Every month, I’m going to give you a few things that have brought me joy in recent weeks. Maybe you’ll love them, too. Maybe they’ll inspire you to find other joyful things more suited to your tastes and temperament. And I’d love to hear from you — in the comments below or by email — what’s making YOU happy lately?
Thing 1: Snacking Cakes
Over the last year or so, I’ve seen the cookbook, Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi, show up in a couple of settings, so I finally decided to give it a try. After all – I make no secret of my love for cakes, but making a multi-layer behemoth every time I want a little treat seems kind of ridiculous.
First off – I’ve got to say that it’s not a perfect cookbook. These recipes are a bit more finicky than the author makes them out to be. They are “simple” in that they have only a couple of steps, and they don’t require a mixer. But I’ve had more reliable results from recipes that weren’t advertising themselves as “undemanding.”
Having said that – I found the whole IDEA of this cookbook to be a lot of fun. Cake that doesn’t require a special occasion. Smaller recipes, so you don’t feel guilty making one when you don’t have a bunch of people coming over. The recipes in this book lower the stakes of your baking, so if it doesn’t turn out perfectly, it doesn’t feel like quite as much of a disaster.
Thing 2: This piece about the soundscape of Coral Reefs
It’s easy to get bogged down in terrible news about climate change and the environment. It’s even easier to get bogged down by thinking of all the negative effects that humans have on the world around them. After all, I only need to go for a twenty minute walk in my neighborhood to find trash that someone didn’t bother picking up. And if they can’t be bothered to do the EASIEST things, how can we have hope for the big ones?
That link takes you to a reminder that a) people are working hard and thinking creatively about how to mitigate the damage we’ve done on the planet, and b) it’s working. Even if it’s still in experimental stages, even if they haven’t scaled it out yet… people are trying things, and studying them to see whether they work. All is not lost.
Thing 3: My New Dishwasher
This one almost feels like cheating. A month ago, the old dishwasher was one of my biggest complaints. (Well, the old dishwasher’s sudden dramatic failure, anyway).
And I’ll admit that I still didn’t love having to carve out the unexpected money to buy a replacement, although it’s hard to do that without remembering how lucky we are that we can make those kinds of arrangements. Because, truly, if a broken dishwasher (in a home kitchen) is your biggest complaint, you’re living a charmed life.
All the same – when I think about things making me happy lately, I have to include the high-efficiency, almost silent, delightfully effective little machine that we added to our kitchen a couple of weeks ago. We’re using less water than before, and less electricity, and our dishes are getting cleaner, and my life is getting better in all sorts of little ways. What’s not to love?
So – those are my three favorite things for May. What are yours?