Bye Bye Buffalo

If you haven’t ever visited Buffalo New York, you really should.  Not this week as it is bitter cold but go most any other (Chicago is colder and you’d go there…). No really, I mean it! The park system was designed by Olmstead (same guy that sculpted and landscaped Central Park, NYC).  He also designed the grounds around the old mental asylum made from Medina red sandstone built by architect HH Richardson; it will knock your socks off.  Explore the Albright Knox/Burchfield Penney ART Museum area or try ice bicycling on the Erie Canal in downtown (or kayak in the summer). Study Tiffany stain glass windows in our churches, learn the history of making Carrousel horses at the Herschell Museum, or tour one of several Frank Lloyd Wright designed homes in the area.  Niagara Falls is a quick 30 minutes north; try the jet boat ride up the lower rapids in the summer.  Feast at any of the many places Diners, Drive Ins and Dives has visited, eat Lake Effect ice cream, or go to the home of the original chicken wing, the Anchor Bar (some natives like Duff’s better– let me know which you think is best).  Come celebrate Dyngus Day, tour Millionaire Mansion row decked out for the holidays, or sip your way through one of the many pub crawls.

To all of this, our family says a fond farewell.  Our friends here are exceptional.  We will miss you so very much.  The moving van is loading, blowing snow and frigid cold and all.

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Our next adventure begins in the new state of …. well, that’s a post yet to come.

But first, COFFEE!

Um.  Essential to life.  Right?  What’s not to love about coffee?  As I paid homage to tea, I felt it necessary to compliment my other hot beverage of choice.  The word “coffee” entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch koffie, borrowed from the Turkish kahve, in turn borrowed from the Arabic qahwa, a truncation of qahhwat al-bun ‘wine of the bean’.

Here’s how the cookies for my caffeine-addicted friend turned out.

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Not all cookies make the grade. To prove the point, here are some ideas that I played around with that did not turn out as I had hoped.  Whomp whomp.  Please try to remember only the ones that made the grade. 🙂

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TEArrific

I was invited to go over to a friend’s house for tea, which made me think of a tea party (all proper with pinkies extended), and then Boston, and then the yellow flag with a snake that says “don’t tread on me”, and then all of the possible mutations of “T”, tee, tea, bag, etc?  My mind works in mysterious ways. And “works” is a questionable categorization.  These are but a few of the possibilities:

(PS: Thanks to the magnificent Arty McGoo for allowing me to personify her on a tea bag cookie.  With utter jaw-dropping talent and a playful nature, Liz has the whole package; I am ever grateful for her inspiration and hysterical sense of humor.)

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Have a Holly Jolly

Hope your Christmas is splendid.  This platter of trees was made to serve many people little bites (because there were lots and lots of different cookies on that dessert table!).  Inspiration was from the 2013 post by Melissa Joy’s Cookies.  Melissa’s creative juices flow in abundance; she is a playful and brilliant cookier!

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Christmas Cookie Place Cards

Now a cookie can put someone in their place!  um.  at the dinner table.  A dear friend has used my cookies for years to personalize her Christmas Eve table scape.  Trees seemed to be my theme for Christmas 2014 and so it was for her place cookies.

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Season’s Greetings 2014

Ho.ho.hope your holidays have been good so far.  It can be a stressful time of year, so allow me to “roll out” (like raw dough) some cookie levity.

Ho Ho Ho (technically, hoho hoho hoho)

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Ginger.bread house.  Too literal?

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Seasons’ Greetings

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Gifts from the Heart

So I have this wonderful card group that gets together for a rambunctious game of 500 every month. We have gone away on weekend trips together, shared our childrens’ ups and downs, and laughed loudly and gleefully while supporting one another.  This was my last time to host/play (did I tell you that we are moving to Denver?) so I wanted to do something special for these lovely ladies. The cookie was a double play on words, as it was holiday gift giving season (Hanukkah and Christmas for our card clan) and I wanted it to be a gift from my heart.

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They were made by allowing a base coat of white RI to dry overnight and then hand painting the packages with thinned gel (clear vanilla or vodka to thin).  When that was dry, I used an edible ink black pen to outline.  Took a bit of time but these friends are so worth the effort.  Forgot to take a picture of the final presentation but you can see the tag that was attached.

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Inspiration came from a picture I saw when ordering from Fashion and Compassion (helps women overcoming poverty & injustice in the US, South America & Africa). Hope your holiday season is filled with surprisingly pleasant gifts!

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Thanksgiving Gratitude (with Attitude?)

My favorite holiday.  Family, friends, food, and a long couch on which to take a nap.  Oh, um, and a little odd sense of humor 😉

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Trekkie turkey.  Live long and prosper?

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T.Hanks.giving thanks.  (so sorry Tom Hanks.  your acting and name are perfect.)

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Decree of thanks to all who follow this blog.  Especially thankful for our 2 daughters (without whom I wouldn’t be creating cookies or have learned how to blog.)

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Lastly, I’d like to serve up some gratitude:

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Love All

Wanted these cookies to be a “smashing’ success.  Hoped they would “net” an appreciative thank you.   Realized I had met my “match” when the cookies got “served.”  No,  I don’t think these puns are “out of bounds”, they are definitely “in!”

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The larger cookies were a simple design of thinned food color gel and (when dried) ink (black edible ink pen by Rainbow Dust).

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Racket strings were made using PME 0 tip.  Tennis ball color came from a mix of electric green, leaf green and a bit of lemon yellow.  I let the royal icing just start to crust over and then poked them with open safety pin to create texture/fuzz.

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Brew.ha.ha

Can you tell me a little about the birthday boy, I say?  Well…he likes beer, she says.  Interesting thing to say off the bat- anything more, I ask?  He likes Michelob, regular.  And he has a pontoon boat and likes Dale Jr.  And it’s a ‘turning 50’ party blow out, she adds.  Is it okay to tease him about his milestone age?  Please do.  And away I go…

It’s his 50th birthday:

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In his NASCAR dreams:

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Been wanting to use another of John Atkinson original designs (Wrong Hands blog site– such funny comics with wit and grit)!  Thanks again to John for allowing me permission to put it on a cookie!

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Brew.ha.ha:

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The two platters for the party.  The funniest part of this whole order was the set of pictures sent by the party host.  2 were from when Tony was young; then several were from a party in Canada where some over-imbibement happened.  I was specifically instructed to include the on.all.fours.and.hurling photo.  That was a first for this cookier!

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