Hot chocolate with a twist

Several years ago, I had some hot chocolate in the Arcadia Mall at the Wedel Chocolate shop. It was- amazing. Thick and creamy, more like the drinking chocolate we had in Spain with our churros. With a twist. Served with hot pepper syrup. 

Some time last year, I had this brain storm. What if I melted this chocolate bar and mixed it with milk. 

So I did and it was good- really good. One bar makes enough for at least 2 people. To get it right, the chocolate:milk ratio is about 1:2, approximately. To taste, I reckon, is a better way to say it. It's rich, for sure. 

So then I messed around with adding ground, hot pepper. Which was good enough but not quite 'the thing', you know? 

So last week, I did some googling. Several people are coming this way in the next year or so. And I was thinking: Why not find some online and have someone bring it over?
Turns out the syrup doesn't actually stay nice very long. Everything I saw said Make it fresh and use within 2 - 4 weeks.

And all those syrups are for making mixed drinks. Here's a very simple recipe I found. 

Peppers, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water

melting the chocolate, mixed with milk

Finished syrup

And in my cup! Oh my. Very yummy.
I'm now on the lookout for hotter peppers. Ukrainians aren't big on hot peppers; the ones I found aren't actually hot but warm...and that heat was diluted quite a bit in the syrup making process. 

Pinterest Fail

Or it would be if I'd gotten the idea off of Pinterest.

And no- There won't be a pic of this fail. It is delicious, though. Remember that!
You know those white chocolate covered pretzel things that have been on the scene a few years now? The ones that are first dipped in melted white chocolate and then rolled in/sprinkled with crushed peppermint candies? Here---> These Things. Well I do love them. And I've made them several times. And, you know, they've always turned out pretty decently. Someone brought me the makings not so long ago. Yesterday seemed like the time to make some. And for the first time ever- Wow. I mean those babies are UGLY. I mean the chocolate did not at all cooperate and they are.... just.... amazingly unpretty. (They taste good, however. Their deliciousness is directly proportional to their ugliness.) :)

And then there's the win.
Someone made eggnog last week and promised to save some for me...and didn't. At all. Boo-hoo. So, I went shopping for eggs and cream yesterday and made some MYSELF. So there. And guess what? It is Exceedingly Delicious! This is the recipe (pretty simple, actually). I made half a recipe, omitted the rum and used 2 small tubes of rum flavoring instead. Try it. I'm not kidding. If you like eggnog, you will LOVE this stuff!

This is exactly how I feel about math. Unfortunately, I was never very good at pushing numbers. And- speaking of math. I saw how my nephew is learning math now. It looked like a nightmare come true. If we thought math was hard in our day, I'm not sure what these poor kids have. At least our math problems never took a whole page PER problem until well into calculus. Goodness. I really don't understand how the new way is anything but more confusing.

It is that time of year. Again. Already. I'm sort of stunned. 2014 seemed to just vanish. Here's wishing you all the best possible 2015...keeping in mind that this might not come about exactly how we think but that it will be the best if we are careful on our part to choose wisely. And I'm off to have a 'cup of kindness'--- see above re that eggnog! ;)

And lunch?

It was delicious!

No pix but a link. I was given this recipe this morning.  I found the website it came from (look back there).
But no pix. Not even of my incarnation.
But take my word for it- It was very nice.

Chicken With Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

Ingredients

·         4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 1/2 pound total)

·         1 tablespoon olive oil (I used more)

·         4 garlic cloves, minced (Should have used more)

·         1/4 cup drained sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil; 1/2 ounce), patted dry and coarsely chopped

·         3/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes

·         1/4 cup cooking wine (link calls for dry white wine; I used red and it was fine.)

·         3/4 cup chicken broth

·         1/4 cup heavy cream

·         1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

Preparation

Pat chicken dry and season with salt and black pepper. Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown chicken, turning once, about 6 minutes total. (Chicken will not be cooked through.) Transfer with tongs to a plate. (I cut the chicken into large pieces at this point; strips would also be nice.)

(This is where I added about another TBS of olive oil so that the garlic wouldn't burn as the skillet was quite sticky.) Add garlic, tomatoes, and red pepper flakes to skillet and sauté, stirring, until garlic is pale golden, about 1 minute. Add wine and boil, stirring and scraping up brown bits, until reduced by half, about 1 minute. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil, covered.

