Our kitchen remodel was close to a yearlong process, and I can’t believe – looking back to a year ago at this time – I was staring down the removal of our oven as we ‘roughed it’ with a makeshift kitchen (mostly in the basement and in our laundry room) for months and months. It’s a testament to my dear friend Jen and her amazing team that we can look back on that time period without any major heartaches or hard feelings. Jen and company were great – especially as we stretched the process out with add-ons…oh, let’s do the bathroom AND the laundry room, too. Scope creep…but we survived!
What’s on my mind this morning isn’t gratitude for our home and our new kitchen; waves of gratitude DO hit me on a daily basis because I love tinkering with recipes and making food, baking especially. After many months of sidelining that part of myself, holiday time this year brought out my inner baker and then some.
Maybe I was more of a whiner than I recall (likely) but one of the best gifts of Christmas this year came 2×2. Hello, Noah.
Dear Jen and daughter Delaney knew I was happy to be back at it with baking and noodling in the kitchen and both gifted me with the same yummy olive oil goodies – cake mixes and delicious Greek olive oils. Did they compare notes? Not a bit. The joyousness comes from the fact that they KNOW me. Two of my favorite women in the world who picked up references (that I recall as minor) about longing to make a good olive oil cake as soon as the kitchen was done.
With greater (and mostly) lesser success, I’ve tinkered with recipes for years trying to get the just-right citrus-y flavors with a little almond and vanilla while balancing the amount of olive oil used. This is a baking category where measuring is essential, but recipes can be so mercurial, especially when olive oil is involved. Just enough and there’s a heavenly crumb – moist and delicate. A soupcon too much? You’ve got an oil slick that begs for a slice of crusty bread to mop it up.
Imagine my delight when I opened holiday gifts containing nearly identical treats – yummy ingredients to get back at it, experimenting with olive oil cakes. This time I’ve got a head start with boxed mixes. Who knew!?! One vanilla and one citrus. Today? I made the citrus cake and the house smells deliciously fragrant and fresh.
You might be wondering about the title of this post. Where’s the giggle? I’m getting to it! I couldn’t find a timer to save my soul this morning, so I used the clock/timer on my phone, forgetting that I last used it in a workshop with young-uns…twenty-somethings who enjoyed my lively and loud ringtone selection. I’d forgotten all about it until the clock ticked down this morning and scared the daylights out of me when it went off.
If you’ve never heard the Jessie J song, “Price Tag” give it a listen. I can’t say whether the joy of Jen and Delaney’s gifts, the smells in the house, or the hilarity of me being startled – and then propelled into dance mode thanks to Jessie – was the best part of the day so far. Methinks it was the combo and the reminder to “make the world dance” from the lyrics. Works for me. Groove on…giggle on. Shake AND bake.
Vicki 😎
Interested in more about me? I’ve written a book about my mom’s complicated life and my resiliency, despite the challenges: “Surviving Sue”. I’m pleased to have great reviews on Amazon and Goodreads…and I welcome more.
Victoria Ponders 
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