Today started out well enough, with two delicious roasted chickens and a mostly nice housecleaning party, but then a couple things didn’t go how I wanted, I lost Perspective (Perspective, Perspective, wherefore art thou, Perspective!), and then I fell splat into The Pit Of Despair, and no matter how hard I cried and how hard I tried, I could not get out.

I couldn’t cook. The writing voice inside my head shut off. My face stretched so long it dragged on the floor (if only I had a beard, the floor would now be clean). When my husband kindly, gently, timidly, laughed at me—because seriously, how long can a person stay so wretchedly woeful?—I couldn’t even smile, though a little voice in the back of my head squeaked shrilly. “He’s right! You’re ridiculous!”

(Speaking of The Pit Of Despair, I fall into it with enough frequency that I ought to put a few provisions down there. Like a bottle of water to sip on and a Rubik’s Cube to fiddle with. It’d be a smart thing to do.)

Let’s be clear here. Nothing bad actually happened. My family members are alive and well and cheerful. No one died. There were no natural disasters. Nobody attacked me with a knife, ugly words, or the hairy eyeball. And even so, I managed to fall completely and utterly apart. It’s a gift I have.

After four hours of pure pitifulness, my writing voice slowly came back on, like one of those energy-saving light bulbs that starts out all dreary and dim and then gets gradually brighter. My husband stuck a glass of wine in my hand and ordered me upstairs for a shower and some tap-tap time.

So, in an effort to turn myself right-side up and facing forward, I’ve determined to make a list of good things. (Cheap therapy, lovies. Blogging is all about cheap therapy.) There are twelve, which I do believe is a respectable start. I’m feeling optimistic already.

Good Thing Number One: a fairy ring

The fairies came and left us our own personalized fairy ring. It was so spectacular that strangers pulled into our driveway to admire it.

Good Thing Number Two: a jar of sunshine

A friend came to pick our tomato patch (and then to sit at the kitchen table and drink tea and eat muffins and talktalktalk), and she brought me a quart jar of sunflowers. They’re a feast for the eyes and vitamin D for the soul.

Good Thing Number Three: David’s pizza

I’ve made this pizza twice now. It’s the embodiment of summer—roasted tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan, fresh basil, swoon.

The kids don’t like it so I call it Adult Pizza, which makes my husband snort.

Good Thing Number Four: homemade shoes

My child has overcome the odds (and the lack of shoes) with resourcefulness, plus a roll of masking tape and some brown bags. Hers is a valuable skill, people. Don’t knock it. (Even though I kind of knocked it myself by refusing to let her wear them to church.)

Good Thing Number Five: weirdness

This girl has some mean sticky-nose talent.

Good Thing Number Six: a homemade popcorn maker

After hours of boredom, the kid got up off his duff and made a popcorn maker that works! His signature touch? Lots of butter and salt, plus a dash (and then another, when Mama’s not looking) of white sugar.

Good Thing Number Seven: what I found on my mother’s mantel

Yours truly and her lover-man. What a team we make. World, watch out.

(This is, perhaps, the best good thing. I mean, really, how seriously can I take my fat, waxed-lipped self?)

Good Thing Number Eight: 70%, organic, fair-trade chocolate on sale

I bought four cases. Each case holds 16 bars, so….that’s 64 (SIXTY-FOUR) 3-ounce bars of chocolate, baby. Yee-haw!

Good Thing Number Nine: my niece

We get to babysit her sometimes (well, only once so far, but I’m pretty sure my baby-holding future is bright) and we all gather round to hold her, poke her, rock her, like she’s balm for our baby-starved souls. Which she is.

Good Thing Number Ten: bath-time Harry Potter

A special treat for a sick little girl.

Good Thing Number Eleven: roasted peaches

Roasting them in the oven concentrates their peachy-ness while also ridding the fruit of excessive juiciness, which means that, when incorporated into baked goods, they deliver more bang for their buck. A splendid discovery.

I used them in this coffee cake in place of the blueberries and gave some to my mother. My mother, who claims that her palate is getting more refined in her old age, practically had a cow. “Oh my!” she gasped, swallowing a large mouthful. “This is the only coffee cake. There is no need for any other.”

I do believe she’s right.

Roasted Peaches

6-8 cups very ripe peaches, peeled and thickly sliced

2-4 tablespoons white sugar

1-2 teaspoons lemon juice (bottled is fine)

In a 9×13-inch baking dish, toss the peaches with the sugar and lemon juice. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. The peaches will get black around the edges and blister on top a little, and while that’s a good thing, don’t overdo it.

For immediate eating: eat right away, or pack peaches into a couple jars and chill. Serve with yogurt, pudding, pancakes, ice cream, oatmeal, etc. Or make a coffee cake with them.

To can: Use this method, (the hot pack method).

Good Thing Number Twelve: tomorrow is a new day, hallelujah

And there will be waffles at the park, my potluck contribution.

Sweet dreams, dearies. xo

This same time, years previous: picture perfect, honey-whole wheat cake, blueberry coffee cake (will you look at that! it’s the same coffee cake recipe I mentioned above!)

Earlier this week I had to return my Marion Cunningham breakfast cookbook to the library. That morning, with my husband standing close by for moral support, I slowly, somberly, removed the florescent orange and green sticky notes from the pages. Thirty-five of them, to be exact. The brown scones, the steamed puddings, the Richest Bread Pudding in the History of Humanity (my title, not hers) would not get to materialize in my kitchen (yet). I was aggrieved.

