Simple Comforts

Moist Chocolate Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Sat, 02 May 2015 18:51:00 +0000

I have something to confess, I'm a bit of a chocolate cake snob. I don't really enjoy the "birthday cake" chocolate cake or the chocolate cakes at parties, I usually find them to be a bit to dry and not really special and so I generally skip it altogether. Yet when I try a rich, moist chocolate cake I'm head over heals for it. This recipe is exactly that, with no flour and beaten egg whites this cake is anything but an average dry chocolate cake. It has become my go to chocolate cake recipe!

Recipe bellow

Moist Chocolate Cake:

Recipe from Iris Gilbert

40x27 cm. (13x9 inches) baking dish

Ingredients:

400 grams dark chocolate roughly chopped

200 grams butter

1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon milk

10 eggs, separated

1 cup sugar

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch

additional whipped cream for topping

Preheat oven to 150 degrees C (300 F) butter baking pan

Melt chocolate and butter in hot water bath or double boiler. Once chocolate is melted turn off heat and add milk.

Beat the egg yolks with 1/2 cup sugar for two minutes. Add cornstarch, mix until blended. Add the chocolate mixture and mix throughly.

In a separate bowl beat egg whites and 1/2 cup sugar until becomes stable with soft peaks.

Gently fold egg whites into chocolate mixture. Transfer to baking pan.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until soft crumbs come out when checked.

Cool on baking rack. Best served in room temp. with a dollop of whipped cream.

Keep in airtight container in fridge.

Life...

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 12:27:00 +0000

Discovering Tel-Aviv

I cannot believe how long it has been since I last posted. Sadly once again life has gotten busy and I was left with no time or energy (mostly energy) to blog. We have been up to a lot lately and hopefully I will share some of my new recipes and a bit of my new hobby - knitting and crocheting (I'm currently knitting sweater!!!) soon with you guys. Until then hope all is well where ever you may be!

xoxo

Weekend In Seattle

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 07:00:00 +0000

As I shared, a couple weeks ago we spent the weekend with my friends from Canada in Seattle. We had an amazing time. We hadn't seen each other in over two years, and since we were going to San Francisco for our meeting we decided to all meet up in Seattle. My friend's sister lives there and she let us all stay at her house for the weekend. We spent our time drinking coffee and having long conversations, doing a bit of site seeing in Seattle, going to a corn maze and pumpkin farm and celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving. It was just what I needed. Time with friends who are more like sisters to me, time to just relax and be together. Whenever we get back together, I feel like I am home and it doesn't matter how long we haven't seen each other it is always like we were never separated. Those are the best kind of friends. I had to share some pictures of our time in the pumpkin farm. It was so much fun, I really felt like I was having a true American fall experience. The pumpkins are so pretty, the farm had a corn maze which was huge and lots of fun and they had the best pumpkin and apple fresh doughnuts! If you are ever in the Seattle area in the fall I highly recommend going to Bob's farm!

Three Moments Of Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 10:42:00 +0000

{beautiful figs at the market}

This week I am thankful for being back in Israel. For being able to shop for fresh produce at the local market, for being able to celebrate life with friends, for the diverse mixture of culture and food all around me and for having my own kitchen again! Although I love traveling and discovering new places, there is no place like home! Hope you have an amazing weekend!

{beautiful roses on the way to a friends bachelorette party}

{stuffed peppers}

Lets Talk About Pajamas

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 16:20:00 +0000

I've been wanting to buy new pajamas for the longest time! Do you guys sleep in an actual pj set or just something comfortable? I think there is something really fun about pjs. I especially like silk pajama sets, they look really cute and more special. So I've been looking for a set for a while, but most nice sets are pretty expensive. And lets just say we don't have a lot of money laying around. Last week we were at Forever 21 and I found a really cute silk set with daisies, that was also really affordable! I have been living in them ever since! Here are four other options of really cute pajamas in different price ranges.

Above: Forever 21, striped, silk set. Cute and affordable. $ 24.80

Equipment, white with stars silk set, if you really feel like indulging. $388.00

Eberjey, simple and cute in a variety of colors. $97

H&M, another affordable set in satin. $ 34.95

Which one would you pick?

I would love to know, do you wear pj sets? If so where do you find cute and affordable ones?

Apple Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 06:00:00 +0000

As I've mentioned before apple deserts bring back fond memories, and will always have a special place in my heart. My mom and I are both fans of apple anything, and so it was most appropriate that for her birthday I would make her an apple pie. This was my first attempt at an apple pie with no one around to help me. Thankfully it was a huge success! Not only did it turn out beautifully, but it was really delicious and most importantly it passed my mom's approval!

