See

See what I've been making in the kitchen?

First, I nuked some Peeps in the microwave. Then I used them to make krispy treats which I'm calling...

...Krispy Peep Treats. I layered them in a pan. You can see the layers in the photo above. Once they had cooled, I cut them into bars and put them in baskets with dyed coconut and not nuked Peeps.

I also baked Emily's Best-Ever Oatmeal cookies. I'm known for them. By five people.

I also made my Famous Brownies, aka Amazing Brownies. The same five people call them by their proper names.

I also made seven layer bars. Which, if I count, are really only six layers. I guess they're technically seven layers because you melt the butter and pour the graham crackers over that. See how that works?

These are all things for the Youth Auction being held at our church tomorrow. I also made a coupon book, but I forgot to take a picture.

Tomorrow is also the Palm Sunday Brunch. There will be pancakes, sausage, and eggs. Yum! I hope to see you there.

In A Nutshell

Have you ever thought about the nuts we eat and the nuts we don't? I thought of this on a recent walk as squirrels ran across my path. One of the squirrels happened to have an acorn in its mouth.

I thought, they eat acorns, why don't we?

We eat pecans and walnuts. Then there are hazelnuts and chestnuts. Both are good over an open fire, only one has a song about it.

We don't eat actual Buckeyes because they're poisonous, but we make candy to look like them.

There are macadamia nuts, making the perfect mate to white chocolate chips. Macadamias also make the most expensive cookie to bake.

There's the exotic Brazil nut.

We can't just limit the list, we must include the nut of cashew.

I could keep going but not without cheating because I'm running out of nuts.

According to Wikipedia, there are forty-two.

No, they are not all for human consumption. It is a very fascinating list. If you're a nerd. Or someone who's blogging ridiculous amounts and needs a good topic and when a squirrel runs in front of them it gives them the idea of writing about nuts.

I'm glad I got that off my chest… nut.

Ha!

C is for Cookie

Make these cookies.

Double the recipe and add an extra 1/4 cup of flour.

You will not be disappointed. Unless you don't like chocolate.

But make them especially if you like chocolate. If you do, add one cup of semi sweet chocolate chips and one cup bittersweet.

I recommend eating these cookies with a tall glass of milk.

Oh my.

They are really good.

My problem, and yes it's a problem, is that we're taking these all the way to St. Louis. How am I supposed to sit in a car for eight hours with these cookies taunting me. Oh sure, I'll put them in a bag that will go in the back seat so I don't have to stare at them.

But I'll know that they're back there.

I'll be able to smell them.

I'll be able to sense them.

Seriously, these cookies are that good.

The recipient (one of our former students now at college) may only get crumbs…

To keep that from happening, I put some in a container for her and some in a container for us.

If I share any with Bill.

I know what I'm making for the next cookie swap!

neighborhood cookie watch

Sometimes things don't happen and I have to think up things to write about.

Then there are days like today.

I had finished my run. I was outside cutting my dahlias. The neighbor boy headed my way with a packet.

I knew that meant one thing: it's fundraiser season.

He asked if I wanted to buy cookie dough. Of course! I told him to wait outside while I ran and got the checkbook.

When I came back outside, I talked with him a little to find out what prize he wanted.

Then, a young man rode up on his bicycle. He asked me if I had a towel. He had just eaten a cupcake and his hands were all sticky. His repetitive questions helped me understand that he was harmless. I told him to hang on, while the neighbor boy was still waiting for me to pick my cookie dough and write the check, and I went inside and got Christian (he told us his name) a damp paper towel. He used it and I told him I would take it when he was finished. Then he rode off.

The neighbor boy and I resumed my cookie dough shopping.

I chose the white chocolate macadamia nut. It's my number one choice of store (fundraiser) bought cookie dough. Mostly because those nuts are so expensive I don't buy them myself. Otherwise I'd make the cookies from scratch.

The neighbor boy told me he'd be back with his order form. This was his sister's.

Bill will get to chose a cookie dough too. (Of course, he doesn't read my blog so we could keep this a secret and I could buy two white chocolate macadamia nut and he wouldn't know…)

Thursday & Friday with Skylar

Thursday we went Grand Haven. It was sunny and gorgeous. You can just make out the lighthouse behind us in the photo.