Add chicken to skillet with any juices accumulated on plate and simmer, covered, until just cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer chicken with tongs to a platter and keep warm, loosely covered with foil. Stir cream and 2 tablespoons basil into sauce in skillet and bring just to a simmer.

Transfer sauce to a deep heatproof bowl or 1-quart glass measure and purée with an immersion blender until almost smooth. (Alternatively, blend sauce in a standing blender. Use caution when blending hot liquids.) If necessary, add water to thin to desired consistency, then season with salt and pepper.
Serve sauce over chicken and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons basil.
This one, as far as I'm concerned, is a keeper. It was fantastic. And, I'm pretty sure it'd be very nice with roasted peppers instead of (or in addition to) the dried tomatoes.

See this? This pic of the red sauce? Do you even know how yummy it is and how easy it is to make? This is the reason to eat pasta. It's the reason to eat bread sticks (which you really really need, right? I thought so).

Ok. So now look at that up there. That would be a cheese quesadilla from here. (Prepackaged, ready to heat and eat.) But they're super easy to make, too. And super yummy.
Yesterday, our Tuesday evening English club stood us up. Completely. But K had already made the quesadillas. There was a part of a jar of whole canned tomatoes in the fridge. There is oregano, basil and black pepper in the cupboard. There is garlic in the fridge. After peeling those 'maters, I rough-chopped them and dumped them into a small kettle. And liberally added the basil and oregano. Pressed a clove of garlic into it. Added a dash of salt and a dash of pepper. Mixed. Simmered for about 10 min. (No onions or olive oil this time. Actually, I don't typically use olive oil in my sauce but most recipes call for it. If I use onion, though, I always saute it in a bit of oil. Onward.)
So then we ate those leftover, reheated quesadillas with this wonderful marinara sauce. I'm telling you, it's been a good day! So delicious. And so easy. And so.....
Happy. That is the perfect word for it! And you know what? Turns out you can marry Mexican and Italian food to each other (especially if you're in Ukraine using substitutes for the quesadillas-

ha) and everyone's pretty happy with the situation! (all about lavash)
Marinara sauce pic from here.
And then I had Earl Gray tea and that really made life full of purrs.
:)

Grape Nuts...and other yummies

How funny. I've had Shredded Wheat (the hay bale kind, not the mini's) and Grape Nuts as many mornings as I could manage while in the US and I wasn't at all ready to quit. It was a treat, in fact, to have those again. So this time, Agnes, we are poles apart. :)

And speaking of grape nuts. Did you know you can make them? You can. :) Here's how:


8 pounds whole wheat flour (28 cups)
4 pounds brown sugar (8 cups)
3 quarts buttermilk (10 cups)
1 pound butter (1 1/2 cups), melted
1 cup vinegar
3 tablespoons soda
2 tablespoons vanilla
2 teaspoons maple flavoring

-Mix ingredients

- Bake in cake pans @325F until well done

-Cool

-When cold, crumble and put back in pans

-Dry @170 F (all night/day)

(When the cake has cooled, I break it up into big chunks and then let it dry a bit before grating it- like you grate carrots, for instance.) 

And then there was this recipe recently... hmmm. oooo- or even better- THIS one! Or...this one!!! (Speaking of the above comic strip.)

And since we're drooling over sweet things we'll never make or eat (because I-don't-eat-sugar-except-when-I-do)- well, there's these...

'scuse me, I gotta go get a towel... got a little damp around here... 

How is it nearly a month (AGAIN) since the last post? What is up with me?
Well... this blog never did have any obligations attached to it (in my mind) so I guess nothing! Nothing is up with me. I do have a pile of stuff in my head and on my hard drive that I eventually plan/want to write about. But.
So what is up? Life for one.
And, amid the busyness of our day to day life, life has also been this:

We took a long walk in a park and saw a lot of bridal parties... including this one (well- ok, this is just the bride and groom and photog) on the way home. 

Someone in this building has twins. The double stroller is always parked under the stairwell in the entrance of the building. In fact, looks like 2 strollers there. I've been seeing this all summer.

And ok- it's not summer anymore. This granny was out in her garden working the other day. This is definitely a huge part of life right now as people clear out the last of their gardens. This one was in a large field near our apartment building. Several dozen families (I'm guessing) have plots in it and on a good sunny day the place is crawling with people.

