Blue Velvet Sectional

Spicy roasted chickpeas. During my 7 week (so far) recovery from my accident, eating has been, at times, tricky.  For the first 4 weeks, I couldn't feed myself, so I was spoon-fed by either my mom or my boyfriend.  It was as much fun as it sounds.  I stuck mostly to small portions, just to get it over with.  I ate toast and soup mostly, with protein shakes for breakfast. At least with a straw, I had some control. When I got some use of my arms back, I was thrilled to be able to feed myself, no matter how awkward it was.  I stuck to small portions, since I was barely moving.  Eventually, though, bad habits returned. (I blame my mother, who has a sweet tooth worse than mine, but that's another story.) Now that I am more mobile and planning to get back to work soon, I wanted a healthy snack, so with not much in the cupboards, I decided to try roasting a can of chickpeas. I'm glad I did, because they were amazing! After taking almost 10 minutes to ope...

I made a cake. Normally, this would not be big news, it would indicate it's a day that ends in a Y. In this case, it's newsworthy (at least to me) because it's the first thing I have baked on my own since my accident. My arms and wrists are still ridiculously weak.  I wasn't able to get a big mixing bowl out of the cupboard, nor could I ratchet up my KitchenAid mixer, so I had to make the whole thing in a cereal bowl.  I halved the recipe, and struggled on with a wooden spoon.  I baked the cake in 2 mini cake pans I picked up at Sur la Table in SoHo a few years ago. I used a recipe from an old cottage cookbook I've had for decades. I have left the original (and minimal) instructions below.  In old cookbooks, they tend to assume you already know what you're doing in the kitchen.  If you aren't an experienced baker, a few tips: use room temperature butter; mix baking soda and powder in with flour first; don't over-mix. This makes a thick batter tha...