By Two weeks until I turn thirty. I am not anxious about this. I want to say that clearly. I have been asked if I am anxious about thirty by approximately seven people in the last month and the answer is no. What I am is curious about it -- the way you are curious about a place you're about to visit for the first time. I have been thirty-adjacent for a while and now I'm going.
The hospital had a complicated week with a patient I am not writing about in specifics but who I am thinking about and whose family I am thinking about in the way you carry certain patients with you when you leave the floor. I have been a nurse long enough to know that carrying them is part of it. Not the weight of guilt -- I did what was possible -- but the weight of witness. You were there. You don't put that down at the parking garage.
Liam had his first dentist appointment. He was three and two weeks and he was the most cooperative patient I have ever observed at a first dental visit. He opened his mouth fully on request, he answered the dentist's questions, he did the rinse. He told me afterward that the dentist had "good tools." He assesses everything. He will never stop assessing. I love this about him.
Nora has eight teeth now and is using all of them with intent. She bit a piece of bread and looked at me with an expression that said: I understand bread now. This is bread. I will be eating bread. Yes.
Lemon tart this weekend, practicing for my birthday dinner. The curd came together on the second try.
The tart was the weekend’s project — a practice run before the real birthday dinner — and the curd coming together on the second try felt like exactly the kind of small, satisfying win a week like this one needed. These lemon curd cookies are cut from the same impulse: bright, a little painstaking, and worth it when they land right. If you’re practicing something, practice something that tastes like this.
Lemon Curd Cookies
Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 14 min | Total Time: 39 min | Servings: 24 cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup prepared lemon curd (store-bought or homemade)
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Make the dough. Beat butter and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in vanilla and lemon zest.
- Add dry ingredients. Stir in flour and salt until the dough just comes together. Do not overmix.
- Shape and indent. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Press a deep well into the center of each with your thumb or the back of a round measuring spoon.
- Fill. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of lemon curd into each well.
- Bake. Bake for 12—14 minutes, until the edges are just set and the bottoms are lightly golden. The curd will bubble slightly.
- Cool and dust. Let cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Once fully cooled, dust lightly with powdered sugar.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 138 | Protein: 1g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 16g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 45mg