Recipe below,

Apple Pie

Recipe from this Israeli cookbook (only in Hebrew)
9 1/2 inch (24 cm.) pie plate

For dough:
280 grams (2 cups) all purpose flour
150 grams salted butter
80 ml. (1/3 cup) cold water

For filling:
1 kilogram. granny smith apples
100 grams (1/2 cup) sugar
100 grams (1/2 cup) brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 1/2 Tbsp. all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

For topping:
A bit of milk or egg for brushing
1 Tbps. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Make the dough:
Add flour and butter in a mixer until crumbly. Add cold water gradually until dough forms into a ball. Cover dough and let rest for an hour in fridge.

Make the filling:
Peel and cut apples to slices of 1/2 cm. Mix apples with both sugars, cinnamon, flour and lemon juice.

Preheat oven to 180 C. (350 F.)

Assemble:
Part the dough in two. Roll one half of dough to a 30 cm. (12 inch) disk, transfer dough to pie dish. Pressing down to the sides of the pie dish (I pierced the dough with a fork a few times to get out air bubble as well). Spread the apple filling evenly in the dish. Roll out the second half of dough into the size of the pie dish, and cover the dish. Use a fork to press down sides. Make a few cuts in the center to let out steam. Brush the top with the milk or egg, mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and spread over pie.

Bake the pie either on the bottom of the oven for 45 minutes or until golden.

Wait until completely cool before slicing. Best served with vanilla ice cream!

Three Moments Of Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Sat, 25 Oct 2014 17:46:00 +0000

{my grandma's cookie jar}

This week I am thankful for family treasures, a great friend who loves baking (especially bread) as much as I do, and the bright moments in life. I was finally able to bring back from Canada my grandma's cookie jar. This is really special to me since it is the cookie jar she had while my dad grew up, and it is the only thing I have of his. It is now on my kitchen table full of delicious oatmeal cookies! I hope your weekend is off to a wonderful start!

{in the park}

{the most delicious bread}

Etsy Finds: Bags

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 10:27:00 +0000

Backpacks are everywhere lately and I love it! They are really stylish but a lot more comfortable than purses. While we were in Bolivia I bought a beautiful leather backpack, which I love. The only downside is that it is really stiff and structured, and the straps leave stains on my sleeves (if anyone knows how to fix that please let me know!). I still love using it, but I have been eyeing other backpacks that are a bit more for everyday use. I found this shop on Etsy called Inconnu, look at their bags! They are beautiful, I love the combination of the canvas and the leather straps. I personally love the backpacks, especially the one pictured on the top left.

(Pictures from their Etsy shop: Inconnu)

Three Moments Of Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Sat, 18 Oct 2014 10:49:00 +0000

Having fun in a huge corn maze

We just got back from a very short trip to the States. We went there for an interview with our ministry and we were accepted! We could not be happier, the best part is that we got to spend a weekend with my best friends from Canada. They are the kind of friends that it doesn't matter how long it has been since you last saw each other, when you get back together it's as if you were never apart. We spent the weekend in Seattle, and it was wonderful! I'll share a few photos of the trip in the next few days, but until then I am very, very thankful for these two friends and the time we where able to spend together.

Oh the berries in America

Cute tiles in a great ice-cream shop

Homemade Pizza

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 12:56:00 +0000

Making pizza at home is one of those things that brings back a whole bunch of good memories from my childhood. My mom used to make it all the time, for birthday parties and all us kids got to make their own pizza or just for a fun afternoon at home. I loved helping her, my job was always grating the cheese. Homemade pizza is really easy to make and you can top it with all your favourite things. I now make it often at home, it is a great dinner for a relaxed Saturday at home. I use this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, make a sauce out of crushed tomatoes, onions, garlic, salt and pepper. And top it off with whatever I feel like at the moment. For this pizza I did mushrooms, tomatoes and fresh and hard mozzarella. It turns out delicious every time.

Three Moments Of Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 15:24:00 +0000

Street art in our neighborhood

This week we have been busy getting ready for our upcoming job interview with JFJ. As some of you may know since getting back to Israel we started an internship with Jews for Jesus as children and youth workers. And next week we are flying to San Francisco again for our interview, we are nervously excited. What I am really really looking forward to is the fact that I will see my two best friends from Canada! We are meeting up in Seattle for a long weekend together and I could not be more excited. It's been a long time since we have seen each other. Until then I am focusing on and thankful for the pretty moments of life.

getting back to eating healthy

small glimpses of fall even in the heat of Israel

Rooted In Love: Lessons From The Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 14:20:00 +0000

As I previously shared, since the beginning of this year I have learned a lot of life lessons. The one that has changed me the most is what I learned about love. Love as a child of God, loving my self and how to better love others. Here is a little piece of what I learned...

