So, my super duper awesome friend D. has had a lot of changes in these past months. She has a new job, a new house, and a new car. She'll soon meet lots of new people, and experience lots of new things. She's no longer a graduate student. She's Dr. D. now. I admire her so much, and as you can see from previous posts, I'm so, so proud of her, and proud to be her friend. I'm thrilled, as well, to have been lucky enough to watch her leap and succeed. It's no small feat, I think, to follow a dream through, to have the ability to work hard and get what you've worked for. So, to celebrate, D. and M. are throwing a housewarming/celebration party, to welcome the changes in their lives and to celebrate with the people around them.
I'm SO happy to celebrate these accomplishments and changes with them. As we speak, I'm making lemon bars to take to their party. More on that later. I have to say, though, that I find myself tinged with a little bit of sadness, as well. Any change is like that, really. Lots to celebrate, and lots to reminisce about, along with some sadness about letting go of one thing to follow another. This will be the first year of my Ph.D. I have gone through without D. My first orientation without her there. We have done this together for so long that, sometimes, I find myself unsure how to do it without her. Any project, any conference presentation, any major or minor detail, we did together. So much of our stuff intertwines that I often forget what's hers and what's mine. I will miss her presence at school. Of course, we will still work together and help each other, because we can and she isn't moving across country, in fact she is staying very close. I am lucky, as often this is not the case. This isn't to say that I don't have many wonderful friends and people at school. I do. But, I will miss her presence, the daily of our routines. I will miss her as she moves into this wonderful, new position in her life. I know she will do great. She always does.
And, so, I make lemon bars. I thought they were appropriate -- plus, D. loves them. A lemon bar can be truly unique -- the lemon, initially, tart and bitter, but eventually sweet, the reward of the sweet far outweighing the initial tart bitterness. And, they leave you wanting another, and another, and another. I know it will be that way for D. -- the difficulties of starting anew now will give way to the sweetness of being a professor, of living somewhere with space and breathing room, of driving a trustworthy car, of having achieved something that seems so unattainable in these limbo years of our lives.
These bars are easy to make, really. It's a recipe from a town cookbook, a tried and true easy Midwestern recipe. We do love our cake mixes. Ophelia beat this filling like a champ. Boy do I love her. Plus, how can you go wrong with blue and yellow?:)
1 box yellow cake mix
1/3 c. oil
1 egg
Mix until crumbly. Remove 3/4 c. from mixture, and press the rest into 9x13 pan. Bake for 12 min. at 350 degrees.
1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese
1/3 c. sugar
juice of one lemon
grated lemon rind (to taste)
Beat until smooth. Add to top of hot baked crust. Sprinkle with reserved crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 min.
Enjoy!
2 comments:
These are lemon bars like none I've ever had! What is this strange thing you are calling a lemon bar? It looks *tasty*, but it isn't what I grew up making as lemon bars. Hmm, I should make you some of mine sometime. Even though I don't have kitchenaid stand mixer.
Yet.
I know -- they are very different than the gooey, lemon gelatinous ones that often appear here. I like them because of that. Plus, cream cheese in anything -- yes, please.;) Although, I do also like the lemon bars with the gooey-ness. We'll have to do a lemon bar marathon sometime!
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