Anyone know what this plant is? There's a large field of it nearby...

ahhh- it's sideways... ooops
Well anyhow- anyone know what it is???? I thought a weed; K says Can't be- it looks too planted. 

Sorry California. You want poppies? We got 'em. And they're purty, too. And they're still (again?) blooming. :) They are happening!

And this. Canola. Rape Seed. Can you double-crop this stuff? Because it sure seems late in the year for it to be blooming. And will it actually produce a harvest? What say the farmers?

And these Very Cheery Beauties!

And, of course, Life has been food. I love food. ;)
Someone fixed fixed this (German eggs in mustard sauce) for our lunch a month ago in Germany. There is no good pic online that actually resembles what we had (and what I tried to recreate last week). But here's a verbal depiction:
-White sauce (about a TBS of flour's worth) with about a TBS regular yellow mustard
-Served over hard-boiled halved eggs and boiled potatoes.
I'm not a huge fan of German food but this qualifies as comfort food, in my opinion. It is creamy yellow (what's not comforting about that?) and mild and delicious. You can play around with the amount of mustard. The veggie broth in the sauce adds a nice flavor. I did NOT use boullion cubes- they're full of MSG you know!
and another day's lunch- savory millet- this needs some work yet. I didn't make it into patties but served it in place of rice with meat. Flavor was good but definitely need to start with less liquid and add if you need more. Wished it were drier. But going to try it again and see how it goes. 

A Pizza Day

Mom and I had an interesting day today. We made pizzas. Lots of them. Or rather, we helped make pizzas. And when I say lots--it definitely was lots. Like about 2200 - 2400. Yep. (I said we helped...)

Here's the story. Last fall, Dad's nephew M (20) got sick and sicker. In the end, he was put on kidney dialysis while he recovered his strength enough to have a transplant. (As far as I know, no one really knows why his own kidneys failed.) Initial plans were for his twin bro to donate a kidney but because of a prior accident and scarring, he was eliminated. Two of his older sisters were also matches. One is a mom; one isn't. I don't know how they worked that out between them but K, the unmarried sis with no children gave one of her kidneys to her bro 2 1/2 weeks ago. Both are doing very well.
Both are Amish, as is the whole family. ie- No insurance. The church will help cover the costs. But they're also doing a pizza drive tomorrow to help defray costs.
So, this morning, a pole barn (clean; very clean, thanks. No kidding.) was set up for assembly line pizza production. Three long rows of tables covered in clear plastic. Eight or nine stations marked out on each side of the tables. Tubs of ingredients down the middle of the tables- someone on each side of the table working out of each tub.
A pizza supply company brought refrigerated trucks with the pre-cooked, shredded, diced, etc, ingredients.
The pole barn was set up right to left with the far right end being for opening huge cans of sauce; bags of ham, sausage and pepperoni; big bottles of oil... whatever was going (I only worked on meat lovers; have no idea what went on the supremes) and dumping them into big tubs. Production started with stacks of pre-baked crusts. Each person did one thing to the pizza and pushed it down the line. Crust on cardboard circle -> Oil -> Sauce -> Sausage  -> Ham -> Pepperoni  -> Pepperoni -> Cheese -> Bag it (2 man job) -> Box it. Someone at the end of each table marking pizza boxes with an 'M' (meat lovers) or 'S' (supreme). And 3 guys like my uncle (Dad of the surgery kids) loading boxes on dollies and running them back up into the refrig trucks.
Production was supposed to start at 12. Word at my aunt's yesterday was get there early, it'll start earlier. We got there about 11.15 - right in the middle of lunch. They'd started sometime around 9.15 and had already done 1000. Things started back up at noon. Sometime around 2 or 2.30 we ran out of sauce (this was a major miscalculation or something. There was more on the way but the truck hadn't arrived yet) and everything stopped. Mercifully. There was coffee and lots and lots of very yummy homemade cookies and cakes and trailmix and that sort of thing. And coffee. Did I mention the coffee??? ;)
Mom and I left about 3.15 (no sauce yet; I think there were a bunch more of the cousins' friends and relatives coming later... I hope). My aunt estimated that they had about 600 - 800 left to make at that time. They were planning on making 4000, total.
So, from 12 - 2, 2.30 approx 2200 - 2400 pizzas were assembled.
No kidding- that's a lot of pizza.

