barnes and noble oatmeal raisin cookie recipe

But dropping by baked goods and hard-to-find ingredients has brought me a lot of joy. We miss seeing our people and Zoom calls, while supposed to make us feel more connected, seem to make me feel the opposite. But I am sure that we’ll see our friends and neighbors more once it’s safe to do so. I’m not convinced we can overcome that piece of it. Overcome? Come out better and stronger? Simply survive? Having so many friends in the restaurant industry, I’m having trouble picturing the economy in a few months time.

The encouraging sidewalk chalk drawings done by neighbor kids, proclaiming “we’re all in this together,” or “we CAN do this.” This. How hopeful – but also sad – I find the rainbows and stuffed animals in the window. And during these walks I wonder about how things will be different for good. Frances is at a particularly needy stage and Oliver is always chatty, so this is a nice time for fresh air and … a little quiet in my head. With both kids home through the summer and the weather turning decidedly spring on us, we’ve been taking a few long walks every day. While we’re now out of yeast, we’ve got plenty of flour, so this weekend I tinkered with a new cookie recipe that I think you’ll like: these have brown butter, a little cardamom and rely heavily on brown sugar for chewiness and flavor. I buy bananas now for the sole purpose of making two loaves of banana bread (one for us, one to give away), Sam’s made homemade olive bread and pita, and Oliver’s one home school wish this week is to bake a cake. For neighbors or friends, or simply my own kids. It feels strange to talk about upsides to any of this, but one has arisen: having more time (and the inclination) to bake for others again. The slow down at work, Sam caring for both kids, getting scrappy with nightly meals, worrying about money, not sleeping nearly enough. But I find myself constantly making lists in my head of what I’d say, beginning with the interesting waves of realization, panic and acceptance that have struck our household over the past month.

And I keep meaning to and then each day comes to a close and, well, it just seems like one more thing to do. Everyone keeps saying that now is the time to journal, so we can remember what was happening - and how we passed each day - during this crazy time.

Barnes and noble oatmeal raisin cookie recipe