Tag Archives: personal

Culinary Xanax

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I’m not going to blame it on Friday the 13th, but I’ve had one hellacious day. The bathroom is getting a full remodel while I’m simultaneously having much-needed A/C installed before summer really gets its groove on.

Without giving you the hairy details, suffice it to say that customer service doesn’t appear to be a contractor’s forte – any contractor, I’m convinced. I’ve been waiting since 8 a.m. for the plumber and glass installers to arrive – only to find out neither are coming today – AND, icing on the cake, the newly-installed A/C is faulty. Grrr… My stress and anxiety are peaking – and my customary course of action, taking a nice long walk, isn’t available to me, least one of the workers arrive late.

I sit on the couch, watching Sherlock re-runs and planning my retribution. I’ll write the Licensing Board, send an email to the Better Business Bureau, call their mothers! Someone needs to feel my wrath! Even Benedict Cumberbatch’s cheekbones haven’t improved my disposition.

Breathe, missy, just breathe. Setbacks like these shouldn’t ignite an overreaction of this magnitude. House-bound with anxiety bubbling over, I have to find an outlet.   If not a walk, then into the kitchen I go. I am, by the way, not even hungry, but some sort of sweet treat will put me in a better frame of mind – my culinary Xanax.

I’ve secreted a recipe away just for a day like today. Ladies Home Journal entitled it “Try Some Insta-Cake and feel Insta-Better”, reprinted from the blog, A Farmgirl’s Dabbles. I thought it would make its debut after a breakup, but this seems to be a more apt occasion.  A recipe that can be mixed and cooked in under 10 minutes and result in two personal-sized goooey chocolate cakes. I’m beginning to feel restored already.

Gooey Chocolate Cake Cups for Two
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
Pinch salt
¼ cup milk
¼ cup butter, melted
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips

  • Stir together flour, sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Add milk, butter, eggs and vanilla (I mixed these ingredients together first before adding them to the dry). Stir well to incorporate. Fold in chocolate chips.
  • Divide batter between two microwave-safe mugs and sprinkle extra chocolate chips on top.
  • Microwave both cups together on high for 2 minutes. The cakes should be very moist and gooey in the middle. Allow cakes to cool for 15 minutes before serving.
  • Curl up on the couch, breathe deeply, and enjoy guilt free – this is medicine; you need it.

One cake for today and the other for tomorrow – did I mention I have painters arriving at 7 a.m.?
Cake

Culinary Sand Mandala

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“…and then they released it into the ocean.”

 A man I once aspired to date – I often seem to be trying unsuccessfully to date someone unavailable– was describing the Buddhist sand mandala painters he had watched the previous two afternoons. These monks painstakingly labor over their sand painting for days, only to destroy their art in the end – a symbol of life’s impermanence.

 “I’d be heartbroken to devote all that time creating artwork only to see it demolished,” I declared.

 “Isn’t that what happens with your cooking?” he wryly replied.

 We never did go out. I can’t even recall his name. Our exchange, though, has remained with me. Cooking IS my art and it took a nameless man to show me that. My kitchen is my studio where I practice and play. At its denouement, my art is devoured, demolished. My passion lies in the crafting, my delight in the sharing.

The incidents and experiences at my stove echo my life of savored successes and grieved failures. My kitchen is bomb shelter and Band-Aid, my respite when I’m overwhelmed and my surefire reason for procrastination. My artwork bribes my coworkers and seduces my lovers. It’s my voice, my meditation, my pleasure and often my vexation.

 A graduate of culinary school and (most recently) gelato school, I call myself neither Chef nor expert, but a mere dabbler in all things gastronomic.