Originally uploaded by jcgr
Sometimes you just have one of those days.
This surfer has had better rides on better waves.
This one just had an unexpected and undesired final stretch.
How to accept and enjoy the holiday you have, even if it’s not the holiday you planned
December 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Acceptance.
Maybe that’s on my mind because it’s the high-intensity holiday week for many people around the world.
These celebratory times can be fun but intense.
Energy, hope and expectations run high.
And then.
Reality sets in.
Something doesn’t go QUITE as planned, and then it happens again (and again).
Here’s a short list of things that can go wrong with the holidays when reality sets in:
- You don’t quite get everything done that “MUST” be done
- Someone is disappointed with their gift (maybe that disappointed someone is you)
- Gifts are mismatched
- The dinner rolls catch fire (and that happened not once, but TWICE to us the year we served holiday dinners to our extended families in our first home.
Maybe the rolls were trying to tell us something!
It happened first when the napkin in the bread basket caught fire when it was too close to the candles on the table.
And the second time, the bag we were steaming the rolls in caught fire in a too-full oven.
- A tire goes flat and guests won’t arrive by the time the turkey comes out of the oven
- A much-wanted present is broken in transit
- A flight is delayed for the important few days together
- A traveling dog does not adjust well to a new location and her now-missing routine and surroundings (and, hey, she’d never vacationed before…and it can be stressful)
- The budget is blown as presents, exuberantly bought in the holiday fever, add up to far more cost than the buyers thought in the middle of the frenzy
And so…
You accept. And then you adapt. And then you recover your spirit of adventure. And you make the best of what you have. But it all begins at the beginning, when things start happening in ways they weren’t “supposed to.” That’s right when you catch it.
Acceptance sounds easy enough to do, but it’s not.
Especially in the thick of the circumstances that most require it.
The first step to change is to acknowledge your circumstances as they really are.
Face the facts, quite literally.
Square up with them. Face them directly.
Sit with them for a bit.
Let them really soak in.
And be as OK with what is happening as you can be at the moment, for the circumstances aren’t going to change until you do. Then, remember what you’re trying to achieve, in the grand scheme of things.
And know that in that grand scheme of things, your big goal can still all work out…just not quite the way you’d imagined it would.
Then do what you can to creatively adjust, using the resources you have and can conjure up. You may find the solutions you create under pressure are fresher and more fun than the ones you worked so hard to “make” work…before you could see they didn’t, and wouldn’t.
Oh, and remember that dog visiting a new location, and not adjusting well?
It was our dog. And it was our daughter’s boyfriend’s house, where we were all gathering from various parts of the country.
The housemates who lived there had four cats, between them.
Yes, I know, I know.
We all wonder what we were even thinking, imagining that it would all work out easily.
But on paper it looked good.
The dog knew and accepted cats. She lived with and loved one as a friend.
And our daughter and her boyfriend had rescued a dog once that was so mellow that almost hoped its owner wouldn’t be found.
Weren’t all dogs like that?
Actually, no.
Not ours.
And so, when our golden retriever was following her retriever nose, she found the first cat’s hidden lair, under an upstairs back bedroom bed.
The cat fled down the stairs in terror, flew across the dining room, and scrambled up the window screen, dog racing closely behind.
The cat, having scaled the window screen, clung there until she was safely picked off.
And we, the various owners of the various pets, pow-wowed to try to figure out how to make the real life situation work.
I, for one, grabbed the leash and took her for a long, long walk to drain her anxious, excess energy off and give the others time to think.
And the dog?
For the rest of the visit, she wouldn’t go anywhere NEAR the stairs leading up to the hidden lair. It was intriguing, yes, but clearly FAR too dangerous.
Well, adventure aside, everyone survived, animals and people, too.
So whatever adventure your holidays bring, you will survive them, too.
The good adventure that will finally emerge, despite your well-honed plans all starts with acceptance.
Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
February 14, 2010 By
I
tried Red Velvet Whoopie Pies for a dinner with good friends right before Valentine’s Day, and the recipe turns out to be a real keeper.
For bite-sized whoopie pies, use a melon baller to scoop the dough. To make large cookies, I used an ice cream scoop.
Red Velvet Cookies (adapted from 3 other Red Velvet Whoopie Pie recipes I had)
2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons red food coloring
Cream Cheese Filling/Frosting
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preheat
oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.*
Make the Red Velvet cookies:
Whisk together flour, baking soda, cocoa and salt in a bowl. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a cup.
Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Then add egg, beating until combined well. Mix in flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately in batches at low speed, scraping down side of bowl occasionally, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix until smooth
Use an ice cream scoop to drop batter at least 2 inches apart onto a prepared baking sheet. Bake in middle of oven until tops are puffed and cookies spring back when touched, 10-12 minutes.** Transfer with a spatula to a cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.
Make the cream cheese filling/frosting:
Sift the confectioners’ sugar into a medium bowl and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment,
beat the butter until it is completely smooth, with no visible lumps.
Add the cream cheese and beat until combined.
Add the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. Be
careful not to overbeat the filling, or it will lose structure (the
filling can be made 1 day ahead. Cover the bowl tightly and put it in
the refrigerator. Let the filling soften at room temperature before
using).
Assemble the whoopie pies:
Turn half of the cooled cookies upside down (flat side facing up).
Spread a generous portion of frosting onto the flat side of the cookie. Place another
cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Repeat until all
the cookies are used. Put the whoopie pies in the refrigerator for
about 30 minutes to firm up before serving.
