Sunday, a beautiful box of homemade molasses cookies was left on my doorstep. My friend Steve brought them into the house. The sugar on the cracked tops is the fancy kind. I drove back from Ohio Monday night. Ate a couple with some hot tea. Mmmmmmmmm! Reminded me of the cookies my mother used to bake.
I have called three friends to ask if they are the one who dropped off these delicious cookies. My friend V said that another friend came to her mind when I told her I didn’t know who made them. I called.
Wasn’t her either!
Thank you for the delicious molasses cookies. Whoever you are.
This recipe has been in a folder for ten years. I have now made it twice. I
Like anise but many do not care for it. The recipe has a name on it. I also baked Mrs Scarano’s strip cookies. Twice. Don’t like to double recipes. Taking the split second cookies out now raspberry Jam apricot preserves and Fig jam filled.
From the phone. I hope it works
The 19th Annual Bob O’Connor Cookie Cruise– this year’s charity chosen to benefit is the Cribs for Kids (SIDS). Matthew and I were invited to sail Wednesday night and were the fortunate guests of some dear friends and neighbors. A perfect summer evening. We shook hands with a slew of politicians including the mayor as we boarded theThe Majestic. The city was in a beautiful light and as dusk came the scene was heightened in drama, especially as we sailed past the Pirates game in full swing at PNC park. Hot dogs and watermelon and pasta and fried chicken with coleslaw was the menu.There were fireworks over Heinz Field and what caught my eye were the guests lined up to get the cookies once it was announced- the sheets were about to be removed and the platefuls they took to eat- piled high.
Home after being away for ten days. Steve bought a pizza for us. Found a pile of mail in the front hall; catalogs, bulk mail, a Bed Bath & Beyond coupon, a notice of a tangelos and grapefruit delivery, a bank statement and the water bill. A few Christmas cards and the Barbie scrubs I ordered for Christmas from Etsy. A nice card with a Starbucks giftcard from Cj. AND a “Mug Rug” with a Norfolk VA postmark from Colleen, a long time friend of Joanne in Omaha. Joanne insists that Colleen and I have met but we haven’t– yet! Colleen stitched a quilted “mug rug” and sent it to me with a lovely card. (Depending on when you are reading this, I am writing on the 9th Day of Christmas so it is 9 Ladies Dancing, 10 Lords-a-Leaping, Mary.) I love the numbers on the fabric. There were instructions for a cup of tea and room for two cookies on the side but I didn’t want to cover up the fabric for the photo. What a happy surprise to find a handmade gift in the sea of fliers and junkmail! And how fortunate Steve had some cookies to supply for the shot. What a great way to end the vacation. And Deb B I like the quote on your handmade card.
“How we choose to think,
Determines what we will see,
And so it is that we,
Create our reality.”
(a quote but no attribution, maybe someone will help find the source)
It is a happy 2011 already. Thanks friends.
*If you want to see the Blog Year in Review 2010 and the Top Posts- click here for late post 1/2/2011
Thank goodness Steve had some cookies a patient brought him. Delicious with Good Earth tea. (after the photo)
Spread the Christmas tablecloth and place the matching plate next to the mug of steaming hot tea. Take two Split-Second cookies out of a tin. The ones I baked for knitting. A bite of shortbread cookie with raspberry jam. Try the fig one. Nibble slowly, make them last. Sip the almost scalding tea. Savor the combination. Open the book you’re reading for book club. (Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner-1972 Pulitzer Prize- I’d never heard of it until Tess picked it). Listen to the furnace kick on. Wrap a shawl around you. Sip more tea. Read until you doze. Think of the cookies still in the tin. Repeat tomorrow.
It wouldn't feel the same if you did this in July.
It was all candles. Candles on the mantel, the table, the desk in the hall. It was very dark. I thought all of us looked great by candlelight. We discussed The Help and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The power was off for about two hours. Fortunately the night before I baked a Gateau di Sirop (recipe)with a bottle of Steen’s Cane Syrup. Baked Split Second Cookies with Bon Maman Fig Jam. Extra sharp cheddar and Honeycrisp apple slices. And Tess and Chris brought me a box of St. Moritz truffles from Oxford Centre downtown. Lovely. A gold box with an oval window in the middle. There’s a spider and a tiny dancer one and a pumpkin one and each one is delicately embellished. Just before everyone arrived, Laura had sent a picture on my phone of a lovely ring on a finger. Then she called. James Weaver asked her to marry him and she said YES. It was a happy night!
Tess told me every flavor and I promptly forgot almost all of them. Going to have to eat each one and be surprised,
Crossed the Allegheny River to go to Millvale. After I went to Panza’s to pick up Joan’s painting I had reframed, I went to get some brioche and a loaf of crusty bread from Jean-Marc Chatellier’s French Bakery. 412.821.8533 Everything in the bakery is beyond delicious. There are samples on the counter of the melt-in-your-mouth butter cookies and a French shortbread called Breton Cake. There are little fruit tarts, apricot tarts and flaky croissants, even Key Lime pie slices. As I was about to pay for my order, I saw him frosting a cake in the back. I asked the young woman waiting on me if it would be all right to take a picture. She said,” Just take it!” So I did. Magnificent artistry in cake making. And delicious. I have eaten memorable wedding cakes made by him. Once I bought a cake there for Laura’s graduation from Marquette and drove it to Milwaukee WI.
Memo to self: Drive across river more often to Millvale and buy delicious pastries from Jean-Marc Chatellier.
