Downtime

Has it really been one month since my last post? Time has flown by around here recently. Despite being very busy at work, we were able to take off a week this month and take our annual trip to the south of France. I posted lots of pictures last year and will be posting some more over the weeks to come.

All the Easter chocolate around here (above) has kept me from doing much baking. Plus, the fruit in the stores and at the market is getting better and better...another reason why I am so glad that Spring is finally here.

I'm also very close to finishing a crochet project that I've been working on since autumn. I was able to make a lot of progress in the car during our vacation and yesterday while watching the royal wedding coverage. Hope to have something to share with you soon.

Let it snow

It's snowed quite a bit this week in Paris. Snow is great, especially when I don't have to go out in it much and can admire it from afar. All of this cold weather got me into the mood for some comfort food. Over the past few days, I've made some soup, roasted a chicken and baked a cake. I have to admit, though, the funnest part of it all was watching Simon as he "chased" the snow in the kitchen window.

Baker's Block

Pictured above: marble pound cake (from Mark Bittman's excellent How to Cook Everything), circa March 2010

I have baker's block. Actually, it's not that I can't think of things I'd like to bake -- I just can't bring myself to do it.

Who's (or what's) to blame? Perhaps it's because I really don't need to add any additional calories to my 8+ month pregnant frame that seems to fill out more and more every day without any help from baked goods. Or maybe it's because I know my time should be spent on greater priorities: prenatal exercises, reading some Dr. Spock, checking off the remaining items on my pre-baby-arrival to do list, etc. Or the culprit could be the speed bumps that seem to have been thrown my way lately, many for which I have to assume complete responsibility -- for example, most of today has been spent treating stains on brand new mom and baby clothes (who knew one small, black, unremoved sales tag could shred into a billion bits in the washing machine and proceed to stain an entire load of pastel laundry?). 

Maybe once the little one arrives I will snap out of it, or maybe I'll have to rename my blog Nursing, Laundering, Sleep Deprivation, Couture & Cie...