The dog is in the way again. He has been the worst of himself ever since Daylight Savings Time ended––waking me up at odd hours to go outside, peeing on my living room floor, barking at nothing when I am trying to go to sleep––you know, all the dog things that make people without dogs feel justified in their life choices (and, conversely, make people with dogs question theirs). And now, as I am heading upstairs at the end of my lunch break, here he is, lying in my way. It's like he wants to get stepped on.
But there, in the warm rectangle of March sunshine at the top of the stairs, he tilts his head to look up at me. The rays catch in his eyes, and they glow gold and amber. I stop mid-step, and I look down at this small, weird creature who lives in my house and goes on my walks and snoozes on my bed. He gazes back at me with his incandescent eyes, and though he can most accurately be described as looking like a baby hyena, he is, in that moment, utterly beautiful.
Locking eyes with Dobby, I suppose that all creatures, be they human or animal, are like this. They are easy to ignore, easy to resent. They are either checklists or nuisances, or perhaps they become nuisances because we view them as a series of tasks to complete. But when the sun hits just right, as it is right now, we see each other for what they are: strange, lovely, unique. We get to share our lives with one another; we get to bear witness to the beauty of a small dog in a patch of sunshine on a Monday afternoon.
Here's what I read, cooked, and created in the month of March.
What I Read
Ten Words to Live By: Delighting in and Doing What God Commands, Jen Wilken (★★★★★)
North! Or Be Eaten, Andrew Peterson (★★★★)
Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner (★★★)
If you want to hear the rationale behind my rating, head to my Goodreads for full reviews.
What I Cooked
In the decadent early years of Pinterest, Nutella reigned supreme. Those 2012 recipes from random food bloggers shaped enough of my tastes to make me want to try these cookies.
Unfortunately, as with literally every other HBH cookie recipe I have tried, these were just okay. Not great, not terrible, but not particularly memorable or special. The Nutella flavor was undetectable, and the cookie itself was crumbly and rather dry. For this much work, I expected a much better payoff.
I can link only one of the new recipes I tried this month since the rest are from cookbooks I own, but I can tell you about them.
Better Beef Burgers with Quick Pickled Onions
As those of you who follow me on Instagram know, one of my goals is to cook through The Newlywed Cookbook in its entirety by our 50th wedding anniversary. It seems silly to follow a recipe for burgers, but this was an easy one to check off. Because I don't own a grill, I had to cook the burgers on the stovetop, and I didn't gauge the timing right, so they were a little more well-done than we typically prefer. Other than that, however, they were good, and I liked the addition of the pickled onions. Will do again (and will do them right).
Creamy Bacon and Tuscan Shrimp
I finally bought the Half Baked Harvest Every Day cookbook, and this was the first recipe I tried. I typically don't like it when a recipe involves 2 different meats, but the bacon truly does make the dish. Super flavorful and easy. The one thing I changed was to swap spinach for kale––there's nothing worse than slimy wilted spinach. When I do make this again, I might double the sauce.
Citrus and Olive Oil Cakelets
We're on the tail end of citrus season, and I've never made anything with blood orange, so I thought I would give these glorified cupcakes a try (even though they can be made with any citrus). The cakelets didn't really rise as much as I anticipated, and I definitely should have used cupcake liners, but they tasted delicious. Great little recipe.
Blood Orange Sugar Cookie Bars
Since I bought 2 blood oranges for the cakelets and only used one, I had to find a way to use the second. I've been chipping away at the recipes from 100 Cookies since my sister-in-law gave it to me, so I had to try these. I didn't want to roll out the sugar cookie dough because what's the point of doing cut-out cookies if you don't have a child to do them with you, so I made these in bar form. I should have pressed the dough down a little more meticulously, but the flavor was good.
Green Curry with Sesame and Broccoli
This was also from HBH Every Day, and it was weird. Not sure I would make it again.
What I Created
A lot of new assignment templates!
May your days be filled with beauty, and may your heart be filled with the willingness to see and give thanks for it.