Inflicted upon everyone
Dec 17, 2007
Quick and Easy Boiled Cookies
These cookies don't look very pretty...but they taste amazing, and they're relatively simple to prepare.
- 2 cups sugar
- ½ cup milk
- ½ stick butter
- 3 tsp dry cocoa
- Bring to a full rolling boil and boil for one minute. Remove from heat.
- Immediately add:
- ½ cup peanut butter
- 3 cups oatmeal
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ cup nuts
- Mix together
- Drop by teaspoonfuls on wax paper which has been placed on top of newspaper. Let set up and cool for 2 hours.
Yield: 3 – 4 dozen
Drop Sugar Cookies
- 6 eggs
- 2 cups oil
- 2 ¼ cups sugar
- 2 tbsp vanilla
- 6 cups flour
- 2 tbsp Baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- Mix together ingredients.
- Chill dough for 1 hour.
- Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
- Flatten the top with a glass greased with butter that has then been dipped in color sugar (or just sprinkle the tops with colored sugar and skip the "flatten" bit)
- Bake at 400 degrees for 8 – 10 minutes.
Soft Date Cookies
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup shortening (or butter)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 ½ cup flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ cup milk
- 1 cup raisins or chopped dates (optional)
- Combine sugars and shortening.
- Add eggs & vanilla.
- Add dry ingredients.
- Add milk.
- Drop by rounded teaspoons on lightly greased cookie sheets.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 15 -18 minutes until browned a little.
Eggnog Snickerdoodles
I originally found this recipe last year, over on Leanne's site.
- 1 cup butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ tsp nutmeg/cinnamon (or ¼ tsp each)
- 1 cup eggnog
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 4 cups flour
- Beat butter & sugar until creamy.
- Add spices, eggnog & baking soda to butter & sugar, blend well.
- Add flour 2 cups at a time, mix (with mixer) until combined.
- Spoon onto nonstick cookie sheet, dip a cup in sugar (holiday colored sugar, sugar/cinnamon, sugar/nutmeg, your call), flatten the balled dough a little - but don’t flatten them completely.
- Bake at 375 for right around 11 minutes, when you can see the bottom edges are golden brown.
Cut-out Cookies
These take more work, but they're excellent for decorating...especially for kids or groups of friends who have odd senses of humour. You can buy frosting, or use the frosting recipe below.
- ½ Cup Crisco
- ½ cup butter
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp orange peel
- 1 tsp allspice
- 3 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 cups flour
- 1 tbsp milk
- Cream shortening, butter and sugar until blended. (Don’t over-beat or it will melt the butter.)
- Add vanilla & egg & beat well.
- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and add to above mixture, a bit at a time and blend well.
- Add milk. (Dough will be stiff.)
- Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour
- Get out a pastry cloth and rolling pin stocking. Put about 2 tbsp. flour on it and roll pin over cloth to get flour on stocking and pastry cloth. Roll out about 1/3 of dough at a time to about ¼ inch thick. You may have to add more flour to board between each roll out.
- Cut out shapes & put on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 – 15 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet about 5 minutes.
Frosting
- 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp mace
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 4 tbsp milk
- food coloring (any color(s) you choose)
Mix all ingredients, then separate the frosting into smaller cups or bowls. Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl to create different colors of frosting...then frost the cookies above and decorate. The cookie recipe is a double recipe; but only need the regular frosting recipe.
Keywords: | recipes | Holidailies |
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Apparently, I'm unable to learn through others' mistakes. I have to make my own.
Dec 15, 2007
I spent today baking. Well, let me restate that. I spent today teaching myself what not to do while baking. Forgetting ingredients is a big one, followed up by partially chilling sugar cookie dough before mixing in all the ingredients.
Thank goodness the grocery store is as close as it is.
More of the story later...or tomorrow. (Including photos. When documenting your own stumbling ascent up the learning curve, always include photos.) I have the “correct” batch of cookie dough baking, and I want to see if they come out as expected or if they’re merely another intriguing experiment.
Related entry: Kitchen which? part two
Keywords: | Holidailies |
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Makes 12 dozen cookies. (Yes, you read that right. 144 cookies.)
