• Sliced buttermilk poundcake
    Food Feelings

    Buttermilk Pound Cake and Why It’s Part of My Grieving Process

    I was 19 when my mom suddenly passed away. One day she didn’t feel well and a week or so later she was gone. I was in the middle of finals in the spring semester of my sophomore year of college. No one wanted to “worry” me so I got the filtered version of events as it was all happening. And then I was too shocked to ask questions. The point is, she left and the grief came. Her wake was on her birthday. And a couple of weeks later I was nearly inconsolable on Mother’s Day. April and May are kind of…not my favorite months. I don’t know if…

  • Homemade king cake using Taste of the South Magazine's recipe in 2019
    Food Feelings

    King cake is my fave Valentine’s + Mardi Gras mashup

    My Valentine’s Day tradition of Mardi Gras king cake. Growing up in south Mississippi, king cakes would start appearing shortly after Christmas. School party? King cake. Club meetings? King cake. Going with your friend to a local parade? Also king cake. Wandering around the grocery store? Believe it or not, WHOLE LOTTA KING CAKE. As a kid I never really stopped to consider Mardi Gras and its traditions beyond the fact that I was thrilled as the sightings of those gold, purple, and green ovals started appearing. And you can bet I felt like I’d won a gold medal every time I found that dang baby in my slice. But…

  • Stack of no bake Peanut Butter S'mores Bars
    Baking Projects,  Food Feelings

    No Bake Peanut Butter S’mores Bars

    Okay look. I think I need to explain how I think about myself in the kitchen. I am a diligent recipe follower. You’ll never catch me in a comment section with an “I substituted 4 eggs instead instead of the canola oil and air fried it at 500° for 30 minutes and it didn’t turn out :((((” Baking recipes get followed verbatim, even if that means running to the store in the middle of a task to get more vanilla extract. With cooking I can riff a little—I can swap out or add some ingredients with very little brow sweat involved but I still keep close to the original instructions.…