TODAY’S MUSINGS:
One of the “offcuts,” from my upcoming culinary memoir, Gluten for Punishment: Just Desserts for the Heartbroken, Lovesick, and Jilted circa 2010

My last lover, I couldn’t sleep beside him. After sex, I’d doze for an hour or so, but eventually, I’d find myself crawling from his humid breath on the back of my neck to nap on the couch. I’d inevitably slip back between the sheets once the first tawny fingers of dawn tapped at the living room windows, but the real sleep, the vulnerable hours of my deepest dreaming, were spent elsewhere, away from his presence. On a weekend among the Big Sur pines, our first—and last—vacation together, I passed the inkiest hours of my nighttime reveries within the sanctuary of the bedroom next door. I slept soundly, assured this habit of withdrawing to slumber was the fated consequence of my life spent in a single woman’s bed—my destiny.

With Brett, however, I sleep beside him fine. He’s concerned his snoring keeps me awake. I assure him his rhythmic breathing doesn’t trouble my slumber in the slightest—and it genuinely doesn’t. I’m grateful I own a queen-size bed, affording us little room to separate. A contented smile plays across my lips while he spoons me, enveloping my nakedness in a cocoon of safety spun from his warmth along my spine. I need the gentle tonic of his hand atop my hip or my bare foot resting lightly on his calf, the slightest assurance he is there, and I sleep soundly, peacefully, completely.

—Gluten for Punishment:  Just Desserts for the Heartbroken, Lovesick, and Jilted

TODAY’S RECIPE:
I adore this recipe because it’s so quick and easy to make with just a handful of ingredients. And when you take a bite,  it feels like you’re eating a lemon cloud. I created this recipe for a recent women’s getaway and then made it again upon my return. I’ll be serving this all spring and summer long.