Aug202009

Change

Haybales Blurred

I’m still adjusting to these new glasses.

After nine years, a change in prescription is hard.

So is a radically different frame. (Now you’re all curious – aren’t you!)

Suddenly – everything looked different. The boundaries of my sight were altered.

When I walked – it almost felt as if the ground was moving under me.  My eyes were tired and I got a headache.

A friend recently pointed out that adjusting to these new glasses is a perfect metaphor to what any change does in our lives.

Everything appears different.  Your boundaries are new. The earth around seems to be moving.

Some changes are more earth shattering than others (think moving, or a death.)

Others are smaller, like the first day of school or a new job.

But with every change comes the undeniable fact that the old normal has gone and you need to adjust to the new.

And that is the key to any change – allowing yourself time to adjust.

In time the world will stop moving every time I step, my eyes will have learned their new borders, my headache will go away, and things will settle back down into a new normal.

Then I will truly see things more clearly.

Aug192009

Broken Glasses -It’s the Little Things!

Broken Glasses

My glasses broke.

They snapped while I was cleaning them.

I instantly had this feeling of terror. I am almost blind without my glasses. Seriously – I can’t see 6 inches in front of me – everything is blurry.

I’ve put on those glasses every morning now for years. So many years that I don’t even think about them – they are a part of me.

Now they lay in my hands- broken in two parts – and I’m non-functional.

I just laid on the couch with my eyes closed, praying the headache away while I waited for my husband to rescue me.

Thankfully he did. He was able to solder them together temporarily, allowing me to get into town where the gal at our vision center found me some loaner frames.

The loaner frames got me to the eye doctor an hour away and through the next week while I waited for my new glasses to come in.

What a blessing those glasses were.

Sometimes it’s the little things in life – the things we take for granted, the everyday things we are so used to that we don’t even think about them – it’s those things that are the biggest blessings.

A lesson I learned very well this past week.

So well in fact, that I would like to publicly say:

God bless the anonymous person who invented eyeglasses sometime in the distant past. God bless his descendants for generations to come.

God bless the inventor of plastic frames, which make my glasses so much lighter to wear.

And God bless the powers to be that, at least for a time,  decided that small frames would be in style so that I don’t have to wear large, clunky coke-bottle lenses.

God bless them, everyone.

Aug182009

Chocolate Butterflies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies My oldest daughter has inherited her Nana Shirley’s love of peanut butter and chocolate and has borrowed one of Nana’s signature cookies – chocolate butterflies.

These were my favorite cookies when I was growing up and the first cookie I made for the fair! (I got a blue ribbon- by the way!)

My daughter now makes these occasionally for the Farmers Market – where they have found a niche with other chocolate and peanut butter lovers.

I’m not sure where the “butterfly” part of the name comes from – maybe from the design on the top? But I do know why people love them – they are soft, gooey and good.

Chocolate Butterflies

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk
2 cup flour
2/3 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder

Cream together the peanut butter, margarine, and sugar.

Add the 2 eggs, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.

In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients, flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Add to the peanut mixture alternately with the milk.

Drop by teaspoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheets. Press both horizontally and vertically on the top of the cookie with a fork dipped in sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes. The middle of the cookie should be dull, not shiny when done.

This is a soft, cake like cookie.

To speed things up, my daughter uses a potato masher dipped in sugar to mark the tops of the cookies.

To store, let them cool completely and place waxed paper between the layers of cookies.

Enjoy!

Aug102009

Luscious Chocolate Cake

Once again Nana shares a yummy and quick recipe from her kitchen – which she shared with my younger sister for a few days…

Luscious Chocolate CakeOur youngest daughter and her 6 children were spending a couple of days with us to make the time go faster while hubby/daddy was in Australia on a business trip.

It was unseasonably cool, in fact almost cold! It just felt like baking weather.

She looked in the pantry and found this recipe taped to the back of a box of chocolate cake mix. (Papa Jim wanted to be sure & make it the next time he got urge to bake!)

It was indeed luscious and a hit with all of us.  It was especially good with the home made ice cream that they had brought along!

Luscious Chocolate Cake
(Recipe Papa found on back of cake mix!)

  • 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 cup applesauce
  • l cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 package super-moist chocolate cake mix
  • ½ cup chopped pecans
  • ½ cup vegetable oil

Heat oven to 350°. Grease bottom of 13”x9” pan; lightly flour. Microwave milk and ½ cup of the chocolate chips in small microwavable bowl uncovered on medium about l minute or until chocolate is softened; stir until smooth and set aside.

Beat cake mix & oil on low speed 30 seconds (mixture will be crumbly); reserve 1 cup. Beat applesauce and eggs into remaining cake mixture on low speed 30 seconds (batter will be thick & grainy); beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Spread in pan. Drop melted chocolate mixture by teaspoonfuls over batter, dropping more around edge than in center. Stir remaining ½ cup chocolate chips and the pecans into reserved cake mixture; sprinkle over batter.

Bake 35-45 minutes or until center is set. Run knife around side of pan to loosen cake. Cool completely, about 2 hours. Store covered at room temperature. (It does freeze well if you have enough left over!)

Until next time!

Nana Shirley

Aug052009

Ginger Snaps

Ginger Snaps

As you know, I am the Chocolate Lady, yet there are certain non-chocolate recipes that really tempt me. This soft and rich Gingersnap is one of them!

Every Monday morning Dagmar makes a double batch of these delectable cookies and their spicy goodness permeates the house!

She sells them at the Farmer’s Market – where they have quite a following.

Both Matt and Pedro have brought them to the fair and received Outstanding Exhibit Ribbons for them.

Sigh. Just writing this makes me really hungry!

Gingersnaps

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup shortening (we use margarine)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses (we love black strap – but you can use light)
1 egg

Cream together shortening and sugar. Add molasses and egg.

Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the molasses mixture.

Shape dough into balls and dip in sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

When done the cookie will have beautiful cracks across the surface.

Remove to a rack to cool.

Enjoy!