Neat stuff

• 2 tables (4 lines) doing meat lovers; 1 table (2 lines) doing supreme.
• 2 pepperoni stations/line- each person did half the pizza; one did 8 slices, one did 7
• Sharpie marker instructions at each station telling specifically what to do (ie- 1 level cup of cheese/pizza; 7 slices pepperoni; etc...)
• lots of boxes of latex gloves around-- not so neat if you have a latex prob :( . 
• backless Amish church benches with legs collapsed along the outside edges of the length of the tables, also covered in plastic. This provided a raised working space for us to slide the pizzas along. It also meant the tubs were in a depression in the middle of the tables and easily available to both people with no sliding around of the tubs. 
• there were a lot of men involved. Now, a lot of the guys were somewhere else at a job. But there were a lot of them there, too. I don't know how many people helped but I'm guessing around 100 - 150 while we were there. 

Tomorrow morning, the family goes at 6.30 to divide the pizzas into 'bundles'; each bundle goes with a clear plastic-wrapped map with a fairly small route marked in red. Cars are supposed to be on site at 7.10 to be loaded. Each team - consisting of a driver and a 'runner' - takes off and covers their designated area. There will be people back on site with cell phones monitoring the whole thing. If a team finishes their area and has pizza left, they'll be sent to someone who needs help; if a team runs out of pizza, another team will come to help or more pizza sent out to them. 

One thing that stands out to me about this is how supremely well organized it all is. Believe me, today's work (from where I was working- cheese first and then pepperoni (8 slices, thanks))- went off with only the sauce hitch. I mean- 2200 pizzas in 2+ hours... that's efficient. We walked in and started working. There were a few ladies (aunts on the other side of the family, I think) running the thing and they had it under control. 

Dad, Mom and I are going in the morning with 2 cars... maybe my bro, P, too? 

So- did you also notice that there are a lot of cars involved? ;) I don't know how many teams there will be but quite a few, I think. Here's the thing- My cousin M is a young guy- 20. He's not married (but has a girlfriend). He has a truck (a NICE truck) and so do a lot of his over-16-also-not-married buddies. NE IN has a very large Amish population. The area we'll be working in is heavily populated with Amish. There are a lot of vehicles in the neighborhood. ;)

And No, I didn't get a pic. I wanted to. Very much. I even had my camera. But I didn't. It was an impressive setup and operation. But, well, they're my family, a lot of them; they officially don't want pictures taken. They might have let me had I asked. But in the end, I didn't want to put anyone on the spot. 

UPDATE:
Several have asked about the follow-up of the pizza day- this is long overdue.



Dad, Mom and I were on deck at 7.20 am Saturday (the following day) to help sell pizzas. There were 30 teams working Amish neighborhoods. I drove; my cousin and 1 of her young cousins took the pizzas and the collection bucket to the doors. We started out with 95 pizzas; by 10.10, we were out of pizzas. 
Note- you can show up at 7.something AM at an Amish house and sell them stuff... and they'll be smiling and dressed and buying... and in the middle of their day's work. Well- if you're Amish or your cause is tied to them, that is! ;)
Amish areas have an 'Amish Directory'- sort of like a plat book- very detailed maps showing individual property- only they include only the Amish of that area and are organized by church district. Each team had copy of a page or 2 from the Directory with a highlighted route to follow. Our route was about 4 - 5 miles long. We drove into the yard of each Amish home, the 2 girls with me went to the door, explained what the pizzas were for and usually sold at least 1 pizza. Everything was by donation. Money (or checks) were collected in a plastic ice cream bucket with a hole cut into the lid. Several people gave $$ but wouldn't take a pizza.
Since they have no health insurance (or any insurance), they expect to help each other. It's part of being a member of the church, as nearly as I could tell. We only stopped in at one 'English' (non-Amish) place because of close ties between them and my aunt and uncle and their family. The area our team was in is so heavily populated with Amish that there is some sort of fund-raising drive there nearly every weekend. 
Our group got back in pretty good time. Mom and Dad were way out on the western edge of things so were among the last to get back. While I waited for them, I hung around drinking coffee and chatting with my uncle's family while they sorted and counted the proceeds (and then sent them to the bank). They needed to average just over $5/pizza to break even and had nearly doubled that by the time we left. My uncle was pleased. (I have no idea what kind of a dent that made in the total cost of the operation.)

High Time

High time to do an update... as Gary noted in the comments on my 2nd to last post! ;) 

We sometimes invented our own games as kids... they weren't usually actually playable...