 Then we went to Jersey Junction.

We also baked cookies when we got home. Then we delivered a plate of them to our friend Jess who is nine months pregnant. It turns out she had been craving cookies that day!

Friday, we got up early and drove to Petoskey. Neither one of us have ever been there. It was a much bigger town than I expected. We shopped for a few hours and ate lunch at Parkside Deli which has delicious sandwiches. Then we drove over to Petoskey State Park and hung out on the beach.

It was a cloudy day, but the temperature was 75, so it was nice and warm. Skylar and I tried taking a hike, but we didn't have bug spray. About a quarter of a mile in, I looked over at her and her back was swarmed by mosquitos. She looked at me at the same time and said mine was also swarmed by mosquitos. We turned around and walked back out quickly.

Then we drove over to Harbor Springs. We walked around there, got ice cream at Velvet's, and sat down by the harbor to eat it.

Then we ate dinner at a place called Turkey's (named after the owner who got the nickname in high school after spraining both ankles playing football and was walking around the field like a "turkey" as the coach said). Later I sent Bill a text telling him where we had gone and he knows Turkey! Well, he met him once.

Skylar and I headed back to Grand Rapids.

We stopped to take a picture and another car pulled over to ask if we needed help. We found that to be Midwestern at its heart, but also funny because we counted at least twelve cars that were randomly pulled over to the side of the road in the course of the entire trip. No one else was stopped at the 45th Parallel to take pictures. We're awesome like that.

Here are some stones we found at the beach. At least two of them are genuine Petoskey stones, the rest are just stones we found in Petoskey. 

Tuesday with Skylar

We had a very busy day.

After staying up way too late blogging and chatting, I got up this morning way too early.

Once I finished getting ready, I woke up Skylar and we went to Meijer. We also stopped at Russo's for root beer. Greg and his family have a summer bucket list and they had a root beer tasting (read about it here). Skylar and I picked out four root beers to try; Virgil's, Dog 'N Suds, Boylan, and Henry Weinhard's Root Beer. They also had Dang (which we've had) and Dad's (which we've had). There were a few others but we limited ourselves to four.

We did not do a blind taste test. We did have a sample of each. My favorite in order were the H.W., Dog 'N Suds, Boylan, and dead last is Virgil's. The guy at the store said Virgil's was his favorite. Unfortunately for us it has licorice in it and neither one of us is a fan of licorice. Anise. Don't like it. So if anyone reading this blog does like it, leave a comment and I would be happy to let you have the other three bottles.

We went downtown to the city market. That was the first time I have been there. It's fantastic! We bought some Michigan cherries and blueberries at one of the outside farmer's stands. We bought some chocolates and breads inside and walked around. There are still a few empty spaces but it seemed to be busy.

After a quick stop at CVS because Skylar accidentally forgot some medicine (just amoxicillin, nothing too important) we walked to Ken's.

Then we made No-Bake cookies, Rice Krispy treats and we were going to make white chocolate chip, dried cranberry oatmeal cookies but we used all the sugar. We took another trip to Ken's to buy more sugar and we came back and made the cookies.

I made Club Em's for dinner (chicken, bacon, avocado, cheese - Gouda today on a hard roll - pretzel bun today) and beer battered onion rings.

I washed dishes and we watched the Tigers game. Now it's time for bed. We have another long and fun-filled day tomorrow.

Peanuts! Get Your Peanuts!

I'm in a Bible study/book club/group. We formed last year during Lent. We enjoyed each other's company so much that once we were finished with the Lenten study, we decided to continue to meet.

We met through the summer, once a month. We met at parks and each other's houses.

We continued meeting through the fall and winter.

We found books and articles to read. We shared our thoughts and perspectives.

Then, Lent came around again and our church was reading another book. Were we interested? We decided yes and we started meeting again, weekly.

We've decided to continue meeting weekly because if you have to miss a meeting, you don't have to wait another month before seeing everyone again.

This morning was our last meeting for the Lenten series.

I had one of the kids on my lap. She had asked for the container of peanuts.

