Cookies with a 6¾ Year Old

Not six, not almost seven; six and three-quarters…anything different is just not her age according to Anneliese.  So to be correct, six and three-quarters is the age of my friend Katie’s little cousin Anneliese.  Katie was babysitting this bundle of energy who had the wonderful idea of making cookies for Katie’s boyfriend Kai.  Take a look at our adventure!

Anneliese

Katie made sure our trip was extra eco-friendly by not only walking to the store,
but by bringing our own bags!

Kid size carts at Lunardi's are the best.

 

Anneliese picked out all the ingredients on her own:  cookie mix, eggs, butter, chocolate syrup, golden grahams, M&Ms, sprinkles, and frosting.



Cooking



Cookie mix wasn't my first choice since I love homemade cookies but they certainly are easy to make.

 

The bakers

We decided to add the M&Ms to the mix.

Anneliese wanted to make Kai chocolate milk while he waited for cookies.

And she had to add her special ingredients:  whipped cream topped with golden graham cereal.



Kai loved it.



Kai had his own special cookie.



And so did the rest of us.

Adding the finishing touches.

Kai loved his cookies complete with Golden Grahams on the side.

Rules to Live By

A Warm Welcome Home

They say that dogs are the most loyal animals in the world, and my golden retriever, Amber, is no exception.  She practically tackled me when I arrived today and always insists on sleeping in my room when I am back home.  When she is happy to see you, she has this peculiar habit of crying like a human by placing a sock or ball in her mouth.  The funny thing is I am sure she could do this without anything in her mouth, but she does not realize this. 

Amber

Amber and I are alike in more ways than you may think.  One, we have blonde hair.  Two we can both be extremely stubborn.  Three we love going on walks.  Four we think peanut butter is one of the best foods in the world.  Five, we both have long torsos and shorter legs.  And six, when we see something happening, we always want to be right in the middle of the action instead of a mere observer.

Amber in action...

 Running.

 Looking for her tennis ball.

 Smelling the flowers.

 Stuck on a lawn chair.

Playing fetch.

A Mid-Finals Fiesta

In honor of Cinco de Mayo my friend Kim, roommate Chloe, and I decided to take a study break and make a Mexican inspired dinner.  We came across a recipe on cookinglight.com for Chipotle Shrimp Tacos and figured we should try it.  At the grocery store we made sure to get uncooked shrimp after ending up with rubbery shrimp when we tried using already cooked shrimp the last time we tried cooking.  The recipe was incredibly easy and could not have taken more than 15 minutes to prepare absolutely delicious tacos that we paired with Spanish rice.

Chipotle Shrimp Tacos

Ingredients

·         2 teaspoons chili powder

·         1 teaspoon sugar

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

·         1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chile powder

·         32 peeled and deveined large shrimp (about 1 1/2 pounds)

·         1 teaspoon olive oil

·         8 (6-inch) white corn tortillas

·         2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce

·         1 ripe avocado, peeled and cut into 16 slices

·         3/4 cup salsa verde

Preparation

·         1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; add shrimp, tossing to coat.

·         2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp mixture to pan; cook 1 1/2 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from heat.

·         3. Heat tortillas in microwave according to package directions. Place 2 tortillas on each of 4 plates; arrange 4 shrimp on each tortilla. Top each tortilla with 1/4 cup lettuce, 2 avocado slices, and 1 1/2 tablespoons salsa.

Oatmeal Scotchies

I am in the middle of finals which means my days are consumed by studying.  However, my favorite Pandora country station makes it much more enjoyable.  So when my headphones broke mid-study session the other night, I was desperate.  I tweeted that I would bake cookies for whoever would bring headphones to the library for me.  Well the powers of social media are amazing because within two minutes my roommate texted me that she was outside the library with headphones and that she was expecting cookies soon.  I decided to look through my cookie recipes and came across one of my favorites, Oatmeal Scotchies.  I made some over Easter break and think I may make them as my roommate’s thank you.

Oatmeal Scotchies

Ingredients:

·         1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

·         3/4 cup granulated sugar

·         3/4 cup packed brown sugar

·         2 large eggs

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract or grated peel of 1 orange

·         3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats

·         1 2/3 cups (12oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Butterscotch Flavored Morsels

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats and morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 7 to 8 minutes for chewy cookies or 9 to 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

PAN COOKIE VARIATION:
Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen bars.

Adventures with Chicken Curry

I realized that I still have not done a post about cooking and since it is one of my favorite hobbies, I figured that I better start.  My friend Alvin was doing a class project on India and needed to make an Indian dish for his class so I suggested that he make chicken curry.  We found a recipe in my mom’s book of 20 minute meals and decided to make it.  How they call these 20 minute meals I still do not know!  It practically took us 20 minutes to cut the onions…partially because my eyes were watering so I could not even see what I was cutting and partially because I could not figure out what the burning plastic smell was which I later realized was the empty frying pan on the heated stove.  However, an hour later we had tons of delicious chicken curry which his class loved!

