A bit of both

Hi!

When I start to slip off the blogging bandwagon sometimes it's hard to tell if it's because I'm feeling bummed about life or if it's because I've been busy trying to make a great life.

Lately it's been a bit of both.

This (and having my sister-in-law close by) saved me last week during the Week From Hell. (Alex, Wednesday night was the highlight of my week (maybe year haha!), but somehow it made Thursday and Friday just that much more unbearable!)

I could use a Vacation from my Problems!

But my Real Life is also pretty sweet.

And here are some random paradoxes/tensions I've been thinking about lately:

accuracy vs. precision
self-hood vs. community
submission vs. autonomy
being like everyone vs. being unique
feeling content vs. striving for improvement
grief vs. gratitude/pleasure
being conservative vs. having an abundance mentality
feeling hopeful vs. being realistic

Finally, interesting article and cute item.

And also, I need this. But not at that price. It's not OK.

Even easier

I've been dragging my feet with regards to posting these days, but I think I have a good excuse.



It's finally (finally!!!!!!!) summer!

I have had big plans to tell you about rediscovering one of my favorite Chinese cookbook authors, and about The Glory That Is Laundry Day, and of course, we are more than overdue on a Theo update.

But the days are getting brighter, longer, and lazier, and so all I have to offer you today is these.

After finding some winter refuge at the computer, I feel the tug to spend more of my time unplugged and outside. We have too many popsicles to eat and too few days.

Ever since I saw Molly Orangette write about these I have been dreaming about making them. For some reason I thought they were more complicated than they really are. But in fact they are really easy, like boozy pudding (something else I need to tell you about later*) but even easier.

(*ehhh, if you're new around here, I've talked about it plenty on the old food blog with Stephie. You're welcome. So embarrassing.)

Anyway, without further ado, and so that I can get back to laying out on the deck, here are the fudgsicles you need in your life today.

Fudgsicles
adapted from Orangette

If you're fancy, you should definitely read up on Molly's recipe to get all the details about chocolate, because she's obviously thought it through. I've tried to keep it simple and easy here, and it's more for my reference to make it again. She also called for heavy cream and milk; I had lots of half and half so I've simplified it here. Obviously, you can use your brain and do things differently.

8 oz chocolate chips (preferably mixed in with some bittersweet, but don't go all dark)
2 1/2 cups half and half
2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
2 t vanilla extract, or (spiced) rum since vanilla extract costs a million dollars these days

Heat up half and half on the stove with cocoa powder, whisking to dissolve. Remove pan from heat, and after a minute, dump chocolate chips into the pan, whisking until it's all incorporated. Add in vanilla extract and then pour into popsicle molds. Freeze until hard.

P.S. Comment below with a caption for the second picture in this post. The winner gets a fudgsicle!