Thursday 13: Favorite kitchen objects

inally! I unpacked a couple of boxes yesterday... yes, we moved "back" into the kitchen a few months ago, but apparently I am a little slow at some things and if they aren't right in front of me, I don't miss them. These boxes were tucked away in the shop and when Seth and I were doing our reorg out there a couple of weeks back, I was happy to rediscover them!

So, I got my Hipstamatic on, and took a few shots of some of my favorite kitchen tchotchkes... 13, to be exact!

This little guy usually comes out just at Easter... the rest of the time he sits on my cookbook shelf and waits to be filled with jelly bellies. But I love him!

This birdhouse from my Ma has my name written all over it!

Dear friend Laura gave me this glorious red peppermill for my birthday last year. I love it!

This is such a fun gurgle pot, again from my mom. It really does gurgle when you pour liquid out!

What, Ma again? Ha. This lovely biscotti jar has never held biscotti... but it does hold candy, which I rediscovered today... had a few Werthers to get me through the afternoon yardwork...

We get great gifts from husband's work mates each Christmas; this was one from a couple of years ago. A real handmade fave.

Hello, little individual pots I never use. You are super cute, though!

A definite fave from Aunt Bobbi. This is the best spoon rest EVER.

This wasn't necessarily meant to be a kitchen "thing," but that's where it's ended up... something about the fork and spoon nonsense seemed to make it about food, right?

Those little wax figs have often been mistaken for the real thing... well, not to the point of there being teeth marks on them. But they do closely resemble figs, so of course I adore them. (Ma again.)

I'm kind of convinced this plate must be from Ma again, but if you know otherwise, please do speak up! (Do you see the artfully placed candy wrapper in the picture... yes, from the biscotti jar...)

 

That green plate is one I got at Crate and Barrel, just because. I love the color and shape, naturally.

 

I've mentioned these before... these colorful crocheted cloths from my Grandma Kandt. They might just be my favorite thing in my kitchen! The color, what they evoke.

 

What's your favorite thing in your kitchen?! Please tell me!

For other Thursday 13 participants, go here. And have a fabulous Thursday.

Midweek inspiration: Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose

riday Night Lights currently has me under its spell. I know, I'm about five years late to that party, but I promised Seth I wouldn't proceed any further with Battlestar Galactica without him, and I'm waiting for the third season of Damages to arrive via DVD (is there anything more irritating than getting a "short wait" message from Netflix?)... and I'd heard good things about Friday Night Lights for years, but frankly thought I wouldn't get too far with a show about football. Well, this show has a lot to do with football, but a lot to do with anything and everything else in life BUT football.

(OK, so that opening paragraph makes it sound like I don't do anything but watch the telly. Ha. Not true. Ask my yard. My yard would tell you that it wishes I would stay inside and watch more TV, and quit kicking its butt. And as much as I'm really enjoying the butt kicking of the yard, when I chill, I like the just-one-more-episode obsession encouragement that Netflix enables.)

So, back to Friday Night Lights. I'm not Texan, I don't get football, I'm not really interested in the ins and outs of high school relationships. But. Have you seen this show? It's fabulous. Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) is a rock star. His wife (Connie Britton) is amazing, and their relationship is fun to watch. One of my favorite scenes has Coach Taylor in his wife's office (she's the guidance counselor at the school where he coaches football) and he needs her advice. First he asks for her input as a guidance counselor, then as his wife, and then as his friend. She answers honestly each time (and it's not necessarily what he wants to hear). As he leaves, Coach Taylor says, "The three of you scare me." Ha. He's a really intense guy, but there is so much to appreciate about how Kyle Chandler has this character fleshed out. There's nothing that doesn't resonate as Coach Taylor. He commands respect on the field, in the locker room, with his fellow coaches (one of which thinks--of course--that he should have the head coach job), and struggles with his relationship with his teenage daughter, naturally.

The rest of the cast is pretty amazing too, from the kids on the team to the parents and other coaches. I especially like Landry Clarke (Jesse Plemons) who plays the good friend of the new QB, Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford). He's witty and smart and so wary of all things football. So funny. Here's a clip of an interview with Landry, and it gives some extra info about the trajectory of the show (network : Direct TV : back to network).



