Favorite Thing: Cookie Exchange

Happy Tuesday! Do you remember my attempt last week at making hottie Christmas cookies? Well, it was for a purpose. I don't make a habit out of whipping up cookies from scratch. My dear friend Carrie organized a cookie exchange and the Anise Italian Cookies were my contribution. Joined by my fellow Cambridge buds, we exchanged home-made goods and shared a little story about the cookie's significance to us.

Milk and Cookies

These lovely ladies really know what they're doing. I tasted cookies I've never even heard of before, including German delicacies and cookies sent to soldiers during WWII. See? Eating can be cultural AND historical. Santa is so, so lucky.

"They're Italian and kind of peppery...?"

I had to explain my monster cookies, although there wasn't much to be said for them. I just moved on real fast. We can't all be June Cleaver.

Intruders.

We got a little visit from some hungry boys. They simply couldn't stay away at the thought of yummy appetizers and cookies being consumed. See how my husband tries to talk his way in the door? Emily and Carrie got a kick out of it. Why don't guys get it? Sometimes, boys just aren't allowed!

Yum. What a perfect way to celebrate with my fave ladies before we all take off for the holiday break. Have you ever participated in a cookie exchange? If so, did your cookies take the cake?

Bon Appetit!

Sunday Gratitude

Forget Me Not.

Sunday has become my day of reflection and gratitude. There are so many things to be thankful for, especially during the holidays. The tragedy that occurred in our country on Friday just reinforces the need to be strong in prayer and appreciative of what we have, today, right now. You never know what tomorrow brings. I may know all of this in theory, but when a maddening occurrence that rocks the nation takes place, I am shaken by the truth and gravity of life. It is so important to make each moment count. My thoughts and prayers are with the families and the community of Newtown, Connecticut during this time. I'm sure they are struggling to keep a straight face as they kiss their babies and tuck them into bed tonight, struggling to maintain composure as they turn out the lights and try to explain to their sweet children why their brother or sister won't be here for Christmas this year. Or any other year. Struggling as they try to keep their composure and finish up their Christmas shopping and then lose it in the aisle of Target, crying out to God in their grief. Struggling as they try their best to shut out the awful sins committed against them. This is a trying time and they are entitled to their mourning. Indeed, as a nation we are all mourning the loss of the innocent angels whose bright futures propelled us forward with their purpose and meaning. It is a loss that can never be replaced. There is no good explanation for such a loss.

Perspective.

During my time in ministry school, I had the privilege to sit under some excellent teaching that has become foundational for my faith and my outlook on life. One of my pastors, Kris Vallotton, posted his very poignant perspective on Facebook:

"Jesus said, 'Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted." In America we avoid pain at all cost so instead of mourning with those who mourn, we often think it is our job to cheer people up. But mourning and grieving is the road to wholeness and peace. David said, 'weeping endures through the night but the joy comes in the morning.' Sometimes the 'night' is longer than 8 hours; is it the dark season of the soul. In these night seasons it's important to remember that God is bigger than our pain. If we don't stuff our pain but allow the process of grieving to bring closure to our lives... the season will change and joy will return.

One more thing; trying to figure out the 'why' in the midst of our pain usually leads to wrong answers and bitterness. Not only that, it prolongs the 'night' season of mourning.

Sometimes people get 'stuck' in grief and they need us to take them by the heart and lead them back to joy. But shutting down mourning prematurely will lead to incomplete healing and chronic heart pain.

Love NEVER fails!"

Ahead.

Kris's words might just carry a lot of weight with me, but I found his unique perspective impacting. Tonight I am thinking and praying for those Newtown families. I believe that their hearts can be restored. I believe time can heal. Personally, I am on a mission to cultivate a grateful heart, in the big and the little circumstances. Life can be so short, and I am looking for opportunities to be thankful. Tonight, I am thankful that I get to smother my little niece and nephews with hugs and kisses in just a few short days. They will probably wriggle free from my grip as soon as possible, but it won't change the truth that I can feel their breath, their heart beat, and their sticky jam hands. Take a moment and reflect on things you are thankful for. Don't let them pass on by. Happy Sunday.

