A Chip in Time

My husband and I returned home from a luncheon on Saturday to find our daughter in the middle of baking cookies from scratch. She has been stressed from studying and taking finals for semester finals for college. Thus, she decided that Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies were necessary for her well-being during this trying time.

I asked her if she had been documenting the process and she looked at me as if I had decided to dress like a teenage rock star. But not to worry. Being the dedicated blogger that I am, I stepped in, camera at the ready and began snapping pictures. I will warn you that I risked life and limb in getting these pictures because I was getting in my daughter's way in my quest to preserve this moment.

This is real cookie dough. No mixes or preservatives need apply.

My daughter likes large cookies.

Taking heed of Rosie Hawthorne's advice, my daughter promptly removes the cookies from the baking sheet.


"Get out of my way," my daughter warned. I wisely step out of the way while she continues to work. I do wish to survive this experience, after all.

Gasp! Do you see this? My daughter even cleaned up her mess afterwards. Good girl. I'm so proud of my darling daughter.

Thanksgiving Day Treats

A couple of days ago, I promised an update on the preparations for Turkey Day. Your patience has finally been rewarded. My lovely daughter finished classes prior to Thanksgiving break and immediately set to work in the kitchen.

Kelley has the ingredients ready for pumpkin muffins. Our friend, Jen, graciously gave us this recipe.

Kelley begins the mixing process. Can I tell you that she is very meticulous about everything being just right?

She's mixing in the flour - slowly.

Now Kelley has decided to add cinnamon to the mixture.

After making 2 dozen mini muffins, Kelley makes some regular sized muffins.




The finished product. So tender and moist. What a terrific recipe!

Kelley is using all the space available for her mise en place for Snickerdoodle cookies.

The Snickerdoodles are being mixed together.




Kelley uses the classic method to shape her cookies. Meanwhile, I roll the balls in a cinnamon sugar mixture and place them on the baking sheets.




The cookies are baked to perfection.

Earlier, Kelley made a coffee cake. I missed the chance to document the process. This too was delicious and was eagerly devoured. My daughter made all of these dishes from scratch. I'm so lucky.

What was I doing during this time? Besides taking pictures, I acted as sous chef, readying ingredients and cleaning up after my daughter. Aside from that, my husband had volunteered my services to the bank where he works as they needed a bow for a 5 foot diameter wreath. As my first job included bow making - hundreds of bows - I am quite good at this. There are 30 ten-inch loops in this bow with 6 tails. This bow had to be made in two stages as my hand was cramping quite badly.

Later I prepared a garlic studded standing prime rib roast. The roast apparently got tired after cooking because it fell over.

Roasted Yukon Gold Potatoes accompanied the beef.