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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Simple Santa

I wanted to design some simple but sweet cookies this year involving Santa.  Something geometric but not complicated.  Here is that design!

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These are the steps involved in creating them.  Sorry about the poor quality of the first photos.  One day I will make myself a photo booth…

I first made the “oval face” using a bit of ivory food coloring.  That dried for 4 hours before I added his red hat.

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While the red hat was still wet, I sprinkled on coarse, clear sugar crystals.

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Then I worked on his beard.  A quick coat of RI white with little round white non-pariels and voila!

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I let this all set overnight (isn’t necessary if you are careful) and got to work on his face.  A Q-Tip to add his blush and two simple wide eyes with black royal icing, Santa was complete.

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The finished product!  Ho.ho.hope you like!

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ACORNucopia

Signed by George Washington on October 3, 1789 and entitled “General Thanksgiving,” the national decree by the fledgling government appointed a day “to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God.”  Later, on October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for the observance of the fourth Tuesday of November as a national holiday. In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the third Thursday of November (to extend the Christmas shopping season and boost the economy). After a storm of protest, Roosevelt changed the holiday again in 1941 to the fourth Thursday in November, where it stands today (taken from earlyamerica.com).

Here is the cornucopia of cookies I am taking to our celebration.  There are a lot of people coming, and with the pies and other desserts also being served,  I felt like bite sized cookies were most appropriate.  Hope yours is happy, fulFILLING, and nap worthy.

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The cornucopia was big a** cookie!

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Acorns with personality.

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All the leaves are brown and the acorns are (not) grey (cue Mamas and the Papas)!

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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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