I love the lull of quiet moments alone,
revel in solitary quiet and time for reflection
Sometimes these special moments are snatched
by the greedy tiresome lists of daily life.
♥
I swept my arm across and cleared my desk
hung up my apron
closed my recipe books
stowed my camera
packed up my cello and filed my music
I turned blank canvas to wall
and I folded my hands
to force them to still
and waited…
and wondered…
what would come back in, what would fill..
the empty?
♥
Lists were written, jobs noted and ticked off
until most were gone..
but new ones joined the old at the bottom of the list…
Would it ever be perfect?
♥
So I chose to walk away.. into the garden
where I could run the earth through my fingers
press tender new shoots in place
and wait for the glorious riot of color
to take root
♥
and I succumbed to the urge to turn pages and read…
I searched wee nooks of old shops for vintage finds
I filled measuring cups and baked platters for friends..
and tumbled, headlong back into life, camera in hand
to capture thoughts and image…
I’m home
♥
IMPORTANT
** For the filling please change the sugar amount from 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar to 3 cups**
- 1/2 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/8 tsp kosher salt
- 6 extra-large (jumbo) eggs, room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp grated lemon zest (4-6 lemons)
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 cup flour
- Confectioner’s (Powdered Icing) sugar, for dusting
- Preheat oven to 350° F and generously coat the bottom and sides of a 9×13? baking pan with butter.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the flour to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix until blended and a dough pieces form.
- Lightly flour the counter and dump the dough out. Gather and push the dough gently into a flattened ball. Place the dough in the center of your buttered baking pan, then press and flatten the dough across the bottom of your pan, working from the center out. Try to build up a 1/2? raised edge all the way round the pan. Then bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Let this cool on a wire rack, leaving the oven on.
- To make the filling, whisk together the room temperature eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour, until well blended. Pour over the baked crust and put it back into the oven for approximately 30 to 35 minutes, until the filling is set. Gently “rock” the pan to make sure there isn’t unbaked liquid in the center of the pan.
- Let cool to room temperature.
- Cut into squares and dust with confectioners’ sugar.
- Adapted from Ina Garten
Yum! Great photos! And welcome back 🙂
Thanks:)
Great to have you back Smidge. Beautiful post. I feel quite relaxed now. The lemon bars look incredibly yummy and naughty! I want to try these. tfs.
Have a great weekend.
Regards Florence x
I’m glad this post made you relax.. They sure helped me;)
Welcome back! I hope it was a restorative break. It sounds like it was. The lemon bars are awesome looking – how delicious they must be. Love your styling as always xx
It was.. after the To Do list got whittled down.. and I chucked it, lol! Thanks!
Yes..have missed you…all so lovely….on so many levels….xo
So glad to have you back, Barb! You were missed. And these lemon bars would make the perfect welcoming treat. So beautifully photographed, they look as if a puff of air would send the powdered sugar flying about my monitor and keyboard. 🙂
Too funny you would say that! I had powdered sugar all over mine.. Hmmm, maybe that’s why it’s so slow;)
I missed you! Glad you are back and in the kitchen baking up a virtual storm for us! Yum!
A quiet moment and a lemon bar. Now that could be exactly what I need at this very moment in my life! Beautiful poem, Barb!
If I could send you one.. I would!
Missed you too … great to have you back in full swing – as usual is everything about this post delicate and beautiful – that white rose (think it’s) stunning. Could with a couple of those bars – for my afternoon cup of coffee.
It’s a white rose on my back patio.. if only the sun would shine long enough to sit and work out there!!
It’s beautiful … has the summer arrived now ??? Here we have full autumn.
Whenever I read your posts I feel so peaceful and rested. Everything feels so soft and gentle…just like those gorgeous lemon bars look! Hope the rest did what it needed to do for you but it´s lovely to have you back 🙂
I’m glad my posts do this.. it’s my own recipe for “calming down” when I write:)
Yay, you are back! Beautiful post as always.
🙂 Mandy
Such beautiful photos!
Thanks!!
Fill that which is empty, empty that which is full. Creativity. A fine balance. Glad you took a break, Barb, but I missed your posts!
I look forward to your posts as well.. It’s so good to be back!
