Vanilla Latte Cookies

My daughter made Vanilla Latte Cookies today.  Her own recipe!  They were like a sugar cookie with a yummy vanilla latte flavor.  Mmmm...

Eggnog Truffles

I tried my hand at making eggnog truffles today for our Christmas celebration.  I overheated the first batch of dipping chocolate and had to throw it away.  I was thankful I had enough white chocolate for another batch.  Yum!

Melt in Your Mouth Cookies

My daughter made these melt-in-your-mouth cookies yesterday.  They are called The Treats Truck's Caramel Crème Sandwich Cookies and are like a shortbread, only better!  Yum!

I Don't Wanna Be An Egg

My daughter made these cute little carrot cake cupcakes with maple frosting and white chocolate carrots for a ladies’ church fellowship a couple of weeks ago. They were a perfect part of the goodies, because our pastor’s wife gave a devotional using a carrot, an egg, and a tea bag as an object lesson on how to face adversity.



The original story by an unknown author uses a coffee bean in place of the tea bag, but the result is still the same. It goes like this:

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life, and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it, and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first pot, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what do you see?" "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they got soft. She then asked her to take the egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her to smell and sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she smelled and tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What's the point, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity- boiling water-but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water. "Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When trials and adversity knock on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"

Hmm... if I had to answer that question, I would ask, “Is it possible to be all three?” I mean, we all face some amount of adversity at one time or another. I know it may not seem like it at times, but I do, too, and I am now. And at times I find myself weak, limp, and feeling hopeless like the carrot. At other times I would like to think I’m like the tea bag or coffee bean and changing ‘the water’. And yet at other times I find myself feeling hardened and even somewhat bitter. Hebrews 12:14, 15 say, “ Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” I don’t wanna be an egg...

Chocolate

Here, have some chocolate. Feel better now? --Anonymous

“Nobody knows the truffles I’ve seen!” --Anonymous

“Chocolate is nature’s way of making up for Mondays.” --Anonymous

“Look, there’s no metaphysics on earth like chocolates.” --Fernando Pessoa, Portugueses poet (1888-1935)

I had actually bought these chocolates last Monday when I took my daughter and niece for a girls' day out. We hit a few thrift stores, walked down Church Street in Burlington, had lunch at Sweetwaters and then bought some chocolate from Lake Champlain Chocolates for dessert. Yum!

Happy Monday!  (^_~)

Sweet Sushi

My daughter's creative juices were flowing the other day when she thought of making a dessert that looks like sushi.  She wondered if anyone else had ever done it, so she googled and found they had. Then she proceeded to make some herself.  Aren't they cool?  And very tasty, too!

Grape Jam

The Lord has blessed us with a bountiful crop of grapes.  This morning, my daughter and I harvested a small batch to try our hand at making grape jam for the first time.







Even though my daughter is allergic to grapes... even handling them is very irritating to her skin... she wore rubber gloves and picked some with me after she captured a few images with her camera.



This shot of the grapes in a basket is my fave!   Isn't she a wonderful photographer?



I found a recipe for Concord Grape Jam on Epicurious.com.  I didn't follow the recipe exactly, because I wanted to use my Vitamix to pulverize the whole grapes, seeds and all, to get the most out of them.

Boiling the grapes made the house smell soooo good!

It seems to have turned out well, and it sure tastes good on buttered toast.  Yum!  :)

Blueberry Buttermilk Tart

My daughter made this Blueberry Buttermilk Tart from the organic blueberries we'd picked a few days ago.  She found the recipe at Epicurious.com.  If you could taste it, you'd never know it was her first tart.  It was scrumptious!!

Cake Pops

My daughter, Tiffany, made cake pops for her sister-in-law's baby shower.  She got the recipe and idea from Bakerella.com.  The question everyone asks is, "How do you make the cake into balls?  It's actually a lot easier than you would think.  (^_^)

Father-To-Be

"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward." --Psalm 127:3

My son and daughter-in-law asked me to take their picture before they headed out to a benefit waltz class. I just love seeing my son's playfulness and affection. I think he's going to make a wonderful father.

Working Together

Mmmm... can you smell the apple sweetness and spices?  My daughter and I worked together to make shepherd’s pie for dinner a couple of nights ago.  She wanted to have a bottom crust, but since the pie crust recipe was for a double crust, we had leftover dough.  She asked if we had any apples, because she had seen a recipe for mini pies made in a muffin tin, and she wanted to try it out.  So I peeled and chopped the apples, while she worked on the sweet, buttery, cinnamon sauce and rolled out the remaining crust.  Aren’t they cute?  And oh, so tasty!

 

I wanted to be sure to get a photo of them, and I was delighted when she wanted to once again work together.  I’m so glad she did, because she is more creative than I am.  We have turned my married son’s bedroom into a sort of mini studio.  It has a nice exposed brick chimney in it, so we used it as a backdrop.  I used my son’s 60mm macro lens to create the blurry background.  One of the things I’ve learned when composing a photo is to have an odd number of objects, rather than an even number.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it has something to do with the Golden Ratio?

My daughter thought you might be interested in seeing our unorthodox setup:  one of the shelves from a bookshelf, a couple of wooden bowls, a paperback book, a box of tissues, and a box of old flatware.  Hey!  Whatever works, right?

Sweet Gift

“And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.”   --Ecclesiastes 3:13

My first attempt at making fudge.  Mmmm!  The recipe was AllRecipes.com's 'Easiest Peanut Butter Fudge'.  It was pretty easy and didn't take as long as I'd thought it would.  Next, I'm going to try maple!

Adding a Special Touch

“Give, and it shall be given unto you...”  --Luke 6:38

Josh, a young man from our church, celebrated his seventeenth birthday yesterday.  My oldest son held a gaming day in our home in his honor, and my daughter made a scrumptiously rich chocolate ganache cake for him.

Do you ever find yourself wanting to go the extra mile or add that special touch for someone?  Why?  My daughter, Tiffany, is very creative and likes to add special touches to things, so maybe you’re just one of those people.  But isn’t it easier to do it for someone who is either kind and lovable or who seems to need it?  Josh is both kind and lovable, even though he can be a bit weird at times... but what teenaged boy isn’t?  So although Tiffany probably would have added that special touch for almost anyone, Josh has made it easy to find delight in doing so.  Happy birthday, Josh!

Happy National Creme-Filled Doughnut Day!

 

"Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the LORD an heave offering in your generations."  --Numbers 15:21

Sometimes when I want to be inspired to take a picture or to make an ordinary day not so ordinary, I look to see if the day has been designated as a national holiday.  What does it take for a day to become designated as a national holiday?  Doesn't a resolution or something have to be passed by Congress?  And why would anyone designate a day to become National Creme-Filled Doughnut Day?  Or National Goof Off Day?  Or National Sea Monkey Day?  I don't know, but I thoroughly enjoyed my creme-filled donut this morning.  Maybe I'll even hug a crabby stranger today or eat a hoagie.  By the way, what is doodle soup?