Muffin tops, soup weather, pasta for the Class of 2022, and more (7 Quick Takes)

~1~

When I make blueberry muffins, our younger son always eats just the tops. So, when I baked this week, I decided to try to make just muffin tops for him. I put parchment paper on a cookie sheet and dropped two spoonfuls of batter on the paper. Then I sprinkled them with sugar.

I cooked them at the same temperature as the muffins, but I watched them closely and took them out about 10 minutes before the muffins were finished. (I use the Jordan Marsh recipe.)

He loved them. Next time I make muffins, I will definitely make more tops. In fact, I might only make tops. I just need to leave more room for them to grow while they’re cooking.

~2~

April showers seem to have brought more May showers. I am ready for sunshine and dry, warmer weather. This weekend all I’ve wanted to cook are soups. It feels like soup weather to me. Of course, we eat soup all year.

~3~

The other day we were out shopping as a family.

As we approached the check-out area, I said, “OK, hold on. Do we need everything we have?”

My older son said, “Isn’t the right question, ‘Do we have everything we need?’”

It’s all about perspective. And I think it’s clear which one of us was paying.

~4~

While I was at the store the other day, I picked up #22 pasta for our eighth-grader in honor of his 2022 graduation. He thanked me and then pointed out that he identifies more with the Class of 2026. I haven’t seen #26 pasta yet, but I will buy it when I do. But I do love that #22 is available—and that it’s such a great pasta that lends itself to all kinds of graduation word fun.

“We shell see what you achieve!” “You shell succeed!” I am waiting to see a prom proposal with a box of pasta and a sign that says, “Shell we dance?”

I understand that some people don’t give pasta as gifts, but I love a good edible gift that fits a theme.

~5~

Mother’s Day has been wonderful. I saw my mother briefly the day before Mother’s Day, and then I spent Mother’s Day itself with Mass, lounging around the house, doing some writing, and enjoying dinner that I didn’t cook.

My husband even took our son to see Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. And my boys posed for Mother’s Day selfies with me. What more could anyone hope for?

I hope your Mother’s Day was as good as it could be, especially if it is a difficult day for you.

~6~

When I was shopping the other day, I saw this Easter bunny on a tricycle. I loved that the tag described it as “Essentials for Easter.”

If a bunny on a tricycle is essential for Easter, I’ve been doing it wrong for quite some time.

And I will again next year, because I didn’t buy it even when I saw it on the clearance table.

Though now suddenly I do think a bunny on a tricycle would only enrich my life.

~7~

The other day my sister Maureen sent me a photo of an email forward I had sent from my college email account in December 1994. Apparently one of the friends I sent it to then forwarded it to her father, who printed it and shared it with her daughter—his granddaughter—who took a photo of it and posted it to her Instagram.

Were you able to follow that? It’s confusing. I’m not even sure I summarized it correctly. Here I didn’t think I had much of a digital footprint from college, but maybe I do.

And now my digital footprint includes an Easter bunny on a tricycle. So, that feels like its own kind of victory.

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