Oh lemon bars. I don’t think there is anything better in this world in my book. I hope you had a wonderful time away. It certainly looks like a wonderful homecoming. 🙂
It really is great to be back in the wordpress family fold:)
Welcome home! I know that your time away must have refreshed and inspired you. Your photos are as beautiful as ever. The lemon bars with the title look almost translucent.
Thanks so much, Karen, it’s great to be back and refreshed for sure! I highly recommend it! These bars look just like this.. No camera magic, they come out transluscent.. It’s a great recipe for sure and super easy!
These look gorgeous as usual Smidge! I could really go for one right now!
Welcome back! I’ve missed you, but I applaud your taking some time focused on being as opposed to doing. It’s easy to make our lives far too busy. That said, I’m so happy to read your beautifully flowing words, to see your inspiring photography, and to imagine another one of your recipes coming to life in my kitchen.
It was interesting to stop everything.. I resisted the impulse to just “do” on a number of occasions.. so I could really see what I missed the most and what was important. I highly recommend it!
Lemon Bars – YUM! Loving your post and photos! Have a Happy Saturday:)
Nice – all of it 🙂
Welcome home! Every word was so perfect, you are in a moment that is quite different from mine, but I know the feeling of “being home’ is waiting for me, sometime…
and I shall embrace it too
(such a beautiful post, it’s wonderful to have you back!)
Yes.. Being home… Metaphorically speaking, of course, is a good thing. (incidentally being home in the literal sense is also a good thing, lol) I wish it for you soon! Xo
Smidge. You never cease to amaze me! Just Lovely. You have left me salivating for Lemon Bars while stuck at the airport!
Hey!! I “have” to bring dessert to our dinner next week!! I’ll make these so you can try them!! Where are you flying to??
Oh, I’ve made Ina’s lemon bars before but I don’t remember mine looking so perfect. I can just taste the lemony custard filling in one of those bars. So tasty Barb! Welcome back!
Well… a few bars didn’t pop out so nicely, but most did.. making it a good recipe I think. For those other occasions.. you only need a few for the photos:)
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to stop and be still. You sound restored, Smidge! I’m glad you’re back.. xx
xxoo
I didn’t know that you were away either! 😀 Lovely words, and splendid lemon bars. Pretty cosmos, too.
Hahaha.. tsk tsk.. (just kidding).. it was an awfully short break, so I could see how you would miss me being “gone”:)
Lovely to see your poetry, beautiful photos, thoughts and a tempting light lemony treat. Welcome home 😉
Thanks, Claire!
Your beautiful words and you have been sorely missed my friend – welcome back with another stunning recipe 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I’ve missed reading yours as well:)
Welcome home, Smidge 🙂 Lovely post. And lovely lemon bars…
Welcome back! Hope your break was just what you needed! Going to a potluck picnic next week. I think lemon squares will be part of my contribution! Thanks. Terri
I hope they work out for you.. I loved bringing these to the party last night, they’re so pretty!
Welcome home Barb 🙂 I add these to the growing list of lemon bars that I want to make!
Welcome back! The lemon bars look absolutely beautiful and delicious. I’m beginning to think I too need a little break from all of the distractions this life seems to constantly place in my path. Probably good for all of us to get a fresh breath every now and then!
It’s such a good exercise in patience and slowing down.. I plan to do it regularly:) Maybe next time I’ll go somewhere beautiful when I do.. like a mountain cabin in the middle of a forest somewhere!
the photos alone make me want to try the recipe! Thanks 🙂
Welcome back! I love lemon bars. Yours look so thick, high (not flat).
There was quite a bit of filling. I used an oversized pan so had to do 1 1/2 the recipe.. but had way to much filling then:)
Welcome home Smidge xox
Beautiful! Really love the set of china you have there, it’s really pretty, and makes the lemon bars stand out very well. The lemon bars look absolutely delicious!
That was such a good find.. I’ve been searching for that particular shade of transferware for some time, it’s always exciting when you find something unexpectedly?!
I know how you feel. The “honey do list that just keeps getting longer”. A great time for a tea break and a lemon bar. A beautiful yummy escape!
Oh, well, bang goes the diet idea! 🙂
Ooops!
