Why Wait?

I'm referring to hot chocolate.  I lamented and shook my head as I listened to countless people talk about the huge snow storm we had last Thursday as the day they should be curling up and drinking hot chocolate or just drinking it period.  I heard this from several TV anchors and many people on FB and IG.  People, why do you need to wait for a cold, snowy day to partake of one of life's greatest and most easily attained pleasures?  Why wait for a storm?  Why not start every day with a huge cup of this nectar of the gods and flood your cells with happiness neurotransmitters, antioxidants and several other health advantages, both physical and mental?

I took a picture of my empty mug the morning of the storm just as I read another's wish for a cup of hot chocolate.   Like I have stated many times here on my blog and to those who know me, I drink hot chocolate every day regardless of the temperature or season or where I am in the world and have for most of my adult life.

Just so you don't think I am exaggerating about drinking hot chocolate wherever I am in the world, here's proof.  I took this picture a few months ago from a hotel room and sent it to Gabe and Pignose so they could see my brilliant solution for having my concoction in any hotel room that doesn't have a microwave or refrigerator.  I found a tiny electric skillet at a kitchen store that weighs next to nothing and I pack it in my suitcase along with my homemade hot chocolate blend, my red teflon whisk, my 3 cup capacity ceramic mug and an old teaspoon.  If there is a refrigerator, I stop at a store and buy some type of cold milk (dairy or nut) and if there is not refrigeration, I buy small boxes of shelf stable milk that do not require it.  I bet this sounds a bit loony but it's no less important or realistic than those who need and enjoy coffee making supplies wherever they go.  Hot chocolate simply fills my tummy and my soul, it's what I prefer to have for breakfast and afterward I go forth with optimism and well being.  Recently while staying at the house of a family member and after I had prepared and taken my hot chocolate in to another room to imbibe while I read my morning mail, this person asked my husband how I drink it every day and stay thin.  He replied that I don't sweeten mine with sugar and I most often use 25 calorie per cup cashew milk as the base.  Good cocoa powder has little fat, 10 to 20 calories per tablespoon and plenty of fiber.  If I use 2 cups of cashew milk and a glug of water (which is so delicious and tastes mild like milk, unlike almond or soy which taste too strong and un-milk like to my taste buds) at 50 calories, 3 slightly heaping tablespoons of cocoa powder at no more than 75 calories total if I'm really generous and no calories in my few teaspoons of stevia type sweetener, that's 125 calories at most (less than a cup of whole milk) and it fills my tummy to capacity and I drink it super hot so I can sip it slowly and make it last until all my morning reading is accomplished.  I feel like I have indulged in something incredibly rich and caloric yet I have not taken any sugar or anything unhealthy into my bod.  I'm asking you again, what are you waiting for?  Don't deny yourself hot chocolate while you wait for the snow bomb cyclone to hit as it did us.

Speaking of that storm, it was glorious!  We had a fully stocked refrigerator and larder, plenty of firewood just in case, thermostats turned up, movies on stand by, books to read, bird feeders filled to capacity so we could watch the hundreds of them flitting outside our windows and feeling satisfied because we were taking care of their needs, art supplies brought into the house from my freezing studio, nowhere we needed to go and a couple new cookie recipes to try to keep the kitchen even warmer and some treats for our bellies.

I made a different version of the peanut butter cup stuffed chocolate cookies I had made in December.  I made a tastier batter and added chocolate chunks along with the PB cup inside.  I also made a cookie called Chocolate Mountains which were also chocolate chocolate chip but with lots of walnuts too.  That's why you see two pictures of what seemingly look like the same cookie but if you look carefully, you will see the nuts in the first one.

 I also roasted several pans of vegetables (potatoes and onions not pictured) and sauteed some delicious wild salmon with a soy-maple syrup-orange marinade.

I worked on a couple mirror abstracts in the category of what I refer to as kindergarten art but find incredibly joy inducing and dark corner brightening and it was just a really comfy cozy cheery and cheer day.  Dan and Dane shared the snow day inside with me.  In the evening we watched two movies; Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and the Harrison Ford version of Sabrina.

(Our garage - my upstairs studio - brrr)

 The day after the storm it turned sunny but super duper cold - like unusually cold.  We've been experiencing a several week stretch of way below normal temperatures.  I love love love snow and winter but sub zero temps are a bit uncomfortable for everyone.

