Ace In The Hole

{attractive donut picture from here, via here}

The distinct lack of winter in these parts has left me feeling not very much like baking.

Which is a major bummer. I like winter, and I like hunkering down with the mixer in my triple layer sweats.

That's not to say that the downright spring-like temperatures aren't without benefits: drawers have been emptied (and vacuumed, because I'm crazy like that), clothes washed, line-dried, and folded. Closets have been emptied of contents, scrubbed clean, and then refilled in a slightly more organized manner. The first of most likely many donation pick-ups is scheduled for tomorrow.

There is a definite air of spring cleaning about the place.

But...something's not quite right.

So, last week, buoyed by the lack of a kitchen and too much Pinterest goodness, I tempted the fates and decided to make these donuts.

Mind you, I have never made donuts before. I had to go out to buy a donut pan (which is a tricky little bugger to come by in a land where chain donuteries rule). It was for mini donuts. I had to figure out how to fill it. And I had to do it all in bare-walled space that is only narrowly passing for a kitchen. Quite a delicate high-wire act, I tell you.

But figure it out I did. And, sure, my little mini donuts looked more like tiny cupcakes with holes in the middle than actual donuts. And so what if my glaze didn't dry the same delicious pink as the donuts in the picture (or dry at all, for that matter).

They were ugly, and they were delicious.
Balance has been restored.

xo

Weekend Discoveries

Hello and Happy Monday, my sweets! Did you have a good weekend?

Mine was full of discoveries. Discoveries so fabulous, that I'm sharing them with you today (lucky ducks!).

The first discovery is a musical one.

I kept hearing this really great song on the radio. Everytime I heard it, I turned it up a little louder.

The song is called "You Were Never There", and it's from the fabulous Diego Garcia's equally fabulous album, Laura. I procured it for my listening pleasure, which I have been doing all weekend. I highly reccomened it. It will make your ears happy.

The second discovery was that I can make hummus. It seems simple enough. I mean, I have friends who make it, and my mom makes it, so why can't I? Well the answer to that one is simple: I'm a measurer. Everyone I talked to about it said you just "use some of this and add a bit of that." Yes yes, but how much, exactly?

A conversation with a friend finally convinced me to just dump stuff in a food processor and hope for the best. "You just take some perfectly good stuff and mix it together until something wonderful comes together. After all, isn't that what you do?"

Yep. That's what I do.

The third, and possibly best discovery, are these mojitos.

There is always a bottle of Italian blood orange soda in the house (for just such a cocktail occassion). There's usually rum and limes, too. And in the summer, there's mint in the garden.

Bottoms up, Dear Readers!

Wishing you a week full of fabulous discoveries.

xo