Couldn't decide what to bake yesterday, so I went with chocolate chip cookies. Tried to make them crispy, but they ended up a bit too thin. I need to bake cookies more often. They can be deceptively tricky to get just right. But even an imperfect cookie is almost always still a tasty cookie. #baking

Does anyone know a good online source for food-grade beeswax? I need some for canelés but haven’t been able to find anything that I felt I could trust. #baking

Made crumble cake muffins with vanilla icing for New Years dinner. Not the prettiest muffins I've ever made, but they turned out pretty good. I think I'm finally starting to get a feel for properly creaming butter and sugar together—only took me the better part of two years.

The worst part of leg day has to be the splitting exertion headache about half way through the session. It's inevitable, and the proverbial adding insult to injury.

I got home and someone had left a wrapped gift at my door, had my name on it, but no indication of who it was from. Asked both of my neighbors and it wasn't them. I am confused.

The gingerbread cake and cinnamon rolls. First cake I’ve ever baked, as it turns out. I did overbake it, so it’s a little too dry. But the flavor is good and crumb turned out ok I think. Overall not bad for a first time. My back is a goner though, so that’s all the Christmas baking for me #baking

Christmas baking begins. Today was focaccia with homemade pesto and frosted chocolate buttercream brownies. Tomorrow, cinnamon rolls and I'm going to try a gingerbread cake recipe.

It’s amazing how much weaker I feel after taking just a week off from the gym with a cold. Cut leg day short, lost reps or a set off of everything I did do. Walked dogs when I got home, felt like death after.

Here’s the interior of the tartlets. From bottom to top (not counting shell): pistachio frangipane, chocolate ganache, vanilla diplomat crème, chopped pistachios and wedges of tempered chocolate.

Thanksgiving baking for the family crowd. Kadayıf tartlets, mini pumpkin cheese cakes and cinnamon rolls (for tomorrow morning). Still need to make the cream cheese icing for the cinnamon rolls but I’ll do that later tonight.

I increased my Romanian deadlift weight by 40 lbs at the gym today; it just felt like the right amount. My (chronically bad) lower back doth protest now. Excited to struggle getting out of bed tomorrow morning.

Made neighbors my kadayıf tartlets for Thanksgiving (and other neighbors chocolate pecan pie, but forgot pictures). Tried clarified butter this time, but for some reason it made the shells not set up properly so I couldn't take them out of molds. Lesson learned. 1/2

Brownies with chocolate buttercream frosting and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for a friend

Dropped truck off for a bunch of work. Going to cost ~$5,700 (yay tariffs/inflation). Pain, lots of pain.

New and improved kadayıf tartlets. This time I made the base layer a pistachio frangipane, then above that there is a cap of tempered chocolate (sets hard, think peppermint bark) and finally on top vanilla diplomat crème. Pretty happy with these, although there are some adjustments to make. #baking

I started splitting my dinners into two meals to keep my late-night snack cravings in check. Small(er) meals are wildly unsatisfying. I miss the days of stuffing myself to the gills (sort of).

Another one bites the dust. Jera Nex BP—offshore wind JV of BP and Jera Co.—just called it quits on the US market. Can't really blame them with how hostile admin is to wind power. Wrote a long-form article recently about how poorly the sector is doing this year—it's very grim & probably gets worse.

Microsoft services for work went dark for awhile this afternoon, and no one was responding to texts. Supposedly confined to people on AT&T. Still wondered for a second if the world ended, despite the sun still shining and no sounds of wailing or gnashing of teeth in the streets.

After getting into baking a year and a half ago, I've come up with and created my own dessert (not just following someone else's recipe). Kadayıf shell tartlets with chocolate ganache and diplomat creme. Added pistachios on top of half of them as a test. #baking #dessert

This new video from Veritasium—a YouTube science education channel—is really interesting. It's about small-world networks, how we are shaped by them & shape them with our actions. Worth a watch. Kind of said what I said here, just in a more comprehensive and intelligent way. youtu.be/CYlon2tvywA?...

Experimenting with making tartlet shells from kadayıf (shredded phyllo dough). Want to coat the interior with chocolate ganache and fill with diplomat crème. This test batch looked & tasted great but was extremely delicate. Not sure if its a feature or a bug, to be honest. #baking #dessert

Tried making muhallebili kadayıf. A Turkish dessert that is essentially a milk pudding (muhallebili) sandwiched between two layers of a mix of toasted, shredded phyllo dough (kadayıf), chopped walnuts and butter. It didn't turn out right, unfortunately. 1/4

The only problem with working out on Sundays (especially leg days) is that I am now exhausted and still have a bunch of stuff I need to get done today around the house. And I definitely don’t want to do any of it now.

