Photos © 2011 Curly Girl Design, Inc./Leigh Standley. all rights reserved.
I am a stress-baker.
Some people bite their nails, some people eat, some people get really highly productive when they are stressed or have a lot on their plate. I bake.
It’s true. Unless it is your birthday, or the night before a major holiday, and I am making you a cake, a batch of cookies or (if you are lucky) pie, you can be sure I am supposed to be doing something else. You see, cooking a meal at the end of every day is a Zen activity for me. I love the chopping and the assembly, the creativity and the feeding of people. It helps me unwind.
Baking is more of an exact science. It requires real measuring and ratios and has a more defined end result. It makes me feel accomplished if I achieve the desired result and usually, it’s pretty! Double score! So you can understand why it is my procrastination of choice. Plus, people rarely argue with you if you are making them a sweet treat. They rarely look at you with a good half-pound of butter in your hand and say: “Shouldn’t you be doing something else?”. They can’t judge you for your avoidance behavior with their mouths full of cake. It’s kind of genius, if I do say so myself.
So, last night, after a week of packing and moving, a weekend of 12 hour days at ‘big’ Marmalade, and with Coach home from his big tournament (they made it really far this year and did an excellent job, but didn’t go as far as they wanted…) and a mountain of artwork to do, I made cake.
If you have not seen Sweet Paul Magazine or Paul’s Blog, you must. It is just beautiful in every way. Beautiful, and it turns out, delicious! I made this Sweet Potato and Spice Cake quickly before dinner last night, and it was ready to have with tea for dessert. It is the perfect cake to have just as it is, as a little treat or, you know, as breakfast. You can also make it with a can of pumpkin if you have one on hand.
I will spare you the recipe here, because you should flip through the magazine (which is gorgeous) and you can even print out the pages you love!
Hope you have happy Mondays! There are more new shop photos in store this week, a new Sweetheart Sponsor, style boards and who-knows-what-else!!
xoxo
