Since Last Year: A Summary

This morning I am going to WOW you with my breakfast.

Boom.

Your jaw dropped, right? Almond butter and homemade blackberry jam AND peaches on a RICE CAKE?! STOP IT! KATE, YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR.

Ok, let's get real for a second. I've been away for awhile.  Babies have been conceived and born in the time I’ve been away from this blog.

Just to be clear: Exactly NONE of these babies were mine.

Everybody got that?

It’s not that I haven’t been making things. I have been. I just haven’t been writing about them. For some reason life just felt too busy.

And then, just like that, it didn’t.

Now here I am with three posts on three consecutive days like I've never even been gone. I don’t know what happened. Maybe it’s summer daylight lasting until 9pm.
Maybe it’s something else.

Whatever it is, herewith, some things I did when I wasn’t here.*

*Not in chronological order.

I gold leafed a bunny.

Isn't he cute? Also, I learned that gold leaf is messy. It is definitely a cousin of glitter, "the herpes of craft supplies."

I had an Oscars party.

We had a red carpet, too. Natch. The tape adhering the red carpet stuck to my floor. Still can't really get it off. Yes, I've tried Goo-Gone and scraping. Good thing this is a rental.

I made some necklaces.

And some bacon candy.

I bought some art and hung it up.

I made brownie sundaes.

Make your own hot fudge sauce and brownies; buy the ice cream.

And stuffed escarole.

This looks like a mess, but it's incredibly delicious. Lidia Bastianach is a genius.

And gluten-free, grain-free meyer lemon mug cakes.

Just replaced the weird sweetener with 1T +1t of granulated sugar. These make an amazing breakfast treat, too.

 
Ok, I made those a couple of times.

I made some ridiculously tasty Banana Bread with Coconut and Rum. Oh, and browned butter. Thank you, Joy the Baker, for that one.

And thank you, Blake, for your hunting skills.

This went into a "Goose Bourguignon" recipe. Which turned out gamy, but edible. I count it as a win.

Turns out making a wild goose edible requires a LOT of ingredients.

Britta was an amazing co-chef on this one. Turns out butchering a goose is a fairly nasty process.

On the lighter side, I made some appetizers.

These are purple rice crackers with avocado, a little greek yogurt mixed with a little lime juice, and garnished with my new favorite seasoning, shichimi togarashi. Virtuous, yet delicious.

And roasted some rhubarb.

Delicious over vanilla ice cream although also pretty good on its own or with yogurt.

And then there was this ham. This eight pound, big ass country Easter ham.

Three pounds of which is hacked up into large chunks in my freezer.
Where it will probably stay for a year until I no longer feel guilty about composting it because what am I going to do with huge chunks of frozen ham?

Any suggestions?

Eleven Things I Love Right Now

This exhibit at SFMOMA.
It's fantastic. Some of the art gave me chills. I'm serious.  

This ring.
A gift to myself for things done well.

Tomato salad.
I make this with whatever ripe heirlooms I have, then I add whatever's in the fridge that looks good. Tonight it was basil and avocado. I always dress this simply with olive oil, sherry vinegar, sea salt and freshly ground pepper. And it is always so good. Be sure to drink the juices from the bowl at the end - that's the best part. (Or, if you live with another person, perhaps use a spoon for the juices rather than drinking directly from the bowl as I tend to do when alone.)

Navy blue.

Summer fruit.

Ridiculously girly shoes.

Summer fog.

The color, shape, scent and general state of being of these fresh lychees.

Muhammara with homemade pita chips.
The muhammara isn't homemade (yet) but I intend to tackle that soon 'cause I'm obsessed with this stuff. Here's the recipe, in case you want to give it a go before I get a chance to. Homemade pita chips are super easy: Heat oven to 375, cut pita into wedges, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt, bake for 10 minutes. Tastes honest and healthy, not like the pita chips you get at the store.

This song.

And last, but not least, this emoticon:

:(|)

It's a monkey!
And if there is one thing I am sure of, it's that we all need a few more monkeys in our lives.