The Zoo in December

We went to the zoo on Sunday evening with neighbors and friends to see the lights, not the animals. Our local Zoo decorates with zillions of lights. It was very pretty, almost magical, and festive. It wasn't too cold, and everyone had fun.

Yesterday's Recipe:

Note, I changed a few things... Bake 30 min. instead of 20.

My Cookie of the Week

I'm starting to bake Christmas cookies, and missing my friend Donna. I must email her my blog address!
I'm going to make Sarah's Walnut cookies (Or I guess they are Janice's Walnut Cookies) for the cookie exchange, and also a batch of these. Dave doesn't like coconut, and so I found this recipe that uses Oatmeal instead of coconut in Seven-layer cookies. My Mom made the coconut version, not when I was young, but over the last 20 years or so. I've always loved them.

SEVEN LAYER COOKIES


1 stick butter
1 c. graham crackers, crushed (maybe a bit more)
1 c. oatmeal, uncooked
6 oz. chocolate chips
6 oz. butterscotch chips (or white chocolate?)
1 c. walnuts, chopped
1 c. sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free and it worked fine)

Melt butter in a 9 x 13 pan. Layer remaining ingredients in order given above ending by pouring condensed milk over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, until nice and brown on the top. Cool and store tightly covered. I think they are better if you freeze them overnight. You eat them at room temperature, but they hold together better after being frozen. Okay, I know it is silly to use fat free sweetened condensed milk in a recipe with all of that butter and chocolate, but it was what I had.

Choices

I've reached one of my favorite weeks in the year. I'm done with the most pressing business of the term, and I have flexibility in what I do each day until Dec. 20, when Joseph and Alex get out of school. I always think that I have lots of free time during this week, week and a half. Really, all I have is choice in how I spend my time. What a joy!!!

Things I need to do during the next 10 days--in no particular order:
-Sort toys into three piles: keep, donate, throw away. This is important before we get new things. The space is limited and my ability to tolerate stuff lying around is diminishing daily.
-Bake for Christmas
-Figure out teacher gifts
-Finish Christmas shopping I'm about done... but not quite
-Wrap and mail gifts to out of town friends
-Write syllabus for next quarter
-Do other "real work" to get ready for next quarter
-Finish decorating the house and tree. (The ornaments have been in a box on the dining room table since Sunday.)
-Call the administrator that supervises Joseph's teacher and talk about where we are for the rest of the year

I'm sure there are more things I need to put on the list, but for now, that gets me organized and started. Today....hmmm... maybe some shopping and a bit of time at the office... Perhaps we will decorate the tree tonight. Dave will behome late. That will be a good activity for the boys and me.

Cookie Exchange

My neighborhood book club is having its annual cookie exchange party next Tuesday. I need to decide what kind of cookies to make! I could do the Walnut cookies on Sarah's blog, but I'm worried about decorating them. I guess I could just do a spiral of white chocolate on each... I don't think I can make a snowflake. I could make 7 layer bars. I make a variation with oatmeal instead of coconut since my husband is sure coconut will kill him. I could make my peanut butter bars with chocolate topping, or gingerbread boys. Or, I could make Hugarian Kifli. These are Dave's favorite. I've worked hard for 13 years to perfect my technique and to make good Kifli. You start with a very simple, rich dough, with yeast in it, but you don't let it rise (??). You roll them very very thin on a sugar covered board. Cut into small squares, fill with walnut/egg white mixture, and form into crescent shapes. Kifli means crescent in Hungarian. The cookies puff a bit while they bake, and you roll them in powdered sugar when they are hot. I guess for the Crescent Drive book club, I really SHOULD make Kifli. Dave may complain if I give away 4 dozen Kifli. Maybe I'll just need to make two batches...


Maybe instead of actually baking cookies this year, I'll just think about all the different types of cookies I could bake! I do need to bake at least four dozen for the cookie exchange, and I need suggestions about what to make. What would you like to get? A familiar cookie, or something new?

Also, I've always done cookies in a jar for teacher gifts. I'm getting a bit tired of the same old thing. But I don't have any good ideas. I need a lot of teacher gifts since Joseph works with 4-8 at school and 5 at home, plus a bus driver. Alex works with 3-6 at school and an OT outside school. The higher numbers at school would be if I included the music teacher, art teacher, gym teacher, etc. I ususally don't. Any ideas?

Our Nora Kitty

We call her Nora or Norabelle, or Norabella. She may never be much of a lap kitty, but she is finally brave enough to venture out from under the furniture. She and Felix play well together, and will be great pals. Isn't she a beauty. And yes, she is a bit cross-eyed.

Advent

My comments on Advent and the Christmas season. See Sarah's start to the discussion!

First of all, Dave thinks Advent is something invented by the Presbyterians. He was Baptist, and never had Advent. He treats it as a suspect religious activity. I just laugh. The trick of Advent is the same as everything in life. Balance. Hard to achieve.

I agree with Sarah. This is a time of great internal conflict for me. I love the darkness and the stillness of the season, and the pretty lights, shopping, generous spirit part of the season. I love the tacky way-too-over-the-top lights and the pathetic single strand of lights on a Charlie Brown tree. I wanted to start decorating the house yesterday, and I wanted to attend a potluck dinner at church. Joseph just wanted to have some attention. Dave had been with Joseph for several days without me (I had a great time, by the way) and needed a break. So... as we both get short tempered over a fake tree that doesn't light properly and Joseph who wants to get into everything and Alex and the neighbor boy who want to torture cats for fun, I wondered where my Christmas spirit was drifting off to. I love holiday decorations. But they take time and energy. I love holiday tradition. But it takes time and energy. I stopped myself before I had a big melt-down, and we decided not to go to the church potluck. One stress down. (But, of course, we eliminated a traditional night of fellowship. We go to this dinner every year, and I want it to be a childhood memory for Alex and Joseph. However, I decided, they won't remember that in 2006 we did not attend the Christmas Carol Buffet...) I bought a new strand of lights for 1.99 to replace the lights on the tree that were not working rather than spend another half hour twisting each and every bulb in the strand yet again to see if I couldn't coax them to light. I left all the tree decorations in a big box on the dining room table and we will enjoy the tree with just lights on it for a few days. There is no need to do all the decorating at once!

Anyway. Once I had the tree up, and a few of my favorite decorations placed around the house, it started to feel very festive. Then I quit and took Joseph to the grocery store. (Check the Meijer ad for the week, Sarah. Buy 15 General Mills products and get a 10 gift card. The scalloped potato mixes are 3 for 2. That means 15 cost 10. That means that they are free! Yogurt smoothies are about 20 cents after you subtract the gift card savings--cookie mixes are also very cheap...)