cookie exchange

i'm so excited to have gotten this silicone baking mold. i like making toffee, but the clean-lined, symmetrical side of me always wanted to make identical little pieces of toffee. don't get me wrong, the randomly broken up pieces taste just as good ... but how cute are these little squares? i love them. and i was able to get two molds for about $3 thanks to my jo-ann's coupons & a gift card. yay!


the cookie exchange went beautifully. in the center of the plate are liz's s'mores squares, and then (clockwise from lower left) melanie's chocolate chunk cookies, marlana's chocolate chip cheesecake squares, my toffee, april's snowballs, my mom's peppermint thumbprint cookies, lynn's cappuccino flats and holly's christmasy cinnamon doodles. yummy.

big surprise of the day: marlana came! she was able to spend a couple of weeks in the region visiting family, and so we got to spend some time together. after the exchange, she, liz and i went out for dinner and sat around talking for a couple of hours. i feel bad that the restaurant doesn't get a lot of business ... but it worked well for us that we could take the table just to chat for so long. :)

happy new year's eve

i feel like i should be doing a year-in-review post, but i'm not. i'll save that for the eve of my birthday. it will mix well with the list wrap-up.

i'm off work today, as i'll be working at an event tomorrow. i slept in and still was up by 8:30. by 9:30 i had laundry started and apples thawing on the stove. by 10:30 i had a french/dutch apple pie in the oven and a muffuletta melding in the fridge. by 11:30 the family calendars were all bound, the living room was mostly cleaned and i was ready to get in the shower. now it's 12:15 and the third load of laundry just buzzed that it was done. i do love productive mornings away from the office.

in case you're curious, the apple pie has a crumbly topping (making it dutch) and a layer of cream cheese in the bottom (making it french). it also has some caramel in there. and it's made in a spring form pan so it's a deep dish apple pie. i'm pretty excited to slice it up and see how it tastes. :)

blueberry picking

we also went blueberry picking this year. if you've never been berry picking before, i recommend picking blueberries. the bushes are 5'-6' tall, and therefore the picking requires no kneeling or bending. (strawberry plants only grow about 18" tall.) this is our fourth or fifth year going down to eenigenburg's in demotte to pick, and i love their berries! this year the season is being extended by the cool weather; and i was a little tempted to go pick some more today. i got a couple recipes of muffins made, and i've got quite a few berries in the freezer ... but i never made patti's blueberry dessert!

mom's birthday

mom's birthday was this past friday. we went to the railcats game that night. ronald mcdonald threw out one of the first pitches.



they even had fireworks in celebration of her birthday.



sunday we had her birthday dinner: lemon zested chicken, roasted green beans & garlic mashed potatoes. followed by flourless chocolate cake & apple pie.



i don't have a photo of the chicken, but aren't the zested lemons cute? :)

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'becca likes baking.

sugary goodness

a top view of sunday's sugary goodness. three layers of fudge brownies filled with white fluff (powdered sugar, cream cheese & cool whip) and topped with dark chocolate ganache.



a side view showing the ganache creeping over the edge.

yum.

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'becca is having dinner with her sister tonight.