If You Can't Stand The Heat, Get Out Of The Kitchen, and Stop Reading The Nest

At some point, without my knowledge, I wound up subscribed to The Nest's email list. I suppose it had something to do with my membership to The Knot's website, during the first two weeks of my engagement, before I realized that I absolutely hated the site and wanted nothing to do with it. The people who run The Knot (a site for wedding planning) also run The Nest (a site for Newlyweds settling into their new home and lifestyle), and also The Bump (a site for --you guessed it -- pregnancy). I suppose next comes The Minivan, followed by The Hot Flash, and lastly The Grave.

The whole thing just gives me anxiety.

Anyway, so a few times a week I get these emails with presumptuous subject lines like "Spice Up Your Sex Life" and "Is Baby On The Brain?" I should just unsubscribe but I have to admit the sincerity of these articles makes me giggle. Case in point, an excerpt from today's article "Is Your Guy Masturbating Too Much?"

"Lately, everywhere we turn, there's another article warning us about the dangers of too much masturbation. Ever worry about playing second fiddle to your man's solo missions? Maybe you should."

I mean, REALLY.

Call me old fashioned, but my idea of nesting involves decorating, reorganizing, and cooking. And since we've moved I've done just about all the nesting I can, short of actually fashioning a shelter from twigs.

But for most of this time, the kitchen has been off limits due to ongoing (and seemingly endless) renovations. When we first looked at the place, the owners told us they were behind on their plans to redo the kitchen, and were somewhat apologetic about its current state. Looking around the room as she said this, I wasn't sure quite why they were going to bother remodeling, but I wasn't about to talk myself out of a brand new kitchen.

When it came time for us to move in weeks later, the kitchen was still not complete. In fact, we didn't have countertops. There were cabinets (nice new ones!), but no countertops. Just holes. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how impossible it is to prepare a meal without, um, a surface. Additional kitchen renovations included a new sink, electrical work and tiles.

And now, everything is complete. Saturday was a thrilling day in my nest because I could finally put the kitchen and all of my snazzy cooking and baking supplies (wedding gifts that had yet to see the light of day) to good use!

Also, I got to wear my cat apron.



I started off by making a pineapple upside down cake to bring with me to Easter brunch. Okay, to be accurate, I started off by sending Devin to the store to fetch me the right kind of pineapple because I'd some how bought crushed instead of sliced. THEN I made a cake. Normally I can follow any recipe and get a relatively perfect product. So I was surprised when half way through baking I peered into the oven to see the cake about to overflow from the pan, nearly burnt but still entirely wobbly in the center. Worried, I called my mother, who'd just given me the recipe hours earlier and now sounded a bit exhausted by my unnecessary panic.



In the end, the cake turned out just fine. While flipping it out of the pan for the "upside down" part I sort of missed my mark and so you can see it's not exactly centered.

While the cake cooled, I moved onto dinner. My mom's celebrated pasta salad, with tomatoes, brocolli, mozzarella and olives.



And then a green salad that I made up from, coincidentally, small veggies: micro greens, baby greens and those little Persian cucumbers.



Devin was delighted --and a little perplexed-- by my culinary adventures.

The rest of the weekend was all about going out -- date night, a birthday party at a bar, Easter brunch. But I have to say, the highlight was the time spent alone, zen-like, cooking (and drinking wine) in the kitchen.