roasted vegetables with pomegranate vinaigrette

Ahem. Hello? *Cough* Hmm...I'm pretty sure today's post will fall on empty ears, which is entirely deserved. I have been absent for, well, quite a while. I had a small group of loyal readers last year, and falling off the face of the blogging earth was not a very nice thing for me to do to them. I'm sorry. Let me tell you what 2009 held for me, and then about a terrific and simple vegetable recipe that that might come in handy for your holiday cooking.

roasted root vegetables with rosemary

Happy Birthday, Blog! One year ago today I made my debut in the blogging world with a recipe for Red Wine Cupcakes. Lots of cupcakes and 68 posts later, I still really love putting figurative pen to electronic paper and tracking my successes and failures in the kitchen. Since I started Dulcedo for a mostly self-serving purpose (no more of those "Did I make this recipe already?" moments), I am continually surprised by all the people who write in to say they like it too. Your comments and emails always make my day - thank you!

simple marinara sauce

I'm a glass-half-full kind of person. Most days it isn't terribly difficult for me to drum up an anecdote or thoughtful commentary to share. However, even people with the brightest, sunniest dispositions (not that I would necessarily categorize myself as such) have some of those days -- the ones where they feel bitter, jaded, or downright antisocial. Today is one of those days for me, so in keeping with the "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" mantra, which was drilled into my head as a child, I'll keep the preface to my recipe today short. Tomorrow is another day -- for another recipe and another mood.

greek-style braised green beans

Hi, Grandma -- how are you?

My grandma reads my blog. Isn't that nice? Not on the Internet, though -- she doesn't want anything to do with newfangled technology. Dad prints out all of my posts and puts them into a binder for her. Grandma has been doing a lot of cooking ever since we began remodeling our kitchen two years ago. However, to my knowledge, she has never made anything from my blog. Sometimes it's because the recipe is complicated or requires ingredients that aren't available in small-town grocery stores. Not this recipe, though, I promise.

guinness cupcakes with bailey's irish cream frosting

I have long been a fan of Irish things. I think it all started with a tube of green lipstick Mom bought me for St. Patrick's Day one year, and a pair of shamrock earrings she would break out just in time for the holiday. When I went to Notre Dame, my fascination with all-things-Irish really took off. Every square inch of my dorm room that wasn't plastered with the Notre Dame logo was instead covered with shamrocks. (My favorite things, of course, were those that had BOTH.) I can't say that my love of shamrocks has diminished much since then. Though I've adopted a more adult decorating scheme, I still delight in many of my Irish-themed items. I proudly sport what might be the world's largest collection of Irish pajamas and socks all year round (because who else even has a collection?) and I smile gleefully at any opportunity to use my shamrock sprinkles.

georgia peanut soup

On Saturday evening I watched The Pursuit of Happyness. Now I'm the kind of person who can watch a movie, feel inspired to make change in my life, and actually make it, so as I was lying in bed that night, I decided that I wasn't doing enough of the things in life that make me happy. (Given that I live alone and can do whatever I want all the time, it makes one wonder how this is possible.) Sunday, therefore, would be a day of change.

guacamole

So I joined a new gym recently. The first gym I joined out here was a dirty, run-down dump, and after seven months of dreading my workouts, I decided it was time for a change. The new place is much more my style -- bright, clean, and full of functional equipment. My first trip there, however, was an eye-opening experience. As I was standing in the locker room, I realized that I had no idea how to work the digital locks on the lockers. Not wanting to accidentally lock up my things with no way to retrieve them, I thought the most prudent course of action would be to simply ask one of the other women in the room for instructions. Good idea, right? Mmm...maybe, but my thought process was apparently flawed. I turned to my left to ask the woman nearest me, only to realize that she was completely naked -- not even holding a towel or in the process of dressing. I could only imagine the awkwardness that would ensue if I asked a naked person a question, so I rounded the corner to look for someone else. Apparently naked woman #1 had friends because no one on that side of the room was clothed either. Perhaps it's a Midwest thing, or maybe it's just peculiar to my own experience, but locker room nudity was a rare occurrence at all of the gyms I went to back home. I don't have a problem with it, but it will sure take some getting used to.... [If you're looking for an end to this story, eventually someone -- fully dressed, thankfully -- walked into the room and was kind enough to help me.]

italian vegetable soup with rice

Some things just go well together. Like sofas, soup, and rainy Seattle days. For the last seven months, I've had some excellent soups and plenty of rainy days, but no sofa. Going without a piece of cushy furniture to sit on for that long would drive most people crazy. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but it seemed better to me than spending money on something I didn't really like. And, as you likely learned in the last post, I can be very selective. (Some people would say "picky," but that seems so negative....) I sat on dozens of sofas and looked at even more, but none of them were quite what I wanted. Too modern. Too casual. These cushions are too floppy. That one has a skirt. This went on for so long that I was beginning to wonder if I was edging in on a new record for sofa shopping. However, it all came to an end last week when a stroll through a local showroom unexpectedly yielded a sofa I actually liked -- so much that I didn't spend more than three minutes looking at it before I handed the salesman my credit card. (He seemed a bit surprised, but that's just the way it works when you know what you like.) Is this the sofa I would come up with if I had the chance to design my own? No. But it still makes me happy. And it's a heck of a lot better than the nest of pillows and blankets I was sitting on before it arrived.

sun-dried tomato dip & herb pita chips

Christmas Eve is my absolute favorite day of the year. I love Christmastime in general, and Christmas Eve includes a little of all of my favorite holiday activities. Last-minute presents are wrapped while listening to Gene Autry croon classic Christmas tunes, food for the annual Christmas Eve party is prepared, and family and friends attend the children's program at church and then gather at our house for a party.

pumpkin butter

The TSA's totalitarian airport security rules don't work for me. I'm sure The Powers That Be are well aware of the inconvenience they cause to travelers, but do you think they know they are preventing beloved family traditions and holiday happiness as well? Doubtful.

cookies and cream cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for my sister -- henceforth referred to as "The Athlete." The Athlete's birthday was a few weeks ago, but I was sick as a dog and didn't want to mail her a package of germy cakes. (Happy Birthday! Here's a cold!) The Athlete doesn't really get into dessert. Mostly she just likes junk food. However, growing up, she would make a regular request for "dirt cake" -- that famed Oreo cookie/chocolate pudding/Cool Whip potluck classic. She still likes Oreos, so I thought cookies and cream cupcakes would be a nice surprise for her first birthday away from home. (Maybe not so much a surprise since I'm announcing it here before the package arrives at her dorm. Oh well.)