I'm still in the first season, and I'm hooked. Between the racial issues, the political complexities of coaching football in a football-obsessed town, teen hormones (this is less interesting to me, more frightening!), parenting issues galore, coaching issues, the usual interactions of all the different groups of people (in high school as in life)... it appeals to me on so many levels.

And I guess it just gets better? In looking for a clip to share, I saw that there's a baby that comes along in a future season (16 years after the first!), Coach Taylor apparently coaches another team (not the Dillon Panthers) in another town, and they play against the Panthers... looking forward to it all, for sure.

From the season I'm currently watching:


And from a future season:


The chant of the Dillon Panthers as they go out on the field is: Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose. I can't think of a better motto for a bunch of teenage boys, or for me. It's been going through my head all week.

Common Miracles: Week 9

“Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior’s world.” – Pema Chodron

'm late with my Common Miracles post this week, not because I'm lacking in common miracles, but because I got busy and wrapped up in the yard yesterday and finally got inside as darkness fell, and promptly fell into a deep sleep!

When I think of the sentence above from Pema, dear Pema, about ordinary things, I am moved by how lovely it is to not need to wait for bolts of lightning to strike, or Ed McMahon to knock on the door (though I wouldn't argue with that), to see the miraculous in our everyday lives. That alone just makes me want to take a deep yoga breath and just BE. I smile way deep inside.

Noticing the mundane has always come easy to me. I laugh as I write that... it makes me sound a little simple. But it's true. The sky--look, see those clouds, they're fabulous this morning. How about the wheat out in the field--it's just gorgeous as it turns color. The breeze that cuts the heat--love it! Oh do we get to have cheese for lunch? Fabulous. (Almost like Dug the dog in Up... "Squirrel!")



For me (also a little like Dug, I suppose), the challenge often comes in slowing down long enough to notice the small, miraculous things around me. I've been working on that for many years now--how to slow down and be present, and yet still get things accomplished. For some reason, that balance can feel really delicate for me. Sometimes I feel like I have two speeds: flat-out, and idling... I'm either hopped up on speed or living in the hammock, streaming Netflix. You get my drift.

So, I work on it. And I work on it in such a lovely setting... we are so blessed to live in a beautiful part of the country, where the richness of nature is so evident in all of the seasons. Last night as I was finally planting some dahlia bulbs (they're already sprouted, so here's hoping I actually get a bloom or two this year), there was a storm against the mountains that rumbled a bit, and a rainbow appeared for a few minutes against the really dark cloud background as the sun set. And our sunsets here are always amazing, even if the day has been nasty, weather-wise. Nine nights out of ten, there's this sliver between the clouds and the horizon and the sun streams through and fills the whole valley with color. Last night it hit the wheat and the trees and everything just glowed. It was one of those moments where you're just happy to have been present.

I also get to see so many creatures wandering (or flying) by. Owen the owl still swoops over the yard when I mow near his perch. Last week a Monarch butterfly mowed part of the yard with me--I was just amazed at how it hovered by the noisy mower. I would have thought it would flee, but it stayed with me and reminded me of the little bird in Narnia, showing the way... And the bunnies, they're still  doing their thing (multiplying!). I saw one under the cherry tree yesterday morning--exactly where they should NOT be hanging out, way too close to the dogs--and shoofed it away before unleashing the hounds for the morning. The quail are loving the birdbath right now, and the goldfinches hang out at the feeders husband keeps filled for them. The pheasants are away right now--we usually have between two and three dozen in the fields, but either they've found easier squatting grounds (the wheat is so thick and high right now) OR they're actually in there hiding (which I doubt)... but they'll be back as soon as harvest happens. We are waiting and hopeful about hummingbirds... but haven't seen any yet this year. That's definitely one little piece of nature I'd love to have more of!

So the pausing and the noticing, in such pleasant surroundings... That's my Common Miracle for this week.

Go see Chel and her Common Miracles post for this week (we're somewhat on the same wavelength...), and how the project began...

Friday night grateful moment

his week I'm going to do something a little different (but still grateful, of course!). I follow a lovely blog, Gyspy Mama, where every Friday there is a writing prompt--one word--and you're supposed to sit down and freewrite for 5 minutes, and that's your post for the day. You link back to her, go and visit another blog or two, comment, etc.--the usual blog drill. I've seen this for many weeks and always thought of participating, but then last night I saw that the prompt this week is a word I love: Grateful. And well, that just sort of seemed like the tipping point, no?

