The bake

It’s still summer, but fall is in the air, which means I’m about to get serious about baking again (along with making soup and drinking hot apple cider and wearing cardigans). Last week, there were a couple of days when the temperature dropped low enough to wear a light sweater while outside. And, so, I had the urge to bake something–something that didn’t even have a summer fruit in it.

I’ve made these butter tarts from Little Sweet Baker a few times, so I knew the recipe worked well. They are a real treat! I know some people have strong feelings about whether butter tarts should include raisins or nuts, but I prefer them plain. These are so simple to make. A bonus? The recipe makes enough pastry for two batches, so you can stick the leftover dough in the freezer, making it even easier to whip up a dozen of these babies the next time you have a craving.

The book

I’m just over the halfway point in The Quiet Zone: Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence by Stephen Kurczy. Kurczy is a journalist who spent time in Green Bank, West Virginia–a town that limits radio frequencies that could interfere with technology used by astronomers at the Green Bank Observatory. This quiet zone has attracted people from all over who are looking to live differently, including those wanting to be off the grid and “electrosensitives,” who say technology can make them physically ill. It’s these people who Kurczy spends time with that drew me in. However, I am curious to see what the final conclusion will be. Does technology cause us more harm than it helps us? And how much can we participate in today’s society without it? (Also curious to see if I’ll decide to throw away my smartphone after I finish reading. But I doubt it.)