First, a disclaimer: I am writing this in a haze of post-Daylight Saving Time exhaustion. If you have children — particularly small children on whom the concept of “sleeping in” is completely lost, you feel my pain. Add in teething and a sudden desire to skip a third nap (despite offering every indication that a third nap is, indeed, just what the doctor ordered), and you end up somewhere close to here. Welcome to my semi-functioning, yoga-pants-as-real-pants, peanut-butter-pretzels-for-breakfast-lunch-and-dinner reality. THANK GOD FOR CARAMEL SAUCE. Caramel sauce, I have recently discovered, can be the antidote to a myriad of woes. I say … Read More
pumpkin pie milkshakes with pumpkin spice caramel and maple whip (df)

Let me first address the obvious here, because I bet someone out there is just itching to say it: a milkshake without dairy is not a true milkshake. I know this is the popular opinion, and even in my own heart, I know it to be true. But there’s something to be said for getting really, really, really close. And then taking some titular liberties. Ha. Titular. If you’ve been around this blog for any part of the autumn season before, you know it becomes kind of a squash and pumpkin show. I mean, I wouldn’t say I’m the biggest pumpkin (or even … Read More
olive oil brownies with candied bacon + pecans

Hold on to yer hats, everybody. I’ve been baking again. And somehow I always choose to do so on days when it’s sweatstache weather. Or maybe it’s just always going to be sweatstache weather from here on out. Is this just how we’re going to roll for, like, always? Seriously, I feel like how The Rock looks in pretty much every F&F franchise movie (or, more accurately, every movie ever). That is: dripping with perspiration to the point where you just assume there’s a tiny person off camera whose entire job consists of soaking him down with a tiny mister … Read More
curried cantaloupe + toasted coconut ice pops

Oh haaaaaay there. Did you miss me? I took last week off to try my hand at being a Professional Boob Sweat Wiper Offer. And guess what? I nailed it. I’d go into detail, but I have a feeling you’ve already got a pretty rockin’ image going on. Plus, my fellow California gals Lily and Gina waxed far more poetic about the recent heat wave than I could ever hope, so I’ll encourage you to head in their direction(s) if you’ve not already. Bottom line: shit’s been hot. This week, however, we’ve seen a slight respite. As in, Lana even … Read More
mini blum’s(ish) coffee crunch cake

Babies, I have determined, are perhaps the best drug on Earth. In their presence — with just one whiff of sticky-milk cheeks, a gentle raking of fingers through downy soft hair, the trill of a new voice finding new volumes — time both stands still and speeds up, a pinwheel turning wildly in the wind. Your own future becomes both vastly clear and deliriously blurred. Those newborn nights you were certain would never end; the physical pain of complete and total exhaustion that you thought you were prepared for, you silly goose now hardly more than a “remember when…” in the wake of … Read More

