Sugar cookie recipe

This is the sugar cookie recipe that I used, which is similar to the "family" recipe except I think my mother uses almond flavoring instead of vanilla. But I didn't have almond and they are still tasty.

This recipe made about 60 small pumpkin and cat cookies (1 WW point each). Double it for a serious batch.

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or almond)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured (I found I needed a lot of flour so they didn't stick!) surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Frosting

Mix powdered sugar, a little almond or vanilla flavoring and then add milk until the frosting is slightly runny, maybe 2T milk for 1 cup of sugar? You don't want it to be too thick but you also don't want it to run off the cookie. It's an art. Divide the frosting into different containers and add food coloring. I used Ateco, which I got at the kitchen store. It's a gel coloring which makes vibrant colors, including black, which I have never used before. Cool!

Cooking/Baking frenzy

I got inspired yesterday to hide my horrible hair in the kitchen where there are no mirrors. I stopped by a cool kitchen store on Newbury Street after my French class and found a couple fun cookie cutters. I also roasted a small sugar pumpkin the other day and wanted to use the innards so I made my mother's famous pumpkin bars. I'm not sure where she got this recipe but I'm going to share it!

Pumpkin Bars

1 1/2 Cups Whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 Teaspoon Baking powder
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mashed pumpkin, cooked or canned
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/4 raisins

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt & soda. Add pumpkin, milk, oil, vanilla, eggs.
Beat at med. speed 2 minutes
Stir in raisins
13 x 9 " pan, grease bottom only
350 degrees for 25-30 minutes
Frost with Butterscotch frosting immediately after taking out of the oven.

Butterscotch Frosting
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tblspn butter
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted.
1-2 Tblspn milk
1/2 teas. vanilla

Combine brown sugar and butter in small saucepan, place over low heat and stir and cook until butter melts and sugar is dissolved.
Stir in powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. Remove from heat and spread.

I ran out of brown sugar part way through and instead of doing the smart thing and walking to the store 4 blocks away, I found that you could "make" brown sugar by adding molasses to white sugar. I did this for the cake part, which was fine, but then I also did it with the frosting and now it tastes a little molassey. It may not be noticiable that this is a bad thing to somebody who has never had the bars before, but to me they taste a little funny. Not like my mommy's. But everything tastes better when your mom makes it, doesn't it?

Then I made sugar cookies in the shapes of pumpkins and cats. Even though Frenchie got home from work very late I forced him to get his creative juices flowing and decorate with me. He definitely rose to the challenge.





These are mine, not quite as impressive


For dinner I made chili again, this time using the recipe that Lauren recommended. I had ground beef instead of chuck but it was still amazing. I served it with Trader Joe's new Organic Corn Chips. They are like Fritos except without the gross trans-fat stomach ache that follows. Definitely not healthy but really good with chili. I highly recommend them. We also tried TJ's new Simple Times lager, their new cheap beer. It was not that good but sort of counteracted the extreme sugar we were surrounded by while decorating.

Adventures from last Sunday. Am I a Carrie or a Miranda?

Last Sunday we visited the South End Open Market which was awesome and of course it was the last one of the season! There are tons of artists there selling their wares but it isn't cheesy stuff, like, say, the Eugene Saturday Market. More like Portland Saturday Market. They were having a vendor costume contest which was pretty hilarious.



I definitely understand why people like the South End. After the market we went to the South End Buttery where we had an awesome brunch (butternut squash soup and an awesome salad) but a very not awesome pumpkin cheesecake. I think they accidently used salt instead of sugar. It did not taste right at all. But other than that it was a good experience. I mean, the name has the word "butter" in it. How could you not go?

That night Frenchie and I went to see Keith Jarrett, the infamous jazz diva. I accidently fell asleep before the concert and Frenchie was working so we both realized at the same time that it was suddenly time to go. There was no time to change clothes, brush hair, or put on makeup (at least that's what I keep telling myself). Because we live in Boston and the concert was at the Symphony Hall, people were dressed up. Anyway, while we were waiting for the T, Frenchie's ex called saying she had an extra ticket. Now, there is quite a story behind this ex but I am definitely not going to get into that here. Let's just say, we've never really hung out and actually have never seen each other post Frenchie and I being together but Frenchie and her still talk a lot so it is kind of weird. I am definitely not the jealous type but running into her was not at the top of my to-do list. Especially in this state.

