Absentminded Cook

Sometimes I think it's a wonder that anything turns out in my kitchen. Today I was making Snickerdoodles and I opened the oven to take the first batch out and this is what I saw:

(Well, I guess that's not exactly what I saw since these are stacked on a cooling rack but you see what I mean...)

Gadzooks! What in the world? I mean I haven't made Snickerdoodles in years but I don't remember them being terribly difficult and I know they aren't flat!

The dough was really soft and I read the recipe three times to see if I was supposed to chill it before rolling into little balls but no, no chilling needed... I just couldn't see what else it might be. I walked out of the kitchen because I wasn't sure if I wanted to bother with the rest of the dough or just throw it out or what - so I took a break.

When I came back I realized that I had only put in 1 3/4 cup of flour not 2 3/4 cups! Duh!! I would like to say that this is the first time I've ever done something like this but it's not even close. In fact, this seems to happen in streaks so perhaps I need to do only minimal cooking for awhile. haha. I did add more flour to the remaining dough and it's quite amazing, the dough feels better and the cookies look like - Snickerdoodles.

I'll just say I invented a new cookie - Snickerdoodle Crisps. ha ha! I tell ya, if my head weren't attached...

June's Funny Days

I've been looking for fun things to do while my nephews & niece are here for three weeks this June. I always like to look up the funny, little-known holidays cause you can build some fun around them.

Here's a sampling of June days you may not have heard of:

3 - Donut day

4 - Pencil Drawing Day

6 - Yo-yo Day

7 - Chocolate Ice Cream Day AND Daniel Boone Day

8 - World Ocean Day

9 - Donald Duck Day

10-13 - Superman Week (although that's not very accurate because this is 4 days not a whole week but apparently one day for Superman didn't seem like enough for whoever designated this day... I bet Tiernan would agree.)

11 - Corn-on-the-cob Day

14 - Family History Day

15 - Fly a Kite Day and Nature Photography Day

16 - Fudge Day

17 - Root Beer Day

18 - Go Fishing Day & Picnic Day

20 - Ice Cream Soda Day and Juggling Day

Of course, there are designations for each week of the month too. For example, June 6-11 is National Clay Week. That could be fun.

That leaves one to wonder if there's a designation for the whole month - well, of course there is! It's National Candy Month. Super fun!

I better get busy planning now, we have a lot to do!

Hands

Have you ever stopped to think how wonderful it is to have hands? I was out planting flowers yesterday and I was using my little spade but, as usual, I ended up using my hands to break up the soil in the flower pots because, really, hands are just the most efficient tool I've ever found! They do the work much better and you have such control. I do the same thing with cooking - if I'm making a large batch of something (chicken salad, for example) hands just mix better than a big spoon. No worries, I use gardening gloves for gardening and food gloves for mixing big batches of food.

If you think about how much you use your hands every day - for everything you do - it's quite amazing! Don't get me wrong, I'm really grateful for all the very useful tools we have - and they are very useful - but sometimes you just have to use your hands to really get the job done. What a blessing to have hands!

Easter Craft

March was National Craft month so naturally Becky & I felt obligated to have a craft day and here's the result:

Aren't they adorable? We bought the ready to finish kit from Etsy seller Wellgood then we sanded, painted, and assembled them. I do enjoy craft days when we find something fun to do!

My Love-Hate Relationship with Mornings

I have a love-hate relationship with mornings. I'm not really sure I'm a night person but I'm not so much a morning person either. I'm a middle person? Well, I'm not sure what that would even mean...

Love - I really can be so very productive in the mornings and I l-o-v-e that! Really! If I get moving I can get so much done in a short amount of time and it feels great. Love it.