Welcome back, Smidge!! Glad you’ve found your mojo – it’s been missed! And I just keep seeing lemon bars…the blogger world is trying to tell me something, I’m sure. 🙂
Yes.. it’s no fun being “mojoless”, that’s for sure! If they’re popping up everywhere I think you should whip up a batch:)
Welcome back. Ahhhh, the lemon bar, and of course, anything Ina would be rich and delicious. Such a refreshing treat for a summer dinner.
Prose, lovely photos, and lemon bars … a perfect re-entry! Respite is so good, though you were missed. To be still, it is the call to renew and refresh, it sorts out the noise that we might hear the divine in everything. Welcome back. 🙂
Now, that is so beautifully said, Judy.. this is why I’m here, to read other lovely words:) Thank you!
Ahh there you are sweet friend, maker of magic, twirler of spells! I’m so happy to see you respecting the natural rhythms of things, taking rest, setting down, filling hands with earth, breathing deep…and then coming back to us with such translucent happiness! You are a joy-maker, I hope you know! 😉 xoxo
And your lemon bars are luscious!
Thank you, spree, I’ve most you as well.. and am so happy to be back here reading everyone’s lovely spring posts… your kitchen is well under way and near the finish line?!
Welcome back, Smidge! Those lemon bars are worth the wait and so are your lovely poems. 😉
Thank you, Malou.. I’m off to visit your blog now:)
and what a wonderful way to come home, with sweet lemon bar scents.. how winderful to just make yourself BE still.. I love that.. c
Welcome back! And lemon bars – one of my absolute favorite things. We missed you around here.
Welcome back Smidge ! I’ve missed the poetry and what a lovely comeback with the lemon bars !
It’s quite lovely that feeling of ‘coming back’ isn’t. Restored, batteries fuller once more. Fingers itching to do things, and a camera that jumps to be used again.
hello 🙂
and can I take two of your lovely lemon bars please? One for me and one for… actually just two for me thanks.
Your lemon bars look dreamy and delicious!
These bars look so dense and SO good!! I love the thickness of the lemon filling center. I want these everyday for the entire summer.
I love the photos! And the recipe is definitely something I will try one of these days, it looks fantastic, I bet it’s yummy!
Your posts are always so calming down! I’ve missed reading them. And the lemon bars look so delicious!!
Beautiful photos and your recipe sounds scrumptious! I love reading your writing … just beautiful!
Welcome back, Smidge! I thought the scrolling down to the comment box would never end… you have been missed! The Lemon Bars look fab!
As always your detail and your poetic license are like a ballet for my mind and my stomach…always excellent!
Thank you:)
Oh, for life to be measured by the gentleness of grace. Yes! I love this, Smidge. And how I do love lemon bars. They look divine!
A mental retreat is good. It’s also a good thing to know yourself and to be able to listen. So many times we choose not to hear, and you did. I hope you found refreshment in it, and feel the freedom to retreat again when you must. And your wonderful lemon bars would certainly give me a bit of comfort. Creating as much beauty as you do undoubtedly requires a lot of energy. No one is inexhaustible. I hope you’ll continue to take care of yourself 🙂 Debra
Welcome back Barb, I hope you enjoyed your time away. It sounds very relaxing
Love the pictures of the lemon bars, they sound like the perfect summer treat
WOW! Seems so beautiful, so romantic and yes, should be so delicious too. I missed you dear Barbara, welcome back. Thank you, have a nice day, love, nia
Delicate and delicious looking!
These look amazing! Gorgeous photos and also delicious recipe!
Really well taken pictures!
Yummy and tasty sounds for this recipe! It’s make me so hungry! I can’t wait to eat this 🙂
Your poem took my breath away. It seems you and I have been in the same boat as of late. I could barely get inspired to cook, write or photography anything and didn’t even visit other blogs. I was in a blog slump i’m afraid but after the breather, I think I am back in the game so to speak.Those lemon bars are so thick and fluffy! That must be some recipe. Your china pattern is to die for. Love that blue and the lovely flowers.
Just lovely. Welcome back. I’ve missed your moments!
Love this. Also love lemon bars. You are such a temptress!
Always one of my very favorite treats! Visiting you here, I mean–but yes, lemon bars, too! 🙂 What a lovely meditation in the post, too.
xo