One thing I haven’t been able to reconcile this month is the mind-body connection.  My mind is racing, planning, worrying, and my body is in repose.  Something tells me the thirty minutes a day I have worked up to on the treadmill isn’t going to cut it.  I have purposely left the punctuation off the title.  You may add whatever suits you.  Exclamation marks, a smiley face, a frowning face.

My husband bought me another full spectrum light. This one is a floor lamp and I have used it to illuminate the loom I am using.   Possibly, that, the use of 5 grams of fish oil, Maca powder and grape seed extract will help improve my personality.  Jeez! What a dud!

It’s not for not trying, either.  I had a dinner party of sorts on Saturday and it was quite lovely.  Three new friends, all with larger than life personalities, graced my humble dining room where we sat for six hours, bird watching and telling hysterical stories.  We finished off several bottles of local wine, as well.

I was in the mood to cook Greek food, not my husband’s favorite.  When I cook it, I like to have a bunch of dishes and it is too much for us to eat alone.  My friends were willing dining partners.  I made a whole leg of lamb, using my sister’s recipe.  You make a potion of olive oil, herbs, including oregano, and garlic, salt and pepper, and crust the lamb, searing it on top of the stove before you place it in the oven.  I was worried about the reaction of the sheep if they could smell it cooking….they wouldn’t make eye contact, but other than that, no real mutiny.

Roasted potatoes with olive oil and oregano, green beans and carrots with feta, Oregano chicken, and Pastitsio, a pasta dish that is covered in bechamel sauce, completed the meal.  I made baklava cake, a concoction I thought up, for dessert.  The recipe follows.  Everyone said they liked the food and Jim even ate it happily.  So it was a success, I think.

Baklava Cake

Yellow Cake Mix

Can of white, whipped frosting.

Frozen Phyllo Dough, thawed overnight in the fridge.

Walnuts

Honey.

Bake the cake in two layers. While it is cooling, butter six sheets of phyllo and bake at 350 for ten minutes.  You can pile it on top of each one on a cookie sheet.  Watch because it burns easily. You just want it light brown.  While you are baking the dough, chop the walnuts and spread them on a cookie sheet and bake at the same time. You want them to be toasty.

When the cake is cool, frost the first layer.  Sprinkle the walnuts on top of the frosting.  I like a lot of nuts.  Break up the crispy phyllo dough until it is about 1-2″ pieces, not crumbs, and pile on top of first layer, using about half the dough.  Drizzle lots of honey over the dough.  Place second layer on top and repeat the process, frosting, nuts, dough and honey.  You don’t have to frost the sides.

I think it is so yummy, and so did my guests.  I wish there was some contest I could enter it in.  I know people would love it.  The soft cake with the crunch of the nuts and phyllo are a great contrast.

If you make it, would you let me know how you liked it?

So, I am hanging in there.  I remember feeling this way in the winter in NJ, so it’s not the Michigan winter.  Where’s my cave?  I need to hibernate.