Oh Shine On

2011.

It was a quite a year.

The year of a failed Red Sox season, the Arab Spring, the iphone4, the NBA lockout, the death of Steve Jobs, Osama Bin Laden, Gadhafi, and Kim Jong-il. Everyone is dying.

The Royal wedding, the Occupy movement, the Euro crisis, the beginning of the Presidential campaign…

And the more important things.

Keith Urban’s release of “Red Solo Cup”… classic.

The last movie of the Harry Potter trilogy… my sisters will probably be in mourning for years.

Beyonce got pregnant.

Justin Bieber is a baby daddy?

Dispatch went on tour for like… the first time in like… a really long time. Too bad I couldn’t go. Womp.

Demi and Ashton broke up. Did anyone else cry?

Yup… it was a big year, folks.

As for me personally? Well, thanks for asking…

I went back to school after taking time off. I switched my major, praise the Lord – to all you Business majors out there, be warned. I went to Italy. I ran my first half marathon. I started cooking.

It is also the year I began this little baby of mine… that’s right, ohshineon is eight months old. Is that a cute age in the baby world? I’m glad to be a momma. Despite the occasional hiccup blogging brings to my life… um, hello collegeschoolsociallifegradesstudyabroadhomework… I don’t need to fuss with baby throw up or people mistaking my child for another gender.

I’ve had some successes in the kitchen this year. And that’s what I write about. But to be fair, I need to give some of the failures part of the limelight. After reading Jessica’s post, I felt inspired to write up a counterpoint balance of my recipe disasters of 2011. Yes, I’m human. Yes, I admit sometimes I can’t cook. And yes, I’ve probably had more disgustingly plain, dry, and all around unpleasant thing come out of my oven than not… shocking, I know. When that happens, I learn to laugh, throw it in the trash, order some Chinese takeout, and put on my apron the next day. It’s trial-and-error that produces a whole lot of love and some all-around delicious food.

You can laugh if you want.

Summer squash pancakes.

Recipe? Meet trash.

Almond fudge wheaties.

I tried in pursuit, but these tasted like gluey, chewy, paste. I actually disgusted myself so badly, some scars are still healing.

Gingerbread sugar cookies.

Plain, flavorless, and generally dry. Maybe I’ll try them again…

Probably not.

Blueberry spice bagels.

The combination usually works… these didn’t. They were okay, not great… not the least bit worthy of a post.

Banana cinnamon cupcakes.

Nope.

Brownie bundt cake.

Over-baked. Dry. Hard. Tasted good, but actually too sweet. I know, right. Too sweet?

Yes… too sweet.

But not to worry, attempt number two will be coming soon.

So as you can see, I’m far from perfect. I’m constantly throwing recipes in the garbage, cleaning up broken plates and dirty spatulas, soaking up spilled milk, sweeping up broken glass bits, and feeding my disasters to the many squirrels that reek havoc all over campus. Fellow students, you know what I’m talking about.

(photo credit: Ariel Simon)

With the new year right around the corner, I’m hopeful 2012 will continue to bring failures and flops and recipe disasters in the kitchen. It’ll be fun. Not boring. I’m never boring.

Are you asleep?

Are you SNORING?!

Wake up. Rude.

K. Good, thanks for tuning in.

On behalf of ohshineon, please continue to follow my blog. It makes me a very very VERY happy camper. And as always, happy noming in 2012.