out the year.  It has left me revisiting my goals for the year, and left me wanting to hangout with my family and friends, which is exactly what fall lends itself so well to.   So this past weekend, not only was there football, but there were friends and family to tailgate and spend the day with...which is pretty much the perfect fall day.

Football season = Go PIRATES!

This need to embrace fall is one of the reasons I had the urge to make this cake.  When the recipe popped up in my inbox from Food and Wine, I knew I would make it soon.  The only thing I wanted to modify was using browned butter instead of plain unsalted butter in the cake.  The cake came out a little dense, but has a nice crumb at the same time.  It is nice and not overly sweet with yummy chunks of apple throughout.  The only thing I might change for next time is adding some toasted and chopped pecans.  If you like coffee cake and apple cider, I would definitely recommend giving this cake a try.  Enjoy!