I've noticed (being with my babies) that we adults allow ourselves more liberty with what we say and when and how than many kids are allowed. Is this OK? Sometimes I think it is- we do, after all (in general) have a better grasp of just what we are saying and what all the voice inflections mean and such. Sometimes I'm not so sure. Maybe we should be more careful with what we let slip through our lips. It is, I suppose, healthy. 

Of course, if you have to go, you have to go. There's something to be said for not whining and for getting into the bathroom at a time when it's convenient and appropriate. But, as a few folks can confirm, sometimes, it's best to get the kid in there NOW no matter if you did just ask them 10 min ago and they said No, don't have to... I'm thinking of a darling child from 13 years ago who has grown into a beautiful young lady. She colored our lives interesting then... She had a lovely big sis and still does.. and she has a drop dead cute as a bug in a rug little brother now, too. ;) 

Nothing to say. Just staying with the Agnes theme... ;)

For drop-dead delicious do this:
- melt white chocolate (either chunks or chips)
- dip these pretzel chips in the chocolate
- roll in crushed/smashed/crunched (whatever) peppermint discs
- allow to cool (on wax paper)
- eat, indulge, love, roll eyes in mad culinary (I'm sure) delight
- stay off the scales... for the duration. :)

Шашлики on the balcony- overall, a good day!

This weekend, we made short notice plans with some dear friends to come see us this morning. There's that Oh So Grand park across the road from us. If you get yourself officially beyond park boundaries and into the chunks of land people use for gardens, you can legally have a cookout! And- there's a baby grill set in one of the cupboards in the hallway just beside the door here... yum and drool. Yes. Well. We woke up to rain. The kind that looked to last all day (and it did, in fact... but- we've had almost none the past 2 months, so no one's complaining). 

Let's grill on the balcony, I said.

T's face lit up- Yeah! I always wanted to do that last year but Ange always said it'd be a bad idea and better not. 

Aw come on, I said. People at home do it all the time. 

I could tell by T's face that she was psyched by the idea. I went off to the store to buy groceries; T got the potatoes baking and then went off to light the grill.

I came home to laughs and a definite smell of barbecue starter fluid. Our guests had arrived. Are the fire trucks following you? Are scared neighbors beating their frantic way up the stairs? Uh nooooo... 

Weak grins. 

The place is definitely smelling 'grilly'. And every window in the house couldn't be open wider. Apparently, there'd been a slight 'get the fire started' mishap that ended with the entire fire being doused with quite a lot of water. Which explained why the house was full of smoke. 

 

 Anyhooo- onward. New fire fired up. Let the coals heat up while we...

 load the skewers with the marinaded meat...

 and clean, cut and load veggies. (Summer squash, mushrooms, onions)

 In the end, we brought the meat in to the oven to finish and keep warm.

 and pulled out the portable grill/sandwich maker (a freebie from somewhere!!) to finish the veggies...

 and the meat.

 Lunch. It Was Delicious! (**marinade details below)

And our guests. Well- they came to finish some repair stuff here- we can do a lot but changing the innards of a European john/toilet is not (yet) part of my repertoire... 

So- the apt now has a distinct petroleum product smell that vaguely reminds me of my Grandma B's house who has oil lamps and kerosene stoves. I wouldn't say it's such a pleasant smell but it was Grandma's house smell and therefore I don't mind it. It brings back a flood of images and memories. It smells warm. (Their house usually was.)
I guess Ange was right- the balcony here is just not the place to grill.... even without the initial fire starting incident, it proly wouldn't have been a hot idea.

** very simple and very tasty marinade for going-to-grill-it meat
put meat chunks into a plastic baggie and coat with
-mayonnaise
-add salt, lemon slices, crushed garlic.

Friend this summer marinaded the meat for 3 days- super yummy. We did only overnight and it was just fine. Of course, marinade time depends a bit on the quality of meat you have (the tougher the meat, the longer the marinade time). We had pretty scrappy stuff and did ok with an overnight marinade, though.

