Day 27: A Talent of Yours

I love to cook. It supports my eating habit nicely. In particular, I love to bake. I'm really developing the non-baking aspect of cooking these days though, since baking tends inevitably to lead to carbohydrate overload. Over the past two years, I have even begun straying from the recipes and doing a little experimentation. Don't get too excited, "experimentation" here means "substituting whole wheat flour for white," "not measuring the amount of fresh basil I add to the pasta" and "not adding quite as much butter as the recipe calls for." It's nothing too brave or innovative. But I did downright invent some combinations over the summer when we had vegetables coming out our ears. And they were delicious, if I do say so myself.

My cooking habit has recently received a major boost. This is primarily due to the fact that James's eating habit also gains most of its support from my love of cooking. As part of a fabulous surprise birthday party, which I should probably blog about later once I've collected pictures from those who had cameras, James and many others fulfilled a longtime dream of my baking heart.

I now have one of these sitting on my coffee table:

I'm not exactly sure where I'm going to put it yet. It is, after all, a full 16 inches tall. But I'll find it a home, even if I have to oust the microwave. For the time being, however, I'm very happy keeping it where it is. Sometimes I just like to look up at it and admire its shiny redness. It makes me smile every time because (1) my husband knew just what I wanted, (2) he surprised me with it, (3) I don't have to knead anymore, and (4) it's so pretty!