Before any of us knew it, she had dumped them out on the table. There was no way she was going to eat all of them and her mom quickly decided to go with the mantra, "let it go".

The peanuts were put back into the container, only to be dumped out again. This went on for the rest of the discussion.

Here she is, only she has a cookie which was the size of her head. Isn't she a cutie patootie?

At the end, I asked if I could help her put them all back into the container or if she wanted to do it all by herself. She said I could help her and together we got all the peanuts put away. I was proud of myself for giving her the choice of how to put them away, and I was proud of her for doing a good job getting them back into the container. And I was thankful to share that moment with her.

Anybody want a peanut?

birds of a feather...

Atticus is a Tigers fan.

Yes. As in the Detroit Tigers. Baseball.

And yes, Atticus is our cat.

Bill has started calling him "Pocket Panther" because Atticus is a killer bird.

You'll recall the bird funeral?

Well, yesterday I was in the kitchen. I was baking cookies to send along with the sr. high youth on their mission trip. They leave Friday. Just like the bird funeral, I heard quite the ruckus outside. This time I knew it was a blue jay because I've started learning bird calls. The blue jays are quite distinct and loud. I also knew they were upset with our cat. Maybe I understand the bird calls more than the average person.

I'm the bird whisperer.

Anyway, I looked outside to see if I could see the blue jay making all the noise and that was the exact moment that Atticus bounded up to the sliding glass door with a large blue jay clamped in his jaws.

Needless to say, I screamed.

Atticus was proud. He looked more like a peacock in that moment than a killer. This was only the second time Atticus has brought an animal to our doorstep. We hear lots of stories from our friends about the kills that their pets bring them; the "look at me? aren't you proud?" moments that we are happy to not be a part of. And suddenly, on this Tuesday morning, I was a part of it.

I had walked into the living room to get my phone so I could text Bill. This was a blue jay. These birds are not small. They are the bullies of the bird kingdom. No one messes with the blue jays.

We have been waiting for Atticus to be bullied by them. Not the other way around. Certainly, we did not expect Atticus to catch one!

I had just sent the text and was screwing up the courage to walk back into the kitchen when, all of a sudden, the blue jay flew off! Atticus had dropped it and walked a few steps away to sit back and admire his catch. An epic mistake in animal kingdom.

The bird wasn't dead.

It did leave a few feathers behind.

A few minutes later, I heard the screams of a child.

They could have been I'm-having-fun-outside screams. Or, they could have been a-bird-just-fell-out-of-the-air screams.

Detroit beat the Toronto Blue Jays yesterday. Atticus is part tiger, part panther.

"C" is for cookie

I won't go on a tirade about how the Cookie Monster is no longer the Cookie Monster.

I'm not good at tirades.

I don't like discord.

But I will talk about cookies.

Because I like cookies.

I baked a lot of cookies this year.

Last year's count can be found here.

This year, I did indeed make a ginger crinkle. I also made frosted sugar cookies, hershey kiss peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip bars, pecan puffs, and these amazing Nutella stuffed triple chocolate chip cookies.

Wow. I'm making those again.

And again.

But for the cookie exchange, I made peppermint kiss cookies.

I didn't let the first batch cool enough, so the kisses started to melt a little...

As you can see, I rolled half in green sugar and the other half in regular sugar. These are tasty and thanks Heather O. for the recipe!

And thanks to Bill for the amazing new cookie sheets! The cookies are perfectly baked, not burnt on the bottoms. And for the sugar cookies, I was supposed to grease the cookie sheet, but didn't. But the cookies didn't stick! That's how amazing my new baking sheets are.

Mmmm cookies.

12.12.12

Twelve reasons why having your birthday twelve days before Christmas isn't fair:

12. All of your birthday coupons coincide with Christmas coupons and you often end up using them to buy gifts for others instead of yourself (and you don't get any good deals any other time of year)

11. People don't even send Christmas cards anymore, so they send you one card wishing you a happy birthday and a Merry Christmas at the same time, to "save on postage"

10. You get the Twelve Days of Christmas stuck in your head every year

9. Your friends have Christmas parties that are more important than your birthday party

8. Doing any outdoor activity (picnic, going to the beach) requires wearing several layers of clothing which means the minute you zip up the last zipper means you have to go to the bathroom and everyone spends more time inside than outside for the activity

7. Your birthday gifts come wrapped in Christmas paper

6. Your birthday gifts are Christmas themed

5. No one bakes you a cake, instead they give you cookies

4. You may get snowed in on your birthday (that isn't necessarily a bad thing), but if you happen to like snow, it never snows on your birthday

3. Your birthday occasionally falls on a Friday and everyone avoids you because it's bad luck

2. There's no money leftover to take you out to dinner because it was spent on Christmas presents, so your birthday dinner is at McDonald's (what do you like from the dollar menu?)

