Lock In
Banana bread blondies, orange creamsicle yogurt topper, a summer tomato toast, books, essays.
Recipes —
Banana bread blondies with coconut sugar, best enjoyed with chocolate chip ice cream!
Mash first or combine 2 bananas with 3/4 c - 1 c coconut sugar depending on how sweet you’d like, 1 c butter room temperature (2 sticks), 2 eggs, and 1 teasp salt. Add 2 c + 2 tablesp AP flour, 1 teasp cinnamon, and 1 teasp baking soda. Combine / mix. Add chocolate chips (I never measure!) and spread batter into a 13x9 greased baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean in center. I like to top with maldon salt before it cools.
Cut into squares. Makes a great summertime base for a good scoop of ice cream. Enjoy.
Orange creamsicle yogurt topper with toasted almonds.
I know citrus season is over but this is very refreshing for breakfast or a sweet snack!
In a 350 degree oven bake a good handful of slivered or chopped almonds for 8 ish minutes until lightly browned and fragrant. Remove and sprinkle with salt.
Slice thin one medium navel orange and cook over stove top in 3 tablesp maple syrup, stirring throughout. Cook until fragrant, tender / sticky, and the peel looks candied.
The chia pudding I’ve been making is 3 tablesp chia seeds, flax seeds, and sunflower seeds. Cover with whole milk, and stir in a spoonful or two of maple syrup. Do this in a glass mason jar. Let sit in fridge overnight, or a minimum of two hours. When ready to serve, combine with two heaping spoonfuls plain yogurt.
Favorite summertime snack, breakfast, or lunch!
No knead loaf toasted, hummus, tomato, sunflower seeds, olive oil, salt, pepper.
Tomatoes from Box Hill Grocer
Reading —
My attention span and continuous change of ideas and moods usually has me flipping through a few books at once. I can’t keep up with a television show to save my life but books can always come with… and, now that my reading-by-the-pool days have arrived with independently swimming boys, I like the ability to switch gears depending on the day. I suppose everything I have reached for in the last year holds the theme of transformation.
Next of Kin by Gabrielle Hamilton (I LOVED Blood, Bones & Butter).
Chosen By A Horse by Susan Richards - a book of raw honesty and healing.
We Are the Stars by Gina Chick - is a tenderly written timeline with enchanting description and accent. She tells her story by truth and excitement, highlighting the many lifetimes we have as individuals. The pictures throughout (some black and white) are a touching draw… as I too am amazed and intrigued by photographs of deep candor. They are the perfect addition to paint the visuals of each page. I relate very much to her journey of growth, nature’s teachings, and periodic salaciousness. It instantly welcomes reflection, imagination.
Latest thoughts —
“Lock in.”
Say this to yourself when distracted, distraught, discouraged. Use this as a tool to separate your emotions from your next step. Everything we do is about process: leaving the house, running errands, applying for a program or school. We forget. We sit until perfect opportunity, thought, solution, and in modern times expect immediacy. We have been pet and brushed and shown twinkly things to believe that urgency is better. But if you watch the plant bear fruit, a storm pass, an egg go from chirpy chick to loud layer… it is always most correct when “it” has been given the space to participate in what is happening at each stage. Despite harsh winters and humid summers, horses prefer field to stall. They wait. They move or rest appropriately based on condition, and albeit dramatic at times, spook briefly from being caught off guard. Imagine if they never let that go. The result? Muscle and beauty.
Lustfulness can disguise itself so ordinarily… don’t let it trick you out of what comes next.
I returned home from a work trip for Matt and watched Rowan chase fireflies just off the driveway. “Lighting bugs are fast… but I’m faster,” he says quietly to himself, gently trying to grasp them. The moon is crisp and the sky is highlighter pink. Somehow I have walked into a year round snow globe, one that is warm even in winter. The few weekend outings and annual summer vacation we take are lovely, and because of the company feel like heaven too:
A life that is full of purpose, happiness, and connection — within myself and immediate family — Matt’s kids, my kids, and at home. I have never thought of myself to be a homebody, now I understand why. We need three things simultaneously to feel