Once he got the phone call I realized that we were going to see her at the concert, that perhaps Frenchie knew she was going to be there and hadn't told me and, my worst fear, that we would be going out for a beer afterwards. After establishing that he didn't know she was going to be there and therefore he could live through the night, I started hoping maybe we just wouldn't run into each other. Of course, we walk up to the Hall and there is a big group of glamorous French folks standing around and Frenchie starts chatting with them. I start trying to disappear. Then we saw the ex. She was glamourous, with perfect makeup and cool jewelry and I was oafish and awkward, which is actually how I always feel around the French and this was no exception. After some awkward conversation it was time to go inside.

The concert was pretty awesome but I spent a long time thinking about what would happen after the concert. What were we going to talk about? How was I going to cover the zit on my chin before the concert ended? If we ended up going out, what sort of drink would I order that could double as food because we hadn't eaten before the concert and obviously I couldn't order food?

Luckily, since it was Sunday night and the concert went sort of long, nobody wanted to go out. Phew. Dodged that bullet. Except of course that we all had to discuss how we could would hang out "soon." I'm pretty sure that means never, but we'll see. I'm not opposed to the idea, I just need a lot of prep. That's fair right?

What was I thinking?

I have discovered another problem with being an unemployed housewife. Certain really bad ideas suddenly sound good! Like buying a box of "Light Amber Brown" hair dye. "You didn't actually use it though, right? On your beautiful golden blond hair?" you are asking yourself. Ahhh...What Was I Thinking!?!?!??!?!

I made a huge mistake. I have never been that picky about my hair (see earlier post about unpickiness). My philosophy is usually that it will grow back! This time feels different. I now understand those melodramatic women who say they will never leave the house again after a bad haircut except maybe to buy more hats. Maybe I'll just become one of those hat people. I look pretty good in hats!

My hair is now orange. Well, the top layer, where I had beautiful expensive highlights is orange and the bottom layer is brown. It looks, well, exactly like I just picked up a box of hair dye and made a very bad decision. However, since Halloween is right around the corner I was thinking maybe I could spin this as part of my costume.

Any ideas on characters with horrible orange hair dye jobs?

Has anybody else ever ruined their hair and lived to tell the tale?

ugg, I'm going back to bed.

Chile?

The last couple of days Frenchie has been coming home from a conference on cancer research all excited and telling me about new research breaking the frontiers of science. Half of it I don't understand, but some of the concepts aren't too hard to grasp and I was getting excited also. I used to be a cancer nerd. My senior year in college my favorite book was Folkman's War all about how Judah Folkman discovered angiogensis. Then he turned out to be our graduation speaker! My friend Rachel and I were the only ones who a) had any idea who he was and b) were excited so we got to go out to lunch with him and got really dorky pictures taken with him. Anyway, Frenchie's stories made me miss working in science.

Then it was my turn to talk about my day.

Em: "I was looking up recipes for chili today but I wasn't coming up with anything"

Frenchie: "umm-hm"

Em: "I was spelling it like the country, Chile, and I thought, maybe I'm spelling it wrong, but I couldn't think of how to spell it correctly!"

Frenchie: fake laugh

Em: "Isn't that funny? I, um, couldn't remember how to spell chili...um, yeah."

Frenchie: leaves room, probably still pondering life-saving cancer research ideas

Em: realizes that this is the worst story ever told and tries to think of a better one. Only other thing I could come up with was how I accidently stole Real Simple from the gym while leaving my brand new Shape magazine there. Decided to keep that one to myself so as not to bore Frenchie right out of our marriage.

This was on Thursday, so Friday I felt slightly inspired and applied for some jobs. Was rejected by one is less than hour, although he did offer me a volunteer opportunity! Thanks a lot buddy. The other one I sent by snail mail so I'm sure it will take at least a week to reject me.

UPDATE: Went back to the gym to try to trade the magazines back but my SELF (it was a SELF, not a SHAPE) was gone! Stupid gym thieves. Now I'll never know how to blast my buns and flush my fat.

One More...

Music

Ani's new CD. I know, I know, Ani is an angry feminist and you hate her music. But seriously, check out this new happy song she has.

"I've got myself a new mantra, it says don't forget to have a good time"

Things Making me Happy Today

My book

I am reading a book right now called "Love Walked In" by Marisa de los Santos. Actually, first I read "Belong to Me" by the same author but it turns out it was a series and "Love Walked In" comes first. I am the first to admit that these books have the worlds cheesiest titles and normally I wouldn't like to admit that I read books by these names. It is really too bad because the author is sort of wonderful. She makes many references to books that we read as children, old movies, and famous poets. I'm sure I miss many of the references but as soon as she mentioned L.M. Montgomery, I was smitten.
The other thing I love about these books is that the stories literally make you feel warm. "Love Walked In" is about a 30 something woman falling in love with an 11 year old girl whose mother went crazy and abandoned her. "Belong to Me" is about friendship between women. I think the refreshing things about these books is how they are love stories, but not traditional love stories between a man and a woman. I definitely recommend these books to all my women friends (sorry men, it probably is a little too much for you), if you can get past the cheesy titles.

