baking up some karma cookies

If you're interested in wine tasting, specifically Oklahoma wines, then I'd suggest attending this function at 50 Penn Place on Nov 15th. I am personally looking forward to it, having secured a DD and entrusted myself to mi mama & auntie who both also enjoy a nip of the vino now and then. There are even workshops offered that day that sound interesting (wine tasting with a sommelier, food & wine pairing, and how to grow grapes in Okieland). What's not to love??
I made some cookies this evening and contemplated, as they baked, how nice and homey cookies are. My chocolate chip cookies aren't pretentious or fancy but soft and flavorful (it's the added almond extract that inserts an extra unexpected kick). Cooking and baking are so like compounding in a chemistry/pharmacy lab, in my opinion, that I find it odd that many of my pharmy classmates profess to be inept at cooking. They require recipies, ingredients, measuring, mixing, and "touching up" just like the most basic of chemistry lab exercises do. Hmm... Mayhaps it is a ploy to procure free cookies? (great idea! What was I thinking??)
Had an interesting weekend with Skronky. Got to watch him work magic on some kitchen plumbing and am impressed beyond words at his newly-revealed skills. I hope to incorporated these skills into a master plan for taking over the world some day but please don't spill the beans to Skronky or he might go fishing that weekend instead. My plan working requires the utmost secrecy and discretion (causing me to rethink posting such on the internets. Yes, plural. Internets.)
That is all. Good luck and good night.

Malaysian cherry vs cookies

Thought about posting. Decided not to... Then changed my mind. Thus is the shambles of my decisiveness that I am left with after ten hours with Marie, the four year old child cookie-making-prodigy known-as-my-goddaughter.
I'm thinking about entering her cookies in our county free fair next month, by the way (if her mama approves). I think that would be neat even if she doesn't win (and honestly, she'll be up against eight year olds who can actually read the recipe for themselves so who, other than those biased by love, would call her the front-runner?) I might just enter one of my homemade dresses as well since there is a section for sewing as well. Fairly certain I won't be entering any livestock or woodcarvings so if anyone wants a sure-win category stick to one of those, huh?
Went camping with Skronky on Monday down at the Lake of the Arbuckles. Very pretty lake, nice on-the-water tent site, and a good time all-around. (Well, raccoons got two of our ears of corn that we carelessly left out but since that was the biggest loss we'll take it.)
My hair is currently "Malaysian cherry" which means slightly reddish. I like it. Only the month-long stuff so if you want to catch a peek you'll have to hurry!

Cupcake addition

I forgot to mention in my last post that I tried a recipe for beer cupcakes and it turned out really well! It uses a stout and after the cupcakes are baked you're left with very moist cake that really doesn't taste like beer at all! I personally wasn't a big fan of the cream cheese icing recipe that went with it (you add a couple of tablespoons of the beer to that as well) but Mum liked it... And several of my classmates with whom I shared said cupcakes enjoyed it so I guess it's a matter of preferences? (It really is nice to have somewhere I can take cupcakes, cookies, etc. to give them away so I don't eat all of them myself. College students, even those in professional/grad school, seem to really delight in free food. Can't imagine why...)
Happy Monday!

Coping mechanisms are often pretty

Been terribly busy. Mostly with school.
I've started babysitting Marie on Monday nights while her mom is in evening classes. She's a hoot and at four years old she keeps me on my toes (which is very tiring after a day at school). We made cookies this last week. They were supposed to be like roll and stamp out with a cookie cutter but ended up wayyyy too soft for that so we threw the dough at the cookie sheet. So much fun.
On Wednesday I cut out a shirt pattern and sewed it up Friday night... I'm fairly pleased with my first try. It's from a scrap of red and black fabric my grandmum sent over in a box of rejects from her fabric collection so it was perfect for a first try. I am certain there will be more in the future...
Was studying up at my undergrad campus Saturday evening... I guess I had forgotten the Library closes at ten so when they kicked me out I headed to the Union. There was a wedding reception going on up on the third floor! I studied a few more hours and happened to be leaving just as the bride and groom descended the stairs to leave for the night as well. Wouldn't that be a funny place to hold a wedding and reception? I think the Great Reading Room would be pretty during the day for a wedding ceremony but for the reception? Eh... The ballroom at the Union probably wouldn't be among first picks, for me anyway. Too many other people around, and, hey, it's campus where stressful studying happens! Anyway... Congrats to the happy couple though and thank you for the music to study by (I studied in the lounge just below the ballroom).

