Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Help yourselves!


30 comments:

Nancy P said...

Rolls by farfetched, coffee by some unsung photographer.

Takin' it easy after our lively discussion on Tuesday.

Anonymous said...

Wish I had someone to bake for! You can't whip up a batch of cookies or rolls or pancakes when you're single...well, I guess I could, but I'd weigh 400 pounds. I'll just have to enjoy them vicariously, here.

I can tell you from personal experience that Farf makes a mean cinnamon roll - and dinner roll - and Thanksgiving dinner!

Happy Hump Day tomorrow - I'm sending out another query, after being inspired today. Thanks, everyone!

Anonymous said...

Food, dogs, trees--themes we keep coming back to.

Nourishment of body and soul.
Love.
Balance with nature.
Doesn't get any better than that.

Wonderful Wednesday to All.

AndiF said...

We got a little bit more snow yesterday to add to little bit of snow we got before that. So while nothing as impressive as bono's lake effect amounts, I did produce a nice Hump Day picture.

So visually seconding Beth's Happy Hump Day [LINK]

Lisa, you're up really early.

Morning all.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful humps Andi.
This talk of snow is foreign to me, specially this time of year.
Why I live in Texas.
Winter wimp.

Insomnia be me. Internal clock keeps going off about 3:45 these mornings. Too close to regular get up time for the critters to ignore. They surround chanting breakfast, backyard.

AndiF said...

Sorry Lisa. I've gone through stages of non-sleeping like that (especially during menopause) but now I find I sleep fairly solidly (with the occasional dog in-and-out interruption) for 6 hours. Unfortunately, that's pretty much the upper limit.

P.S. I like snow. What I hate is hot weather. Apparently, we've made the right geographical choices. ;)

Jen said...

You can't whip up a batch of cookies or rolls or pancakes when you're single

Pish tosh! Here's the recipe for the best cookies I've ever had, irrespective of relationship status:

1 cup butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teas salt
1 1/2 teas baking powder
2 eggs
2 teas vanilla extract
mix-ins like choc chips, nuts etc.

Soften the butter, blend it with the sugars for a couple mins until it gets that creamy texture. Mix in the eggs, then vanilla, then in another bowl mix the flour, salt and baking powder together then add it to the rest. Stir in your mix-ins (I use Ghirardelli choc chips). Bake at 375F for ~12 minutes.

Not only are these the best cookies I've ever made/eaten, but the dough can be easily rolled into a tube, wrapped in wax paper, then frozen in a baggie so one can bake just a single sheet of fresh cookies whenever.

(HUGE thanks to whomever originally posted this recipe on the net, wish I could give credit where it's due.)

Jen said...

omg the sleep thing. Between the cats and the perimenopause I can't even remember the last time I got 8 hours solid or didn't wake up at 4am.

Maria Lima said...

::snugs close to the coffee and rolls::

Morning, all! It's darned chilly here this morning, and by "chilly" I mean COLD! 28 degrees. Brrrrrrr.

Andi, it's great to know that eventually one gets to sleep through a night. This insomnia/waking up at 4 thing needs to stop.

Beth, best of luck on the query!

I've got a client meeting this a.m. in Bethesda, then more internal meetings as soon as I get back. Srsly, how'd my job become nothing but meetings?

Have a wonderful Wednesday, all!

Larry Kollar said...

Morning!

It's like 25 here, if that. Nowhere near "cold enough to freeze the nuts off a brass monkey" cold, but cold enough.

Good luck with that query, Beth. I'll have to try Jen's cookie recipe too, but be careful if you're a nibbler!

Lisa: don't forget caffeine… which gets you awake enough to recognize the rest…

Nice shot, Andi. But for me, any hump day is a happy one. Moving right along…

Thanks for the recipe, Jen. I might have all that stuff here already.

Oh, and Maria's book came in yesterday evening! It's on the stack…

Need to fire up the car & get moving.

Anonymous said...

Andi--I LOVE SNOW. For a day or two. Then give me some 40's sunny weather.
Right now 47 up to the mid 70s.
Keep bundled up all you cold weather bunch.

This sounds like the old poop nonsleeping network.

Farf-happy humping.

Jen--My kids will adore you cause I'll have to try the recipe. I think you're right. Don't skimp on treating yourself. But balance--so no 400 lbs.

Will be on the lookout for Maria's book.

Waves to all. Students clamor for attention.

Kelly McCullough said...

G-mrnin 'll.

My get up and go done got up and went, to quote the old commercial. Going to stagger off to the treadmill here shortly and then revisions. I'm on a brief sidetrack with an older book that will probably last through today and then it's back to the next one.

The rolls look incredible especially since I'm eating less and exercising more at the moment. I decided my joints would love me more if I weighed what I weighed in high school and my doc agreed when I asked him about it--I think he was both shocked and pleased to have a patient suggesting a more drastic sort of prevention/maintenance solution than he would have. 16 pounds gone 14 to go--bleah.

Cold here, 25, but not awful. My sympathies on the insomnia, Laura's got that going on now with premature peri.

Nancy P said...

I love carbohydrates toooo much. On a desert island, I would require rice, pasta, bread, cereal, desserts, Fritos and Cheetoes. Among others.