I always thought I understood that God loves me. I grew up hearing the words "God loves you", all the time. I knew in my head that he loves me, but what does that really mean? I didn't feel his love, I couldn't see it or hear it. So his love was just something in my head, but it did not make its way to my heart. For me the first step in understanding the love of God was to realize that I actually don't know what it means.

During the dts I was so blessed to have an amazing woman as my mentor, a person I could talk to about anything and someone to help me process my thoughts. She gave me some great advise, she said one of the steps that helped her to know in her heart what God's love is, was to be rooted in his love. That sounds kind of strange; but really it just means to know that love, deep in your heart like the roots of a tree. God works in amazing ways, the same week that I was talking to her about this the topic of the lectures was the character of God and more specifically why we were created.

For some people the answer to this is obvious, but I know for me and many others the answer to this question was unclear. I heard a lot of answers throughout life but none of them satisfied me, none of them really made sense. Until I heard this answer, we were created because of love. I could go on with a long explanation of reasons, but I want to make it simple. LOVE. We were created because God is love, in his perfect relationship there is love. Love wants to give and share and so God created us because he loves us. Not because he needs us to do things for him, not even because he needs us in order to love us. No, simply because he loves. Anything else makes God lower and weaker than he is, it makes him need us, which could not be the case.

I might have heard this before but it somehow at that moment finally hit. This made sense to me. It also meant that I could not make God love me, he already does. I can not make him love me more or less, he made me because he loves me. He does not need my acts of worship in order to love me. He loves me just the way I am, even if I chose not to go after him he loves me. It was such a freeing and profound truth in my heart. A big step in understanding what love is.

Three Moments Of Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Sat, 27 Sep 2014 14:44:00 +0000

Coming home to find these beautiful roses

This week I am thankful for being loved by my wonderful husband, family and most of all by my God. I am thankful for little moments that bring joy into life. I am thankful for the holidays and time off. This week we celebrated the Jewish new year, the holidays are one of my favorite parts of living here. The streets become quite and the stores are all closed. Everything is peaceful. We spent the evening of Rosh Hashana with family and friends. It was also so nice to have a couple days off, to rest and enjoy the peacefulness.

Cutest bottle stopper

Celebrating the new year

Home Inspo: Ladders

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 08:24:00 +0000

Last week the Ikea 2015 catalog arrived in the mail. I love looking through it, as it is always full of new and creative ideas. I really liked these shelves, they look like a ladder but are are also a great way to add shelf space. Our bedroom is lacking some decor to it. The main point of focus is the wall behind our bed which is navy blue with a big white frame, while the rest of the walls are white. Right in front of our bed is the closet and next to it there is an empty space, were right now we put our shoes. I have been thinking of how to add something to the space without making it look overwhelming. I have a few ideas in mind, and once I saw the Ikea shelves it made me think of either adding them or getting a ladder and using it to hang things to the space next to the closet. I love the use of ladders for decor, especially the natural looking ones. These are my favorite four ways of using a ladder for decor, the third one is from Ikea.

I love all of them but I think the first and last ones are my favorite, which one do you like?

Images via: 1 (unknown if anyone knows please let me know), 2, 3, 4

Ricotta Sweet Buns

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 14:25:00 +0000

In Israel these sweet buns are simply called yeast pastries, they are like a combination of Challa (Jewish bread) with its soft texture and cake with the touch of sweetness and ricotta filling. I admit I have a minor addiction to yeast pastries, Max knows one of the first things I do when returning to Israel is stop by the nearest bakery to buy a few cheese filled pasteries. I have saved this recipe for a while and finally decided it was time to make it. I can really only say they are amazing, and after making these I decided my search for the perfect sweet bun recipe can end here. The recipe is from one of my favorite bakeries in Tel-Aviv, Dallal Bakery. If you are ever in Tel-Aviv, go to Neve Tzedek my favorite neighborhood in Tel-Aviv and look for this bakery!

See the recipe below...

Ricotta Sweet Buns
Makes 10-11 buns
*Notice dough has rest in the fridge overnight)
(please notice this recipe is in grams, cup measurements in brackets)

For dough:
500 g. (3 1/2 c. + 1 Tbsp.) flour
70 g. (1/3 c. + 1 tsp.) sugar
10 g. (2 tsp.) salt
25 g. (5 tsp.) instant dry yeast
5 large eggs
200 g. (1 c. minus a Tbsp.) butter (at room temp.)