I know its going to be a rough day when my older dog pushing her head under my elbow to ask for pets—objectively adorable behavior—just irritates me. Externally screaming (instead of the usual internal version) within 20 minutes of waking up might also be a clue.

The federal government's new-found hatred for wind—on and offshore—is jaw dropping. It's honestly hard to keep up with covering everything they are doing to try to kill the industry. Probably going to work too. Who in their right mind would want to invest billions with this kind of risk?

Out of all the muscles that can be sore, hamstrings might be the worst.

Sure would be nice if I could just quietly while away the rest of my days with baking, woodworking and reading.

There are things that are more aggravating than having to make a return trip to the hardware store, to get a single specialty bit (carbide bit for tile in this case) that costs $20, just so you can get the job done this century. I just can’t think of what is more aggravating right now.

Arlo got neutered today. Not a happy camper. Wouldn’t lay down until I sat next to his bed

@imoolg.spills.wine @capernica.avoids.work speak of the (delicious) devil

The three amigos enjoying a big backyard (not mine) on Saturday.

Made crème brûlée for my dad's birthday dinner. The color of the custard is a little different because the recipe I used called for a little espresso powder—just half a teaspoon. Used a kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar top. Very tasty.

The pup that shows up mid July (now named Arlo). Is doing much better. Coat has started regrowing, and he’s getting along well with my other two dogs, particularly Pyke (the black lab). I said I was going to get him adopted once he was healthy, but now I’m keeping him. So, three dogs now.

I really hate people sometimes. This poor guy showed up at my front door today. No shelter would take him (animal control would but they would just euthanize him). Took him to the vet to start getting him treated, going to get him healthy enough for adoption. The sweetest boy, despite his condition.

Baked old family recipe for peach kuchen this weekend after finally getting it. Dad said it tasted just like the ones his mom made when he was growing up (1950s-60s). Calling it a success. It's basically a shortbread-like crust, a layer of peaches covered in sugar cinnamon, and custard on top.

Made chocolate pecan pies for neighbors today (just because, as usual). Always use my grandmas old recipe for these. Got it out of some magazine many decades ago, as far as I know, and it’s been a family favorite ever since.

Baked canelés for the 1st time last week. Very finicky little French pastries with a caramelized, crispy exterior and custard-like interior. The batter is easy, but the baking is tough. These aren't dark enough, and interior is a bit too wet still. Luckily, don't need to be perfect to be delicious.

Baked peanut butter chocolate swirl cookies this weekend. The one I had was good, although my first thought was the chocolate overpowered other flavors. Neighbors liked them a lot. One said her daughter had been asking why I hadn't been baking just last week.

Been gone a couple months. Mental health stuff. Haven't stopped baking though. So here's what I've done recently (see alt text for descriptions).

I made flower hot dog buns (a popular Chinese pastry) at the suggestion of a friend. I think they turned out pretty well for a first attempt.

I never realize how much I truly use my fingers until I have to do my best to *not* use one. All because I tried to get a feral cat unstuck from under a truck on Sunday and was stupid enough to put my hand too close to its face and got a nasty (and now infected) bite for my trouble.

Finished product

Time for the next baking adventure 👀

Not enjoying having to deep dive and write about all these executive orders decimating clean energy investments for work.

The joys of having heat from electric instead of natural gas: electricity bill for January is $267 (and probably doesn't even include the last couple of days). Granted I've seen worse, think I had a bill for ~$350 last winter.

No good pictures of Pyke's first experience with snow. Leena, who has seen snow before, tried to run away as soon as I opened the door to the backyard—the big wimp—so I got distracted getting her outside. Pyke wasn't a big fan but soldiered on better than I expected, as he can be pretty skittish.

Neighbor's daughters were very happy with the cinnamon rolls, by all accounts. I dropped them off less than three hours ago and apparently they've already eaten almost all of them lol. Got gym out of the way. Now I think I'm going to do (mostly) nothing the rest of the day.

Finally sitting down after ~8 hours on my feet doing stuff. Didn’t even get everything done (still owe some kids cinnamon rolls, for one). How do y’all even relax on weekends? Always feels like there’s a million things that need doing.

Dogs went nuts because someone was at the door. I answer it and it is my neighbors' daughters (maybe 7-8 yo?), asking me very politely if I will make cinnamon rolls again for them 😂 Doubt parents knew, but it was too cute, so now I will be baking cinnamon rolls when I have time today or tomorrow lol

Turned off my alarm before going to sleep last night, figured I would sleep in. Pyke said "hold my kibble" as he jumped off the bed and started looking for a place to throw up at 4:30. Instantly awake, but got him outside. Then he woke me up again at 7:30, since it was time for his breakfast 😩