All kitted out to walk a block to the post office - you can't see the ear muffs covering my ears under my hat (thanks Gabe, I love this hat!).  10-15 degrees below zero with the wind chill.

 Tomorrow we are told that the temps will be back to normal levels and even above later in the week, like high 40s and even low 50s in Boston.  Whatever.  I've got all my winter projects calendared and this coming week I will paint a stair runner - a before and after is forthcoming!

 New abstract I completed recently hanging in the third floor stairway - it's a "potager" of color!

One more thing - when I was a child, I used to lie on the floor and imagine Beatrix Potter - like mice living in the walls and I envisioned a little door that I could open and look inside at their little table and chairs for eating, beds, couch and TV - you get the picture.  I spent hours in this little mouse world.   Well, when Dan and I were in the Canary Islands recently, we were at an outdoor market and one vendor had a table full of little mouse doors - I guess I'm not the only one who dreamt (or dreams) of baseboard mice dwellings.  Unfortunately, we do have mice in our old house walls and occasionally they get stuck and die and then the most unpleasant odor emits through the wall for days and days.  :(

To end this post - here's what I wore on my legs today to church - as well as a burgundy colored wool pencil skirt and a fitted plum/burgundy sweater jacket.  And a parka, gloves, hat, scarf and a fat wool throw to cover my legs as I drove to and from church  - it was minus two not factoring in the wind chill.  And it was gorgeous and sunny with cloudless blue skies - lovely!

Cookies And Regrets (I Have None)

Regrets about cookies that is!  The other day Dan and I were driving home from somewhere and I had a thought and spoke it:  I can honestly declare that I can never utter "I regret that I didn't bake enough cookies".  You know how we all say things like "I regret that don't exercise like I should", "I don't read as much as I'd like to",  "I regret that I didn't call my mom more often", or "I regret that I didn't save more money, that I didn't finish college, eat enough vegetable, that I dyed my hair red, that I ever decorated with the color mauve, I didn't say I love you enough - you get the idea.

You see, many years ago when I was a young bride to be, an older woman gave me a piece of advice I took to heart - "always have cookies in the cookies jar".  She went on to say that homemade cookies, ever available, would comfort children, delight a husband (you should see Dan's face when I mention I'm going to make cookies), establish bonds with neighbors, bring peace among enemies, make your coworkers love you, provide treats for unexpected visitors, qualify as a nice dessert in a pinch with a bowl of ice cream or, handily all by themselves at a church potluck.

Sound advice.  One of the best pieces of advice I've ever been given.   I bake cookies not only for these reasons but for a few of my own; gets me out of the doldrums on super gloomy days, cookie baking is therapy when I'm really stressed out, fulfills a creative need, and a freezer full of cookies brings me peace of mind and surprisingly enough, keeps me from eating too many (except on "sugar Sundays" - that's a future blog post".

These are simple M&M cookies.  These were a Christmas tradition cookie when I was growing up and more often than not I make them during the holidays too but usually with the red/green candies.  Today I made them with the full color bags, both dark and milk chocolates.

True story: About five years ago at my last place of employment, a colleague called me at home on a weekend and told me that she had company coming from out of town, didn't have time to bake anything, didn't want to buy baked goods and asked me if I had anything in my freezer that I could put together to bring over and she would pay me for them.  This delighted me on two counts; that she even asked, and that I could immediately say yes and help out because I had lots of cookies, bars, etc in my freezer.  And I didn't let her pay me - I was thrilled to do it.

In to the happy freezer they go until it's time to prepare all the Christmas goodie plates that we will be delivering to a designated list of families (this list changes every year - gotta spread the love) next week.

None of these cookies in this freezer are for goodie plates (wait, those pink ones are); those are in another in holiday tins - these ones are just to have on hand for all the reasons that wise woman gave me many years ago.  I don't even have a cookie jar anymore - I tried one but they get stale too quickly and freezing keeps the butter fresh tasting for a long time.  I now love my cookies cold - not frozen solid but not completely thawed either.