Dec 13, 2007
Softer, cake-like sugar cookies
Ingredients
- 6 eggs
- 2 cups oil
- 2 ¼ cups sugar
- 2 tbsp vanilla
- 6 cups flour
- 2 tbsp Baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp salt
Directions
- Mix together ingredients
- Chill dough for 1 hour
- Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet
- Flatten the top with a glass greased with butter that has then been dipped in color sugar (or just sprinkle the tops with colored sugar and skip the "flatten" bit)
- Bake at 400 degrees for 8 – 10 minutes
These cookies freeze well, so if you don't give them all away (or eat them all before Christmas), you can keep enjoying these things...pretty much as long as your willpower holds out.
Keywords: | recipes | Holidailies |
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Organization is for other people
Dec 12, 2007
My Holidailies posting has been fairly meh. I’ve got a lot of stuff going on this month, though, so I don’t forsee any shots of brilliance any time soon. (Dangit.) It seems I’m adding two items for every one that I manage to cross off my “to do” list.
I think this is the new new math. I don’t like it.
The old TV stand was picked up today, so I have my livingroom back. In other news, the new TV stand’s top is developing a split. And nothing’s even been set on it yet. I haven’t even had it for a month! This does not bode well. (And the store closed down, so I can’t return it...I’m quite sorely vexed.)
I bought a new shower curtain the other day. My old one was dark pink/purple, and this one’s an off-white. The bathroom’s a bit brighter-looking, (if a tad monochrome.) I’ve done a lot of buying this past month — moving will do that — but also, Christmas is the time of year when things are actually reasonably priced. I tend to make a list of “me” things I want to get, then wait until December to buy them. This does mean risking the mall and its attendant herds/hordes; but I save a chunk of money doing this.
I received several cookie recipes from Mom-thing, and she’s sending me some kitchen supplies. Hopefully they’ll arrive before Saturday, so I can bake. I’m planning on the soft sugar cookies (makes 6 dozen, and they freeze well, so I’ll have cookies until V-Day) and the spice cookies.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I need (okay, really really want) spiced buttered rum coffee. Now I just need to find a place around here that sells it.
Keywords: | home | Holidailies |
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No convictions, though, your honor
Dec 09, 2007
Stolen from See Hear Speak No Evil: items in bold are things that I’ve done.
Which story do you want to hear?
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking (my best step is the West Coast Spastic)
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment (regularly, actually. It doesn’t take too much — just stop for a few minutes and think about the good things that have happened to you recently — but apparently people don’t do this often enough.)
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends (some of them actually contributed to item 38.)
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs (what? Isn’t this the default storage method? If not...how did you find anything?!??)
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theatre (I remember seeing Grease at a drive-in, back in the 70s...and I saw Dark Crystal at a drive-in, as well.)
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business (...and still going after five years! Yay me.)
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight (do you get bonus points if you GM’ed a 12-hour campaign?)
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days (do popsicles count as food? If not, then yeah, I’ve done this. And it was miserable.)
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on a television news program as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage (not since grade 4...thank goodness)
85. Been to Las Vegas (and stayed in the hotel where Elvis first performed)
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently (not any more, sadly. Languages are definitely a “use it or lose it” thing.)
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a TV game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours (actually, I’m not too sure about this one...I got hit with a depressive skid once, and about all I can remember is my housemate trying to wake me up...before giving up and letting me sleep. It apparently freaked the hell out of him, and he said that if I hadn’t come out of my room when I did [two days later], he was calling emergency services.)
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. States
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school (I never really leave...I keep finding classes that I want to take, and off to the nearest community college I go.)
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions (I’ve moved on with my life, and I keep in touch with those few school friends I want to. So why go back there?)
