Baking and Backyard Beautification - A Weekend in Brooklyn

This weekend was a tough one. I could be all flowery and positive on this blog and pretend I’m strong all the time and kicking this break up’s ass, but it’s not true. And when my sister came to visit this weekend to offer moral support, it became even less true. Because, let’s be honest, there’s something about being around your family, where your walls just crumble to the ground and you know you can be vulnerable, so you are. And it’s a great thing, but it’s also really really hard, because all that stuff you’re trying to push down and more importantly push past walks up and smacks you right in the face.

So emotionally this weekend was really hard, but on all other levels it was great. Great to see my sister and more importantly great to have some real quality time together, something we really haven’t had since her job has taken her abroad for the past three years.

And in an effort to make the most of my time with her, we decided to take on the kitchen together and bake a cake. While I’ve been somewhat brave taking on the kitchen and making meals, I’ve been very wary of baking. I think my first real attempt at “cooking” was baking back in God knows what year and it was something stupidly easy, like baking brownies from a box and I somehow managed to screw it up. And I do believe that scarred me for life and contributed to me avoiding the kitchen for YEARS. But my sister, the real cook in the family, is also a great little baker, so I thought I’d rip the baking band aid off with her there so it would be less painful and maybe I could learn a thing or two.

So what did we decide to make? A pineapple upside down cake. The last time my sister made one was probably the last time I ate one so it a baking project and nostalgia all wrapped into one. We took the recipe from my Williams Sonoma cookbook and spent our Saturday afternoon in the kitchen.

the ingredients – already enough to make me overwhelmed.

pineapples ready to go in the pan on top of the brown sugar butter yumminess on bottom

the whipping ingredients into submission. Apparently there are fancy tools that can do this for you. Something to consider if I start baking more often.

putting the cake batter on top, ready for the oven

Ta da!! We didn’t burn it! And it actually looks good enough to eat.

Everything up until this point went swimmingly but then we misjudged the flipping of the cake onto a plate and kinda broke it. But it still looked good to me!

kinda broken….but look how pretty!

Despite it being a bit broken it was DELICIOUS. Props to my sister for her baking skills and making it always look so easy. Now it’s my turn to try it on my own. I really want to master the tarte tatin (French apple pie) and I think I can do it…but I might try making a banana nut bread first. For some reason that feels less intimidating. We’ll see. Either way, this weekend, I am going to bake something new and force myself right out of my fear.

So yay us, and yay me for again trying to break out of my comfort zone and take on new kitchen challenges.

Another notable event this weekend – the arrival of my tables and chairs for outside. I finally found a really good sale for patio furniture and while it’s nothing fancy and not the most comfortable, it does the job and fits the space I’m working with. Voici my new backyard tables and chairs (two bistro tables pushed together):

Who wants to come over??

Isn’t it nice? Now I just need to figure out the lighting. I got some cute little lights from Pottery Barn with birthday money but I’m not sure if they’ll work. It all depends on what I can pull off with outlets…I might not have any to work with…we’ll see. If anything, a girl can do a lot with candles and mason jars so that’s also in the works. I’m having some girlfriends over on Wednesday night so I’ll have to have something ready by then. Until then, it’s cocktails at dusk:

Enjoying life as best I can…

So that was my weekend – crying, baking, sister bonding, and backyard decorating. Making the best with what I’ve got to work with, trying to keep it all together.

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