These cookies below are from Smitten Kitchen's blog, one of my favorite cooking blogs, and her latest post.  They are called "The Browniest Cookies" and they are incredible.  I might even like them better than brownies now.  Do you cook from blogs?  I sure do.  As a matter of fact, Thursday I cooked from recipes from three different blogs:  a banana chocolate chip bread from a now closed blog The Daily Muse -  to use three very overripe bananas in the fruit bowl, the Browniest Cookies above, and for dinner, Chicken In Red Wine Vinegar from David Lebovitz's.  All were excellent.

If you drop by, I've got some cookies for you.

Homemade Christmas And A Recipe!

I am just going to admit it - I did not put up a Christmas tree this year (or last but conveniently we were in Paris for Christmas) and I might never again if I have my way.  I can't explain it but a few of the hardest, darkest times in my life occurred at Christmas time and the whole tree business, the smell of the boxes where I keep the old ornaments, putting up and taking down the tree, well it sends me back to dark places and I thought it would eventually go away but it hasn't.  That doesn't mean I get depressed or go in to a funk or anything like that but rather I just get this yucky feeling in the pit of my stomach as I ponder or attempt "the tree" and it hangs on.   Fortunately, my husband, while not really understanding this, is sympathetic to it and as long as we decorate in some fashion, he's okay with it.  At least for now.  So I foraged outside here and at the Yellow House property and brought in all sorts of greenery.  I tucked the evergreens and ilex berries on the mantels, made evergreens ropes for the staircase, brought out the Nativity my mom brought me from Mexico and just put little touches from the outdoors here and there.  And I even made my own kissing balls that are hanging on the front porch.  My neighbor made the wreath near the kitchen door and I picked another one up from a nursery for the front main door and attached my own bow to it.  And a Yankee candle is burning with the scent of cedar and balsam, Christmas music plays a lot of the time and I have been baking.  Christmas is here even without the tree.

 I hope Dane, my son who is coming home for Christmas won't mind that we will put all the presents around the Poinsettia on the dining room table instead.

 I will hang the stockings on this mantel.

 One of the problems with Christmas/winter decorating is that I am not ready to get rid of all the squash and pumpkins.  So here I scattered pine cones amongst them and they will work together for the holidays.

 That big white pumpkin is staying as well - they last for a couple years!

And please watch this You Tube recording of The Prayer,   - the best cover of that song ever in my opinion.   We watch it over and over and it has made Christmas for me.

A couple days ago at the monthly Women's Meeting at my church that is also referred to as Enrichment Night, we had a big Christmas cookie exchange and a good old fashioned Yankee Swap with lots of swapping and fun.  Here are a few scenes from that event.

 I make these frosted cocoa thumbprint cookies every year and have as long as I can remember.  My mom gave me the recipe and she doesn't remember from where she obtained it.  The other ones are called Elfin Bites, a shortbread type with lots of multi colored sprinkles or jimmies mixed in.  I brought these two for the exchange.

The eating at the beginning and the exchanging at the end.

 Getting ready for the Yankee Swap

The basketball wasn't a gift, it just got rolled in somehow.   We also had some young women join us too.  It was a blast.  I took home a jar of pickles and a jar of strawberry jam, both home canned.

Tonight I made a batch of Vanilla Butter Balls that I rolled in a fruit powdered sugar instead of plain that you see above.  The whole recipe is fast and easy and so is the fruit powder - recipe below:

VANILLA BUTTER BALLS WITH FRUIT POWDERED SUGAR

2 sticks soft unsalted butter
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 T vanilla
2 cups and 1 T all purpose flour

Cream the first 4 ingredients then add flour.  Mix until it forms a ball or comes together really well - at first it will seem crumbly and dry but then suddenly it smooths out.  Roll into 1 inch balls and place 2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheets.  Bake 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until they start to get golden around the edges.  Cool until they are firm enough to roll in the fruited sugar.

For the fruited sugar - 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 pkg. Traders Joes or other dehydrated strawberries or raspberries.  The 1.2 oz bags contain about 1 1/3 cups dehydrated fruit.  Put these two ingredients in a food processor and whir until like a fine powder.  Roll cookies heavily in this and cool cookies completely before serving or storing.  These freeze well.

 These cookies melt in your mouth!

Seen on this afternoon's walk at the beach.  Crosses or people?  Cute either way.