February is the quietest month.

Blog-wise, anyway. Or for this blog, rather. It's actually the lack of quiet in the rest of my life during the month of February that leads to the electronic silence. Papers to grade. Ulysses to teach. Fellowships for which to apply, and interview, and interview again...and conference papers and articles and reviews and the looming job market at the end of this year, reminding me that I should definitely try to add my dissertation to that list of things to do as well...

My 27th birthday was on Wednesday, a very bright, blue, spring-like day immediately followed by two very cold, dark, and rainy ones. The kind that make a meteorlogical idealist (i.e., Californian) like myself believe there should be a law requiring all cold, dark, rainy days to be spent at home and in your pajamas. But I have spent the few spare moments in the last couple days relishing the simple pleasures my birthday brought this year. A beautiful new bread knife. The pleasant shine of ten manicured fingers and ten pedicured toes. And the long-awaited, long lusted-for pages of this gem:



Breakfast, Lunch, Tea: The Many Little Meals of the Rose Bakery is another one of those cookbooks that will have you packing your bags for Paris, but also promises many simple pleasures to be had in the comfort of your own home...like fruit taboule and cheddar cornmeal scones and ricotta, tomato and thyme tart...

Maybe I just wish I could stay home and play in the kitchen on rainy days...