We celebrated Scott’s rapidly approaching birthday with a few friends tonight. In past years, he’s had a big party that filled the apartment. This year, we decided to have a smaller dinner party to keep things a bit more manageable. It was nice to sit around the table with people we like and let the evening unroll.

Slowly but surely, this book tour is coming together. There are so many moving parts that it needs its own notebook.

The moon was so bit and so close tonight. I didn’t have the tools to capture it and so it ends up looking like another street light through the dirty windshield of the car. I’m certain there’s a metaphor in there somewhere, though I’m not certain what it is.

I forced myself out of the apartment today and walked to Reading Terminal Market. The hustle of that space always makes me feel a little extra alive.

It is not shaping up to be a good week for photography.

An open-face sandwich on homemade sourdough. It was one of those days where eating lunch felt like a major accomplishment.

This afternoon, while most folks were getting ready for their Superbowl parties, Scott and I walked to the Race Street Pier and back. It’s about five miles roundtrip and though it was cold, it felt so good to be outside and moving. I spend so much of my exercise time in the gym that these long walks feel like liberation.

I taught a canning class this morning for the first time in nearly two months. It was nice to get back into the swing of things. To celebrate, I got a little treat from Capogiro.

A couple weeks ago, a friend gave me some of her sourdough starter. It’s something I’ve wanted to know and explore for a long time. I’ve baked two loaves now and the second one, which is the one you see here, was quite successful. It’s half whole wheat flour, half all-purpose and tastes hearty, gently sour and like good, rustic bread.

If I’m going to keep playing with it, I’m going to need to start giving the bread away though, because Scott isn’t eating carbs right now. It’s a lot of bread for just me.

In other news, my hugely talented and new mama younger sister turns 30 years old today. We’re back in the same decade, which feels nice, though I can’t quite believe how old we’re both getting. Life is flying by so fast.

I pressure canned beans for the first time today. It’s something I’ve know was possible in theory for a long time, but never put into practice. I’m still working on the technique to get the best quality beans, but I think this is one of those things that will become a culinary life changer.