I had contemplated calling the library to see if they’d sell me the book as long as I sent them a new copy, but that would’ve been foolish considering that I’d have to pay for installation fees or something. It’s just that I could hardly bear to rip out all those sticky papers, the bright indicators of my careful reading and wise discernment.

I caressed the plastic jacket cover and turned the book, now bald without its zany hairdo, sideways to study the pages. After their six weeks in my home, they were thicker and ripply, thanks to the splatters of butter, egg, and milk. Clearly, I had loved the book. I hoped the librarians would understand.

It was on the eve of the sticky-note removal ceremony that I made my last recipe from that book: caramel oatmeal topping. In other words, oats tossed in a caramel sauce and then baked in the oven until crispy. The end result is, well, caramelized oatmeal, crunchy bits of buttery, vanilla-scented oats. It’s as good as it sounds.

What could a person do with caramelized oats? It’d be a better question to ask, what couldn’t a person do with caramelized oats. They can go anywhere, and go they should. Sprinkle them on ice cream, yogurt, applesauce, roasted peaches, cooked oatmeal. Use them in place of streusel on a peach-white chocolate-ginger muffin. Add them to a bowl of cornflakes and granola for—miracles of miracles—homemade honey-bunches of oats! They’re good plain, too, eaten out of hand, but once you go there you might not be able to stop.

Caramelized Oatmeal Topping
Adapted from The (much-loved) Breakfast Book, by Marion Cunningham

These golden flakes of sweetness could be adapted out the wazoo. Instead of vanilla extract, add maple. Stir some cocoa powder or cinnamon into the caramel, or add coconut and almonds to the oats before coating with the hot caramel. Other additions might include puffed rice, dried apples, cacao nibs, etc. This could get dangerous, no?

Note: I can’t remember if it’s a quarter teaspoon salt, baking powder, or baking soda and Google is not coming to my rescue, blast it all. Next time I go to the library, I’ll look it up and get back to you. In the meantime, a little salt is always a good thing…

On second thought, I’m pretty sure it’s not salt. I think it’s baking powder. Maybe?

Updated: I bought the book and it is indeed SALT.

2 cups rolled oats
1 stick butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the brown sugar and salt. Bring it to a boil and cook for one minute, stirring continually. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour the hot caramel over the oats and toss till coated. The mixture will feel grainy.

Spread the oats into a greased 9×13-inch baking pan and bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes, stirring every five minutes. At first it will slump into a solid sheet of caramel during its five-minute stints in the oven, but eventually it will become more brittle and flaky, which is one sign that it’s almost finished baking. The other sign is that it’s a dark golden brown.

Store the cooled oats in a glass jar. Sprinkle on everything.

Yield: 4 cups

This same time, years previous: oven s’mores, dreaming, on our way, smartly

I adore the end of summer. I revel in its vivid blue skies and sharp, cool nights, so tangy and sweet like fresh apple cider. I luxuriate in my sated cellar and freezers and call up my friends to come pick the tomatoes and red raspberries and take them away because I’m done with them already. I dream no longer of cucumber salads and ice cream, but of spicy chilis and cinnamon rolls. And there’s gradual realization that I am ready—and eager!—to spend time with my little pipsqueaks doing cozy inside things.

It’s invigorating, this shift from hot to cold, from outside to in, from hustle to hunkering down.

Most mornings, I’ve been going for walks. During the heat of the summer, my husband would be up and out of the house before the sun crested the ridge, but these days I’m often the first to rise, leaving him to savor the warm bed for a few more minutes before having to face a day filled with hammers, saws, and poopy toilets or new shingles, or whatever it is the brave man has to face. (If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t get up.)

This morning the skies were crystal clear but there was mist in the valley. I had to run back inside for my camera.

I don’t exactly look forward to heading outside as soon as I wake, but once I’m out there (and the compulsive yawning stops), I enjoy myself. Sometimes I give my mind free rein to wander, letting it nibble at a variety of ideas, and other times I force it to go where I want, slogging over rocky terrain or through the thick muck, so to speak. I always come back energized.

(Not all my walks are pleasant. Last week I had two bad ones. One walk involved two skunks—one of which was in heart-stoppingly close proximity to me—and the other involved a full bladder, a sneeze, and a cornfield.)

When I get back from my excursions, most of the kids are still sleeping, so I fix my coffee, check emails, and plan my day. This morning I made the kids eggs-to-order for their breakfast. For myself I made Oatmeal Jacked Up.

Every other morning I cook a heaping half cup of rolled oats in a salted cup of boiling water. When it has finished cooking, I scoop half of it into a bowl and the other half goes into the fridge for the next day’s breakfast.

Then comes the jacking-up part. I add a scoop each of flax meal, raw wheat germ, and nuts, in this case pecans. I sprinkle on a bit o’ sugar, either maple or brown, and, as a final touch, crown the mountain of goodness with chunks of fresh nectarine or peach. A glug-glug-glug of milk, and I’m ready to chow. It’s delightful.

What are your mornings like? Do you eat the same breakfast every single day, or do you like variety? Have you tried jacked-up oatmeal? If so, what enhancements do you suggest I try?

Oatmeal Jacked Up

Inspired by Aimee of Simple Bites

cooked oatmeal

raw wheat germ

flax meal

sweetener, like maple sugar, brown sugar, honey, etc.

nuts

fresh or dried fruit

coconut

milk

Top the cooked oatmeal with whatever you like. Enjoy!

This same time, years previous: why I don’t teach my kids science, losing my marbles