For syrup:
100 g. (1/2 c.) sugar
120 ml. (1/2 c.) water

For Filling:
70 g.(3/4 c.) softened butter
450 g.(2 c.) ricotta cheese
90 g.(3/4 c.) powder sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 yolk
2 tsp. cornstarch
80 g. (around 1/2 c.) dried cranberries or chocolate chunks

Make the dough:
Add flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a mixer bowl and beat together. Add eggs one at a time and beat at low speed for 4-5 min. until you get an elastic dough. Add butter gradually and beat on medium speed for about 10 min. until the dough is smooth and shiny. Place dough in a bowl and cover, let rest overnight in fridge.

Once your dough has rested overnight make the syrup:
Bring the water and sugar to a boil, lower the heat and cook for 5 min. Let cool.

Make the filling:
Add butter, ricotta cheese, powder sugar, and vanilla and mix together. Mix in egg and yolk slightly. Add cornstarch and mix until just incorporated.

Prepare baking sheet with baking paper. If you would like your buns to keep their shape bake in a round cake baking pan.

Make the buns:
Roll the dough on a floured counter top into a rectangle of 70 cm. length and 25 cm. width, thickness of 3 mm. Spread the filling evenly on rectangle and sprinkle cranberries or chocolate on top. Gently roll the dough to make one long roll. Cut into 10-11 rolls with a sharp knife. Place buns in baking pan. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let rise for an hour or until double in size.

Preheat oven to 170 C (340 F) degrees.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately after taking them out of the oven brush with syrup and let cool before serving them.

Enjoy every minute and crumb!

Three Moments of Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 10:28:00 +0000

Running to this view makes it 10 times more enjoyable

This week I am thankful for getting back into a routine. For the past eight months our life had been change after change after change. But we are finally settling back into life, although it is a sharp adjustment to make having a routine has really helped me in this process. For the first few weeks I felt like my body was here but my head was not really here. I couldn't really bring myself to do things, I was really excited to do things like organize our home and paint etc' but just didn't have the motivation to actually start doing those things. So I made a little a schedule for the week, made a to-do list and slowly built a little life routine. It really helped my head feel more organized and able to do what I want to do.

A wonderful evening making delicious food with friends

Being back with an awesome youth group, making homemade pizza

I'd love to know what are you thankful for this week? And do you have a weekly routine to help organize your head?

Chocolate Molten Cakes

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Wed, 17 Sep 2014 18:20:00 +0000

Three weeks ago we moved in to our new apartment. We are so amazingly blessed to have this cute little apartment in a great location and with such a great community around us. I am beyond happy to finally have a home to ourselves. A place to relax and of course bake amazing things. So to celebrate our first Saturday at home I made these chocolate molten cakes. I was looking for something chocolaty but easy to make since we still had a lot of unpacking to do. These molten cakes are pretty much made of chocolate bars and some butter, with the perfect soft and pudding-like center. Along with a scoop of ice-cream these make a great Saturday afternoon. See recipe below...

Chocolate Molten Cakes

makes 6 medium cakes or 12 small individual cakes

2 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 Tbsp. cocoa
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup cream
5 eggs
3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/4)
2/3 cup flour

Butter the cupcake pans and sprinkle the insides with cocoa, coating completely.

To make the batter, place chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl, then top it with butter and cream. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the chocolate is smooth. When chocolate has cooled slightly, stir in eggs, sugar and flour. Pour into prepared cupcake pans. Refrigerate for 1 hour (at least) and up to a couple of days.

Bake at 230 C (450 F) degrees for 10 minutes for regular 12 cupcake pan size and 15-18 for jumbo 6 six cupcakes pan size, just until the outsides and most of the top have set, and the centers are still slightly runny. You can insert the tip of a knife to test. You just want a bit of the very center to be a thick pudding like texture. Let them cool for 5 minutes, then place a sheet pan on top of the muffin pan and invert them.

Serve with whipped cream or ice-cream.

Three Moments of Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 20:13:00 +0000

Having a place to call home, and enjoying adding personal touches to it

Three moments of thanks is a new series I want to start, every week I will (hopefully) post three moments that I am thankful for. When I was in the Netherlands I did a small speech about being grateful and when I was preparing for it I found out from a few researches that people who are grateful are happier, especially when you express your gratefulness. So I hope to share every week three things I am grateful for.

Being with my mom to celebrate her wonderful life

Letters from a friend across the ocean

Home Inspo: Indoor Trees

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 05:00:00 +0000

I love plants and what they add to a space! I think I inherited this love for plants from my mom who always has as many plants as she can fit in her home. I love the idea of an indoor tree, right now in our home we have a couple indoor plants and we are planing on getting a couple more plants and some herbs for our tiny porch. But I have one corner in mind for and indoor tree and am trying to decide which one I like best. These are my favorite fiddle fig tree, eucalyptus, olive tree, and lemon tree. I think my two favorite are the fig tree and the olive tree. Which one should we go for? I think I'll go to the plant nursery and decide there.

