Baking, Working, Fretting & Raining

That's a lot for one post, isn't it? Well, it's gonna happen anyway because I've got the time
and -- well, because I want to.

I stopped by my local bakery (the only local bakery) yesterday on the way to my depo. We sometimes take goodies with us, especially when we're going to be there a while. It's just a nice PR gesture and besides, who doesn't like a cookie about 3 o'clock? I bought a dozen assorted cookies and I paid $8 for them. Seems a little expensive, doesn't it, but in a pinch, what's a Girl Named Kelly Kelly to do? Okay, so I'm driving to the the other side of town and I'm on the cell phone with Suz. Having just snarfed down a hamburger (only the outside, I don't eat the middle), I tell Suz I want something sweet. Now, y'all I have speaker phone in my car so I'm not driving, talking and eating hamburgers and cookies all at the same time, even I'm not that good!

I ask her if she thinks anyone will notice that there's only 11 cookies in the box instead of12. We both agree that no one will. So I choose one of the powdered sugar ones that are to the left in the picture. The ones that look like a blob of something. Which is exactly what it tasted like. The powdered sugar was good. The rest of that cookie was thrown on the side of I-75 north somewhere south of Hartsfield airport. What was that thing?

Along about 4 o'clock we finish the first deposition and are ready to start the second one. One of the attorneys has a cookie, so I decide to also have one. Another one. This time an M&M. I'm thinking of my mom's M&M cookies. So light and crisp, sometimes soft and chewy. I bite into that thing and I taste a fish. I swear, y'all it tasted like a fish. I think the recipe called for an entire box of baking soda. I didn't say anything to anyone, and no one went back for seconds. I brought back home a box with 9 of the worst cookies ever made. And as you can see from the picture above that I made this morning, they're still here. And if you know my Big Boys, if a cookie lasts eight hours in my house, it must be really bad.

Which leads me to my next topic. I would like to be a baker. I don't bake very much. But I like to eat baked goods. I know lots of good bakers, and I know what tastes good. As it is, I'm a court reporter. I love my job. I really do. It's very stressful, but it's satisfying and I don't get bored with it. It keeps me aware of how strange -- I mean different -- people can be. It makes me thankful I'm not shoveling chicken parts in a chicken plant or slipping and falling in a grocery store or getting rear-ended once every year or working 1500 hours of overtime and not getting paid for it or putting a $5,000 car stereo in my car, but not making my car payments and then mysteriously having my car stolen and burned up or having my house eaten up by termites even though I'm paying an exterminator every month or -- well, you get the idea. I don't know. I might be a baker one day. Here are a few of my favorite cookie recipes. Two from my mom (the best baker ever)! And one from Jeff's Aunt Dot. Dot makes these cookies that are soooo good. Try them. You won't be able to put your finger on what it is about these cookies, but you'll just want to keep on eating them. Next free day I have I'm gonna make a ton of all three of these cookies and I'm never going back to that high-dollar bakery again. I'm keeping my $8 and buying something useful. Like lipgloss.

MY MAMA'S M&M COOKIES (as of this moment known as 4M cookies)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine 1 cup shortening, 3/4 sugar, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon water and 2 eggs. After mixed well, add 2 1/4 cups plain flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon salt. Stir well. Then add 2 cups M&Ms. Bake for 10-12 minutes on a greased cookie sheet.

(Y'all did notice it was 1 teaspoon baking soda, not one box.)

MaMa HOWELL'S AND MY MAMA'S OATMEAL COOKIES

1 cup Crisco

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon soda, dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups oatmeal

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all the above and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

JEFF'S AUNT DOT'S COOKIES

1 pound unsalted butter (she uses Fleishmans, 4 sticks, softened)

2 cups sugar

3 cups plain flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup pecans (she uses more)

4 cups cornflakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all together. The mix is going to be very stiff. Using a teaspoon drop on cookie sheet. Bake for ten minutes.

Girls, I let my cookies cool on a wire rack. That makes them extra special. I like a light, crispy cookie. Not hard like a rock, but crisp. Jeff likes them soft and chewy. Soft and chewy reminds me of old and stale. To each his own. I make them soft and chewy. Sometimes I'll eat the outside of the cookie and not the middle since the middle is soft and I don't like the middle of food anyway. Most times I'm gonna eat the whole dang thing though.

Last night both my Big Boys were out driving in this rain. I try not to worry about them when they're out driving because if I did, I'd go crazy. It really is hard though. I was tired and sleepy, but I wanted to wait on them to come home. Especially Cam. It was dark, it was late and it was raining. So I stayed awake reading my book. Isn't it hard letting your kids go?

Finally, can y'all believe how much greener everything has gotten in the past couple of days? It seems like things are getting greener by the hour. We are so blessed to get this rain. Maybe we won't have to hear about drought all summer. The creek that the boys used to play in when they were little has been almost dry the past few years. I walked down there when I got home late yesterday and it has lots of water flowing in it. You could even hear the creek on the front porch. It was really nice. And check out this mud puddle.

Oh, and Suz, remember last week when we were laying in the lounge chairs outside and you wanted to see the Southern Living magazine?

Well, err, uh, you left it outside. I'll be looking for my replacement when I see you tomorrow.



TaTa my faithful friends and family!