Hope everyone has a beautiful week! Remember to breathe and smile!

Don't rush. There is a perfect moment for everything we do. ~Theognis

thoughtful cookies

Ever notice how trying to get back to where you were is harder than it was to get where you are now? Am doing some deep thinking about what I am and what I want to be, as well as how to get there someday. (Not professionally or physically, of course, since those would be easier changes to enact...)

Cardiovascular module at school is keeping me humble. I really need to figure out how to use the lovely stethoscope my aunt has loaned me. Studying notes/books needs to happen as well but I find it's much more enjoyable to visit with those I love. Ah well, such is the way of the world.

Just before break ended I started reading a really old book that I picked up at a library sale - Latin for Americans First Book copyrighted in 1962. I've made it through 3 chapters and still don't know if I'll finish all the way through but can understand enough of the readings that it is rather fun. (It's like an old high school Latin textbook or at least on that level.) Just another distraction. Bully for dead languages!

Recently completely flubbed up when trying a recipe for tea cookies (that is rumored to be one of my great grandmother's) and have created a cookie that seems like a mix between a pancake and a snicker doodle. I like it. Unlike chocolate chip cookies that I love so much that I will sit and eat a dozen by myself these cookies are good but rather heavy so I only want to eat one while still enjoying the heck out of that one... I love mistakes like that, that end up being wonderful. Just what you wanted to happen without knowing it was what you wanted. It's curious how many things start out looking like a total mess and failure only to prove to be a God-send.

A beautiful form is better than a beautiful face; a beautiful behavior is better than a beautiful form: it gives a higher pleasure than statues or pictures; it is the finest of fine arts. -R.W. Emerson from his essay on Manners

PreSemester Jitterbug

I can't believe break is almost over! Tomorrow I go back to days of classes and site visits, exams and assignments. Where did that full month of break go?
Right now I'm working on laundry and getting reorganized for school. I always underestimate how much work I put into getting organized each semester; You'd think I would get it set and leave it all neat but somehow I have a way of undoing my own organization quicker than a cyclone...
I finally settled on names for my fishy friends: Heifer and Sundance! Thank you to those who endured my machinations about such a minute detail and for the lovely suggestions. The swimmers are right now enjoying their hourly pacing up and down the side of the tank, neurotic little fishes that they are. The cat took about 10 hours to discover them that first day and the minute she did, she really did! She wanted to sit next to them (I'm sure that's all she wanted to do, right?) and got very perturbed at me for not letting her play with the pretty swimmy things. I put masking tape rolled on the surface of the table next to the tank so the next time she got up there she was very confused and not a little miffed. I don't think she's figured out anywhere else to sit to terrorize them so she just lurks on the floor, shooting me mean looks now and then.
Speaking of which, last night I was sitting on the couch talking to Skronky on the phone when all of the sudden, out of the blue and without any warning, the cat jumped up on the back of the couch and bit me on the back of my head right next to my ponytail! Then she perched at the far edge of the back of the couch looking at me like, "What? You got a problem with me? What then??" So I pushed her off (it's only about two foot to the ground) only for her to rebound two minutes later to the same place, this time purring like she just got the best meal of her life. I swear she must be psycho or something. Or maybe she's just gettting old and nuts? Whichever, blessings on all those who live with a crazy attack cat!
It's still very, very cold outside and there's ice everywhere. I think it sleeted here all day Friday, most of Saturday, and part of Sunday. I'm so glad we haven't lost power! With all this ice that's a definite possibility; It's happened before and I'm sure it will again. The dogs are enjoying this weather, silly things, since they like eating the ice! Due to the icky weather making the roads slick I haven't left the house since Friday when I went with Dad to pick Dork up at school (they got to leave early since the weather was looking bad even before noon). I can hardly wait to test the roads tomorrow for school...
Before this weather front started I got to hang out with some friends from undergrad on Tuesday. Had a good time; I'd missed getting to laugh at stupid stuff with Julia. Too bad there wasn't a Food Challenge on the telly!
I did some baking yesterday while Mum made a chicken pot pie; peanut butter cookies, cherry turnovers, and (not baked) toffee fudge. (By the end of those I was pretty much all out of creative power.) The things I call turnovers I guess are really just fruit filled pie crust pockets but isn't turnover a much shorter name? And they *could* be turned over...
Well, I suppose it's time to get back to organizing. Hope you all have a lovely week and enjoy your MLK Jr. Day off of work (if you are so lucky)!