My latte

Frenchie said the other day that he was surprised that I am so picky and outspoken about my coffee because I am decidedly unpicky about everything else. I'm just not one of those characters that has strong feelings about things. I know that makes me sound boring, and maybe I am, but I think it's nice, and, well, accommodating to be so accommodating. Anyway, I digress. I have strong feelings about foam. There, I said it. I'm sure this comes from my days as a barista at Starbucks when I prided myself on making the best foam in Beaverton, even though most people didn't appreciate it. A latte has an inch of foam and a cappuccino is half foam, half milk. How hard is that!??! And the freakin' foam should be fresh. Not foam that has been sitting around in the pitcher for half an hour. Gross!

Ok, back to the point. I found the most perfect latte in Boston at L'Aroma Cafe on Newbury Street. The milk is always freshly steamed and poured so that a little heart forms on the top. It tastes like coffee, but not bitter, and the foam lasts until the last sip. This discovery has made living in Boston about 1500 times better. I now go there before my French class and after volunteering at the shelter. The cafe also has really good food, and the service is not horrible. There is one girl who can't smile to save her life but that somehow adds to the European flavor. : )

Now, even for those non-coffee drinkers, doesn't that look good?


My hair

I have to share this awesome hair product that I found. It's called Biosilk, silk therapy and I add just a tiny bit to my hair after showering and it makes it so soft and silky. It smells a little strong at first but the scent fades quickly. I spent a pretty penny on it but I just saw it at TJ Maxx for cheap and I'm pretty sure the bottle is going to last me a really long time. TJ Maxx often has the same products around the country so if you are interested you could check there.

Warning. This is gross!

I decided to have a little snack before going to my cardio flex class at the gym tonight. I grabbed a Kashi GoLean bar that, um, has been in our cupboard for a few months. I started munching down, feeling energized about going to the gym (which I haven't been feeling in a while).

I just happened to look a little closer at my trail mix bar and saw that it looked a little funny. There were little whitish flecks on it that I didn't remember being there on the other bars I had eaten. At first I thought it was just flax seeds because, although I have no idea what flax is or what it looks like, it sounds like something that would be in a Kashi bar and that's what I picture it looking like.

Then...a tiny little worm poked its head out between an almond and a cranberry. After shrieking like a little girl and spitting out everything that was left in my mouth I proceeded to call Frenchie so he could tell me I wasn't going to die. He didn't answer!! So I did the next best thing, called my mother. Her suggestions were to either a) Have a drink because alcohol will kill whatever gross things I ate, b) take a laxative because that would get it out quicker or c) call poison control. Which did get me thinking that somebody should do an interview with poison control to see what sorts of weird calls they get. It must be interesting. Anyway, good suggestions mom, but I decided to just go to the gym anyway and hope that jumping around and sweating out my body weight would get my mind off the grossness. It totally worked, until I got home and started thinking about the incident again. I'm SOOOO grossed out!! Oh yeah, and when Frenchie finally called me back he just laughed at me and then tried to figure out how our Kashi bar got infected. He's such a scientist! That was so not the point of the story.

Anybody else ever accidently eaten something totally disgusting? Or do these things only happen to me?

More cooking!

Two recent winners in the kitchen

Pizza with whole wheat pizza dough, Trader Joe's pizza sauce, portabello mushrooms, spicy sausage, peppers and mozzarella



Roasted Pumpkin Soup



This soup was A...wait for it...mazing! I added about 1/4 cup of cream, no butter and creme fraiche on the top mixed with these crazy little peppers we found at Russo's. Yummy!!!

Suzy Homemaker

Last Friday I was a total stay at home wife. I did the laundry in the morning with some new lavender scented soap, making all our clothes smell like a carebear (says Frenchie), then made a big dinner and a chocolate cream pie.

The other day Frenchie was telling me about a French dish called pot-au-feu which is a fall/winter dish made with cheap meat and winter vegetables. We had a bunch of the ingredients in the house already so I decided to give it a try. I am totally intimidated by meat and usually make Frenchie do everything in the meat department. Buying, cutting, preparing etc, but I put on my big girl shoes and bought some marrow bones and a round roast from Stop and Shop. The recipe calls for a whole bunch of cuts of meat but I wasn't ready for that. I knew Frenchie would be appalled if the marrow bones were not included so I bucked up and bought those. I cooked the marrow bones with the soup to give it flavor and then afterwards spread the marrow on toast with salt. It sounds kind of gross, but it is really good.

