.joyful surprise.

anyone that knows me well can tell you that i get downright giddy when i get real mail. i'm not talking about credit card offers or coupon pamphlets. but a handwritten card or letter? go ahead and get out of my way because i'm doing a happy dance. now, if you want to talk about cartwheels kinda happy, just let me find a delivered package on my doorstep. today, yeah, it was a cartwheel kinda day.

right away, i saw that the box had traveled across the country from one of my longest held friends who now lives in california. as i ran my sharpest scissors down the the sides and top, my patience was lagging behind my motor skills. as i ripped the lid open and then carefully read the card, (gosh i could live in the hallmark aisles), i found a box packed full of individually tissue-wrapped items.

in the sweet card, she congratulated me on my blogging and gifted our kitchen accordingly. ripping away the first tissued item, i pulled out an utterly adorable, striped with happiness apron. not only is it from my favorite store, anthropologie, but it also is the kind of gift that will see me through my moments of baking bliss with function.

each gift unwrapped revealed another treasure to add to my pantry, cabinet, drawer and all left me smiling bigger than the minute before. flipping through the cookbook, i oohed and ahhed over beauties i want to get my hands on. the cupcake liners are basically invitations for me to create an event so i have an excuse to use them.

i can remember this friend and myself having quite a few times where it was a necessity to make yummies for our friends and she was aways the brownie queen with her trusty box of mix ready. we met back in brownie scouts, found our friendship really take flight in high school and as adults, i still treasure her. she's the kind of girl that would run over to your house when your parents left you at home just to feed the bird you're deathly afraid of for you. she's also the kind of girl to read your blog and send you a box full of baking goodies.

for your thoughtfulness and this moment of joy, thank you.

.a corny tale.

if i was a guesstimator, i'd say it was about six and a half years ago. (give or take half a year) my hpff and i were real exercise junkies. about once every other week, we'd walk around the local hotspot lake. before you shake your head at the notion of bi-weekly walks constituting exercise addicts much less junkies, let me explain. we ran and ran and ran our mouths. see, i told you.

on one such marathon day, i do believe my stories of personal drama were the soundtrack to our workout. as i was telling her about some of the gossip in my own life, i got off on a tangent dealing with my beliefs about karma. my idea on karma back then is that same as it is now. it exists and it's potent for me. as we rounded the corner to her house and our final destination, i wrapped up the session with a not so favorable story of one of my misadventures. we both laughed (good for calorie burning) at my tale and then it happened.

as if a squirrel were practice pitching for the local furry-tailed-rat fast pitch baseball league, an acorn knocked me square upside the head. it, in fact, hit me with such a thud that we both stopped in a state of shock. i quickly shot my head upward to find the culprit and there was nothing above me but lingering disbelief. obviously, we both took this as an absolute sign that karma does exist and i got thumped directly in the head with it. after our state of wide eyedness dissipated, we both laughed at the timing of the situation. this was a not so gentle reminder that what comes around really does go around.

in all i do, i try to remember that my actions will have a rippled effect somewhere and at some other time in my life. in saying this, i still have a long way to go in being my best self and i never expect to be free of unfavorable choices and regrettable decisions. nevertheless, i like to keep a little good karma tucked away in my pocket at all times.

driving away from my friend's house that afternoon many years ago with a giggle still washing over me, my mind couldn't help but to wonder why we began talking about karma in the first place. ridiculous choices on my part led to the conversation to begin with and i can't say that i had completely let go at that moment of possibly making the same mistakes again. as i reached up to scratch something that was irritating me on my hairline, i pulled out a small fragment of acorn shrapnel. there it was again. the acorn, the reminder of what would happen if i repeated my own errors. like good karma should, it reminded me once again where i should lead my own choices. in a corny, private attempt at symbolism, i balanced that little piece of acorn debris on my index finger.

much like making a wish, i promised myself to keep my karma in check and blew the tiny piece as if blowing out a candle. it flew with force off my finger, hit the steering wheel of my car to bounce back and hit me smack in the face. really, i couldn't make this stuff up.

karma is stubborn, determined and sometimes painful. consider this your warning. also consider that laughing and learning because of yourself both feel so good.

