Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart & 3 Years of Indigo

  There was laughter, maybe a bit of drizzle, a definite chill in the air, and I was full of energy.  Words and ideas and silly jokes tumbled out of my mouth, loosened with a little help from some liquids.  I considered the cracked sidewalk of the college campus I had walked just a short year before as a student, and I smiled at the few people present who knew both the student and non-student Ello.

  As they always seem to do in these situations, my suddenly quick feet took me more than a few yards ahead of the group, and I turned around to jog backwards and shoot them some sass.  While doing this, my attentions were suddenly captured by the remark of one equally tongue-loosened fellow.

  "I like it when you talk, Ello."

  Because I'm generally a pretty quiet girl, this made me incredibly happy.  Knowing that people not only heard my voice, but also appreciated it.

Greek Kalamata Feta Rolls

  I am currently of the belief that sticking Kalamata olives and feta cheese into a dish automatically makes it Greek.  These rolls are, by no means, an authentic/traditional Greek fare.  I don't wanna get in trouble.  But, I'm also not going to say that these wouldn't be fantastic with a good glass of wine and a bowl of Dijon by the Mediterranean Sea.  So do with that what you will.

Salted Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies

  There are quite a few things that run through my head late at night, and a lot of times they have something to do with food.  I've gotten some of my best recipe ideas right before I fall asleep, sometimes even in my dreams, ya know.

  Anyway, I was visualizing pressing down peanut butter cookie dough with a fork, creating that lovely criss cross pattern.  Somehow this segued into pressing down cookie dough with a pretzel...and then sprinkling on a little extra sea salt.

  I might be the only one who thinks this is the best idea ever, and I did end up using a fork to flatten the dough initially anyway, but salflksdg;hasdlcken;aoishegea.sde.

  These were really freaking good.

Mini Tiered Red Velvet Macaroon Cake

  Hello hello hello.  Guess what? 

  I'm in my 20s!  Yay!  Not 21, just 20, but yay!  That's kinda cool, kinda weird.

  I had a rough week last week, I've been having some up and downs in general.  But right now, right now is good.  I've had a quote stuck in my head lately that goes along the lines of "Wherever you are, be all there."  I guess it's a live in the moment kind of thing, but just a wee bit more introspective than YOLO.  I get into bad habits of worrying, fretting, and all that.  Then I find myself looking back and realizing I never let myself enjoy the really good times I have had as much as I could've, either because I didn't realize how good they really were at the time or because I was busy thinking of something else my daydreaming worrying brain conjured.  

  So EFF THAT let's eat cake and sit in cafes and watch grumpy little Wisconsin-ers dash about in the first flurries of snow.  Sometimes Starbucks is my saving grace, there is almost nothing a good dose of people watching can't fix.

Cream Cheese Apple Coffee Cake

ambedo 

n. a kind of melancholic trance in which you become completely absorbed in vivid sensory details—raindrops skittering down a window, tall trees leaning in the wind, clouds of cream swirling in your coffee—which leads to a dawning awareness of the haunting fragility of life.