Eat this and be happy: Another great recipe

As per usual, Smitten Kitchen has brought new zeal into my life. The first time I made this, I went out and made it again and again. It's just that good and at around 140 calories for 1/8 of a cake, you can eat it for breakfast...and lunch...and dinner...and dessert. You get it, I'm sure.

Makes one thin 9-inch cake, which might serve eight people, if you can pry it from first two people’s grasp

1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick (56 grams) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup (146 grams) plus 1 1/2 tablespoons (22 grams) sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)
1 large (57 grams) egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh raspberries (about 5 oz)

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 2/3 cup (146 grams) sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about two minutes, then beat in vanilla and zest, if using. Add egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons (22 grams) sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate.

I made it with a combo of blackberries and raspberries and topped with freshly whipped cream. I might try cherries next.

Green Town

I see me, my eyes filled with tears, because it was all over, the night was done, I knew there would never be another night like this. No one said anything. We all just looked up at the sky and we breathe out and in and we all thought the same things, but nobody said.

Perhaps you may or may not know that the setting of Ray Bradbury's quintessential summer novel is based on Bradbury's youth in my own hometown. The first time I read the book (oddly enough it was curled up under the covers, in the dead of winter) I could picture every scene in my mind's eye, feel the descriptions as though they were my own childhood memories. I recalled the same goosebumps on my arms when I first set foot in the ravine where the Lonely One stalked his victims. Strangely, it's an excellent winter read as well, because you can almost taste that liquid sunshine on expectant lips and feel the freedom of new summer adventures yet to be dreamed. Suddenly gale force winds and the embarrassing, but necessary entrapment of a down filled parka seem miles away.

Sometimes, particularly in older parts of the city, I'll begin to feel lost in the pages of the novel again, and I experience the strange sensation of being between two worlds. This place is a place I feel tied to, and a place I can feel in my bones in a way that's very difficult to describe in words on a screen. In a way that I feel that someone with the same roots can understand. I used to wonder why it seemed like nobody could ever leave, and I always had a sort of "there must be something in the water" sort of attitude. I still do in a way, only because I feel like my life is on a crash course through a chain of events, of which this town is the catalyst.

I suppose everyone feels tied to his or her place of origin in one way or another, and in some ways it's a comfort to be a part of the middle of something, at neither the beginning, nor the end and still feel a sense of belonging, a puzzle piece-like fit.

Back to the grind....or something like that

So it appears that I'm back to the job search yet again. I've been reluctant to post anything about being laid off, because really, even though it's not my fault, it feels completely demoralizing. Nothing like applying for a job that I'm overqualified for, over-educated for, and so on and so forth, only to hear that 2oo other applicants, probably equally overqualified, are my competition.

I am luckier this time in my unemployment, because I will actually be able to apply for... unemployment. What a concept. I also have a couple weeks til my last day, a job interview already lined up, and the possibility of being rehired by the district before they make a public posting of the job if something opens up.

All that said, I have a very hard time accepting that my personal setbacks are not indicative of stupidity or perceived lack of success on my part.

Wish me luck, and mayhaps I will get a job that doesn't put 500 miles a week onto my car.