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life
Keywords: | vacation | memes | Holidailies | friends |
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...and I feel fine
Dec 07, 2007
As I said in my introductory post for this month, one year ago I would not have been able to predict the changes that have come into my life. To wit:
Home: Last year, I was living in an apartment complex that was not super-posh, but was pretty cool. I had a patio and a dishwasher. Whenever I needed to go someplace, I jumped in the car, drove 5 minutes, and was pretty much where I needed to be. However, I knew that this was not a long-term solution. I had just moved from an annual lease to a month-to-month rental situation, and there were some early signs that things were going to get worse. The manager mentioned that no long-term leases were being renewed, that rents were being raised, and I halfway suspected that I’d be facing a ginormous rent increase in the months ahead...which would pretty much suck. Still, that’s life where I used to live: everything’s Too Fucking Expen$ive. (To be fair, most major metro areas are the same way.)
This year I’ve moved nearly 1,000 miles away. I’m in an older building, and there’s no dishwasher or disposal. The closets are smaller (I do kind of miss the walk-in closet. I know, I know, I’m shallow.) On the up side, though, I’ve got more square footage, more windows, and covered secure-access parking...and I’m paying less than I was in the old place. I can walk nearly everywhere — grocery store, drug store, post office, bank, some fast food places — so my waistline’s shrinking a little bit and I have more energy.
Job: This time last year, I’d just started working at a contract and I began to suspect that it would not be a smooth ride. I had very little to do, and honestly, after too many weeks of working one hour a day (tops) and getting paid for eight, I was feeling just a tad guilty. I wasn’t able to get anything else to do despite repeatedly reminding that I was sitting idle. (I know it wasn’t sexism — the boss did this to three male employees as well. Gee, surprise, by springtime all of us had quit in disgust.)
This year, I’m working from home, have two freelance gigs coming up, and am happily taking care of my business without having to worry about being monitored and possibly called on the carpet. (Hey - when I’m idle, I’m damn well going to entertain myself. And if it’s profitable for me, so much the better.) My bosses are pretty damn good. My co-workers are highly competent, self-possessed, and seem like really good people.
Family: Last year I lived less than one hour’s drive from the ‘rents, a sibling, an aunt and uncle, and a cousin and cousin-in-law. While this was not a gigantic trial or a life sentence, it had its moments.
This year I’m further away from my family...but that’s not a problem for me. This past Thanksgiving, I did not go anywhere. I did not do anything. I relaxed. It was wonderful. I had invitations from wonderful friends (and a friends’ family) to come celebrate the holiday with them if I chose; but they were also clear that if I chose not to, they would not take offense. I love my family, love spending time with them...but there are plenty of times when I honestly feel like I’d catch nineteen different kinds of passive-aggressive hell if I didn’t join them for Thanksgiving potluck every year, without fail. It gets kind of tiresome. The distance helps with that a bit, I think: there’s no longer the counter-argument that I’m only 45 minutes’ drive away, and it’s only once a year, just come over, please? (Someone else in the world got my levels of need-for-riotous-celebration. I suspect it’s the folks who eagerly scan every page of the Lillian Vernon catalogues and venerate Martha $t-eww-art.) I’ve had several good phone calls with my parents, and I’m already planning a trip back in July, when the next Batman and IndyJ movies are in theatres, so I can go see them with Dads.
Friends: I communicated with my friends via email, via phone, and the occasional visit or get-together. The closest friends I had, geographically, were former co-workers from a job we all hated with the passion of a million galaxies. We would irregularly get together for lunch, we’ve all given references for each other as we’ve moved to different positions, and we have (of course) Stories from Hell. But I didn’t really have anyone close whom I could go meet for coffee, or call up just to chat about my life and theirs. Everyone was far-flung distant. Now, I’m living closer to two good friends, and am slowly being forced uponintroduced to one of those friends’ fellow nutcases. It’s cool. I’ve still got several friends who are only within reach via plane trip (or email), but I’m close to people with whom I can just hang out.
Overall: I’m more content. I’m earning more, paying less, working smarter, in a physical place and geographical environment that makes me happier, and I feel like I’ve got more opportunities. Yeah, sure, more of them are opportunities to make a raging ass of myself or trip and fall on my face; but there’s something to be said for not playing it safe all the time.
Just like the last time I moved over 1,000 miles away from my family...I feel a bit more alive.
Keywords: | home | Holidailies | friends | family | community | choice |
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