.berrylicious crumb cake.

hi, i'm melinda. nice to meet you, i've baked you something.
as my one week of summer vacation was singing its final verse, the next track was gearing up to play its tune. on the eve of a three week fellowship, my beat was skipping from reading, lounging, and frolicking to alarm clocks, learning and ingenuity. before i even gave myself a chance to slump, i tied my apron around my waist and danced into the kitchen.

knowing that i'd be spending the next few weeks with a new set of co-workers, and especially this first week where we would be in a planning phase without kids, i thought it would be a nice gesture to come bearing yumminess.

the beauty of a season free of wintery frost is the fresh berries it produces. they are so hard to resist in both the store and as the top story for every cooking magazine and recipe blog. as much as i have loved making strawberry goodies, it was time to try on something more. my main objectives with this baking endeavor were to bring smiles to the lips of my new co-workers and to make sure my treats were easy to eat around a table covered in laptops, robot parts and ideas.

because i just made cookies a few days earlier and cupcakes seemed a little too celebratory for a first-day-on-the-job snack, i wanted to make some berrylicious bars. in my recipe search, i almost immediately found this recipe on bakedbree.com for berry crumb cake. wait, a cake? didn't i just say i wanted it to be simple for everyone to pick up a piece and eat? well, when i looked through the pictures with the recipe, it looked more like bars than a cake so i went for it.

berry crumb cake
ingredients
2 Tablespoons canola oil
4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups mixed berries
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 sticks butter, melted and cooled
confectioners’ sugar
Whisk together 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Whisk together the egg, milk, oil and vanilla. Mix together until the batter comes together. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray. Spread the batter evenly in the pan. Cover the batter with the 2 cups of berries.
Add the remaining 2 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon to a bowl. Add the butter and mix until it forms large crumbs.
Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the batter.
Bake in a 325 degree oven for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Rotate the pan at least once during baking. When the cake has cooled, dust confectioners’ sugar on top.

though the recipe allows for a mix of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, i decided to just use raspberries and blueberries. as i said above, i'd shown some outrageous favoritism to strawberries lately and wanted to let some other berries basque in the lime, er, berrylight.

one of the things that drew me to this particular recipe was the layering involved. there's something enticing about biting into different tastes and textures and by layering, this effect can easily be achieved. after making the bottom, cakey layer, i measured out one cup of blueberries and one cup of raspberries. almost right away, i noticed that two cups would only cover somewhat sporadically over the cake bottom and this just wouldn't do. so, i probably ended up adding about another 3/4 cups more berries.

still, i wasn't satisfied and thought the blueberries overpowered the amount of raspberries. so, i began gently tearing the raspberries in half to be able to scatter them across much more of the cake. now with the first two layers in place, it was time to add the crumbly topping.

when i read that cinnamon would be involved in this cake, it truly was the icing on the cake for me. cinnamon is one of those flavors that i would choose almost any day if given the option. with the topping all mixed up and then crumbled over the top of the berries, it was time to put the cake in the oven. just as the recipe suggested, i opened the oven door halfway through to turn the pan and was almost knocked over by the aroma of cinnamon and sugar. it was a sensory rush to my childhood mornings with cinnamon sugar toast and i wasn't sure if i could wait another ten minutes to dig in.

after the full 20 minutes of bake time, my testing toothpick was not coming out clean. i ended up adding probably another full 7 minutes to what the recipe intended and kept checking every 2 during that time so as to not overcook. i am going to admit that it probably needed another 2-3 minutes even because the middle of the cake was gooier than i realized after it cooled all the way. let me just tell you though, this is absolutely scrumptious! no complaints whatsoever in the delicious department.

even though they look somewhat like bars, they really are cake. when i opened up the tupperware to my new colleagues on that first day to reveal a pile of cakey looking squares with no forks or napkins in sight, they were all good sports in scooping out a portion and i think i can speak for each of them by saying they didn't regret it for a second.

.what you haven't been looking for.

driving down a road i've been down many times before (not metaphorically), i was on auto-pilot as my wheels used their memory to take the curves with ease as i adjusted the volume on the stereo. but this particular drive, this particular morning, on this familiar stretch of pavement, my head pivoted left and i felt my breath catch. there was no catastrophe or exotic animal or new store amidst these common brick homes. instead what caught my eye was the most beautiful, big garden.

in that instant, my eyes took in a scene of rows upon rows of glorious flowers in an array of colors. an elderly lady was tending this garden talking to what was surely her pride and joy. this was no simple boxed garden in a front yard, but rather a plot big enough for another house with petaled residents taking root, calling it home. how had i driven by here so many times and not seen this? i was overwhelmed by the natural beauty and purity of the scene and even more so by the sudden discovery.

this caused me to start thinking about how often we travel (ok, now this part is metaphorical) in our own lives on auto-pilot and miss those little moments that can stun us into happiness. many times we get so accustomed to our routine that we forget to look for what may be right in front of us. in our most comfortable relationships with friends, family, significant others, it is so easy to miss opportunities. there's a subtle beauty there if we allow ourselves to take a step back and appreciate what is flourishing and could truly bloom with a little attention. the new, the different, those are enticing and exciting roads, but i hope to never quit looking around the paths closer to home.

