A slightly belated Happy New Year

It was finally obvious that the solstice holidays were over a few days back when the last cookie was eaten, a sugared nutball.  They have excellent longevity and TPP had made a double batch.  Now there are still cookies around because people had purchased several varieties and gifted them to this writer.  Hmm, that might say something about the image he projects.  One variety was Newman's own, a mimic of oreos, but Newman's own should have stuck with salad dressing.  The mimics just don't have the deep dark chocolate flavor that the cookies should have.  And then the unevenly applied white filling is denser and not as creamy as the stuff in oreos.  NOs are not bad cookies but they are not nearly as good as the originals unless you are committed to organic flour and organic sugar, and want to spend more so that some of the profits go to a charity, TPP says don't bother.  
The January weather has been mild so far and only slightly wintry. Hellebore buds are beginning to poke up as are the shoots. It was windy the other day as this latest front arrived, so it will take some time to walk the gardens and pick up twigs and limbs.  It is a bit hard this time of year to be productive.  Don't much care what the British royals do.  And TPP doesn't like basketball.  The political posturing of both the inept POTUS and those that wish to replace him are not interesting beyond the worry they create.  This latest sword rattling episode with Iran clearly shows that trust and integrity is a WH problem, and the danger of such rash action is not understood.  2020 is not starting out well.  

Cookies!

Yesterday was National Cookie Day and you just naturally know the Cookie Monster to be the spokes-monster for the celebration. Who else? The Phactors did not consciously decide to celebrate, but making cookies just happened to be the order of the day. First, Mrs. Phactor made corn meal muffins with a cranberry-orange relish filling. One of the best uses of one of the best Thanksgiving leftovers.  Let's see the cookie parade included a dried cranberry-pistachio cookies, cut-out Christmas cookies (an old family recipe), evergreen tree spritz cookies, and sugared nutballs (using pecans -another family recipe). What a load of colorful, cheerful, sugary confections!  Several people will get a share just so they know we were thinking of them and cared. In the past students from a number of foreign countries have helped with the cookie decorations, and when they come from different cultures with different aesthetics, and no preconceived notions about what snowmen (something they may have never seen), or Santas, or wreaths should look like, the outcomes can be quite surprising. The human sweet tooth always prevails in the end, and all get eaten.  Many of them were Thai (colorful), and then Chad and Togo once (interesting designs). 

Yesterday was also our first snowfall of the winter; wet, sticky stuff, but attractive. Note gardeners: shake it off trees and bushes that get bent with the weight.

Cookie animation

Here's a link to a funny and pretty clever animation suitable for children of all ages.  This came via Treehugger, a holiday greeting of sorts from a website that is always worth visiting.  The patience and ingenuity and technology to do things like this have always been intriguing, but  not knowing or understanding how things are done is part of the magic.

How to make someone happy

Based on a recent observation, it's pretty simple to make someone really happy - send them cookies.  This morning while waiting for my pusher to prepare my caffeine fix, a couple of foreign students came in with a package from home (the post office is nearby). There was such excitement.  The box wasn't very big, but it was packed with different kinds of cookies, in this particular case Chinese cookies, familiar treats for a student studying a long ways from home. There was pure joy and happiness in that moment. So think about it; send someone some cookies. 

Cooking cookies with a biologist

So here's the situation, the hydrogenated Glycine max oil had been creamed together with crystallized, purified vacuolar sap from Saccharum, two sterile ovules of the domesticated Asian jungle fowl, and an ethanolic extract of fermented fruits of the Vanilla orchid, so it was time to stir in the shredded endosperm of Cocos nucifera, the chopped embryo of Juglans regia, and the candified, ground seeds of Theobroma cacao, only to find that the most critical ingredient, finely powdered endosperm of Triticum spp., was insufficient to the task at hand. Now some 5 hours earlier that the Phactor's vehicle was checked into an out patient auto center to get new tires, so fortunately the people's grocery is only about a 20 min walk away, but walking home with 11 lbs of ingredients indicated the utility of having at least a cart. The preparation time certainly did not take into account not having all the ingredients on hand. Still Ms. Phactor and F1 seemed to approve.

Principle of limiting factors & kitchen cupboards

The Phactor is rather easily bored, so it is best to keep him busy, and what better activity for a snow/sick day than making some cookies. This is where the principle of the limiting factor comes into play: no chocolate chips (they were used up in making a truly decadent cranberry pecan tart) so no chocolate chip cookies, need molasses so ginger snaps (my Mother's recipe) are out too. So you begin seeking very simple recipes, and even then just made it under the wire (only 2 eggs in the house) for some snickerdoodles. That's how it goes sometimes, but generally the Phactors keep a pretty well stocked cupboard and pantry and freezer and wine cellar, so when intrigued by a recipe for worcestershire sauce and its many bits and pieces, everything needed was right on had. Oh, and do try this recipe, it's wonderful. But be warned you may never want store bought again. The ketchup and mustard recipes on the same page are pretty good too.