My editor will call at 10:30 to talk about the book! I'm excited, and not too nervous, since I already have her email with her notes. Maybe she can help me find a miracle for the ending. (Crosses fingers, rolls eyes up to the heavens and silently pleads.)

Nancy P said...

I'm crazy about that photo, Andi. The black white contrast is dynamite, imo.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the recipe, Jen. And the reminder re freezing and only making a couple at a time. Good point -

No snow here yet, but it's forecast for Friday. Wonder if I can drive to Hawaii by then...?

And no sleep til after 2:30 last night - I should have been up chatting with the other insomniacs.

Thanks, maria and Farf! And congrats, Kelly! And good luck, Nancy.

Off to continue the quest to figure out the meaning of life - or something like that.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe I'm posting this, but I have the best gynecologist in the universe! And I look forward to going back (sorta)

He's a specialist in cervical cancer and he was totally tuned in to how the aftercare or lack of aftercare post attack can truly immobilize women to go exams. I've battled or confronted all the every day "triggers" but it's not like gyn visits are everyday. He was astounding. I will only have to see him and I need to go for the next several months.

Anyways, I go in on dec 5h for blood work (I didn't want to fast on Thanksskgiving for a Friday Lab) and he's pretty sure I'll be okay.

Regardless, I'm an uber healthy, sensual love goddess Scorpio. :)

And I think I can now look my daughter in the eys and tell her I refuse to be afraid of exams and I'll work with the doctor regularly.

Thanks to all.

Anonymous said...

That's great, Janet, in so many ways. Thanks for letting us know - we were all thinking of you.

dina said...

Hi, all.
Janet, good thoughts headed way.
Jen, I stick with the recipe on the Tollhouse chips which is very similar to yours but I love the idea of freezing some. Of course, I will regret that because there is nothing like a nice hot cookie!
Taking a bun to go with my tea.

Nancy P said...

Janet, what a relief!! That's lovely news about the doc.

maryb said...

Good news Janet! Thanks for letting us know.

Now .. coffee and rolls, wait - everyone already ATE the rolls! ::sniff::

My sleep patterns are disturbed this week because I'm still coughing from my cold (yes, we are on day 11 - but except for the lingering cough I'm much better).

Thanks for the recipe Jen. The problem I have in baking cookies is not eating all the dough before it gets to the oven :)

Hi Beth, Lisa, FaR, Nancy (good luck with the call), Maria, Kelly and anyone I missed.

Kelly McCullough said...

Hooray for Janet! I hope the news continues good for you.

P.S. KatieBird? Where are you? You're missed.

AndiF said...

Janet! Yay! w00t! Huzzah!

Nancy, I hope the call with editor went (is going) well. BTW, one thing that really makes me not mind losing all those gorgeous multi-hued leaves is that I get to see the lay of the land, the geometry of which I find endlessly fascinating.

Hang on there, Maria; it does get better (actually for me, it all got just fine).

Kelly, I'm with you ... kb, where are you?!? We miss you.

Hi to everybody.

Jen said...

Y'all are gonna love the cookies. Mmm.

Janet, YAY!

Nancy P said...

Sigh, editor didn't call. I think we had confusion about days. Onward to tomorrow. . . and to the library today.

If anybody makes those cookies? Would you take a picture of them for us?

Larry Kollar said...

Yay, Janet!

I need to make sure my doc appt is tomorrow morning like I have in my calendar. Need to go find the phone number…

Jen said...

I had to use my cell phone because my desktop is still on strike, so this is not a good pic, but cookies.

Hope your editor gets her act together tomorrow, Nancy. ;)

Nancy P said...

Thanks, Jen! For some weird reason, I just had to see a picture in order to get a sense of how they'll taste. Must Bake Some.

My editor is nicely remorseful. : D

Anonymous said...

Yummy pic of cookies, Jen. They fit so well with Nancy's dessert island (how I first read what she had written - lol). So what desserts would we like on our dessert island? (wiggles eyebrows) Dina, would you send us a pic of your tollhouse cookies for consideration? ;-)

Farf, the rolls look delicious. I'm sorry I didn't get here in time to snag one.

Andif, I'm surprised y'all got snow so far south. My sister lives in mid-Ohio and didn't get any. Nice pic.

Lisa, hope your internal clock resets while you're on vaca next week.

Get well wishes, Maryb.

Janet, joining celebration of your good news. Thanks for the update.

Beth, good luck with latest query. Hope all goes well.

I agree about meetings, Maria. Don't ask me to attend one if it's something that could have been covered in a memo. :-/

Congrats on the weight loss, Kelly!

Hope your editor gets her act together and calls soon, Nancy. I'm looking forward to the new book. BTW, has your vampire Santa story been published yet? Where?

I'm still celebrating the lack of significant snow event. As my sister said, "it's about as good as we can hope for this time of year."

boran2 said...

Good evening all. I guess that the rolls are all gone by now, or stale. It was cold here in NY, about 25 this morning. There's apparently 2 seasons now, no fall or spring.

Anonymous said...

Bono--Dessert Island is what I read too.
I have pecan and buttermilk pies in the oven. Tomorrow is school luncheon.

Nancy, glad editor contacted you.

Good nights sleep to all.