Home therapy

This is definitely a full moon week- can't sleep, funky mood, missing people, over-analyzing on repeat, and just wanting to nest... so I am and this is me at my absolute finest! Sweat pants, fuzzy socks, hair in a bun with fuzzy bits sticking out, and all. I am Suzy Homemaker this weekend, cleaning and cooking today while old episodes of 30 Rock played in the background to keep me company in English.  One highlight of the day happened as I successfully bought tickets for a few friends and myself to see The Lumineers and Of Monsters and Men (love them both!) in Zurich in March. Live music feeds my soul, and shows are fewer and far between here, so this is exhilarating. Tonight I downloaded a whole bunch of new artists and albums I've had my ear on and reorganized iTunes as well, so that made me quite content.

Cooking has always been a creative outlet for me, but since I've moved to Switzerland and rarely eat out, it has become a more frequent and enjoyable event each night. I truly love cooking, especially for other people, and experimenting with foods and spices has become a relaxing part of my day I look forward to. The produce here is some of the freshest I've seen, GMO-free, and tasty tasty! I've managed to find all the fixings for my basic go-tos, as well as Asian, Italian, Indian, and even Mexican dishes I cook. Tonight I made a Shrimp Panang Curry with rice and it was super duper spicy, even for me. In the meantime, I baked a batch of Lemon Crinkle Cookies as my first of the holiday season and they are delish.  I may save them all for myself rather than share, since it's my test batch and all. :)

Lemon Crinkle Cookie

Makes 2-3 dozen

Ingredients:

½ cups butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 whole egg

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

¼ teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoons baking powder

⅛ teaspoons baking soda

1-½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Feeling sassy. The Hammer of Hays came doooowwwwn this week!