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. 

Cookie Butter Blondies

Cookie.Butter. Two words which, when combined, evoke dreamy images of golden, splendiferous bliss. Long before I ran an impatient spoon through a freshly opened jar, my mind had already made itself up - I was head-over-heels in love with the gingered elixir, long before we had been properly introduced. Rather presumptuous, I know, but my uncharacteristically bold assumption proved to be spot-on.

Lately, perhaps due to a mild case of cabin fever, I've had super-intense cravings for these bars (which were made about two weeks ago). To put things into perspective, last Thursday I finally had that troublesome molar pulled. It was a painless process, but the tugging and prodding are still all too fresh in my dentist-fearing mind. I've been on a soft food & wine diet, and a self-imposed lock down (vanity won't allow me to be seen in public with asymmetrical cheeks!). So of course, along with my neurotic over-thinking - "Is the pain normal?" "Did I just feel the adjacent tooth move when I pressed it with my tongue?"; I'm also craving popcorn, toasted bagels with copious amounts of sesame seeds, flaked coconut, kettle chips (salt & pepper), and, most of all, chunky, chewy bars.

Brown Sugar Rum Blondies

Things I Want Decided

Which shouldn’t exist
in this world,
the one who forgets
or the one
who is forgotten?

Which is better,
to love
one who has died
or not to see
each other when you are alive?

Which is better,
the distant lover
you long for
or the one you see daily
without desire?

Which is the least unreliable
among fickle things—
the swift rapids,
a flowing river,
or this human world?

~ Izumi Shikibu The Ink Dark Moon (trans. by Jane Hirshfield)

Maple Walnut Blondies with Butterscotch Glaze

So here we are. Or at least, here I am. Already with a blanket on my lap and a cat atop the blanket. (Niles weighs 19 lbs. My legs cannot fathom having a child.)

Has the switch been thrown so soon? Everything; the wind, the sky's cool hue, my icy fingertips, the wistful way the sun casts it's light as it sets too soon...the world's ambiance has changed. It's a subtle shift, the trees still cling to their green leaves and there will still be warm nights peppered onto the following weeks, but I can sense that a page has been turned. Every year I wonder when and how that occurs. I listen for it, I peek into hidden corridors, but it just happens. Fall slides softy and quietly into our lives the way cream swirls gently into an unstirred cup of coffee.

Inevitably, and sometimes against my will, I start to crave apples, and pumpkin lattes, and cinnamon, and maple.

the Bucket Brownies

Since I'm an on-again, off-again, pseudo vegetarian, I look to peanut butter as a source of protein. (That's a good excuse for stealing a few spoonfuls here and there, right?) Well, apparently yesterday was National Peanut Butter Day...and I didn't even have so much as a piece of toast, or smear of jam to mark the occasion.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Peanuttiest Blondies

Happy Peanut Butter Lovers Month! (Is it bad that I know about this?)

These photos might be the last taken with my trusty, little Canon A430 camera. After two years, 200 blog posts, and far too many snaps than I can count, the camera began displaying the dreaded white horizontal lines, and blindly white out-put. Of course I'm in a bit of a panic. For food bloggers, not having a camera is like a musician giving a performance to an empty theater.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chewy, Chunky Blondies

Sometimes a cookie just isn't enough, you need to sink your teeth into something more substantial. Enter the classic blondie. They are basically pudgy, pimped out cookies.

Peanut Butter Blondies

Two things I know I won't ever get sick of. The song 'Africa' by Toto. And anything that combines peanut butter and chocolate. After Fridays' peanut butter pandemonium, I still had half a jar left.