Hate - I h-a-t-e waking up in the 5's. The 5's were not meant for being awake. The other day the radio alarm went off and the DJ (do you call the announcer on classic music radio a DJ? Probably not...) anyway, the announcer guy said, "you're enjoying night music on Classical 89.5." SEE? My point exactly! It's night not morning. And since I've heard that announcement more than once I consider it solid fact that the 5's are nighttime. One should not arise then and certainly not before then and I have a really hard time doing so. Maybe there will be a day in the future when I can wake up in the 6's and see if I like that better but I'm not holding my breath. I really prefer the 7's but that's totally unreasonable except for weekends. (Which is a good reminder, if you want me to do something on the weekend that will require my waking before the 7's I make no guarantees of cooperation.) Hate it.

And lest you get too worried, I don't sleep past the 7's except for on very rare occasions and never to the 9's - I mean that's full blown morning and I'm decidedly up by then and even at the 8's I start feeling like I've wasted away the whole day. Maybe that's it - I just like the 7's.

Perhaps someday I'll get over the hate-it part but...let's not hold our breath. In the mean time I'll try to focus on the love-it part. And go to bed so I can get up in the 5's - and only hit snooze 1 or 2 times before doing so...

Preparedness - The Sound of Music Way

I am once again in my preparedness mode - something that the basics of which are generally at least in the back of my mind and now and then takes the front seat. I was looking around for preparedness ideas on the net and found the funniest thing. The following was on a blog for a condominium in Seattle:

•The Sound of Music (1965)

The Sound of Music tells the story of an Austrian family -- with seven singing children -- in the days before the Holocaust. It’s a Couch Potato Preparedness classic for its sustainability and the sheer number of preparedness lessons.

– Maria is resourceful, making new clothes out of curtains.
– Captain von Trapp demonstrates using whistles as communication tools.
– He stays aware and informed of the situation, to make good decisions.
– To escape, they make a plan, share it, and adapt it as things change.
– The adults protect the children and the children help each other.
– In crisis, the family finds sanctuary and help from old friends.
– Of course: “My Favorite Things” is about thinking positively when bad things happen!

Use this family favorite to recognize diverse preparedness skills and actions.

I just laughed out loud when I read that - clever and certainly something I never thought of when watching the Sound of Music. And kudos for the condominium management for trying to help their tenants get prepared for natural disasters.

The O Goggs!

Let's start with a little background to the onion goggle story. Here it is in a nutshell - I HATE ONIONS. That's about it. But allow me to elaborate a little... Not only do onions wreak to high heaven, they taste gross and they have a gross texture and they make me bawl. I mean bawl like someone just died. Generally I use onion powder and I'm perfectly happy with that. Other people like onions, my mom LOVES onion. One time I was on vacation and she called me to tell me that she made onion burgers with sauteed onions on onion rolls for dinner. Sick and wrong!

I've made a general rule that if mom wants onions in the food I cook (when I won't be eating) she has to chop them ahead of time and freeze them. Sometimes she does and then I just pull them from the freezer which works beautifully. Plus, then she can't complain when there aren't onions because she's the one who hasn't chopped them so it's her fault if there aren't any. hee hee.

A few months ago I was being particularly generous and decided I'd go ahead and cut up an onion for the whatever I was making. I chopped away and bawled - we're talking tears streaming down my face - and I couldn't even see what I was chopping so really I'm lucky I didn't chop a finger off! My eyes were burning and burned for a couple hours after the deed was done. I mean that is just ridiculous. I vowed that that was the last time I would be nice and add onion to anything unless it was pre-chopped and frozen.

Imagine my surprise on Christmas morning when I unwrapped these beauties:

Wow! Nothing says hottie like super-hero O goggs! The deal is that you wear these while you chop the onion and you won't cry and your eyes won't sting. I will admit that they mostly work. Some onions are just so nasty that nothing can help but if it's a mild onion they mostly do their job. (Have I mentioned that I also wear plastic gloves while chopping onions so that my hands don't stink?)

I have used them a couple times and aside from looking like a loon it was a better experience than most onion experiences. Did I also mention how self-serving this gift from Mom was? Or maybe you noticed that yourself. haha! But, lest mom or anyone else gets too excited, I still won't cook with onions (unless I won't be home for dinner) and the rule about chopping your own onions is still in full force. Just sayin'. Wanna make sure we're clear on that.