French herb mix

Patty asked re the French herb mix I use (and love). I'm sure I've mentioned it on here before but can't find it at all... and I guess going through 3 1/2 years of blog posts looking for the blend in the stuff I use... just isn't on my list of things to do. I googled it, though, and found it's actually a pretty common mix. Following are some recipes. And the wikipedia page describing it. Note: Wiki mentions that lavender is added in the American mixes but not included in France. The bottle I have did not have lavender. I somehow think that would be a pretty strong flavor...


the second one here looks very much like the one I have.
this one looks good... but I don't remember fennel seeds in mine...
and this one (minus the lavender) looks good, too. Actually, more like what's in the bottle I have.

The stuff really is good. Very good! yummmmmm

Vegetable Soup

I think I might have blogged this before but it's so good (and so easy), it seemed ok to do it again.

You don't have to start with soup stock- you can but not necessary. If you do, I'd start with chicken or pork. I boiled a chicken breast in a pot of water and then took it out and chunked it up and used it in something else. The soup itself is meatless. A friend who is allergic to MSG taught me to season soups with herbs instead of bouillon cubes or canned soups. Mostly I use basil and a mix I got in France- heavy on the basil.

Pot of chicken breast water. Salt. Lots of sage, basil and the French mix.
Cut up a zucchini-like squash and tossed into the herby chicken breast water.
Cut up pepper, celery, onions, leeks, and grated carrots and potatoes and sauteed (in butter). You can skip the sauteeing- sometimes I do; my friend who showed me how to make this never sautees. The point is to fill your kettle with all the veggies it'll hold- and nearly anything is fair game. I would NOT use broccoli, cauliflower (and not too much celery- very strong flavors) or cabbage. Boil till all the veggies are cooked.
Puree it. (I add more potatoes and puree again if it's not as thick as I'd like.)
Now- I don't know if it will be kid (or husband) friendly- but I love it! Very thick and very yummy. And lo-cal.
Soup is a staple here. I'm guessing most Ukrainians eat it once a day (or so). Oh sure, not everyone likes it but most do. And we eat a lot of it... 

chocolate and mint and such

Do you need a new cookie recipe. Try this one... it looks fantastic!! :)
Speaking of cookies- I got some chocolate the other day- some mint chocolate, of all things- have never seen it here. At All. Yay. However- Boo- it really is just sort of lacking. The chocolate is just not... chocolate. Or something. I'll tell you one thing- we have really good chocolate around these parts. I don't think it's always been that way (although these folks have always preferred their own stuff claiming that it is much better than the Western stuff).
Let's back up. Europe has good chocolate. There is no way to deny it. I love M&M's. I love Snickers bars. I love some other American chocolate stuff. But, for the most part, our chocolate gets blown out of the water by the European stuff. I mean This is where Belgium and Switzerland are. And- well, there's a reason they've got the reputation. The first Ukrn chocolate I had here was not so hot. It was grainy and just... Well, it was 'take it or leave it' (mostly leave it). A few years ago, I discovered this stuff- Roshen. Ok, now we're talking chocolate. Really. Good. Chocolate. Wow. Drop Dead Gorgeous Chocolate. This stuff is soooooo good. It's creamy and rich and just plain smooth and delicious. Eat till you get sick Yummy!
Ok- so back to the ranch- uhh- story. I found this mint chocolate- which is a favorite combination of mine. I got it. A box of it. And it's.... 'take it or leave it' (mostly leave it). But- I have this recipe- wanna see it? 'K. :)
This is from some very good friends- brothers- and I don't remember which one actually came up with the recipe but it's a good one. Thanks for ever giving it to me a hundred years or so, Ryan! ;)

Peppermint Pattie Cookies

• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 TBS milk
• 12-14 small York Peppermint Patties

Beat butter and sugar; add egg and vanilla, blending well. Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. To butter mixture alternately add the flour mixture and the milk, blending well. Refrigerate (till firm enough to handle- about an hour). Lightly grease cookie sheet. Flatten each peppermint pattie. Shape small portion of dough around a pattie, completely covering. Bake @ 350 for 10-12 min (till soft). Important- Do NOT overbake- these are best quite soft. Cool 1 min; remove from pan to wire rack to finish cooling (although they are best while still warm)! And- this dough is very sticky so be ready to get messy hands. 

So- the deal? While the stuff I have out in the kitchen is a LONG ways from York Peppermint Patties (drool- now there's something worth importing!) I'm going to try making these cookies with that stuff... and we'll see how it goes. 

