Chocolate Cake with Espresso Buttercream

“You’re dead right,” said Harriet, after a pause. “If one’s genuinely interested one knows to be patient, and let time pass, as Queen Elizabeth said. Perhaps that’s the meaning of the phrase about genius being eternal patience, which I always thought rather absurd. If you truly want a thing, you don’t snatch; if you snatch, you don’t really want it. Do you suppose that, if you find yourself taking pains about a thing, it’s proof of its importance to you?”

“I think it is, to a large extent. But the big proof is that the things comes right, without those fundamental errors. One always makes surface errors, of course. But a fundamental error is a sure sign of not caring. I wish one could teach people nowadays that the doctrine of snatching what one thinks one wants is unsound.”

“I saw six plays this winter in London,” said Harriet, “all preaching the doctrine of snatch. I agree that they left me with the feeling that none of the characters knew what they wanted.”

“No,” said Miss de Vine. “If you are once sure what you do want, you find that everything else goes down before it like grass under a roller.”
-Dorothy Sayers, Gaudy Night

I spent the summer re-reading Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, and finally finished them up this September. I’ve been thinking over the above lines the last few weeks, and the doctrine of snatch vs what I really want and care about. It’s been a good way to usher in the changing season – our summer ended abruptly (80 degrees one day, then 40 the next), and I’ve been trying to find my groove during the last few weeks of never-ending rain and gloom. While I spend my days baking and writing, I’ve found myself constantly pondering what I really want to invest my time and energy in, for myself, my family, and my community.

A few other things:
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I’ve started a few more books. My husband gave me Good and Mad by Rebecca Traister, which is really well written. I’m also reading The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz, which is YA fiction told in the style of Canterbury Tales. I love it so far.

Some cookbooks to check out: Nik Sharma’s book Season is absolutely beautiful. For dinners, I’ve been loving Julia Turshen’s Now & Again and SkinnyTaste One and Done by Gina Homolka. I also just got Melissa’s Clarks latest Comfort in an Instant, and am excited to try some dinners from that one as well. Let’s Stay In by Ashley Rodriguez also looks great.