TASTE: Italian Anise Cookies

Cookie. Monster.

There are so many great blogs out there that teach you how to cook delicious, smashing recipes. (Find my fave healthy go-to here.) I'm here to tell you that this is not one of those blogs. NOT.

I am an experimenter. A curious soul. Not always a winner. Let's just be clear.

I got invited to a delightful holiday cookie exchange, so I decided to put my hands to work and use a homemade recipe. Like an old Italian broad. Probably the first mistake. A precious girl at my office was talking about these cookies that she makes every year for Thanksgiving (yes, I was eavesdropping), and she kept going on and on about how her family begs her to make them. They can't live without them. Obviously, my ears perked up as I heard this conversation going on and in a stroke of genius (or madness), I decided that I must extract this recipe from her and bake this masterpiece recipe for the cookie exchange.

I don't want to say it was a mistake... it just wasn't a home run.

I'll share the recipe and then my dazzling insights:

The Recipe

Italian Anise Cookies

Makes 6 dozen

Cookie Dough

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon anise

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 cups flour

1/4 cup baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Frosting

2 cups confectionary sugar

1 tablespoon anise

1-3 tablespoons water (Start with 2 and slowly add water until the consistency is right. You want it on the thicker side, but not so thick that you can't spread.)

Instructions

Combine butter, sugar, eggs, anise and vanilla.

Sift flour with baking soda and salt and add to mix.

Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.

Roll into 1-inch balls and place two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes (Note: Cookies will not be brown but will be cooked. Only the bottom of the cookie will brown.)

Let the cookies cool completely, then frost. It's easiest to turn the cookies upside down and dip them in the frosting.

Add sprinkles (the multi-color nonpareils are best because they won't melt into the frosting...)

I was so jazzed. Clearly. However, these cookies really do take quite a lot of work, and while they tasted ok, they weren't the prettiest cookie. Certainly not as pretty as my co-workers.

Where it went wrong.

I didn't screw up the recipe. The cookies tasted alright (I expected them to taste magical, since I created them FROM SCRATCH, but they just tasted like a normal cookie. That was the first disappointment.) But I got the wild idea that I was going to add food coloring to the frosting so that the cookies could be stylin' in Christmas colors. That was my second mistake. Do you have any idea how hard is it to make the color red with food coloring? It's nearly impossible. Just keep adding red, right? WRONG. With each droplet of red food coloring, my frosting just kept turning a more neon hue of pink. Like pink-pink. Like the 9-year old girl, Hello-Kitty loving-pink. Not cute. Upon reflection (and maddening research), I am glad to know that I am not alone in my attempt for the perfect shade of red via food coloring. So I made another batch of frosting and colored it green. That went a little better, but I only managed to achieve a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle green, not the my desired holiday Christmas tree green.

The Results?

Mixed. My husband liked them (but didn't LOVE them), while I was in denial for a few minutes because of all the hard work I put into them. "They're not ugly, right? They're pretty?" I asked, in an attempt to make them prettier just by saying the words out loud, to which Stevie responded, "They're techno-cookies." Awesome. I meant to create gorgeous, graceful holiday cookies that would have the crowd ooo-ing and ahh-ing, and instead I made techno funk. Seems fitting.

Want to know how my darling cookies were received at the party? I bet you do. Stay posted! Oh, and Merry techno Christmas!

Sam Adams Brewery

Beer Me.

Why is that the funniest phrase in the world? It's so bro-licious. It's truly frat-tastic. All I can think of is Andy Bernard and his fratty Cornell-worshipping shenanigans on the early episodes of "The Office" where he used this phrase often.

I am in a silly mood today and everything (AKA this ridiculous phrase) is making me giggle. Including my recollection of the recent adventure I took with my husband and our dear friends, the Wests, out to the Samuel Adams Brewery. Oh the fun we had.

Map.

The Sam Adams Brewery is located in a suburb of Boston called Jamaica Plain. It's a bit of a hike to get out there (red line to green line to orange line on the MBTA) but it is the perfect tour. Not too educational, but not too fluffy either. Not too stuffy, but not too drunken. And it was the prettiest day. Hence the zillions of forthcoming photos.

