13 & 14 Days 'Til 40 (Babka To The Rescue!)

I woke up this weekend feeling as if my left rib cage was used as a punching bag. Is it possible to crack a rib from coughing in the middle of the night? Ouchy. When my daughter Masana tried to hug me, I yelped like a kicked chihuahua and practically crawled away in pain. She thought that she hurt me, so I tried to assure her that she was not responsible for my abused animal impersonation. But I started to cough and couldn't get the words "not your fault" out of my mouth. She stood there unsure of what to do, so I slowly motioned for her to leave with my hand. Clearly relieved, she quickly left and I coughed and coughed until I was too exhausted to continue.


Just when I thought things could not get any worse,  I had to give up my ticket to see "Book of Mormon" on Broadway. Why? Because I realized after my broken rib cage/coughing fit that sitting quietly and cough-free in a dark theatre for 2 plus hours was impossible. I essentially flushed $150 down the toilet. Thank you, broken rib cage.

To make myself feel a little better, I started making this starburst pendant lamp project that I spied on one of my favorite blogs All Things Paper. But I ran out of paper. So what was supposed to look like this:

...ended up like this:

Instead of a starburst, I had a chin beard. My son Mack thought that it looked like a squid.

It should not come as a surprise that I was desperate to change my luck. And when it doubt, I always turn to baking.

I made babka this morning and used the chocolate babka recipe from Epicurious.com.

A few friends came over this afternoon to help me eat my babka (I also made a cheese version which is my own recipe---I will post it one of these days). And for a few glorious hours I forgot that my rib cage hurt and that there was a squid lamp sadly hanging in my work room. Good friends and babka---this combination never fails.