For The Love Of All Things Delicious

Or, call this a love letter to my adoration of starting a sentence with "and."

Happy Summer. I’m not writing as much as I wish I was. But I have been:

• Going outside

• Walking outside before it gets too hot

• Sitting outside when it’s hot for as long as my Norsk complexion can handle it

• Drinking water

• Reading books

• Thinking about writing and then getting mad at myself for not writing but thinking about it nonetheless

• Healing my skin barrier

• Doing my best

• Lather rinse repeat

I hope you’re doing some of those things too. This is messy but hey, at least I wrote it.

Anyway here’s a five things.

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1. Happy Roadside & Farmer’s Market Fruit Season To Us All.
   
   There are a fair amount of things to love about the summertime. (Summertime? Summer time? Whatever it looks pretty as one word I’m leaving it even if it’s wrong let’s just call it an ~artistic choice.~)
   
   Longer days, the smell of a really good sunscreen, grilling, walks around the neighborhood at 8:30 PM when it’s still hours from being dark, lemonade, Aperol spritzes, the smell of freshly mowed grass, hydrangeas, the way condensation feels on the base of your iced coffee, tomatoes, clear skies, pedicures peeking out from sandals, freckles, hot dog season, dogs getting hot and coming inside and laying on the cool tiles with the biggest sigh of content, beach fires, beach sunrises, really just the beach, and so on and so forth.

   But irrefutably one of the best things about a Washington summer are the roadside fruit stands. (I know I mentioned tomatoes already, that’s a subject entirely of their own.)
   
   They’re (a proper fruit stand) usually a little banged up, with paint peeling away from the wood and handcrafted signs probably in red to catch your eye as you drive past. Fruit is displayed in the most random of ways. Peaches, cherries, blueberries, all overflowing in buckets or plastic bags. Everything will need to be rinsed when it gets home, including your hands because they’ll absolutely be sticky. There’s never adequate parking, sometimes it feels like a Fear Factor challenge simply diving out of the car and avoiding traffic just to get over to see what’s for sale.

   

   I think it’s scientifically proven that seasonal fruit tastes better when it’s handed to you in a plastic bag from an otherwise unaffiliated store.

   And it’s absolutely the best.
   
   I’m truly never going to beat the nostalgia allegations—blame my Cancer moon.
   
   If you need me from now through September, I’ll be hunting at various stands and farmer’s markets for rhubarb because something strawberry rhubarb is calling my name and I will not rest until I satiate said call.
   

2. I cannot recommend anything less than growing your eyebrows back.
   
   I haven’t taken a full dive into the details, but since early fall of last year I’ve been dealing with chronic health issues for really the first time in my adult life. It’s been…frankly exhausting! And frustrating and trying and has made me feel a little crazy more than once. While I am more or less (fingers crossed for more) on the mend these days, there are some elements that are still happening.
   
   One of which being, sections of my eyebrows are growing back. And it kinda sucks lol.
   
   When my skin decided to shove multiple middle fingers in my direction it very unfortunately chose my parts of my face to target. During which scabs formed. Itching happened. I would wake up with the heels of my hands rubbing into the corners of my eyes and my ears and along my jaw. I stained pillows with little cylindrical pools of blood, I’ve permanently sworn off earbuds, and I became extreme well-versed in which “fragrance-free” moisturizers ACTUALLY won’t burn when things are raw.
   
   All the while, I lost little patches in my eyebrows, which are now in the process of growing back.
   
   It’s not painful, but it’s tedious and uncomfortable. The new hair feels weird and strange and coarse and pokey. I have to stop myself from picking at them and unconsciously making them patchy and sparse again. Thank the lort that Benefit is still in operation and has yet to discontinue the Goof Proof Brow Pencil (in shade 3.
   
   There are a lot of health related things I would recommend avoiding if possible. But one of them? I would not recommend growing your eyebrows back. It’s uncomfy and weird and makes me self-conscious which is why I am now divulging somewhat semi-permanently on the internet.
   
   Anyway. If you’re currently out of high-school and still find yourself in an awkward phase, consider that that’s normal. Happens to the best of us, is what I’m trying to say.
   

3. When all else fails, might I suggest cookies.
   
   Lately I have been sad! And happy! And relieved! And confused! And a little lost! And excited! And motivated! And despondent! And curious! And then sad again!
   
   And through it all, I’m happy to report that there is always something to bake.

