biscuits, gravy, pouring rain
Today has held a perfect morning. PERFECT. 😍
Yesterday I was really craving biscuits and gravy with fresh fruit, and we considered going out to a diner to get some, but I decided to look up a recipe and get some biscuit mix and the gravy ingredients and make some the next morning (today) instead… which I was especially excited about because we were forecasted to get a LOT of rain, and a cozy rainy Sunday morning at home making biscuits and gravy from scratch (mostly — halfway 😜) sounded fabulous. Spoiler alert: it was fabulous!
So that’s what I did this morning! Yesterday, I found a delicious-looking gravy recipe and grocery ordered everything I would need. That’s how I wound up making this amazing gravy, this Pillsbury biscuit mix, and some fresh blueberries and sliced strawberries… with all the windows and our kitchen French doors wide open, the sounds of rain pouring all around me, fresh air, sweet smells, a perfect cozy Sunday start!
I was so happy and delighted, I caught myself humming while I worked! And if you know me, that’s a rare occurrence… HA! Just kidding! I hum, whistle, and sing all the time. It’s almost more rare that I am not doing one of those things.
But it truly is rare that I drum up some tasty from-scratch eats, and we just don’t do a lot of cooking, so it felt extra, extra special and nurturing to have selected something I really WANTED to eat and truly felt like cooking — not a burden or a chore — and to have the fun, just-because, special occasion feel to the whole thing. 💞
I woke up this morning to a fresh, very clean bedroom and bathroom, which was also a treat. I did a LOT of picking up and cleaning in the whole house yesterday, and Jake and I hung a few pictures and decorations around the house, including our bedroom curtains. So the warmish gray, cloudy light infusing itself through our new off-white linen curtains was already a joyous sight when I opened my eyes. I then stayed in bed for a little while, reading; I’m reading two good books right now, one fiction and one non-fiction, and I read some fiction before I fell asleep last night, and then read some non-fiction when I first woke up today. Hello Beautiful and Intuitive Eating.
I read a dozen or two pages, then got up and put on some soft weekend morning clothes, and got into my biscuits and gravy adventure!
The biscuits were the exact texture and flavor I wanted — I baked them to a golden perfection, a great win! And this gravy recipe… mmmm, try it! Make it! So easy, so perfect. It was also the exact thickness and taste I was imagining and hoping for. I was overjoyed and proud of myself, as I watched the gravy thicken and look just like it should, and also as I tasted my first bites, and every bite after.
We ate breakfast at the dining room table (with some new decorations on the walls, yay!), with the windows open, watching the rain and the feisty, territorial hummingbirds darting around our porch feeders.
Take good, good care of yourself. It’s never something we can have too much of. It’s impossible to take TOO good of care of you. Nothing bad will come from loving yourself well and giving yourself your own wholesome needs and wants. I think it must be a part of life we practice forever, and I’m always evolving around to noticing new ways I can and long to care for myself.
Yesterday, I had an aggravating fight with my husband, and we tried to patch things up, and even though these things are natural and part of being human — the cost of living, an element to loving and being loved by someone, an inescapable aspect to partnership — and can be a doorway to growth and opportunity to learn about each other, sometimes they are also draining and ask of you a little extra tenderness in your own response.
A lovely rainy, biscuits-and-gravy, berries and good books sort of morning was just what I needed. I felt happy and nourished as I cooked for myself and Jake, for my tastebuds and my body, for something warm and delicious to contrast the chilly air and moody, beautiful, wet weather.
Like my kind and wise eighty-something neighbor says, remember to be good to yourself! ☔😍
Breakfast in front of the rainy front-yard window!