Some pics from the night














Unfortunately, the pie has a sad ending. Although it looked pretty good, the chocolate filling didn't set and I accidently added sweetened chocolate instead of unsweetened chocolate so it was super sweet. I dumped the whole thing. I've been having a chocolate craving for weeks now and was hoping this would satisfy it but it definitely didn't. I guess not every recipe can work out.

Something to love

...about Boston! I can be kind of a grump when it comes to Boston. Rude people trying to punch me or wagging their fingers at me. But there is something I love, when the Red Sox are in the playoffs. I wasn't a fan before moving to Boston 6 years ago, nor did I even watch baseball, but it is infectious here. Especially after the season where they won for the first time in 87 million years, I was converted, much to the chagrin of die hard fans who say I don't deserve to be a fan because I'm not a true Bostonian. Whatever, I'm sure the Sox don't care who's watching their games and buying their tickets!

The thing I love is how the city comes together. We went to a bar last night down the street from our house and everybody was high fiving and talking and yelling. It was like the good ol' Bust a Bucket days! Of course, I was about 10 years old then and definitely not at a bar, but you get the point. Also in Boston you get the great city accent, especially if you go to a more divy bar. I swear the guy next to us was one of the Affleck brothers. He looked and sounded exactly like Casey Affleck in Gone Baby Gone. I think he thought I was a little weird because I kept staring at him instead of the game but I finally decided it wasn't him.

Well, of course none of this is mind boggling to avid sports fans from all over. This must be why people like it so much! But it is something specific to the Red Sox for me, and something to love about being stuck in Brookline.

Suggestions

Does anybody have any suggestions for blogs I should read? I have a list of the ones I check on the left but I need more. These people don't update enough (hint hint Margot).

Not so Great Expectations

The most annoying part about the debate last night was the commentary afterwards. I heard so many critics saying that McCain redeemed himself last night because he didn't say anything stupid. Well, it was the same with the vice-presidential debate because everybody had such low expectations of Sarah Palin that when she didn't drool on herself or curse out the mediator they said it was a success. Does this make him good enough to be President or her good enough to be Vice-President? The country had such low expectations of McCain because of the previous debates and his low ratings recently that it wasn't hard for him to exceed those expectations!

I hope Americans are smart enough to realize that mediocre is not enough! And Obama has been consistently professional, well spoken and smart. Seems like an easy choice to me.

In other news, Joe the Plumber is not actually named Joe and he may not even be a plumber. Oops! Poor guy's life was probably ruined by this debate.

Did you just wag your finger at me?

After my French class today I stopped into a tea shop to buy some loose leaf tea and grabbed a cup of brewed tea. I stopped in the Pottery Barn to check out some overpriced throw blankets (so soft!) with my tea. No problemo. I continued walking and saw a newish store on Newbury Street called Zara. I have been to this store in Paris before, I think it is Spanish, and it is a European style store with H&M prices. I decided to take a quick look and opened the door. Right inside the door a man in a suit was standing there. It is not surprising to see a security guard in the stores in Boston so I didn't think anything of it. However, as soon as I opened the door, he started wagging his finger at me! He didn't say a word, just wagged his finger and stared at my tea cup.

Well, since I remember what it was like to be 5 years old, I assumed that I was doing something wrong and asked him if I could not have the drink in his store. He shook his head and so I awkwardly walked back out the door with my drink. It took me a couple minutes but as I continued down the street I started to get really pissed! I mean, first of all, why can't I have a closed drink in their store? It's not like they are selling $2000 T-shirts. It's cheaper than the Gap for gosh sakes. Second, how about using your words stupid security guard. Where do you get off wagging your finger at me instead of nicely telling me that I can't have a drink in your store? Finally, would you have done this to anybody who walked in your store? Was it because I was not dressed to Newbury street standards today? Did I look like I was going to drop my covered cup of tea on a $50 pair of pants because I did not put on makeup this morning and I was wearing a cheap T-shirt?

Grr, anyway, I'm over it now. But I was not that impressed with Zara in the first place and now I'm definitely not impressed.

PS. I'm watching the Presidential debates right now and McCain is totally bombing! I just hope the critics agree with me.

Some recent photos...

The World's Longest Sofa at the World's Most Crowded Oktoberfest


Caramel Apple Before (wow, good hair day huh?)

Caramel Apple After...and a not very impressed Frenchie

Beautiful Day

Check out those paws!