So here goes. Not so much in list form...

Grateful

I never gave much thought to gratitude, in my 20s and early 30s. I just had what I had, was pretty consistently happy, lived my life. When I look back now, I see a certain smugness to my thinking, a bit of a bubble-life, pretty narrow, allowing the good circumstances of my life (more or less) to dictate my mood. But, I suppose that's the whole thing with looking back... you get to see how you've grown, but you (I) might blush a bit at some of the immaturity and naivete of the way-back-when.

But then my bubble DID indeed burst when my first marriage ended. In some ways I felt like I woke up from a really long afternoon nap in the sun, and everything I thought was real wasn't anymore. Oddly, there was one aspect of the whole split I didn't mind. I liked the wide-awake-holy-cow-the-future-is-my-own-making feeling. Which is not to say I was somehow repressed or held back, I had just been functioning as part of a couple for so long, it was a jolt not to need to think that way.

So to the grateful: Even in the midst of the jolt/kick in the stomach/bubble bursting time, I was somehow usually able to see the good in the situation, and for the first time I identified that as gratitude. On particularly emotionally bleak days I would make myself a list and post it by my desk, identifying what I was grateful for at that time... the original Friday Night Grateful Moment, if you will. The list looked a lot like it looks these days--family, friends, health, food, Seth, something about the seasons/weather, color, words. But seeing it tacked up there on my bulletin board, it really pulled me through some rough patches, and reminded me where my mind needed to be: on what I have, not what I don't.

That discipline served me really well then, and it still serves me well, many years later with more love in my life than I know what to do with. I am so grateful to be able to put husband on the list every week, for I am truly grateful for the blessing of love he's shown to me in our 7+ years together. I never doubted it would be possible again, I just didn't realize it would be this good.

OK, so that's five minutes and I just feel like I've gotten started... Hmmm. This topic is obviously one that's close to my heart, as I focus on gratitude at least once weekly here on the blog. And it's a topic that I have been meaning to write more about as my blog has grown beyond specifically family and friends who know my story (oh, how they know my story!). Hearing others' stories can encourage, uplift, help us understand each other better and feel known. So, I promise to return to this topic again, sooner rather than later.

But for now, just know I'm grateful. As ever. For everything this life holds: the good, the challenging, the downright horrible. Mucking around in the ugliness of this world really does help one to appreciate the beauty of love and acceptance and peace. For me, the peace/love/acceptance is a window into God's love for me, daily. I would say, a decade later, that is easily what I'm most grateful for.

Happy, peaceful weekend to you. I'm off to read what others wrote about the word Grateful... (Holy cow, there are 75 people over there already linked up. Wait, no, I just refreshed... I'm 131. Gulp.)

Thursday 13: Daybook musings with a few scattered clouds

or today:

Outside my window... the birds stripped the cherry tree while we were away last weekend. I was happy enough giving them the top half of the tree, but I was pretty peeved to come home and find the whole thing pretty much bare. I got a half gallon or so... I bet the tree total would have been more than 100 pounds, for sure. May the birds die a gassy, fat death, that's all I have to say about that.

I am thinking... that people can be pretty tacky. And thoughtless. And needlessly cruel. I know, such a revelation. Ha. Sometimes I startle myself with these amazing a-ha moments.

I am thankful... for so very many things. Oddly enough, right now I'm really thankful for our yard. I feel like I learn a lot from the yard and the experience of caring for it. That might not make sense to anyone else, but for me, it's been a work in progress, and I'm in a good place. I shall hold onto this moment, for I'm pretty sure it will pass.

In the kitchen... I am tickled that a food blog is featuring one of my favorite asparagus salads in their summer menu series. I sent them a couple to chose from, and they picked the asparagus salad with deconstructed pesto. Makes me hungry for it! Go check it out over at Where Women Cook, if you're in the mood.

I am wearing... clothes for working in the yard. 'Nuff said.

I am creating... a weed-free existence. Ha. I think that's a pipe dream. Today I am cutting back wild and wiley junipers that have encroached on specific sprinklers... I am not especially a juniper fan, and some of these must be 20 years old, and probably need to be pulled out. But that concept alone feels quite daunting... so I shall snip and hack and trim...