Mmm.

We sampled three brews: the Boston Lager (the traditional flagship beverage), the Imperial Pilsner (a truly funky, spicy mix of lemon and nutmeg. Liked it though.) and my personal fave, the Octoberfest (they figured out a way to bottle the season!) So so yummy. And we got to take home our sample glasses. Now that's just classy. Way to go, Sam.

Off-topic: how gorgeous is this man? He gets sick of me photographing him, but he is a pretty good model. AKA he won't look at the camera. Little does he know that his avoidance of me actually makes for the best pics! Ha. I WIN! I like to think that we have a reverse-muse thing going on here, but let's be honest: I am not Woody Allen, and while he does have occasional dramatic fit that is eerily reminiscent of Diane Keaton, I'm not convinced we are dedicated enough to the cool/weirdness-factor of having a reverse-muse dynamic here. Am I making you gag yet? Me too. Moving on.

Moment.

We tasted. We sniffed hops. We munched on barley. We laughed at the wonderful kooky man giving the tour. Stevie attempted a bit of parkour outside the brewery. After this fun experience we headed to America's oldest restaurant, the Union Oyster House. This place is like a pirates den. It is so, so cool. All I ever order is the clam chowder and brewed-especially-for-the-house Sam Adams 375 Colonial, and I always leave ridiculously happy and full. This was a special day, though, because we convinced the hostess to seat us at "The Kennedy Booth", which is apparently where JKF used to sit all the time. It felt meaningful, sitting in the seat where one of America's most famous (and perhaps, infamous) presidents used to sit and quietly eat the same clam chowder we were enjoying. It doesn't matter how you feel about the Kennedy clan, their Camelot or his politics. It was still a neat moment to share with friends and as we dreamed and talked about our future plans. Needless to say, we cheered. With our Sam 375.

Are you a beer-house touring expert? Because I feel like I could really get into this as a professional hobby. What are some of your favorite brewery tours? I enjoyed this experience so much, I wrote an article about it for The Harbus. Check it out!

Sunday Reflection

It's important to take time to reflect on the week's happenings. So often on Mondays, I feel like people ask me, "What did you do this weekend?" and my mind is a total blank. What in the world happened during the last week? I live a busy lifestyle right now, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't enjoy the hustle and bustle and the peaceful breaths of air in between. I realize that I need a better way to reflect on the week's happenings; not just the major events, but the little moments, too. That great cup of coffee on Tuesday morning. That nice old man on the subway. That really pretty sunrise over Boston's north end as I walked to work. These are special days, and they are passing by so quickly! I won't be living in Boston much longer and I really want to savor each day that I live here. Who knows where life's journey shall take me? So here it goes; my week in pictures:

1) I met the famous Hollywood producer and founder of New Regency Film Company, Arnon Milchan at a conference over the weekend. I might have told him I'm an actress. More to come on the nonsense of this day.

2) Someone's shoes, sprinting off the subway. I understand, as these trains tend to run late.

3) A view from my office window. Not my personal window, but nonetheless, a lovely view with the sun just right.

4) Did anyone else check out the Target-Neiman Marcus collaboration collection? I did. No purchases made, although I did like the Elton John-esque sunglasses.

5) Walking on the bridge from HBS to Harvard Square. Up ahead are Stevie and our dear friend and favorite Italian, Ale, who snapped some Christmas photos of us. More to come on that, as well...

6) It arrived! My personalized stationary from When it Rains! I was a contest winner on The Wonder List and oh, what a grand day. If you do something really nice for me, I promise I will write you a thank you note on this lovely stationary. Thank you, Emily, Alex, Cason and Kathryn!

7) My friend, Justin, belting out a slammin' 90's tune at the HBS Men's A Capella performance. I wanted to give him a grammy and a hug.

8) Wisdom in the tea. Just to clarify, this is not a tea reading. But close.

9) Dressing room shot. I texted my stylish sis a pic of some AWESOME leggings that I'm dreaming of for Christmas. She always responds with the most honest answer in the world, so I can trust her to give me the "no" if needed. She loved them, too!

Take a moment to remember your week. Maybe even snap a photo or two. You won't regret it!