Something almost happened today

My phone gave me it's cheerful whistle at 6:50am this morning. As soon as I woke up enough to think, I knew that the one thing I had to look forward to this week was not going to happen. I was supposed to have a job interview this morning at 8:30am. I had my suit all laid out, I got new shoes (always a good luck charm) and googled the heck out of my interviewer. I was ready! But instead, here I am, another day stretching out in front of me with nothing productive to do. I mean except for the yoga and bootcamp class I'm planning on attending, which, while giving some structure to the day, does not contribute anything to society. It barely even contributes to my health since it doesn't seem to matter how much I work out, everything is the same.

Someday I know I will miss this period of unemployment and I will be busy and stressed again. But for now I feel like a lump.

Leef Peepers

Last weekend Frenchie and I ventured about 3 hours north to Rochester, VT. A tiny, adorable little town in Central Vermont. As soon as we crossed the border everything looked "vermonty." I mean, even if you have never been to Vermont, I'm sure you have a picture in your mind of what it should look like. Well, in October at least, it definitely looks like that. Rolling hills of oranges, reds and browns, cute white churches, hippies selling baked goods and antique books, and many outdoorsy stores where you can get your very own fleece vest for $400. I must admit though, it was chilly there and those fleece items were very tempting.

When we got back to Boston fall had started here as well. It is absolutely beautiful. Everything smells good, the air is crisp, people are starting to wear their new boots and coats and apples are everywhere! It is hard to believe that in a month it will be snowing and bitterly cold. I guess we better enjoy this while it lasts!

Female Bonding

Last week I found myself walking alone down Newbury Street and suddenly felt depressed and very lonely. Seeing groups of women shopping together, eating together, and just talking made me crave female company. Most times in my life I have had almost constant female contact with either roommates or coworkers. Now I find myself living with my husband, not working, and having very few friends in Boston. Of course I love that I am finally with Frenchie but I feel an actual craving for female friendship. That day, I called a friend and we went to our favorite pizza place and after an hour I felt refreshed. It didn't matter what we talked about or that we ate fatty pizza, it is just that we talked and we listened.

I decided to do some research into this feeling to see if anybody was studying this phenomena. I found a researcher, Shelley E. Taylor, who studies how women and men deal with stress differently. She found that while men seek their mate when they are stressed, women tend to seek other females. She points out that primates have this same tendency but while female monkeys will groom each other, human females bond by talking about feelings, gossiping and doing social activities together.

Psychologists discovered this intriguing benefit of the company of women by doing stress studies in the laboratory. The invite women individually into their labs to do stressful tasks like mental arithmetic and public speaking and provide the company of a supportive woman or man during the stress tasks. Women's stress responses are typically greater, not lower, in response to a supportive male companion (even if he is the woman's own boyfriend!), but when the supportive companion is another woman, stress responses usually go down.

This probably seems obvious to the women reading this because it is so natural for most women, but I think it is nice to be reminded of this option. So if you are feeling stressed, call a friend! And if you are reading this and are one of my friends, call me. I miss my girls!

Oh, and check out the new Followers gadget on the side. If you do read my blog, become a follower!

Crazy Dog!

This dog thinks it is a cat. Or a monkey.

Underwear Radius

Yesterday I was watching an episode of one of my favorite shows, How I Met Your Mother (it's the new Friends and Doogie Howser is in it!). One of the characters, Marshall, is a recent law school graduate who is unemployed and got to the point where he was not putting on pants all day long. The gang was talking about the "underwear radius" which is the distance one will travel while in their underwear (first, you open your door to get the paper, next, you walk to the mailbox, and eventually you run out for some food in your boxers). Ted, one of the other characters, explained that the more of a loser you feel like, the larger your underwear radius is. This cracked me up because it is something that I am very familiar with. Instead of underwear though I wear my Costco lounge pants all day. I have reached the point where I get the mail and take out the trash with these on. Because, well, I just don't care!!! I also rarely care enough to brush my hair, shave my legs, or put on makeup. Poor Frenchie!!

I think it might be time for me to find a reason to put pants on in the morning. I'm really going to start the job search now. I mean it, really!! Well, maybe tomorrow. It's already 2:30 which only leaves my 9 hours before I have to go to bed and a lot of mindless tasks to get done before then. : )

UPDATE: I went to the library (in regular pants) but not until I was standing in front of the shelves did I realize that my pants were unzipped. Oops! Was I embarrassed? ehhh, not really. Also, I put on a new jacket that I got the other day at H&M and realized that the tag was still on. I wore that jacket the entire day on Saturday with the tag on. Awesome.

GET IT TOGETHER EMILY!!!