i'd like to promise myself to keep my focus adjusted so that the life, the people, the experiences closest to me are never taken for granted. let me always find in my husband what drew me to him in the first place. let me remember my roots and cherish the family i have and am creating. let me tend to my friendships with the care and attention each one deserves. let me hold the life i've chosen so close to my heart that sometimes it is hard to take the next breath without appreciating that which is giving it pressure.

i encourage you- look at your life right at this moment. pull the curtain closed on potential and possibility for just this instant and put the spotlight on what really is around you, what has been there all along. tend to it, love it for what it is or who it is, avoid taking it for granted. find the beauty in your very own ordinary. you may be surprised to find out you've had exactly what you haven't been looking for all along.

.reese's chip peanut butter cookies.

everyone in my family knows that my dad is partial to strawberry shortcake. we all love when his birthday rolls around so that my mom will make it and we can all sink our forks into this super moist untraditional birthday cake. having lived far away from my family for the past few years, i miss being at home on my dad's birthdays. while it goes without saying that i miss the familiarity and comfort of my family, i selfishly also miss that cake. with my dad's birthday rolling around again, i told my mom that i wanted to bake him cookies because it is what i'm most comfortable shipping at this point. she offered me two flavor suggestions: strawberry and reese's cups. this was an either/or before you start gagging.

lately, i've seen advertisements for a new product in the reese's brand of products. while it is my belief that you just can't go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter, you can go even more right with it for sure. oh reese's geniuses, you've done it again. their newest creation is a smaller version of their mini-cups. from the moment i laid eyes on these, i knew i had to create a recipe that gave them center stage.

so when my mom brought up reese's cups for my dad, it was a divinely flavorful intervention. here is the recipe i created below:

ingredients
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar (set 1 tsp aside for topping the cookies)
1 large egg
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup quartered reese's minis

directions
this recipe yields two dozen cookies and can be easily manipulated to make more or less. you've just got to use a little math.
a. preheat your oven to 350°F.

b. in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment or with your hand mixer, cream the butter and both sugars until they look fluffy. then, in order, add your egg, vanilla and peanut butter. continue to mix.

c. sift together the flour, baking powder and salt before adding it to your batter. mix it in until everything is just combined.

d. take your mini reese's and quarter them with a knife. fold them into your prepared batter. with a small scooper, plop a small amount of dough into your hand and roll into a ball before placing on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. if you find this process to be sticky, keep your hands wet with cold water. flatten the cookies with something from your cutlery drawer or just use the palm of your hand. pinch a little bit of granulated sugar over each cookie to lightly sand the top.

e. bake the cookies for 16-17 minutes. do not overbake; even if they do not look quite done at 17 minutes. after removing the first batch from the oven, let the cookies rest on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack for cooling. repeat with your second dozen.

as i began to prepare the batter for these rich cookies, my eyes kept wandering over to the bag of mini reese's and i found myself rushing through the beginning steps in order to get my hands on these babies.

after mixing and sifting and scraping and measuring, the magic moment was upon me. i almost ran over to the orange bag sitting pretty on the counter. instead, i carefully...ok no, i ran. after ripping it open, my hands did the talking as they popped one little mini reese's into my mouth and then there was no turning back. i dare you not to eat them when you're making a recipe like this.

folding the reese's chips into the batter gave off such a peanut buttery aroma. this cookie is not for the weak of peanut butter heart. when they came out of the oven, i waited about forty-five seconds before i pinched off a bite of one. after they cooled and i took the time to properly eat a whole cookie in its finished form, i discovered that the peanut butter part of the mini reese's basically melded right in with the peanut butter in the batter. now, i'm not saying there's anything wrong with this as they were delish. however, if you want to really have the reese's stand out, a plain sugar cookie might be a better base.

i guess i really am my father's daughter because strawberry and reese's are my favorites too. again, it's an either/or.