And the number one reason having your birthday twelve days before Christmas isn't fair is...

1. no good reason whatsoever, it just seemed like fun to count down on 12.12.12

And, just in case you hadn't figured it out, my birthday next year will be 12.13.13 on Friday!

The following year, 12.13.14 there will be a big party. Because 12.13.14 will be on a Saturday. So save the date. I want a(nother) birthday party with all my friends and family there. No Christmas party excuses this time (see number nine above).

tying the apron strings...

I set about baking nine dozen cookies today, with eight or nine more to make tomorrow. I made three desserts for our neighborhood good-by party for Glenn and Nancy (that's tonight).

That was a lot of baking. And it will still be more.

I was going to create a new poem, but the one Sami wrote stuck in my head.

helpful hints and blogging blunders

I have been completely off my game...

I haven't checked PW's blog in weeks. My life has been miserable, depressing, sad, and definitely fewer calories.

Just kidding.

I think I somehow managed to get by without reading her blog. I baked cookies. I made her potato salad. I cleaned the house.

Somewhere in between I caught up on her blog.

I feel better now.

As I was folding laundry (no t-shirts, just sheets) I was thinking about mentioning her, and how much I would love to meet her. Wouldn't that just be something if she found my blog (which is really quite boring compared to hers) and invited me out to the ranch? 

Why would she invite me? 

Because she would see how much I love food, and her blog, and everything she writes. 

She might find me witty.

She might find me amusing.

She will likely never find me at all. 

But I can dream, can't I?

On another note I thought of some more helpful hints to share:

Don't vacuum above your head with your mouth open. You don't know what could fall into your mouth...

Don't breathe in while eating salsa. It hurts. Trust me.

That's all for today.

 

Sami's poem

Sami wrote this poem for me after I informed her that I would be making No-Bake cookies for the Workcamp Trip (specifically for her; Bill will get his own batch of cookies and the kids will get their own cookies).

My Dear Emily Crocker,
Her cookies make her a true rocker!
If I'm craving something sweet -
Her yummy no bakes are the perfect treat!
Oh, I would swim across huge lakes,
For a couple dozen no-bakes!

Sunday, a day of rest

After breakfast, I had decided I would sit down and read. I'm currently reading, "Blue Like Jazz", a book I've been wanting to read for quite some time.

Then I remembered I told Sami I would bake cookies for her for Wednesday night. But I can't be there Wednesday night because I have HPC. 

I then decided to go ahead and bake them today so they were done.

I made Oatmeal Butterscotch chip with Walnut cookies.

Bill and I had to try one to make sure they were good.

They were.

Then I went outside and started the never-ending process of removing the grass that grows between the brick paver edging and into the flower beds. I got a quarter of the way done before filling the bucket and it was time for us to go to youth group.

It wasn't really so much of a day of rest, but I didn't work as hard as I did yesterday or Friday.

the cookies

Here are all the different kinds of cookies I baked. It's not all the cookies. There were a couple dozen of each. They're all dispersed now. We have a few left.

There's not a huge variety, you may even notice a theme. Powdered sugar... twice. Candy canes crushed on two different kinds of cookies... Three kinds of cookies with chocolate... and what you don't see here are the frosted sugar cookies. Remember Mary? She got most of those. The neighbors got the rest.

What can I say? I'm generous.

And modest and humble.

What?

I think I've decided to include a gingerbread cookie next year. I found a recipe and it sounds yummy (I happen to like gingersnaps, gingerbread, etc) and I discovered that where I lack in the decorating category, I make up for in the piping department! So some ginger cookies, piped with icing are in my future.

yup, I missed a day

Nope, I didn't blog yesterday. I was pretty busy. Here's how the day went:

I scraped the rest of the paint off the top of the bathroom door frame, while Bill worked on the door.