   

   Exhibit: An old-fashioned strawberry cake. Tastes like a doughnut, a road trip, the perfect picnic by a lake, is crunchy from the sugar on top and soft inside and sweet and tart and is best made with (you guessed it) farm-stand strawberries.

   I’ve talked at length about my love of baking. About how much peace there is to be found between cubes of butter, in sifting the lumps out of flour, the satisfaction that can be achieved in seeing a perfect swirl of marble between layers of batter, in lifting the parchment paper up in one sweep. And above a lot of it, it’s truly meditative. I love setting the kitchen lights to barely 10%, the volume of the TV to barely a hum, and creaming together sugar and butter with a glass of wine in hand.
   
   Life is weird. The world is weird. I think we’re all figuring out how to navigate what it means to see so much going on and still being expected to answer emails and circle back and look at things at a high level and just…continue to be. I know I’m struggling with it. I don’t know how anyone could NOT be struggling with it.
   
   But when all else fails, there’s still the option to have some quiet. To dim the lights and have the hum of some video essay in the background while you break up chunks of semi-sweet chocolate for cookies made with brown butter (don’t do the swirl trick, the wavy edges give them personality). You can still make dough from scratch (just keep the butter and water very, very cold for optimal layering) and give yourself permission to pause and layer in jammy fruits to make a pie or a galette. You can teach yourself the how to craft frangipane and bring slices of a tart to your neighbors just because.
   
   You can always bake; or do something that makes you feel similar to what baking does for me.
   
   And even though it may not be much, maybe not even really an answer, that’s still kind of beautiful. To do something purely for the love of it, for no other reason at all. It may not be much, but it’s something.
   
   And we could all use a little something right now.
   

4. So here’s a little something more. Just a little.
   
   I’m not always good at being a source of comfort—to myself or anyone else.
   
   I’m extremely aware that I’m not the person you go to for a hug or a warm cup of tea after a hard conversation. I see both sides; I play devil’s advocate. I say, “Okay but…” even at times when I’m acutely aware that’s not really the vibe of the situation.
   
   I’m not the comfort person.
   
   But I think we could all use a good source of comfort right now, and probably until either it happens or 2028, whichever comes first. And for a lot of people, comfort can be found by way of a sweet treat.
   
   So here’s how you make indisputably the best Rice Krispies Treats Ever:
   
   Ingredients
   2 sticks of unsalted butter
   12 ounces (a bit more than a standard box) of Rice Krispies
   2 bags of mini marshmallows
   A good dash of vanilla paste or extract (think like…a tablespoon)
   Flaky salt for topping
   Nonstick spray (just for prep)
   
   Instructions
   -Prep a dish of your choice (I like a 9x9 pan) with a plethora of nonstick spray and set aside.
   -Toss your butter into a sauce pan and turn on your heat to medium low.
   -Let the butter melt, then foam, then get golden, and then begin to brown. If you’ve never browned butter I usually let it go until it smells like…the best popcorn in the world. You basically want to see the milk solubles start to separate from the liquid and that’s how you know the good shit it happening. Idk look up a YouTube video if I’m not explaining it right!
   -Once it’s to your liking lower the heat and add in your marshmallows to melt as well as your vanilla.
   -Let everything get gooey and meld together. You don’t want anything to caramelize totally but you do want flecks of browned butter throughout. Basically: Don’t be dumb and let anything burn.
   -Remove from the heat and add in the cereal and mix it all together to combine.
   -Scoop into your dish/pan/whatever and flatten evenly. I like to do this with the back of a measuring cup, it helps! Then top with flaky salt while still warm.
   -Enjoy fully cooled and cut into whatever shapes you happen to cut.
   

5. Let me leave you with this delicious little photo I’ve had saved for a year.
   
   I’ve talked before about how I kind of consider Martha Stewart somewhat of a parasocial role model of mine. I love that she’s kind of a bitch (complimentary), somewhat of a social loner, and has perfected the art of being lackadaisically chic. I love that she told someone in her documentary that they were using a stupid knife…because they were. I love that she bit back at Chelsea Handler…because it was funny. I love that she shrugs off most men…because they deserve it.
   
   But to my point of sharing a great Martha pic, around Thanksgiving last year Martha posted yet another thing I have put on my mental vision board. And I’m gracing you all with it to end this five things because I have therapy later today and I need to save some shit to talk about so I don’t pay $120 to talk about The Queer Ultimatum again like I did last week.

   

   I can’t wait to be even an iota like her someday.
   
   Looks like a pretty delectable way to live.