I am going... to have sushi lunch with a couple of dear friends today and am looking forward to it. I ponder my options in advance. For sure seaweed salad and edamame... but for the roll... we'll see what mood I'm in when I get there...

I am wondering... how long is too long on the hair? Getting that itch to chop chop chop... but it's a breeze to put up. But hot hot hot in the summer...

I am reading... Not much actual turning the pages of a book, but listening to a bunch. Highly highly recommend the Freakonomics podcast for generally interesting information. And Timothy Keller, if you're in a God mood. I love his sermons, very much. Finished a couple of audiobooks already this summer: By Nightfall, by Michael Cunningham (good, a bit melencholy and ended too soon), and I Remember Nothing, by Nora Ephron, which it took me a while to warm up to, but I got there, and ended up enjoying pretty well. Her reading voice isn't my favorite and I really need someone's voice to be pleasant to think about listening to them for hours on end. Picky, I know! Next up, I'm going to try and get back into Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen, and What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman. I've started both of them a couple of times and just not been compelled, but there can be a lot of reasons for that. When I'm listening and working at the same time, my mind can go off to la-la land and get distracted, so I need to give them each another go and PAY ATTENTION. Then, if I don't like them, I'll just bag it.

I am hoping... that it doesn't top 100 degrees any time soon. I promised not to complain about the weather until it hits 100... and I will keep that promise. Love feeling warm and toasty, very much.

I am looking forward to... the weekend with husband. We have all kinds of productive plans!

I am hearing... those dang birds, out my office window. Grrr.

Around the house... it's feeling better organized. Husband went through his closet like I did mine this spring, and I have some further organization/put-things-back to do with items I'd packed up from our spontaneous remodel (ie, the flood) last winter. I found a few forgotten boxes from the kitchen... I'd wondered where my fabulous fig spoon rest from Aunt Bobbi had gone (it's been found!) as well as the potato ricer (not needed until Thanksgiving, but it's here!).

I am pondering... "Wisdom comes only when you stop looking for it and start living the life the Creator intended for you." -Hopi Proverb

This runs counter to a lot of things I assume about the acquisition of wisdom, so I will chew on it for a while.

One of my favorite things... is the sight of my son's face, especially when it's an unexpected/surprise kind of thing. Happy. And another huge favorite thing is having friends who love my son too and welcome him into their home. Huge.

A few plans for the rest of the week... um, the yard. And then, more of that yard. And a bit of pool time. And more yard.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

Daisies from Joseph a la Hipstamatic on the iPhone. Love the simplicity of that flower.

I hope your Thursday is splendid!

To see other Thursday 13 participants, go here.

To play along with the daybook concept, go here.

Midweek reminder: A bit of color is a public service

Beet and chevre salad

ur garden is rolling out the produce quite nicely, and I'm a wee bit blissed out with the harvesting of romaine, kale, potatoes and beets. Green beans need to be gathered soon, as do onions (Walla Walla Sweets!), and the zucchini and summer squash are starting to proliferate... amazing what a little sunshine will do.

So those beets... how about those beets? I have had "issues" with beets over the years... not many issues--the main one is that I think they taste like dirt if they aren't of the pickled variety, and I really can't stand the pickled ones! Generally, I've just avoided them. For some reason, though, over the past few years, I've felt like it's something I need to "work on." Because there aren't enough vegetables in my cupboard? Not sure. A nutritional psychologist could probably posit a theory or two...

Sweet Aunty M tried to convert me a few years back with some beets roasted in vanilla, and they were... okay... nothing I felt the need to do again. And borscht is borscht--as a soup it seems quite separate from beets themselves; I know, the contradiction makes no sense. I understand your confusion. I'm a little confused myself.

And yet, here we are: there are beets in the garden. Someone bought seeds (me) (notice that they are yellow and striped beets, how fun!) and planted them (me again) and even thinned them out (yep), and picked them, brought them inside, washed, peeled and roasted them (yes, still me). Sounds like someone who actually likes beets, doesn't it?

Well, true confession time, I've been moving sideways toward liking beets for a bit now. A couple of local restaurants have featured beets as salads and appetizers and the way that beets have found their way into my heart will come as no surprise: chevre. Yep, it's another vehicle for cheese! I knew you'd understand.