Images via: 1, 2, 3, 4

Salt And Rosemary Crusted Potatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Thu, 04 Sep 2014 11:00:00 +0000

Potatoes are a standard dish that I usually don't follow a recipe for and just cut them up put salt, pepper, olive oil, garlic and whatever else I feel like at the moment and let them sit in the oven for a while. But I have been wanting to make this standard dish into something more enjoyable and these potatoes are truly amazing. They turned out so soft in the middle but perfectly crunchy on the outside.

See the recipe bellow...

Salt and rosemary crusted potatoes:
serves 6

6 large or medium sized potatoes
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 c. kosher salt
2 Tbsp. chopped rosemary
butter for serving

Preheat the oven to 200° C (400° F). Scrub the potatoes clean and dry them with paper towel. Pierce the potatoes several times and brush with olive oil. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Combine salt and rosemary into a medium bowl, roll potatoes in mixture to create crust. After rolling all the potatoes in the mixture use the extra mixture to create six mounds on the lined baking sheet. Place each potato on a mound of the mixture.

Bake for 1-11/2 hours depending on the size of the potatoes. Test with a skewer to make sure they are baked through, being careful not to damage the crust.

Serve hot with a dollop of butter in the middle.

Lessons from the Dutch

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 11:55:00 +0000

Cute typical Dutch home

Just as the year started my husband and I went to the countryside of The Netherlands for three months. We did a discipleship training school in the fields near a little village called Epe. It was a wonderful experience for us individually and as a couple. The Netherlands is a wonderful place, the people are super friendly and the country is beautiful and so peaceful. One of the many things I learned while living there is that the Dutch are super creative and warm people. They have this word "gezellig" (pronanouced ha-ze-lek) which really describes a lot about their culture. It means so many things and does not have an exact translation in English but it can mean cozy, quaint, a nice atmosphere, a good and warm feeling, a good time spent with loved ones or a feeling of general togetherness. I love this word. You can feel this "gezellig" atmosphere when you are with the Dutch. Their homes are always so cozy, they make sure that any space they are sitting in will have this feeling of coziness and warmth. They will turn on a bunch of candles, serve you tea and coffee with cute cookies and have wonderful home decor. Overall it is such gives such a wonderful feeling. I was inspired to have this atmosphere in my home as well. Now that we finally have our own apartment again I can't wait to create a "gezellig" feeling.

Loved biking everywhere

Wind mill where we bought fresh flour!

The lanterns!

Beautiful countryside

And I'm back.

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 14:43:00 +0000

Hi there, it has been forever since my last post and I have missed blogging terribly! The last eight months took me through an amazing journey. I have gone through so many different experiences: traveling, learning, sharing, giving, receiving, teaching, helping and so much more. I can't even start to express in words all that I have been through but I can say it has been an incredible time. We are back in Israel and are happy to get back into a stable life and a home. I would love to share some of my journey and what I learned through it and continue to share inspiration!

Peanut Butter Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 13:00:00 +0000

What can be better than chewy soft peanut butter cookie? This is diffidently the cookie I make for comfort. I made these before we left Israel and I wish I could have one right now! It is the taste of home. Max loves peanut butter (I'm sure he is addicted) so these were a huge hit. This recipe is really easy and the cookies are so comforting. I love mine plain and simple but I also make some for Max and my family with dark chocolate chunks and some with white chocolate chunks. All the variations turned out great. I used this recipe from A Cup of Jo. I divided the dough into three and added dark chocolate chunks to one third, white chocolate chunks to one third and the rest I did plain.

Chopped

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 13:00:00 +0000

I am falling in love with shoulder length hair! Four years ago I started to grow out my hair and since then have not had short hair. I love my long hair, but I really feel like having a change. So I have been looking for inspiration for my next cut. I think I would be doing one of these four cuts. Which one is your favorite? I love them all!!

New Season

noreply@blogger.com (Simple Comforts) — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 13:00:00 +0000

Sorry for the long time between my last post. It has been a crazy busy time!! Getting ready to leave for Holland, our first week here and getting used to everything! We are so excited to be here! We have has a wonderful first week here, getting to know our team and the area around here. It is so beautiful here, everything is so green and natural! We love it so far.

I am really hoping to be able to keep blogging in this new season in life. We have a really busy schedule, but hopefully I will be able to update the blog. So please forgive me beforehand if I have long times of silence in between posts!

xoxo