This one day I felt very special...

This one day I felt very special. It was Christmas day, and I was alone. Making turtle cookies in memory of my grandmother. I let the butter warm up for over an hour, to soften it, just like she did.


Before they were frosted. Right out of the oven.


Dizzy delicious.


That's better. That's for you, Grandma. Ah, sentimentalism.



Current book I'm reading: Mine.

Do you love turtles? Try my Grandma's Holiday Turtle Cookie Recipe! I did! And they turned out GREAT! (Pictures to come)

Today, Christmas day, I decided to honor my grandmother who passed away after Thanksgiving this year by making her traditional Turtle cookie recipe. Considering turtles are just about my favorite animal, I had a chocolate infused blast making them. Pictures are coming soon, I promise!

A Version of My Grandma Betty's Turtle Cookies Recipe

Ready in: 2 Hours

Ingredients:
***Cookies***
1/2 cup brown sugar loosely packed
1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 egg for the batter
1 egg, separated for the pecans
1 1/2 cup All Purpose or Unbleached Flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup pecan halves, split lengthwise

***Frosting***
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons soy milk
1 tablespoon butter or oil
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
In large bowl, combine brown sugar and 1/2 cup margarine; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, maple flavor, 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk; beat well. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate about 1 hour for easier handling. Heat oven to 350 F. Grease cookie sheets. Arrange pecan pieces in groups of 5 on greased cookie sheets to resemble head and legs of turtle. In small bowl, beat egg white. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Dip bottoms in beaten egg white; press lightly onto pecans. (Tips of pecans should show). Bake at 350 F. for 7-10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets. Cool 15 minutes or until completely cooled. In small saucepan, combine chocolate chips, milk and 1 tablespoon margarine; cook over low heat or in microwave, stirring constantly until melted and smooth. Remove from heat; stir in powdered sugar (small amounts at a time). If necessary, add additional powdered sugar for desired spreading consistency. Frost cooled cookies. Let frosting set before storing. Store in tightly covered container.
This recipe for Turtle Cookies serves/makes 3.5 dozen, a little less if you are Mercedes.



ALSO! EXTRA! EXTRA!!
Pictures from my traditional Italian ravioli-making last night, on Christmas Eve are coming! Yay!
Current book I'm reading: The one I'm writing.

Too Much Coffee Man Comics

So, I met the man that the character in this comic is based on. He was chubby, bald and peculiar. I hung out with him again at a party a few weeks after meeting him. Incidentally, it was a Halloween party. He let me draw on his perfectly round bald head with sharpie markers. And then he took a picture of the sharpie drawings. Any man that would let me draw on him with sharpies is good in my book. Read the comic below, and others about "Too Much Coffe Man" an Austinite with a bald head.
http://www.tmcm.com/comics/webcomics/tmcm061217

Learn about the character of Too Much Coffee Man. His opinion of Christmas. Click here, please!




About love, this is fitting for me right now. Click here, please!

The second comic in the second link about love is very, very fitting for me at this moment. Breakups are hard.


Current book I'm reading: Eragon

Nia singing If I Aint Got you by Alicia Keys at age 2

This is one of the cutest things ever. She is so incredible! And so CUTE! I love this song, too, so that helps. Check out her expressions, and if you can make it through the whole thing, the end is worth it.

Things that are acceptable while running, but not elsewhere in life

This blurb is from Cool Running
Woodlands Fit Coach Susan

"Yesterday I was driving and it was hot and I had a fleeting thought that I could just take my shirt off, before I remembered that I am not running and I did not have a sports bra on, lol. I also then started to think of other things that are acceptable while running, but not elsewhere in life:"

"* taking your shirt off
* wiping nose on shirt
* snot rockets, loogies and other bodily functions
* pouring water on your head
* peeing where-ever you can find a place to squat behind
* following a woman for 5k - 10k whatever, while breathing heavily
* wearing band-aids on my nipples
* carrying food in my shorts
* digging around in my shorts for my key
* applying body lube in public
* throwing cups on the street after spilling half the contents down my chin
* taking food from strangers
* picking my bunched up shorts out of my crotch or butt
* Running through business front sprinklers on purpose
* Bending straight over on a street corner
* Exit the finish chute, throw up violently in the nearest bush, then walk over to get some water and a banana -- and you MIGHT get a "You OK?" from somebody. Other than that, no big deal.
* Cheering/clapping as an overweight person runs by (races only, please)
* Stashing water bottles in ditches in 3-mile increments
* -"Showering" using only wet-ones
* waiting in line in front of a bush
* Looking like an astronaut drinking fluids out of a tube
* Taking smelly socks off in front of hundreds/thousands
* carrying enough supplies in your shorts (god bless raceready's!!!) to last you a week in the wilderness
* staring intently at tens of hundreds of barely clad backsides and other body parts
* Rearranging the furniture" in the middle of a crowd"

Current book I'm reading: Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Sleeping: Something I am not doing lately.

Find your own pose!

Current book I'm reading: Angela's Ashes by McCourt