Alvin keeping an eye on the curry.

Looking Good.

Watch out for the steamy rice.



Chicken Curry

1 ½ TBS. Vegetable Oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

¼ tsp. salt

2 tsp. curry powder

1 can (12 to 14 oz.) unsweetened coconut milk

1 cup diced tomatoes

2 TBS. tomato paste

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1-inch strips

3 cups fresh baby spinach

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and the salt.  Cook until softened, about 7 minutes, stirring often.  Add the curry powder and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute. 

Stir in the coconut milk, tomatoes, and tomato paste.  Cook for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.

Add the chicken, stir well, and cook 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  Stir in the spinach and cook for 3 minutes or until wilted, stirring occasionally.  Season to taste with salt. Serve over rice.

Makes 4 servings.

Easter Eggs & Empty Graves

Easter mornings at our house always consist of church, an egg hunt where we are each assigned a specific number of eggs to find, and of course, dyeing Easter eggs.  It is always special to not only celebrate this holiday but the meaning behind it; this year was no exception.  When it came time to dyeing the Easter eggs, I could not help but snap a couple of pictures and managed to capture a few key moments.

The counters were covered, eggs set out, and dye prepared.

 Candy is crucial to any egg decorating session.

Kevin decided to be artsy and draw on his egg with a white crayon before dyeing it. 
 Looks like someone may need to wash their hands though.

 The egg dye was not as strong as we had hoped so it took a bit of

patient waiting, sprinkles, and food coloring to properly dye our eggs.

 Just receiving a little advice from the expert.

A couple of the eggs cracked along the way...

But Brian saw it as the perfect opportunity to have a snack.

And of course Dad had to record everything on his ancient video camera. 

 But overall the eggs truned out pretty cute.

Easter weekend was a success and wonderful time to refocus before finals.  Our pastor showed a neat video during the church service called "Reverse Thinking" and I encourage y'all to check it out if you have the chance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgFU5Ak88-k&feature=related!

Friday Night Time Travel

During my senior year of high school, Friday nights meant one thing, lacrosse games.  All of our closest guy friends and boyfriends played lacrosse so we would all get decked out in green and gold to go cheer them on.  Afterwards we would all meet up at In-N-Out Burger so the boys could get something to eat. 

My friends at their championship game.

One of my three brothers, Brian, is now a sophomore in high school and currently in the middle of his lacrosse season.  So since I am home this weekend for Easter, I of course wanted to see him play in his game on Friday. 

Brian (#25) at his game.

Brian’s game was particularly inspirational to watch because one of his coaches who was there.  This coach found out at the beginning of the season that he had Stage 3 lung cancer, but he decided to not let this stop him.  To support him, Brian and all of his teammates buzzed his initials on the back of their heads.  Even in the middle of chemo, he still shows up at the games and was coaching and yelling just as much as ever on the sidelines. 

Still coaching in spite of everything.

Lacrosse, for those of you who have never seen the sport, is an incredibly fast paced game that is a mixture between hockey, football, and a bit of soccer.  It is by far my favorite sport to watch because you never get bored or have to wait around for someone to score.  The ball is constantly flying and people are attacking each other from all angles (my mom’s least favorite part of the game).

My mom's hands are constantly clasped as she watches the game. 
Note the cheat sheet of players' names and numbers.

As I sat watching the game, I could not help but be taken back in time.  I still remember each of my friends’ numbers so when I saw the numbers on the jerseys of Brian’s teammates, it seemed like my friends were playing on the field.  The field was decorated by leadership with posters that had the same sayings that we would use and the same green and gold streamers that we put up. 



Streamer, posters, and metal bleachers.

The only difference was that at the end of the game, I would not be going down to the field to brave the unbearable smell of sweaty pads to give a congratulatory hug to all of my friends.  However, I still was able to give a hug to one sweaty player, my brother and that was good enough for me.

Moments

we do not

remember days...

we remeber

moments.

(cesare pavese)



This past weekend I spent the night in Austin with two of my roommates, Chloe and Emily, to celebrate all of the great things happening in our lives.  Within a 7 day period, Emily and Chloe both celebrated birthdays and I found out that I got an internship in NYC for the summer.  We had a wonderful time relaxing by the pool, getting dressed up, and going out for a delicious dinner at Ranch 616.  It was not the trip itself that was so special, but all the little moments, the laughs shared, and pictures taken that will make us remember our time together forever.



Between the three of us we brought about 15 dresses for less than 24 hrs.

 

The Austin city view from Chloe's family's apartment where we stayed.

What's a birthday party without a birthday hat??



Chloe



Emily



Lisa



Just in case you were wondering how we took a picture of all three of us...
Self-timer, a little bit of balancing, and a Shipley's Donut box work wonders.