I also baked. A lot. So that meant dipping into the abundance of wonderful food blogs and searching for a purpose for the 8 lbs of carrots I have tucked in our fridge. Carrot cupcakes! I was pumped to find the food blog Smitten Kitchen filled with beautiful photos, and lively punctuated recipes. The way she writes makes me feel like I'm cooking with a friend. Give a go on the carrot cupcakes, I swear you won't be let down, they are really fantastic. Let me tell you, as I hung out by the pre-heating stove warming my ass, hand grating those carrots, my mind went all over the place - from why the hell is my heat out, to I wonder if this is what it was like to be a cook back in the old days, to "back in the old days" is a really antiquated and probably offensive phrase I shouldn't use it if I can help it, to how did someone decide to use carrots in a cupcake in the first place, to holy shit this carrot grating thing is not a quick process...
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| My carrot cupcakes, with the best icing job I've ever forced myself to do (it also helped keep me warm). |
I also drank a lot of hot cocoa. We picked up a few rounds of Taza Chocolate, which can be eaten as little chocolates on their own - soo delicious - or used to make Mexican Hot Chocolate (Taza has a beautiful and simple recipe for this too here). And this rich dessert has pretty much been my lunch for the last week. The ingredients are simple: single origin Dominican cacao and sustainable grown raw sugar cane. And the packaging is sublime. Simple, graphic, deliciouuuus, what's not to looove?
How pretty is that?! I felt like I could swim in it and imagined that it was like a velvet blanket that I could eat when I wanted. Weird? Blame it on the heat.
Hope you are all staying warm and enjoying some sweets during this holiday countdown!
J
