The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight…
…[Breadmaking is] one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with one of the world’s sweetest smells… there is no chiropractic treatment, no yoga exercise, no hour of meditation in a music-throbbing chapel that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread.
On the kitchen counter, she’d set out the ingredients: Flour bag, sugar box, two brown eggs nestled in the grooves between tiles. A yellow block of butter blurring at the edges. A shallow glass bowl of lemon peel. I toured the row. This was the week of my ninth birthday, and it had been a long day at school of cursive lessons, which I hated, and playground yelling about point scoring, and the sunlit kitchen and my warm-eyed mother were welcome arms, open. I dipped a finger into the wax baggie of brown- sugar crystals, murmured yes, please, yes.
Hello. I know I just got back to blogging (kind of), but you’re going to be hearing some more cricket chirping around here…I’m going on vacation! I thought I would just wait till I get back to post anything, but the one person who reads me (hi, Jen) and insisted I put up some sort of vacation message. We roll out bright and early tomorrow to fresh air and fall colors. And yes, I brought along a cookbook to read! 
See you on the other side!
Something sweet from E.’s mom. A yummy tote bag and wallet from Fluff, which she found in one of her shopping expeditions in downtown L.A. All their stuff is so cute, SEE?
Discovered that there’s a Le Creuset shop really close to us in the Citadel outlets. A Le Creuset OUTLET. Holy mother of pots. I had to contain myself because I didn’t want to embarrass E.
Found: Wendy Mullin’s Sew U book for working with knit fabrics for a song in Barnes & Noble. Me: bargain-happy.
How your weekend was lovely!
Graphic novel version of the parody. Snagged from Hi De Ho comics in Santa Monica, which I remember visiting when I was nine years old!
Happy weekend to you! 
Spring started yesterday.
Fall remains to be my favorite time of year, followed by winter. But I have to admit the enthusiasm of people around me about longer, sunnier days is catching. I’m thinking about the produce that’s soon to fill local farmers’ markets and the season-appropriate recipes I’ll get to try my hand at. These are on my list!
Clockwise from the top are Smitten Kitchen’s Artichokes Braised in Lemon and Olive Oil, a recreation of Avocado Toast by Cafe Gitane in New York, a classic Salad Nicoise and Fried Squash Blossoms. Yum!
Also, the warmer weather and drier days signal my annual breadmaking musings, when I start thinking about all the wonderful homemade bread I can attempt to make. I say “attempt” because I always tell myself to start considering the exploration of all things bready this time of year, but I always forget. This year, however, I want to make a solid effort. I got myself a copy of Beard on Bread, which was my mom’s breadmaking bible when we were kids. Maybe this time I’ll actually turn out a roll or two!
Happy Monday, all.
In case you find yourself twiddling your thumbs this weekend, I have an easy craft project to cure your Idlehands-itis.
I made this simple Lemon Green Tea Sugar Scrub in no time and with very little elbow grease. It smells fresh and rings in spring with citrusy goodness. Best of all, it isn’t gloopy like other sugar scrubs and is perfect as a homemade gift.
It’s adapted from Mark Montano’s Big-A** Book Of Crafts. (I don’t swear much, not even in writing! So you can just deal with the asterisks, haha!) It uses easy-to-find ingredients, most of which are probably already in your pantry. (In fact, this scrub is so natural it’s edible! If you’re stuck in your bathroom during a nuclear fallout you can probably eat this. But let’s just hope you use this for vanity’s sake, not survival!)
You’ll need:
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons Epsom salt
10 teaspoons olive oil (I used one marked “Light” on the bottle so it wouldn’t have a strong smell)
2 teaspoons honey (the darker, the better!)
3 green tea bags
1 lemon to zest (organic preferred)
Zest your lemon and set aside.
Combine the sugar and Epsom salt in a large mixing bowl. Tear open your green tea bags and mix the now-loose tea right in. Add the olive oil, mix in, then add the honey. This is actually efficient because the sugar-salt-tea mixture is able to break down the thick honey, plus the leftover olive oil in your measuring spoon allows the honey to slide right out.
Somewhere in the middle of all this mixing and stirring, you have to laugh when you catch the honey bear and your zester exchanging pleasantries/flirting. Haha!
Add the lemon zest last.
What you get is this awesome, all-natural potion of good things that has exfoliating and moisturizing powers.
If you were to give this as a gift, take a beautiful container (mine has a matching small scoop)…
…and fill it with your homemade scrub. (By the way, I had to double the recipe above to make enough for my glass jar.)
Finish off with a handwritten label and some lovely baker’s twine. (I got mine from Odette and her pretty Etsy shop.)
Package in wrapping tissue as a sweet, homemade gift—this one went to E.’s mom for her birthday (though I liked it so much I’m making a batch for myself)!
Yay, Friday! Have a fun, crafty weekend, all.
—
Further Reading Into The Art Of Sugarscrubology (or other stuff to learn because, you know, learning is sexy)
Mark Montano’s Big A** Book of Crafts (with free links to other crafty ideas)
Sugar scrubs are cool. (And good for you!)
What is Epsom salt? (Because I sure as heck didn’t know!)
“I want to get a flirty zester like yours to keep my whisk company.”
“That glass jar is fabulous! Where did you get it?”
Martha Stewart pre-cut tags are cute beyond words. Because she’s a genius.
You need this Baker’s Twine from the Packages & Strings Etsy shop in your life. Trust me.
J. | 
11 3rd, 2010| 