Marmalade Muffins

Darling Sister got this for me awhile back. Dear Friends brought it over in their luggage. We've all enjoyed it. A lot. In fact, the day the mail was delivered, there were a bunch of us and this got passed around and around. I was the last to see it. (That's because I still have some priorities straight and I dug into my personal mail first- thanks, Dear Friends, for still writing.) :)

So- starting on page 58 of the above book, there's a recipe for some scrumptious-looking muffins. I knew the first time I looked at it that I wanted to eat those things. Tues I made a batch. They are pure smile-on-your-face super! Here's the recipe:

• 2 oranges
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 
  
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

preheat oven to 375 F. Grate the zest from the oranges. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Crack in the eggs and mix until well combined. Sift the flour. Add it to the bowl. Gently stir the mixture using as few strokes as possible so that the muffins aren't tough. In a smalll measuring cup or bowl, combine the buttermilk and baking soda. Add the buttermilk mixture to the muffin batter and mix until just combined. Add the orange zest. Mix just until combined, being careful not to overmix. Grease 24 mini muffin tins (I used 18 regular sized muffin papers- my muffins didn't overflow and have the nice baker's hat appearance that PW's do in the book... but that's ok with me.) and fill each 2/3 full with muffin batter. Bake for 12-17 min until light brown. Watch to make sure they don't get too brown.

While the muffins are baking, prepare the glaze. Juice the 2 oranges. Mix the juice with the 1 cup of brown sugar (from above) in a med bowl and stir together just until combined; don't worry about dissolving the sugar completely- you want the glaze to be grainy and textured. As soon as the muffins are done, drizzle the glaze all over the top. Be sure to throroughly coat each muffin. Don't worry if the glaze drips all over the pan- just lick it up later! ;)

And Thanks, Dear Sister, for the cookbook. I've always loved cookbooks and this one is a keeper! xo

oh- hello there!

I'm still here. Really. 

Had a very full, very busy, very run-all-over-the-place time the past 3+ weeks. I'm amazed at people's patience with me, amazed that they will follow my blundering steps off to yet another bus or train or cafe somewhere, amazed that they do all that and smile (!)... amazed and happy and thankful. We've had a really good month. :)

crazy shot but I like it. My green fleece blanket. ;)

See this? Know what it is? Answer: An Oreos ad. Oh- you could tell? Well, OK. Here's what it says: Twist it, Lick it, Dunk it. Oh me, Oh my. Oreos are here and we are glad! ;)

Hoping to see this Monkey tomorrow. She's full of vim and vigor and spit and fire. 

After an all night train, breakfast can be anything at all. Even instant mashed potatoes with onions and cream flavor. Especially when the train gets in at 5.30. Yawn.

It was a foggy day in the foothills of the mountains. Foggy and beautiful. 

This bridge gave me the creeps.

What to do with those old in-ground fuel tanks? Haul them up, clean them out and use them for outbuildings. In a village on the Black Sea, someone turned one of these into a house. ;)

The day (and the area) really was beautiful. This bridge gave me the creeps, too. It's for cars. And is in use. And the 2 girders on the near end are completely buckled. The bridge is held up by 2 tree trunks. 

How they put up hay in these parts. ;)

Favorite shot of the day. 2 liars' benches and a table under the tree. Waiting for the sunshine and some leaves on the tree. 

If you want to make really good garlic bread, start by pressing the garlic and then mashing it with salt (if you don't have a pestle, use a glass as demonstrated by T). Then, you mix that in with softened butter. And if you can't figure out what comes next, well... (hint- You'll need a knife...) The bread was delicious!

Now, we've had 2 quiet days. I had plans for 'doing stuff'- catching up and whatnot. I didn't. I just crashed. It was great. Now, we need to hit the road again! ;) 

anyone know this lady?

she was here not long ago. A very lively and happy time was had by all!

well, these guys didn't have such a great evening, I reckon.

He'll turn and look at you, too. See those eyes? :)

but really? Connie? You can't scare me... not this easily! 

T and I were walking from the metro to K&P's when we passed someone with a bucket full of live crawdads. T knows Ange pretty well, having spent a year with her. She knows she loves seafood since she's from the Atlantic coast. She knew A would know what to do with these little dudes. I was skeptical at first. Usually when you visit someone, they have a menu in mind. Turns out, though, that crawdaddies fit right in so T bought a bagful. Ange cooked them. Someone made a delicious butter/garlic sauce. We all ate them. They were seriously good! Thanks!

And C? It was seriously great to see you again!! Glad you came!