Apple Cinnamon Muffins with Oat Crumble Topping

 

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. 

After cookies, muffins were the first thing I learned to bake, way way back when I was a rosy-cheeked lass. The process is simple enough, and in about 30 minutes from start to finish you have tender and moist little cakes you can hold in your hand. What’s not to love about a muffin? Of course there are a million recipes for muffins, and the real fun is in the add-ins and flavour combinations. Banana chocolate? Yes please! Blueberry and lemon? Give it to me! But one of my all-time favorites has to be apple-cinnamon. There is something so comforting about this classic combination, and these muffins are darn near perfection. Loaded with tasty chunks of apple, a tender crumb, and a buttery oat crumble topping, it’s easy to see why these muffins disappeared quickly from my kitchen. 

Good Feeling: Sweet & Spicy Rosemary Pecans

"Anything can happen, anything can be!"  ~ Shel Silverstein

One of my favourite songs ever is "Good Feeling", by the Violent Femmes.  The general gist is how you wish for that good feeling to stay with you, just a little longer.  I suppose that's how I feel about this bright and shiny new year.  All of the good stuff that came my way in 2015, I want it to stick around for as long as possible.  2015 will be remembered as the Year of My Amazing Luck, which is a nice upgrade from the years of "Enough Already", and "What Have I Done to Deserve This?"  2013, 2014, I'm looking at you.  I like the turning over of a new calendar year.  Like our buddy Shel said, anything can happen.   That's the brilliant thing about a blank slate - you can set intentions for how you want your life to unfold.  Obviously you won't always get what you want, but then again, you very well may.  I hope that 2016 is full of magic and adventure, courage and creativity.  May there be more laughter than tears, and more hellos that goodbyes.  I'm sending off 2015 with a grateful heart, and I'm eager to see what this new year will look like.  No doubt it won't always be smooth sailing, but I've got a good feeling we're all gonna rock it.  Happy New Year!  

 

Reflector: Brown Sugar Shortbread with Toblerone Chunks

"After years in New York City, Georgia O'Keefe moved to rural New Mexico, from which she would sign her letters to the people she loved, 'from the faraway nearby.'  It was a way to  measure physical and psychic geography together.  Emotion has its geography, affection is what is nearby, within the boundaries of the self.  You can be a thousand miles from the person next to you in bed or deeply invested in the survival of a stranger on the other side of the world." 
~ Rebecca Solnit, from "The Faraway Nearby"  

I'm sharing this quote for a couple of reasons.  1) I've always been a bit obsessed with Georgia O'Keefe.  In art school I tried to emulated her style, with little success.  She was bold and brave and loved the sky, as do I.  Plus she lived to be almost 100.  I swear one day I will make a pilgrimage to New Mexico, that's how much I love her.  And I love how she ended her letters.  I might just have to copy-cat that.  2)  This past week was bonkers busy, with work and deadlines and me feeling a tad under the weather didn't help matters.  But I still managed to put 40 or so Christmas cards and packages in the mail.  Some were sent to old friends and new; across the globe and to downtown Saskatoon.  With each address I scripted - especially the ones with destinations so far abroad - I wondered if I would ever see that person again.  Circumstances wrangle us in so many ways, and while we come together for brief or long periods of time, in the end our paths won't always run parallel.  But those who make a lasting impression will always carve themselves into my heart.  That's why at Christmas, I'll always sit down with a stack of cards and a good pen.  While the greeting may be brief, the intention runs deep.  The holidays are about hope and blessings and goodwill (and good eats!), but for me I become a bit of reflector.  What I wouldn't give to have every soul I've ever loved in my living room.  But at Christmas, in a way, they are.  The faraway nearby, indeed.