Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Candied Lemons

Currently: A slice of this darling cake (the very last!), lush trees,  lilac bushes blowing in a looming spring storm, and a thick-rimmed glass of iced coffee. I absolutely relish the month of May!

Rain makes its own night, long mornings with the lamp left
on.
Lean bean grass sticks to the floor near your shoes,
last summer’s pollen rises from damp metal screens.

This is order, this clutter that fills clearings between us,
clothes clinging to chairs, your shoes in a muddy grip.

The hard rain smells like it comes from the earth.
the human light in our windows, the orange stillness
of rooms seen from outside. The place we fall to alone,
falling to sleep. Surrounded by a forest’s green assurance,
the iron gauze of sky and sea,
while night, the rain, pulls itself down through the trees.


                            ~ Anne Michaels, in The Weight of Oranges

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Every now and then we all have our struggles with self-doubt and superfluous insecurities. Sometimes a sliver-sized fragment of my own self-consciousness will splinter off and lodge itself into my blog. In dark times I'll compare my site with other food blogs and berate myself for not being as successful, especially when I discover a gorgeous newbie blog that already has a gazillion followers and resplendent acknowledgments in Saveur and Gourmet, etc..

So when I was contacted by Martha's Circle last week, asking if I'd like to join, needless to say - I was Beyond elated! Unfortunately, due a conflict with my current ad network (which I adore!), I had to turn down the offer. But it was just what my blog and I needed - irrefutable proof that one doesn't necessarily need an SLR camera, or the fancy bells and whistles of Photoshop, to get "noticed."

I hope you don't mind me sharing that bit of exciting news. I'm a chronic wallflower, but sometimes the warm glow of a spotlight feels soft, and cosy. If une gamine dans la cuisine were a cat, she'd be purring like a lioness. :)

Now, lets talk cookies.

Mother's Day Dessert Ideas

Brown Sugar Buttermilk Pie

My days have been blowing around in a strange windstorm this entire week. I thought Monday was Wednesday and Wednesday was Thursday. Now that it's Friday, I feel inadequate - as though I haven't earned the right to thoroughly enjoy my beloved weekend bounce.

I almost forgot about Mother's Day too! *Eep!* So instead of sharing the cookie recipe I'd promised via Instagram and Facebook...and Twitter (Sheepish am I), I'm digging through the archive and sharing some of my favouite recipes that you, and your fabulous mom, might enjoy.

The peanut butter, oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe will make it's gracefully, clumsy appearance next week. Promise.

{Note: The link to each recipe is just below it's corresponding photo.}

P.S. Fellow food blogger, and talented photographer, Jehanne (The Cooking Doctor), has just released a wonderful Mother's Day newsletter - complete with beautiful step-by-step directions on how to make rose cake pops! More details Here.

Moonshine Banana Blondies

"What a strange thing!
to be alive
beneath cherry blossoms."

Kobayashi Issa, in The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa, translated by Robert Hass

I have a bad habit of mourning the ending of something I love before it's truly even started - an all-consuming book, an impromptu party, a much-anticipated film, lemon cake, a vacation, etc...

Currently I have a massive crush on spring and summer. Of course, in vintage form, all I can think of is their fleeting presence. If only it were possible to place a wedge under the door of time - just so we could linger a little bit longer in the warmth and lush beauty of May, June, July, and yes, even sultry August. (And if only I could figure out how to take my eyes off dark horizons and live in the moment.)

Luckily I can always rely on baking to help me stay focused on "the now." Whiskey helps with "the maybe!"

P.S. I used normal whiskey in this recipe. Moonshine just sounds mysteriously intriguing. 

Raspberry Cornmeal Thumbprint Cookies

When I was in grade school I remember a rather bully-ish boy who liked to stick his index finger into everyone's peanut butter and jelly sandwich. For this reason the phrase "thumbprint cookie" is slightly off putting. I'm all for diving into food with both hands, but the idea of deliberately poking something seems offensive and unsanitary. Luckily as a child I didn't know that the jam-filled confections were called thumbprint cookies. To me they were tasty, jewel-toned medallions, filled with magical powers that would help me save Fantasia from The Nothing - and hide me from food ravaging bullies.

If you didn't grow up loving The NeverEnding Story, please give it another chance. Maybe we can be friends again. (If you are too young to have heard about the movie, I don't want to know!) ;)
 
Even though I'm slightly uncomfortable with the title, these thumbprint cookies were splendid, and simple, and a bit magical - they certainly disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Clementine Olive Oil Cake

I love the feeling of sunlight on wrinkled morning sheets. My late April mornings are crisp and cold, but thanks to a gentle early sunrise, their edges have softened, significantly. And whilst winter is still trying to make itself heard, his windy voice is now a hollow echo - we're no longer bumping into each other with awkward elbows and disgruntled sighs.

This morning's sunbath was particularly difficult to depart from. My pillow was perfectly cool, and the sheets had the inviting warmth that comes from being slept on all night. Why is it that a bed reaches it's peak comfort level as soon as the alarm goes off? After several minutes of basking and stretching and hitting the snooze button, I remembered the bundt cake sitting on my kitchen table. Nothing awakens the body and mind quite like the promise of cake, and strong, creamy coffee.