Comfort, Baking and Friends

While I’m on the road, one of the largest things I miss almost as much as I miss my chickens is my kitchen.  There is only so much take-out you can eat, you can only be so creative with the microwave in your room, and there is just so much pizza, even I can eat.

Another thing I miss while on the road is catching up with all the bloggers I follow. There are a lot of bloggers out there that I love to read, many of them have turned into what I would like to call friends.  But there is one in particular that I feel very comfortable in calling a friend.  Actually, I want to be her when I grow up.  There are so many things I admire about her, photographer, baker, activist, all around cool person. She was a regular at my bakery, and we have a shared love for baguettes.

So now that I am home, I have lots of time to catch up on those blogs and reacquaint myself with my kitchen.  There is one blog that can satisfy all my post-show needs of baking and reading.  Because if there is one thing that calms me, centers me, it is baking, so I headed on over to Food on Fifth and scrolled past all the lovely pictures and recipes, and I wanted to make each and every recipe I scrolled past.

I was deep into her blog when I came across an old post from a trip she took to Venice. The pictures had my restless soul wanting to pack my recently put away suitcase and find the first flight to Italy.  I lost track of time just staring at the pictures and at the end of the post there was a lovely little recipe for Venetian Butter cookies. I got up off my couch and walked the few steps to my kitchen and saw everything I needed to make these lovely “s” shaped cookies.

As I started putting sugar, flour, lemon, eggs and butter on my counter, I felt an instant warm comfort come over me.  I felt connected to Teresa, even though she was across town.  I felt connected to my Aunt Cookie who made butter cookies every Christmas.  I felt connect to myself.  I find it so interesting how food comforts us, brings us together even if it is in our mind.  As the butter and sugar whirled around in my mixer, coming together in a beautiful fluffy cloud, I looked out the window at the Nashville skyline.  I felt at home, well, because obviously, I was home, but the sound of my mixer in the background touched something deep in my soul.

With a short jaunt to Chicago in a few weeks, I should be home for the foreseeable future.  It will be time to reconnect with friends who I’ve neglected here in Nashville.  It will be time to figure what else is next. As the smell of those cookies baking in the oven filled my apartment, I took a deep breath and let the smell of butter, sugar, and lemon fill my lungs.  I poured hot water into my French press, pulled a chair up to the counter and sat down.  I did just what Teresa suggests; I nibbled on those cookies with my coffee.

As I nibbled, I contemplated my future; I don’t know what it holds, I don’t know what is next. But what I do know on this sunny Saturday afternoon in Nashville, life is good. Baking is good for my soul, and again, I am on the cusp of something new, and while I don’t know what that new thing is, I feel calm about it this time.  I don’t know if it was the butter in the cookies or the coffee or the sun, but for the first time I was happy with the unknown, at least for the moment and I had another cookie.

You need to have this recipe in your life, and they are crazy easy to make, so here is the actual post.  Read it, get lost in it and make those cookies! https://foodonfifth.com/2015/11/12/nibbling-venetian-butter-cookies-while-wandering-venice-august-2015/

Thank you, Teresa Blackburn, for the inspiration, the comfort and post picture.

*Photo Cred: Teresa Blackburn, because she is amazing!