Pink of Perfection

The schedule around our house has changed as of late. Before the sun has even winked an eye at the horizon, my number one guy slips out of bed, quietly dresses and heads to his studio. There, before I am even thinking of getting out of bed (or am thinking about it, but not exactly relishing the thought), he is pumping up a team of creative peeps, leading the charge in a daily mad dash to create three minutes of lively, irreverent, online comedy. This show will have scads of fans, I can just feel it. It’s kind of like Pee-Wee’s Playhouse for grown-ups.

As long as Sebastian and I have been taking evening walks together and talking about the future, he has wanted a situation much like this: a place to call his own, filled with creative energy and talented contributors, churning out popular content. I don’t think he bargained for the tight deadlines and early mornings. Those are just some of the unexpected perks. Sometimes when your dream life arrives, its actual form can be a bit different that the way you envisioned it.

You all know how I feel about people living out their dreams. I’ve been watching Sebastian these past few weeks stressed and tired, just as anyone starting a business would be. But from my vantage point, the picture is much brighter than perhaps the one in it can see: how remarkable to do exactly what you set out to do. It must take, I can only imagine, a tremendous amount of guts, talent, and more than a little bit of luck.

I spend a lot of time scheming about how I can squeeze the most out of life, about how I can get the life I’m living to look more like the life I dream about. To watch someone you admire and love stepping into the dream scenario they have always imagined for themselves? It’s enough to make you want to get up early and bake. I carried a tole tray of these muffins to my guy and the Daily Special team in the hopes that this would show them what an amazing job I think they’re doing and perhaps to add a little sparkle to their day. What a fun, energetic, boisterous ball of fantastic energy they were! Forgive me if I sound as if I am bragging on their behalf, but nothing makes me happier than seeing people do what they love.

These pumpkin muffins had a nice autumn ring to them. They weren’t the best muffins in the world (in fact, I burned them), but if you split them open and ate the soft pumpkiny insides, they were very good. They arrived warm. And in this case, it really was the thought that counted.

Pumpkin Pecan Muffins
adapted from Gourmet

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans (about 3 ounces)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and drop 12 muffin wrappers into the cups of a muffin baking sheet. Melt butter in a medium-sized bowl. While the butter is cooling, sift together flours, baking powder, spices, salt, and baking soda. Stir in brown sugar. In the butter bowl, mix in buttermilk, pumpkin, eggs, molasses, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Divide evenly among muffin cups and sprinkle with chopped pecans.

You know how recipes always call for a mere drop of buttermilk, but you can usually only buy it in the quart size? Wouldn’t it be helpful to have a collection of recipes that all require a bit of buttermilk so you would never have to waste a drop? If you have great recipes that require buttermilk please share them in the comments!

Most often I want something savory in the mornings, but for the days that I don’t, I want this. I would not deign to call this a recipe, of course, but this bowl of berries has been making me so happy in the morning, I had to share. The flavors are fresh, vibrant, and summery, and I’m left feeling light and energetic until lunch time. And all this time I thought one needed to fill up on eggs to have a full tummy until the midday meal.

There’s nothing mysterious in my methodology: I rinse the strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries and gently shake the clinging water droplets off. Then I quarter the hulkingest of the strawberries and plop them in the bowl first, followed by the blueberries and the blackberries (you probably don’t need me to tell you that raspberries are also divine). Top that with a dollop of the rich tasting but nonfat Greek yogurt (love that tang against the sweetness of the berries), and then sprinkle on a small handful of granola. This is such a sunny, happy breakfast, and makes me think for just a few moments in the morning that everything might go my way today.

I’m about to rename this blog From Soup to Eggs, cause it sure does seem that I write about these two quite a bit. The truth is, both can be such quick and economical meals that they’ve really become deliciously reliable standbys in the past few years.

For one, there is the fact that eggs just may be the perfect food. Fresh from a farm with yolks orange like a sunset, there’s nothing like quite like them. But they are also good after a week sitting in the fridge — and you certainly can’t say that about flounder. Eggs are also incredibly cheap, filling, and utterly complete. As evidenced in the past, I love them, totally.

Continue reading “The Best of Breakfast #1: Bacon and Chive Frittata” »

Before this spring, I had never even heard of ramps, and then suddenly they were everywhere. “The ramps are here!” food bloggers announced, and I didn’t even know I ought to have been anxiously awaiting their arrival through most of the winter months. Furthermore, I had never heard of guanciale before last week, and it was only because I stumbled into one of those luscious food shops that makes you want to scoot right into the kitchen that I came, er, face to face with the stuff.

Continue reading “Scrambled Eggs with Ramps and Guanciale” »

I am in full hibernation mode, are you? Shortly after nightfall, I’m under the covers with the lights out and getting up in the morning feels downright unnatural. All I want is to nest in my apartment with travelogues, a towering stack of cookbooks, and my Julia and Jacques dvds. Groceries will be delivered to my door, and I will send notice to my friends and employer that, regrettably, I will be unavailable until the magnolia trees bloom.

Continue reading “Eggs In A Hole” »