Lately

Whew. It's been a while.

{morning light}

{cooking!}

{lemon bars}

{bow tie cookies}

{helper}

I wish I had something exciting to share but I've got nothing. Just run of the mill life stuff like spending most of my energy on work and distributing whatever I have left as best I can. It hasn't been very picturesque, let me tell you.

A few little things ...

:: I know people claim that we don't have seasons here but I think they're just (much) more subtle. I'm enjoying the fall light, even if the fall weather is slow to catch up. I'm normally loathe to give up summer, but that last heat wave nearly killed me and now I'm grasping at any hint of chill in the air even if it means I won't see daylight for several months. It was cold enough this weekend that I'm looking forward to ending my nearly uninterrupted summer kitchen boycott.

:: Okay, I have spent a little time in the kitchen. I've been basing our cooking nights on the weather report, so I manage to get in there occasionally. Things I have cooked in the past three weeks: one enormous pot of linguine, lemon bars, a double batch of sugar cookies, countless quesadillas. The baked goods were for a dear friend's baby shower and I managed to frost the sugar cookies on my own. Sugar cookie decor is not my forte, but Emily's tips saved me. I think the key is the long, slow mixing. I always beat the hell out of my royal icing, which works perfectly for gingerbread houses but is terrible for sugar cookies. I think I erred on the too-soft side and the icing sort of bled together, but I'm improving!

:: Circe always helps with the vacuuming by lying on the floor directly in your path and then nonchalantly moving out of the way at the last second. I think she's just trying to prove how un-intimidated she is by the whole process.

Not pictured - we had a beloved out of town friend visiting last week and used it as an excuse to eat all the things. I kind of wish we hadn't finally tried Pine and Crane because it was as good as everyone said and so affordable and now all I want to do is pick up their dan dan noodles every night.