So, when I thought of how I'd want to eat my beets, I looked around for a beet and chevre salad, and found a few options. I settled on this one to model after, and the results were truly yummy.

Beet and chevre salad
2 cups washed mixed greens (I had romaine from the yard, but think in the future arugula would be my green of choice for this salad)
1 cup roasted beets, sliced or cubed
1/3 cup chevre, crumbled
1/3 cup roasted hazelnuts, chopped roughly

Orange vinaigrette
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Combine orange juice and oil in a jar with lid, add salt and pepper and shake until emulsified.

Put greens in a medium bowl and drizzle with enough orange dressing to coat and toss well. Layer the greens, then beets, then chevre, then hazelnuts on a dinner-size plate and drizzle a bit more dressing if you'd like.

Beet heaven! Two words I never thought I'd put in the same sentence.

How's this for a clever idea for roasting the beets and not having any colors run into each other? Those dark beets can really stain up whatever they touch! It worked so cleverly I had to post this picture to Pinterest (of course!).

Common Miracles: Week 8

“Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts.
Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us,
we enter the warrior’s world.” – Pema Chodron

As I sit and wait for the sun to go down and the fireworks to really begin (the at-home versions have been spitting and popping for awhile already), I can't help but reflect on that intangible thing called freedom. To me, today especially, freedom is certainly a miracle.

We take it for granted; how can we not? It's all most of us have ever known. We murmur and grumble about loss of freedoms post 9/11, from patdowns at the airports to the more serious issue of detaining suspicious individuals indefinitely, but for the vast majority of the population, in almost every circumstance you can imagine, we have amazing freedoms that many citizens in other countries would (and do) fight for. Die for. What would I die for?

I want to be brave. I think that counts for something, the desire. But it's certainly not everything; the question always remains: would I, in the tough situation, make the brave call? To me, it means doing the brave (and hard) thing, each time I see injustice, now. Exercising my brave muscles. Daily. Standing up for people who need it. Allowing others to voice their opinions, even when they are wildly different from my own (and quite probably wrong), and celebrating the fact that we BOTH get to voice our opinions. Speaking out when I see falsehoods perpetrated. As my husband says, setting the bar high for myself, and not letting it down for others. Not judging, just not excusing.

So. That's a little more political that I usually am, here. But today, it feels like the right thing to say. And the right thing to celebrate. I have thought today, a great deal, of all the families who have loved ones fighting in foreign countries for causes that were blurry to start with and have gotten even more so in the years since. And how desperately they want their son or daughter to be one of the ones who makes it home. I do too--I would like for every single person who is currently deployed to come home safely. I know that won't be the case, but I still wish it.

And when they do come home, I hope that every time you see one in uniform, you say, "Thank you." I know that's my goal for myself. Sometimes I get shy, and then oddly weepy, and so I often just smile and nod like a dork. I am always glad when I'm flying and the flight attendants point it out, and say thanks, and the whole plane applauds. My heart fairly bursts. I am SO thankful for what they do, and have done in the past, and continue to do. I'm certainly not showing Seth the door to the military recruitment offices, so have at me for that inconsistency... Regardless, my heart is full of hurt for every family and every individual who has sacrificed so that I can read/watch/travel/pray/curse/burn/meditate/argue/hug to whatever extent I wish.

Hardly a Common Miracle, I guess. But it felt worth noting today.

To see how the Common Miracle project started, go here.

Friday night grateful moment

More than a little baffled why Blogger didn't post this for me on Friday night at exactly 7:48 p.m., as I so nicely requested. But, thanks for the heads up, sweet Kim. All is well with us, we're just having a back-to-nature weekend (sort of) and internet is (was) playing a minor role to the birds and mountains and deer and beauty (and allergies!)...

Now back to regular programming...

h the weeks, they do flash by... Hard to believe we're at Friday again; even as I've tried my best to slow down this week and savor every moment, time still keeps on slipping, into the future... OK, enough Steve Miller Band... how about some gratefulness?

Grateful that sun seems to be in the forecast for the immediate future. (How often have I said that?! And how often has that not really come about. Sigh. But the optimist reigns...)

So grateful for a splendid week with Seth. We weeded, we played, we watched Battlestar Galactica, we picked strawberries and sorted old, old, old documents and burned a pile or two. It was a good week. We had some good talks, good laughs. All good.