.wedding hair trilogy.

when i was in pre-school, charm bracelets defined the word charm for me because i found them utterly irresistible. with their neon colors of the eighties and endless variety of trinkety charms, how could i not be in love? granted, most of them were traded with other girls for lip gloss or whatever they had in their cheap, child-sized purses. from there, it was jelly bracelets, then slap bracelets, and whatever happened to be the latest trend at the time. in my adolescent punky days, there was probably more metal and spikes than my mom cared for, but hey, a girl still had to accessorize.

my favorite go-to style tip is to accessorize. no matter what you find in your closet, what you add from your shoe basket, dresser or jewelry box can really give your look a signature. something as simple as adding a statement piece necklace to an otherwise simple top can create a totally different look. this is a topic i could wax-girlie about for probably hours on end. however, what i want to talk about today is how a girl like me could possibly narrow down how to accessorize my hair for my most special wedding day.

maybe i need to rephrase the sentiment of narrowing down because some people would argue that three hair pieces doesn't exactly fit that statement. like i said, i've always been one to love those little extras. being that our wedding was an expression of our love and reflected who we are as people, that encompassed my fashiony side. without further ado, let's take a walk on the style side.

i knew i'd be seeing my soon-to-be husband before our ceremony for that private moment where we could take in the joy of the day between just the two of us. since he's known me, he has come to expect me sticking a flower pin in my hair for random occasions. as much as i like to be daring in style, he really leans towards simplicity. so, i didn't want his first view of his bride to be anything as dramatic as a peacock feather or tiny top hat. a flower would remind him of the girl he dated for almost four years. a couple of months before the day, i made my own flower hairpiece with a plain metal barrette, some hot glue and a slightly altered flower from a local craft store. it was the perfect piece for our day in the garden.

Swept Away Studios

after strolling through the garden together and meandering back to our hotel where the wedding party waited, he and i kissed goodbye and i went back to the room with my girls. amidst a frantic swirl of make-up, hairspray and heels, i gently took the flower out of my hair in exchange for what i would wear to actually marry my life's partner. traditionally, women for decades have made that momentous walk down the aisle with their face gently shadowed by a bridal veil. i would be no exception. with a long engagement of eighteen months, there were many things i exchanged and changed my mind on throughout the planning process. my vintage-inspired bird cage veil, however, was the very first purchase i made after i said yes to his proposal. the day after our wedding, my brand-spanking new husband told me he did not expect to see the veil after seeing me earlier in the day without one and i think that one little accessory twist made a memorable impact. (although, he had a little trouble figuring out what to do when he was allowed to kiss the bride with that netting in his way.)

Swept Away Studiios

transitioning from our garden wedding under a beautiful, blue sky to our celebratory reception indoors, i wanted to make one final hair transformation. some brides change dresses between ceremony and reception, but i chose to change accessories (again). i knew with the group of friends and family that we had with us that day there was no doubt we'd have a ball and i wanted something fun to reflect in my hair piece. after much perusing through store after store on etsy, i finally came across a feathery, yet still vintage, number that was precisely what i was looking for. like donning a powerful cloak, this fun feathered accessory did just the trick. i've never smiled so much in my life. was it really the hair piece that made this happen? (ok, of course not.)

Swept Away Studios

but, there is something to be said about when you're happy with your look, you wear it all over your mood.

Swept Away Studios

.have some more and s'more.

if you're pretty much anywhere right now, it is at the very least slightly hot outside. so the idea of sitting around a bonfire may a little less than desirable. however, that doesn't really help alleviate a craving for s'mores now does it?

the last recipe i'd like to share from our memorial day cook-out is so versatile that i think it is a perfect fit for any time of year. it is the type of fun treat that can be made in mass quantities or can also be put together a few at a time for a fun snack or dessert at the family dinner table.

without further ado, here is my recipe for s'more pops!

ingredients
hershey's chocolate candy bars
big marshmallows
graham crackers
popsicle sticks (optional)

directions
start by figuring out how many s'more pops you want to make. i started with just a few to practice. i melted 3 mini-hershey bars in a bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds. the chocolate will not look melted when you pull it out, but will quickly turn smooth once you start stirring it. for my larger party batch, i melted one and a half packs of mini-hershey bars. the nice thing about using the little guys is that you can easily add a small amount at a time as you go.

in a small sealed sandwich bag, i pounded some graham crackers into crumbs and poured them in a separate dish. then, i grabbed my popsicle sticks and rammed them into each marshmallow. as a side note, this may the perfect sweet recipe to let out some negative energy. pounding, crumbling, shoving...and all for a scrumptious cause.

working quickly so that the milky chocolate stayed smooth, i took each marshmallow and really just pushed them around in the chocolate. my first attempts aren't as aesthetically pleasing because i was swirling the marshmallow in the chocolate and that caused dripping. the pushing process made for a neater pop.

once i had all the chocolate i wanted on the white puffiness, i dipped the very top of the chocolate end in graham crackers.

while preparing these, i used a block of styrofoam to stick the s'more pops in while they dried. once they made their debut at the cook-out, they were a quick hit. they're the type of delicious nostalgic dessert that had our guests wanting some more and some more and s'more.