get the picture?

  So clearly I've been slacking, even while claiming to be too tired, too busy, out of town, in bed with mono......finally I've been over come with guilt inspired to learn how to use my new camera, and by my new camera I mean the one I got for my birthday last August! Holy cow! I deplore the fact that I haven't taken the time to give my camera the respect she deserves...yes, that's right she's been sitting patiently, twiddling her thumbs waiting for me to pay attention to her... she's such a beauty, so elegant and frou frou. Oh, I've used her on the automatic setting, but to achieve the full awesomeness of it? Sadly my vows that "I will learn how to use it tomorrow" came and went approximately 325 times, and now I'm kicking myself for all the lost time [not to mention awesome photos] I've lost with this baby. I'm just sayin'.

Just to rub salt in my own wounds, I also purchased two incredible books to help me and I have yet to crack them open. S'ok! I mean, am I really that  pressed for time or have I just become so used to instant camera gratification that I don't think about how much fun it would be to actually learn something new. Now would be the time to say something tres chic to cancel out the aforementioned confession, it was my hope that I could offer a reasonable explanation, a few words of wisdom, maybe some awesome camera tips, at any rate, I'm prepared to buckle down and embrace it, shake some cob webs loose and dive head first into what I'm sure will become my latest obsession [and then, I can figure out how to use that fancy-schmancy new food processor I got for Christmas].

I honestly can't remember where I got this recipe, I've had in my file stack of recipes to try for ages [maybe since August], and now I'm wondering why it took me so long to make it. This is your favorite homey, not-too-sweet, everyday cake kittened up with cornmeal and homemade preserves. The texture is lovely, dense but light. Switch the homemade raspberry jam for plum, strawberry or apricot preserves or even lemon curd would be incredible.

 polenta cake with homemade raspberry jam filling

(go here for recipe)