bad moods

They often require a sugar offering to abate them, I won’t lie to you. I missed the Festivus airing of grievances this year but my end of the year annoyances include:

1) a semi-failed cookie exchange this year. Almost half of the group did not send out their cookies. I understand extenuating circumstances that might prevent participation, but I still can’t help but feel responsible for it. The upside though is that we did get some pretty amazing cookies from the participating members.

2) It’s still cold. And more snow is in my future. And the winter gods are taunting me by sending me seed catalogs in the mail. I’ve got a list as long as my leg of what vegetables and flowers I want to plant and this year I’m determined to have Erik build us a greenhouse.

3) Family issues are driving me insane. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

So three grievances really isn’t that bad, now that I think about it. But I shouldn’t have any, on a New Year’s Eve. It’s not good to start off a new year with irritation and bad feelings. But I did figure out that to purge negativity from my life, I’ve got to cut off the sources of said negativity. So I’m going to take a sabbatical from certain other people and situations pretty soon and just focus on myself for a bit. I said to my dad during a conversation the other day “I don’t really have a lot of time for myself right now” and that’s sad. It’s starting to show in my attitude and my outlook on life. I don’t believe in resolutions but I do believe in keeping promises to myself. This year I’m going to take days off if I need them, really dig into things that I enjoy rather than just working constantly and putting free time fun things off to the side, and I’m going to start being considerate to myself. I spend a lot of time and effort making sure other people are taken care of and I’m feeling a little bit cast to the side from those same people. So a-purging I will go. But first I will eat pumpkin bread.

Pumpkin Bread
recipe by Honey and Jam

You need:

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups sugar (0_0)
1 cup butter (0_0)
3 large eggs
2 cups pumpkin
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Heat the oven to 350. Spray two loaf pans with nonstick spray or Baker’s Joy. In a bowl, combine the flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside. In your stand mixer bowl (fit in the whisk attachment) put in the sugar. Pop the butter in a bowl and put it in the microwave for about 30-40 seconds, until the butter is slightly melty. Add the butter and the eggs to the sugar. Blend it together on medium speed until everything is fluffy. Add pumpkin in and beat it again. I switched to the paddle attachment and added my dry ingredients just until everything was put together. Fold the pecans in if you’re using them. Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake until a tester comes out clean.

The link above contains a recipe for browned butter glaze to top the loaves. I figured I was already eating 3 cups of sugar and a full cup of butter so I didn’t make it. But I do believe that it would be divine. It is a tad too sweet, actually despite the lovely, warm mix of spices in it, and I think next time the amount of sugar should be cut down considerably.

baking music: Edith Piaf, Eternelle