Grateful that husband is taking off an extra day to make our long weekend lovely and longer. I look forward to our time together.

I'm thankful that the birds have left just enough cherries on the tree for us to enjoy. (Barely.) This year the birds have been ridiculous, always hanging out and eating. The mess under the tree is terrific, and I sweep and sweep and an hour later there's another strewing of pits and stems... but I've had more than a few snacks under the tree already, and am pretty sure the true ripening will happen with the sunshine on tap for today and tomorrow. Yum. I feel a 4th of July cobbler coming on...

I'm thankful for family. In the immediate sense, and in the broader extended sense as well. Family is good. No one knows you and loves you like family.

I'm thankful for friendship, as well. Blessed and thankful.

I'm so thankful for the bounty of the garden, and it's only getting started. Romaine, kale, radishes, onions, strawberries and more strawberries... the basil is smelling just heavenly. I stuck my head into a pot of basil last night and thought, I could live here! The tomatoes are blooming profusely, the zucchini and summer squash and tomatillos too... potatoes just a little bit away from a first spadeful... oh happy summer garden!

I'm grateful for cute. Maybe once a week Seth will say, "Show me your cute file, Mom." By which he means, my Just Plain Cute board on Pinterest... so I open it up, usually on my iPad, and we laugh through the pictures--he's mostly laughing at what I find cute, I think... But I can take it. Just so you know that I have good taste in cute, here are a few of my absolute faves. Funny how many of them are animals, eh?! Animals or children dressed against their will... how warped is that?!

puppy

bunny

kitty

catknit

I think this may be my favorite picture of all time. Ever.

kidmonkey

piggy

corgie

(There are a lot more corgies at this link!)

babycorn

OK, I'll stop now. I could go on... and on... and on.

I'm thankful for words, and quotes that resonate. Here's one I found this week (I added to my quotes page over yonder and will keep adding there, so check back!).

Nine requisites for contented living:
Health enough to make work a pleasure.
Wealth enough to support your needs.
Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them.
Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them.
Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished.
Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor.
Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others.
Faith enough to make real the things of God.
Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.
-Johann von Goethe

I hope you have a lovely long weekend, wherever you are, and that there are a few of the things for contented living on your list, as well. Peace.

Chocolate cake in a mug

ot really a "chocolate person," per se, I have learned to pay attention when the chocolate craving strikes. I like chocolate well enough, but given the choice most days, I'll pick a custard dessert over just about anything else. Sometimes fruity wins, sometimes nutty... but usually, it's custardy.

However, when a chocolate craving strikes, only chocolate will do. Yesterday was one of those days, and as I pondered what form my chocolate would take, I remembered a recipe I've seen floating around online and thought I'd give it a try.

Having (most) all the ingredients on hand, it was then just a matter of whipping it up. Five minutes later, my mug was spinning around in the microwave and 1.5 minutes later it was warm and in my hand. Ta-da.

If you have a chocolate craving, I highly recommend taking this out for a spin.

(Microwave) Chocolate cake in a mug
Serves one
4 tablespoons flour (cake flour; I didn't have, so I just sifted regular flour and it worked fine)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon baking powder (a pinch!)
1/8 teaspoon salt (a pinch!!)
1 egg, beaten
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
2 -3 drops vanilla (optional)

In a small bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, tiny pinch baking powder and tiny pinch salt. (This can also be mixed directly into a large mug). Add egg and mix into dry mixture. Add oil and milk and mix well. Spray with non-stick cooking spray a tall, large mug, and pour in this mixture, scraping out with a spatula.

Place in microwave on high for 2.5 to 3 minutes. (Best slightly undercooked, so be careful).

I know our microwave to run fast, so I thought I'd start with 1.5 minutes, and next time around, I think I'll even start with just one minute and add seconds along as they seem needed. Remember that microwaved food continues to cook after you pull it out, and this cake could end up quite spongy/rubbery if you overdo it.

I doubled the recipe and divided between two mugs and husband gave his seal of approval as well!But, a bit part of the appeal of this method is that it's single serving. No big cake to think about leftovers to eat up... Leftovers are nice in theory, but if you're not aiming to eat dessert every night of the week, just seeing that cake sitting there, begging you to have another slice... you get my drift.

Oh, and I added a scoop of ice cream to the warm cake. And a few strawberry slices. It was quite divine.