I started 2021 by going back to my roots, quite literally. I bought last-minute plane tickets home at the end of December. With having ten days in between my two jobs I thought it would be nice to go home for two weeks and just relax. I honestly don’t know when I’ll have the opportunity to be home again and I wanted to take advantage of the time while I can.

The plane ride was mostly uneventful. There was a frantic sprint through the Denver airport in my birks to catch the connection to Boston because of a delayed takeoff in Spokane, but other than that nothing too exciting happened. I watched movies on my flight mostly and was greeted at midnight by my dad and a much-craved peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

This week my mom and I have been doing a lot of cooking together. When I went vegetarian she enjoyed trying all the meals I would make and lately she has been an eager student, learning all about vegetarian cooking and healthier eating. We made a couple of my staple recipes, eggplant parm, and buffalo cauliflower dip, where she copied down all the steps while we were cooking so she could recreate it later. We also made a buddha bowl from a cookbook I got her for Christmas (“Mostly plants” by the Pollan Family) and it was delicious. The poblano tahini sauce was by far my favorite part of the recipe. We also made some fancy desserts! Tiramisu and meringue cookies to be exact. The meringue cookies were soooo tasty. They had a perfect melt in your mouth consistency. I was very proud of them. I have never had tiramisu before (we made it because it’s my mom’s favorite dessert) and our custard did not set completely, but I was impressed with the robust coffee flavor.

Next week Melissa is coming to visit and I am beyond excited. After she visited in December we thought it might not be until May until we could see each other. BUTT me being on the East Coast means only five hours separate us, not forty-five *insert heart face emoji*