I started a gratitude journal. Corny, I know, but I’ve found myself, like many people, struggling to stay on track during the pandemic. There’s too much time spent watching Tiger King, not enough time hiking or baking or gardening. On one such evening, splayed on my couch with blanket and Netflix and feeling low, my cat, Mochi, jumped up on my chest, gave my tummy a gentle knead, curled up and soothed me with his motor at a steady rumble. I scratched his head and thought, “THIS is contentment. This is all I need tonight.” The first entry in my gratitude journal:

Mochi, sleeping on my chest, purring

On today’s walk, the birds and their new babies were a choir of song, warming sunshine shone across my back while the lightest breeze kept the heat from being unbearable, Jacaranda trees Jackson Pollocked the sidewalks in a lavender explosion, and the air smelled sweetly of star jasmine. “THIS,” I thought as I traversed the neighborhood, “is all I need.”

I’m also grateful that my local Italian Market, Claro’s, stocks a pretty decent Cannoli shell.

Hazelnut Mocha Cannoli

• Servings: 12 Cannoli
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Ingredients

For Cannoli
• 12 cannoli shells
• 6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2.25 oz. chopped hazelnuts, toasted
For Filling
• 8 oz. Nutella
• 8 oz. mascarpone cheese
• 10 oz. whole milk ricotta cheese
• 4 teaspoons instant coffee
• Powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. Melt the bittersweet chocolate in the microwave by heating it at 30 second intervals and stirring until melted (about 90 seconds total). Dip both ends of cannoli shells in chocolate then in the hazelnuts. Set aside to set.
2. Lightly beat together Nutella, mascarpone, ricotta and instant coffee. Fill a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle with filling. Pipe the filling into both ends of the cannoli, filling completely. Dust with powdered sugar and serve immediately.