Blueberry Poundcake

True story: I did not understand the Ryan Gosling obsession until I watched Crazy, Stupid, Love. That's probably because I was born without the gene that makes me obsess over The Notebook. In truth, I prefer the book to the movie because I think the ending is more poignant. Regardless, I look at pictures of Ryan Gosling from 2004...and I'm so not interested. Seven or eight years later and now we're talkin'. I think it's because he looks older and therefore more...sophisticated? Put-together? Eh, suffice it to say I'm much more willing to watch one of his movies now. Oh and Crazy, Stupid, Love won me over for reasons having absolutely nothing to do with him and everything to do with Emma Stone, Steve Carrell, and the girl who played the babysitter.

Back to Basics: Vanilla Poundcake Cupcakes

Sometimes you have to make something familiar and simple.  My mom's birthday was last weekend, so I took her request for the cake she wanted.  She wanted these vanilla poundcake cupcakes with vanilla buttercream.  My mom is the opposite of fussy, especially when it comes to food.  The simpler the better.  There's a beauty in the pure vanilla flavor these cupcakes possess.  Vanilla is not, I repeat, not boring.  I think you just have to appreciate that it's uncomplicated.  It's homey.  It's simply delicious.

Meyer Lemon Tea Bread

I had a dream last night that Will and I had a package of sausage biscuits.  The conversation that followed went something like this:

     Will: How many do we have?

     Me: There's seven in the package.

     Will: Six?

     Me: No, seven.

     Will: So there's six.

     Me: No, seven!

I woke up and had to laugh because it sounded like a conversation we'd actually have.  We're forever not hearing the other quite right, so we have lots of mixups in our conversations.  Plus, we both really like sausage biscuits, so this would be a legit concern.

Quite clearly, this is not a sausage biscuit.  Not even close.  It is, however, a wonderful representation of the winter citrus that is now lining the produce shelves at your grocery store.  This tea bread makes use of fragrant Meyer lemons, which are a little less tart than your usual lemon.  I've been eating it with my afternoon tea (btw afternoon tea is a totally new thing for me, I just wanted to sound like I've been doing it for years).  It's also a lovely breakfast bread.