this morning, i woke up to sunshine peeking through the blinds and temperatures warm enough to get me a little overheated just walking down the block in my down coat.  it felt a lot like a winter day masquerading as a spring afternoon, but when i passed the crocuses blooming in stuyvesant park they screamed of real life, in your face sunshortskirtspicnicsflowersfreshhappyhappyhappiness.  the calendar may say we're still in the coldest season of the year, but i'm officially counting the days until the trees are green and the last snowfall feels a lifetime away.

in celebration of such a bright, beautiful day, i spent the afternoon baking tartine's lemon bars on brown butter shortbread.  despite the fact that lemon is more of a summer fruit, no color is more cheery than vibrant daffodil yellow and no flavor is more enlivening than tart & sweet lemon.  

you can find the recipe here if you'd like it (and trust me, you will)...i'd type it out for you, but i'm a lazy bum in desperate need of some beauty sleep, and nothing can come between me and my monstrous, perfect  cloud of a bed. goodnight, all!