MAGIC
Annie & Alison Newsletter #8
And we’re back. I know, I missed you, too!
It’s common knowledge that some birthdays are magical and others are just plain anticlimactic. My 2020 birthday felt like a wash. It happened under the gov’t stay-at-home orders, a season of around-the-clock work weeks, and with no family nearby.
But this year, my birthday last week was pure MAGIC. The day started out with my husband making me breakfast, and a surprise delivery of flowers from three of my dearest friends. I had a lovely lunch with my mother-in-love. State Farm emailed me to say they were lowering my monthly car insurance premium, without an explanation! I opened my inbox to find not one, but FOUR emails with updates on various job leads. I received 8 phone calls of love throughout the day…
And to top it all off, Alison Roman (yes, the Queen HERSELF) randomly commented on my recipe post for the day and said:
Team, she KNOWS! Which means I am one step closer to approaching her with my enticing offer of friendship and a blatant willingness to enter some sort of “groupie” or “posse” member agreement. (If you think I’m joking, I’m not.)
The magic continued the next day. We had four friends over to our apartment for a birthday celebration, for which I had no choice but to bake Alison’s “Everyone’s Favorite Celebration Cake.” Baking this three-layered yellow cake with chocolate/sour cream frosting was a whole day event, complete with a sprinkle throwing party on our balcony.
There were some other real winners in the past two weeks, so without further ado, the reviewed recipe round-up:
50 recipes cooked, 175 to go.
During this week of cooking…
I learned… a reliable method for altering cake recipes to be gluten free. I talk about my strategy in both cake posts linked above. Sneak preview: there are gluten-free flour swapping, Xanthum gum, and extra eggs involved.
I read… Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. Without giving much away, it’s a story that centers around a single event, weaving together the lives of total strangers and exposing just how interconnected they are through their shared humanity - fears, hopes, and all.
I watched… a Docuseries called “For Heaven’s Sake.” As I laid on the couch, miserable and feverish from my second Covid vaccine, I found this delightful series about two amateur detectives trying to solve a disappearance case that happened in 1934 to one of their uncles. How can an unsolved disappearance that likely implicates murder be delightful, you ask? The detectives are also real-life comedians. They do an excellent job of narrating their journey with lighthearted humor. Some of their attempts to solve clues are just plain hilarious. And if you’re like me, you’d also be relieved that there are no gory details involved.
I listened to… my Nike fitness app tell me things like “only 30 seconds to go,” “dig deeper,” and “pick up the pace.” Some times I just want to shout back, “no, YOU pick up the pace.” … Just me?
I hope your coming week is full of magic.
xo,
Annie