I started baking cookies, while Bill sanded the door frame.

I continued baking cookies, while Bill went back and worked on the door again (painting, sanding, repainting. Don't ask).

I was still baking cookies and Bill took his shower.

I finished baking, did the last of the dishes and showered.

We left for his company holiday party.

It was in St. Joe, we got home at midnight.

I have more cookies to bake today.

I could post-date my post, but I won't.

Anybody want some cookies?

the preperation begins

I learned from a very wise friend (thank you, Dave) to be better prepared for Christmas, it helps to have a schedule.

You can find one at Martha Stewart's website.

Then, when I get my new planner in January, I go ahead and write in when I need to send Christmas cards, bake cookies and decorate.

It makes the season a lot less stressful. I get to enjoy things like my birthday and baking.

Today I worked on my list of cookies to bake. When we lived in Jersey I baked several dozen cookies and then Bill and I delivered them around to our neighbors. Every single one of them looked at us as if we were from another planet when they opened their doors. We quickly learned to start out with the phrase, "we're from the mid-west". For whatever reason that explained away the unusual gift we were bringing to them.

Then, a few years ago, I made turtles and fudge and I delivered it to our neighbors here.

I enjoy this sort of thing. To me, it's a simple gift. If there's one thing I enjoy more than baking, it's gift giving. Combined it makes for happy neighbors.

I'm working to create the right balance of cookies; candy-cane topped, chocolate, nut-free, annual favorites, these are all being strategically planned so that it doesn't wind up as a plate full of chocolate cookies. Which, believe me, I wouldn't mind. But I want it to be a nice variety (without going overboard).

I've settled on six kinds. The last one is a new recipe and I need to go search for it, so please excuse me while I do that...

total randomness, hey it's Friday!

I hope I'm not going to jump the shark.

I said that to someone not too long ago (Heather E.: was it you on our way to the HPC meeting??), and they laughed and said they knew what I meant. Hm, maybe that could be a topic on Blah, Blah, Blog. Which, by the way, is one of the most difficult things to type.

I digress, back to jumping the shark. Or maybe not because we might discuss it on that other blog. I'll move on.

Nestle Tollhouse. I love chocolate chip cookies. Every time I make them I think of Phoebe from Friends (you can click here to watch a really bad youtube video) and her grandmother's cookie recipe. I can run through the entire scene in my head, I won't bore you here with what would turn out to be a not so funny rendition. If you never saw it, find it and watch it. The rest of the episode is not that great, but the cookie scenes are. Especially if you like chocolate chip cookies. So I made some chocolate chip cookies for the Blood Drive at our church on Monday. I can't give blood, but I can bake cookies!

Support local farmers! I went to the very rainy Farmer's Market this morning. I meant to take my camera, but it's a good thing I didn't. My shoes are soaked, my jeans are soaked, my hoodie is soaked. There isn't a permanent roof up yet, they have just begun the fundraising campaign. So it will be a few more years. In the meantime, each vendor has a tarp they drape over the metal frame, in hopes that it will keep everyone dry. But the rain settles into the low spots and either cascades off the edge, or the vendors poke at the tarp to try to keep the cascades of water to a minimum. Not every vendor was there, so there were large sections of unprotected aisle-way where the rain was effective in drenching me to the core.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the rain. We desperately need it. It will just be nice when there's a permanent roof over the Farmer's Market.

It's Friday and we have a dinner tonight. We're going to Chandra and Jason's (it's their first time hosting!) and they have a pool. I was going to take my swimsuit, but since it's currently 55 degrees, and rainy, I may not swim. Unless that solar cover works really well and it's not lightning out. I don't want a pool, but I take advantage of access to a pool.

This weekend is Open House weekend. We have four. Three are tomorrow. It's going to be a busy day, but we've outlined the route and it's almost as if they coordinated schedules. We won't have to eat any meals at home. I hope I can limit myself to the cake... It doesn't help when it's so delicious!!

Have a happy Friday!!!