i made a super yummy pizza this weekend with rave reviews and want to share the simple recipe for all you creative cooks.

goat cheese, fig, and basil pizza

ingredients: 

• 4-oz package dried figs, chopped
• 1 tbsp aged balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 large pizza crust or 4 round pita breads
• 1 cup crumbled soft goat cheese (a 4-oz package will yield 1 cup)
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 1 tbsp pine nuts
• 1/2-1 tbsp olive oil

preparation:

1. preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. combine the figs, balsamic vinegar, and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. place the figs in a small bowl. season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
4. top the pizza with the goat cheese and figs, and sprinkle with the basil and pine nuts. drizzle the olive oil over the top. bake for 12-15 minutes or until the cheese melts.

when you realize how perfect everything is, you will

tilt your head back and laugh at the sky. ~buddha

tell me, what is it you plan to do with your

one wild and precious life?

~mary oliver 

i spent much of the day in my kitchen

baking these delectable darlings, as a

dear friend kindly taste-tested them for me.

there is something so incredibly adorable

and inspiring about this drawing. fafi

keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children. 

~kahlil gibran

your way begins on the other side. become the sky.

take an axe to the prison wall. escape. 

walk out like someone suddenly born into color.

do it now. 

~rumi

i hold this to be the highest task

for a bond between two people:

that each protects the solitude of the other. ~rilke 

i was given this bracelet as a gift and it has become my favorite piece of jewelry. 

corine grant designs

The biggest lie you ever told


Your deepest fear about growing old 


The loneliest night you ever spent 


The angriest letter you never sent 


The girl you swore you’d never leave 


The one you kissed on New Year’s Eve 


The sweetest dream you had last night 


Your darkest hour, your hardest fight 


The saddest song you ever heard 


The most you said with just one word 


The loneliest prayer you ever prayed 


The truest vow you ever made 


What makes you laugh, what makes you cry 


What makes you mad, what gets you by 


Your highest high, your lowest low  

~lyrics from ‘Inside Out’ by Trisha Yearwood and Don Henley

 The more two people open to each other, the more this wide-openness also brings to the surface all the obstacles to it: their deepest, darkest wounds, their desperation and mistrust,and their rawest emotional trigger points. Just as the sun’s warmth causes clouds to arise by prompting the earth to release its moisture, so love’s pure openness activates the thick clouds of our emotional wounding, the tight places where we are shut down, where we live in fear and resist love.

~ John Welwood 

words by susanna tamaro

photo via visualize