cooking for others

this photo is from my friend's birthday last week. two of her friends flew in from england to surprise her! best gift that i can imagine. but the birthday girl didn't kick back and relax on her big day; she prepared a sumptuous spread of muffins, scones with whipped cream and jam, cornish pasties, AND a chocolate-chocolate chip cake. it was such a decadent and fun party (involving an insane bollywood film and avoiding boring 'grown-up' business conversations) that i was almost able to forget about the problems i am going through in denmark right now. for a night, at least. (:


right now i have a lot of free time (certainly not by choice) so i'm trying to use those hours in a positive way. i've found that cooking is fairly therapeutic for me, but i'm just one girl who can only eat so much. the birthday party was a good excuse to remake abby's infamous cheesecake. seeing the little chewing-smile on people's faces when they're eating something you made is almost like a little high. my husband, the supportive sweetheart he is, has a lot of work to do these days. so unfortunately that means not that many meals together with me. eating alone is a sad and dangerous thing, so i'm glad to have found a friend that lives just down the street from us. that means frequent chats over cups of tea/coffee, late night outings, and spur-of-the-moment meals together. i love it!

without the warm meals and warmer friends, i probably would have given up living in this cold country a long time ago. obviously i'm thankful for my friends but also thanks to everyone who wrote the recipes (and videos) that taught me how to cook. (: