I have a real life.
I know… epic. ย You have a real life too. ย I’m not trying to pat myself on the back or anything.
I just wanted to remind you that I totally have a real life. ย It’s imperfect and blurry. ย It’s messy and florescent. ย It’s crooked and underexposed.
It’s quiet… with the occasional solo dance party. ย It’s awkward. ย It’s sometimes frustrating. ย It’s often times blessed. ย There’s a lot of food in this life of mine… and it’s not always in focus. ย It’s just not.
For some reason, I think it’s important that you know this.
Can I show you dinner? ย Real life… I made this at 7pm in my poorly lit kitchen… and ate it off the coffee table… dinner.
Before dinner can be made, dinner must be shopped for, dinner must be stood in line for.
I’m the girl that answers emails in line at the grocery store. ย I just am.
I also wear sunglasses in the grocery store… it’s LA, and that’s totally allowed- if not encouraged.
Groceries home. ย I’m going to make salad-y things, and tomato-y things with mussels, herbs, and wine.
Real life: ย I found an easy recipe on the internet. ย I read it. ย I bought the stuff, and I just want dinner (and wine time) to happen quickly.
Spicy Steamed Mussels with Garlic and Herbs.
There’s chopping to be done, so I chop. ย Leftover kielbasa, sliced garlic, and green onions.
Directly behind me, my cat is rummaging around in the cabinet under the sink.
He’s learned how to open cabinet doors by himself. ย He’s like that velociraptor in Jurassic Park. ย Yes… that terrifying. ย Don’t believe me? ย Come live with me for a day. ย It’s actually scary.
Anyhow… this animal opens my cabinet, rummages around, spills stuff onto the kitchen floor… stuff for me to trip over, then he saunters away.
After chopping and slicing, these little bits get cooked in olive oil.
Heavy on the red pepper flakes. ย Spicy spicetown.
Fresh basil and thyme for the chopping.
I love to finish dinner with fresh herbs. ย It makes me feel like I’ve turned my house into a restaurant… mostly because herbs make food taste better.
Salad for dinner too!?
I’m incredibly civilized. ย Don’t be fooled… I often have popcorn for dinner. ย I made a salad because I had company over. ย Casual company… but still company.
When you have company over.. you have to make a salad, right?
Real life:ย I was too lazy to dig for my spatula so the sides of my pan are coated in tomato sauce. ย Also… I totally burnt my first round of toast. ย Like, hardcore. ย Like, I almost set the house of fire burnt. ย Black as the day is long. ย And the day is long…. really long.
Joy the Baker burns toast. ย This is a true fact.
I’ve never made mussels before. ย They seem like the kind of food that you only eat in restaurants. ย Nope. ย These are so easy and delicious.
I tend to eat dinner alone and standing. ย I hear it’s great for digestion. ย Gravity and such. ย No… ย I totally don’t hear that. ย Whatevs.
This time around, because I have company, I’m classing it up… we’re eating hunched over my tiny coffee table.
Not ideal, but I totally have linen napkins.
Real life dinner done and delicious.
All thats left now are dishes, and leftovers… and dessert to rummage through the freezer for.
Spicy Steamed Mussels with Garlic and Herbs. I love this recipe! ย It feels like Mario Batali cooked you dinner. ย And I made it in about 25 minutes. ย Major! ย Oh… I added capers and kielbasa, and a bit of thyme instead of oregano.
ps. ย I wish I could make ย YOU dinner. ย pps. ย I love you. ย ppps. ย No biggie.
191 Responses
i hope no one ever tells my mother how often i eat popcorn for dinner. i think we could be friends.
I just recently wandered into your lovely world here. You are astonishingly likeable!! Seriously, I hate everyone. Well, not hate maybe…but I am picky. I am glad you burn toast and that horrible lighting is a part of your life too. I am glad you are here telling us about it. I am glad I wandered over here. Thanks for doing this.
Yesterday I fried eggplants. I was in a hurry, but I was also craving for something satisfying. I didn’t have breadcrumbs, only flour that got burnt and burnt oil. Eggplants were still delicious. I ate them with not-sliced tomato, just biting into its flesh. And some mayo, please. Real life dinner, this happens.
I’ve always wanted to make mussels, but get intimated about debearding them. Was it a pain?
my were already debearded. easy as pie!
Thank you, thank you for not pretending to have a real kitchen to cook in and a formal dining table to eat from. I’m glad I’m not the only one trying to make magic happen in a few square feet. Keep on, keepin’ on!
My husband and I are newlyweds and we eat on the coffee table right now. It’s nice, and romantic, and feels like the stuff you do when you first get married or get your first place before you get all adult and responsible and buy a dining table.
The first cat I had could open cabinets, turn on lights, and open the door (the inside door and the screen door). This cat also enjoyed climbing the curtains and walking on the ceiling rods, as well as climbing the neighbor’s tree outdoors and jumping to the top of their roof, for a better view of the neighborhood, I guess. One time it also attempted to walk ON THE CEILING–there were little claw marks in the white acoustic tile ceiling to prove it. The cat was smart and fearless. It also crawled into the dryer one day and no one knew it was in there and my mom turned it on, and so my first pet met its unfortunate demise. RIP Patches (that was her name). To this day, I always do a thorough check of the dryer and its contents before turning it on.
I love these photos! How’d you get that border? It looks fabulous.
Ditto the comment! Love the photos and curious about the cute as border! (:
We eat in the living room, because the dining room table is often too covered in papers and what not to eat at.
From one awkward baker to another…your blog is too delightful!
I totally love your blog. And I love the way you talk…I talk this way to myself in the kitchen all the time. I could practically hear your voice. Or what your voice sounds like in my head anyways. I coffee-table most every night except when I have company..and come to think of it, yes I do serve salad when I have company. It’s the law I think. :) Keep cookin’ and talkin’. I like it!!
Our cat opens the bathroom door (it’s a knob, not a lever) and opens all the kitchen drawers too. It got so bad that we considered child-proofing everything below waist level. Now we have a kid so we’ll just child-proof for her and keeping the cats out will be a bonus!
Personally, I think dinner tastes waaaaay better sitting on the floor around the coffee table with the huge pillows!
I feel your pain. We had just one cat that knew how to open cabinet doors; she’s been in and out of the cabinets for months and we always knew if she wasn’t readily visible, she was under the kitchen sink. Our two other cats never cared to venture into cabinets and we were fine with that, since the cabinet monster has particularly delicate feet and managed to go in and out regularly without disturbing a thing. Then we adopted two kittens . . . and they really like the cabinet monster and she really likes them in return and she’s taught them how to open cabinet doors. And now we have wrestling kittens spilling out of our cabinets at all hours of the day. Plus, they’ve taken over other cabinets–I found them sleeping in my biggest mixing bowl just yesterday. I told my husband we made need a second kitchen; one for the cats and one for me.
You have given me the confidence to make mussels at home. I’ve been telling my husband I want to make them! I always order them when we go out!
You done good. Skillz foe shure. I’ll just check the mail for my dinner invite.
Casual company has nice forearms :)
Joy, is that table from Ikea?? Lark, I think it’s name is? We have the same coffee table!! And matching end tables, if you have them too. I love mussels, this sounds delish! I will def try it out!
MMMMmmmmm, mussels :) So easy and sooosss delicious as long as they don’t have any grit in. I’ve had gritty mussels before and they are HORRIBLE! Yours look gorgeous Joy :)
My cat does this with doors/cabinets as well. I never made the velociraptor (sp?) connection until this moment. It’s terrifying until I realize that he’s only getting into the cabinets to sleep on my towels…and not to devour me or trap me in ovens.
MMMMMM – looks absolutely delicious… and oh! what do we have here?….so….the nice hands fellow again huh? I see how you do Joy. I see how you do.
hahahahahhahaaa!
I totally understand the toast thing. I’m a fairly accomplished home cook, training at an accredited culinary school and doing quite well. I have always, and still do, have issues with two things: toast and cheese dip. Burn city.
I’d love it if you could make dinner for me too! I’ll supply booze and dessert…:)