In the six months since my last post, my life has changed. I had a baby, got married, and got a brand new car. If I had considered myself a junior adult when last we spoke in July, I am most certainly a full-fledged ADULT now. It feels like a definite shift. I can’t take long, indulgent naps anymore; I can’t just hop in the car and go shopping without a lengthy process of nursing, dressing, buckling, and worrying. It is, essentially, no longer about me.
One of the few things that’s allowed me to hold onto my idea of ‘my identity’ in the wake of my new lifestyle is cooking. It was important to me, from the first night I was home from the hospital, to start making my own food – for me and for my family.
Don’t get me wrong. No new mother is an island. I have been the happy recipient of Chickens Fiesta and Mania; homemade quiche; a feast of epic Edo’s proportions; pho to go; a cheeseshop sandwich; and, thanks to the generosity of my Dad and Ginger, more Chinese takeout than I would’ve thought imaginable.
But it’s been 6 weeks since Lily Byrd hit the scene, and in that time, I’ve prided myself in menu planning, grocery shopping, and dinner making as much as realistically possible. I’ve dabbled in pad thai, reveled in the simplicity of tacos, roasted succulent pork tenderloin on more than one occasion, and even produced a birthday cake for Seth and a birthday breakfast for myself.
Seth loves blueberries, has a definite fondness for cake, and detests super sweet icing. This cake is, thus, perfect for him…and great for breakfast the next day.
Seth Ganz’s Blueberry Birthday Cake
Ingredients
2 Combine 1 cup of flour with baking powder and salt and set aside.
3 Using a mixer, beat the butter on medium high speed for 2 minutes. Then add the sugar and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy, a couple minutes more. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until well blended. Reduce the speed of the mixer to low and slowly add the flour mixture, beating until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.
4 Combine the berries with the remaining teaspoon of flour and the lemon juice in a bowl. Spoon the berry mixture over the batter.
5 Bake on middle rack in oven for 1 hour at 350°F, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully slide a thin knife around the edges of the cake to release it from the pan. Transfer the cake to a platter, berry side up.
This next dish; Twins on Toast, crispy bacon, and macerated strawberries; is my birthday breakfast. Seth has a sensitivity to egg yolk but seems to be pretty fond of eggs, so when I make his scramble (not shown,) I’m always left with an extra yolk. Now who am I to waste a delicious, gooey, bright egg yolk? Unacceptable. Enter Double-Yolk Eggies, aka “Twins.” I simply add my yolk to a cracked egg and pour into a hot pan with plenty of bacon fat. I baste the egg(s) with the salty, smokey hot fat, and voila, an eggstra indulgent breakfast!
the cake and breakfast look delicious! you have reason to not have posted in such a long time. good for you for trying to be self-sufficient!
Welcome back to the world of blogging. Things are looking quite delicious!
E.A.T.
Love this blog! Such a range of different foods and they all look yummy. Motherhood has only refined your style!