First off, I hope you’re all staying safe and cozy at home. As of this writing, there is a surge of COVID-19 cases here in the US (the most in the world at the moment), and most of us are under self-imposed quarantine to help keep the virus from spreading. In a time of uncertainty, fear, and stress, we find ourselves turning towards comfort. And for many of us (you and me included), there’s nothing as safe as the embrace of good food, or as grounding as the familiarity of our own kitchens.

While I’ve been absent with posting ‘new’ recipes for a good part of the beginning of this year, it’s not because I haven’t been cooking or creating. I have. A lot, actually! But they’ve been old recipes on the blog that I wrote 10+ years ago when I hadn’t written any cookbooks yet and wasn’t quite as seasoned at writing recipes—basically, some of the recipes were written pretty haphazardly back then 😬So over the past few months, I’ve been going through them, re-testing and re-writing the recipes, re-shooting them, and updating the old posts.

I left the intros pretty much the same, however, because this blog also serves as a journal for me, and it’s really nostalgic to read through what I was doing back then. Updating the posts brought back LOTS of memories of my early twenties, and the scrimping and saving and socializing that went with that era of my life. It’s been fun to reflect back on that time, for sure, but it’s also made me even more grateful for the family and stability I have right now. I’ve always been more of the responsible-type that flourishes with plans and structure in place, so realizing that I have this rhythm in my life that I yearned for so much for back then definitely makes me appreciate it even more.

Well, that got a bit off-topic, but what I *meant* to share was this: Since we’re all social-distancing inside our own homes, I wanted to share some links to the posts that have been updated, so that you can try your hand at them if you’d like. I hope you all enjoy them, and that they bring you some comfort in these wild times. I’ll also be sharing some new posts on the blog soon, I promise! In the meantime take car, stay healthy, and talk soon <3

Greek Lemon Potato Chicken

Lavender Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Bars

Orange Almond Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Rosemary Honey Cake with Blackberry Buttercream