Technically, it's Fall
12 Dec 2025 06:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ursulas_alcoveThe weather doesn't seem to agree. It went from mid 50's to mid 20's and 30 degrees. there weren't any 40s in there at all. No. It'll be in the teens this weekend as a high temperature. Then it goes to mid 40s. What a crazy thing!
The week has been very busy, even for me. Work cancelled because of supply chain issues. In going to the grocery store to buy produce, what a disappointment! All the fresh produce from CA had been affected by the bitter cold temperatures across the plains. The oranges were very sad. The lettuce looked obviously frost bitten. Whole Foods threw away all the zucchini. The Food Co-op didn't but boy, they were sad. We bought frozen green beans and some peas. I went through all my homegrown yellow beans already. We've had a lot of stews. In another week, I'll be able to harvest lettuce and spinach in the basement. I usually grow them indoors in winter. I'll wait until temperatures go up on Tuesday to check on my outdoor cabbages. They are under two layers of covers.
This week has been all about the cookies. I made sugar cookies from a friend's recipe. I made Russian teacakes with pecans. Under consideration are:
* apricot oatmeal cookies
* molasses ginger refrigerator slices
* shortbread with cranberries and pistachios
* fudge
* gingerbread
* chocolate shortbread
* thumbprint cookies
A few years back, I picked up bon appetite's cookie magazine. We also have a 1980s copy of the Betty Crocker Cookie Book. Searches at the library yielded little. A lot of people beat us to the shelves. The same people must also be responsible for the empty shelves of butter. Three stores we had to go to! I ordered butter through Azure Standard. It'll be here Tuesday. Chrono may make some vanilla biscotti if she is up to it.
I am great at making lists, not so much for getting it all done. I am freezing some of each batch of cookies. It's the only way to ensure a variety. The chocolate cherry cookies are all gone already. I might have to make another batch. It is possible that I'll make a chocolate Reeses Pieces batch. My base recipe is the Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe but I add a 1/4 cup baking cocoa and then the Reeses Pieces. With the chocolate cherry, I did the same but soaked dried sweet cherries in Kirsch. With my oatmeal apricot, I have the dried apricots chopped and soaking in brandy to rehydrate them.
This could also happen:
I just zested an orange. Navels came in to Whole Foods in okay shape. We'll see. I work the 20th and 21st. It screws with my hips to stand, unmoving for hours on end at work. I may not be able to stand in my own kitchen afterwards. It happened last weekend. It was too painful to move. Today they called and wanted me to work the Friday and Monday of the same weekend. I said no. I know my limitations. Two days is all I can manage. Next year, I am hoping to concentrate more on my own business.
Yes, I did dye yarn this week. I got some beautiful shades of pine green. There will be pictures once it's all wound into skeins. Meanwhile, I need to make 50 hats by the end of April. It's a tall order. Currently, I am making a petal hat in onion skin-dyed wool, a rich shade of yellow. With Jaggerspun closed, I have to dye all my own yarn to shades that I want to work with. It has changed my color palette a bit, but it also takes longer time-wise.
The week has been very busy, even for me. Work cancelled because of supply chain issues. In going to the grocery store to buy produce, what a disappointment! All the fresh produce from CA had been affected by the bitter cold temperatures across the plains. The oranges were very sad. The lettuce looked obviously frost bitten. Whole Foods threw away all the zucchini. The Food Co-op didn't but boy, they were sad. We bought frozen green beans and some peas. I went through all my homegrown yellow beans already. We've had a lot of stews. In another week, I'll be able to harvest lettuce and spinach in the basement. I usually grow them indoors in winter. I'll wait until temperatures go up on Tuesday to check on my outdoor cabbages. They are under two layers of covers.
This week has been all about the cookies. I made sugar cookies from a friend's recipe. I made Russian teacakes with pecans. Under consideration are:
* apricot oatmeal cookies
* molasses ginger refrigerator slices
* shortbread with cranberries and pistachios
* fudge
* gingerbread
* chocolate shortbread
* thumbprint cookies
A few years back, I picked up bon appetite's cookie magazine. We also have a 1980s copy of the Betty Crocker Cookie Book. Searches at the library yielded little. A lot of people beat us to the shelves. The same people must also be responsible for the empty shelves of butter. Three stores we had to go to! I ordered butter through Azure Standard. It'll be here Tuesday. Chrono may make some vanilla biscotti if she is up to it.
I am great at making lists, not so much for getting it all done. I am freezing some of each batch of cookies. It's the only way to ensure a variety. The chocolate cherry cookies are all gone already. I might have to make another batch. It is possible that I'll make a chocolate Reeses Pieces batch. My base recipe is the Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe but I add a 1/4 cup baking cocoa and then the Reeses Pieces. With the chocolate cherry, I did the same but soaked dried sweet cherries in Kirsch. With my oatmeal apricot, I have the dried apricots chopped and soaking in brandy to rehydrate them.
This could also happen:
I just zested an orange. Navels came in to Whole Foods in okay shape. We'll see. I work the 20th and 21st. It screws with my hips to stand, unmoving for hours on end at work. I may not be able to stand in my own kitchen afterwards. It happened last weekend. It was too painful to move. Today they called and wanted me to work the Friday and Monday of the same weekend. I said no. I know my limitations. Two days is all I can manage. Next year, I am hoping to concentrate more on my own business.
Yes, I did dye yarn this week. I got some beautiful shades of pine green. There will be pictures once it's all wound into skeins. Meanwhile, I need to make 50 hats by the end of April. It's a tall order. Currently, I am making a petal hat in onion skin-dyed wool, a rich shade of yellow. With Jaggerspun closed, I have to dye all my own yarn to shades that I want to work with. It has changed my color palette a bit, but it also takes longer time-wise.
no subject
Date: 14 Dec 2025 04:28 am (UTC)The cookies look fabulous.
"One cup cranberries cut into quarters"? Hmmm, NOPE.