The whoopie pies will keep for up to 3 days, in the refrigerator.
*I use Silpat Baking Sheets
instead of parchment paper
** I baked them for about 22 minutes, ultimately, because they were not baking completely in 10-12 minutes.
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
January 10, 2010 By
From Baked: New Frontiers in Baking
by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito
I tried this recipe for a potluck my husband’s company had recently. People LOVED it! I was told by one person that this recipe is so good I’m already signed up to bring it to the next potluck! Our family absolutely loved it, too.
For bite-sized whoopie pies, use a melon baller to scoop the dough.
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon ginger
1 tablespoon cloves
2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups chilled pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Filling/Frosting
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preheat
oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.*
Make the pumpkin whoopie cookies:
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves together and set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk the brown sugar and oil together until combined. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined.
Sprinkle the flour mixture over the pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined.
Use a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to drop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes**, until the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cookie comes out clean. remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on the pan while you make the filling.
Make the cream cheese filling/frosting:
Sift the confectioners’ sugar into a medium bowl and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until it is completely smooth, with no visible lumps. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined.
Add the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. Be careful not to overbeat the filling, or it will lose structure (the filling can be made 1 day ahead. Cover the bowl tightly and put it in the refrigerator. Let the filling soften at room temperature before using).
Assemble the whoopie pies:
Turn half of the cooled cookies upside down (flat side facing up).
Use an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon to drop a large dollop of filling/frosting onto the flat side of the cookie. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Put the whoopie pies in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to firm up before serving.
The whoopie pies will keep for up to 3 days, on a parchment-lined baking sheet covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator.
*I use Silpat Baking Sheets
instead of parchment paper
** I baked them for about 22 minutes, ultimately, because they were not baking completely in 10-12 minutes.
Tell your story to the world
January 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment
You have a story to tell and show the world, just by who you are.
Here are others' thoughts on that thought, as well:
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
Maya Angelou
It takes a thousand voices to tell a single story.
Native American proverb
If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you end your story.
Orson Welles
So, how are things?
December 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Here are a few questions to ask yourself every now and then:
1. What are you building or creating?
2. What are you improving, simplifying or streamlining?
3. Is there something that you're trying to make stay the same, or "go back the way it was" at some time in the past? Perhaps that's possible, perhaps it's not.
See what ideas your answers bring as you get ready for 2010. And…if can you believe it…we're starting the decade that will end right before 2020 (which will be here sooner than we expect).
Be open to what you find so that you're ready, as need be, to adapt.
The future is just around the corner…and even closer than that.
In fact, it starts with your very next step.
Will yours be the 10,000th cookie?
November 12, 2009 By 1 Comment
Looking for a way to do something sweet for others during these pre-holiday weeks…and have fun at the same time with a group of family, friends or colleagues?
Host a Drop In & Decorate event. Bake, decorate and donate cookies to a shelter, food pantry or nonprofit agency that helps people in your community.
The non-profit bake-decorate-and-donate-cookies program was started in 2002 by Lydia Walshin, a Rhode Island food writer I met at a BlogHer conference a few years ago.
Drop In & Decorate will donate its 10,000th cookie sometime, somewhere in the US or Canada in the next few months.
This year Lydia is hoping to have Drop In & Decorate events in all 50 states, throughout Canada, and beyond. Here's more information if you're interested in hosting a cookie decorating and donating event, as well as a few recipes you can use.
Believe me, it's a fun way to make good memories, and do good things for others, as well.
Just imagine the smiles on the faces of children who each receive the gift of a beautiful cookie you made…
Beach read
September 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment
What souvenirs did you bring home from your last beach jaunt?
Shells?
Umbrellas from a tropical beverage?
A suntan (sunburn) or more?
Unwittingly, part of the beach came home with me when sand worked its way between the pages of the book I read during a few hours' wonderful sunny, sandy pause.
What do you see: sale or save?
July 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment
What word do you see in these clouds (if you see a word or two)?
Is it “sale”?
Is it “save”?
Or something else?
On a late afternoon walk a few weeks ago, I looked at the clouds as I always do. The ink blot shapes this time formed a word or two.
The difference – sale vs. save – amused me, almost as much as did the serendipitous arrangement of clouds forming letters and words, at all.
Coconut Pecan Biscotti
June 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Adapted from Coconut Biscotti, Cooking Light, April 2005
I tried this recipe for my dad for Father’s Day, 2006. It’s one of his favorite biscotti. This dough is really sticky, so it helps to dampen your hands slightly when patting out the dough logs before baking.
3 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon grated whole nutmeg
1-1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 cups flaked sweetened coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
Optional: 1 c. chocolate chips or dip one end of the finished biscotti in melted chocolate
Preheat oven to 300°. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through nutmeg). Place sugar, vanilla, and eggs in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed 2 minutes or until thick. Add flour mixture and coconut; stir to combine (dough will be very sticky). Add chopped pecans.
Shape dough into 3 15 x 3-inch rolls, or dough “logs.” Place rolls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper* and pat to 1-inch thickness. Bake at 300° for 40 minutes or until the cookie rolls are golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack (I leave them on the cookie sheet to cool before cutting into individual cookies, rather than to move them to a wire rack; it reduces the chances of breakage).
Cut roll diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices; stand slices upright on baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on wire rack.
Yield: About 40 cookies
*I use Silpat Baking Sheet
silicone baking mats instead of parchment paper
