West Virginia

Dave and I went to West Virginia for the weekend and had a great time! While there we celebrated his 5-year reunion with fellow dental school classmates and saw the town -- Morgantown, that is.

It was fun to see where Dave spent four of the hardest years of his life. He relived many memories as we visited some of his old haunts. Morgantown is beautiful and WVU looks like a great place to go to school. It is too bad I missed those years with Dave but I am glad I was able to see it all with him now. And we are already making plans to go back in another five years, or less.

Friendship Hill

Friendship Hill with Albert Gallatin

WVU Dental Student Clinic - it didn't look this nice when Dave was here

Alumni Dinner

Cooper's Rock Lookout

Homemade Bread

Some people think I am my mother's daughter and bake all the same great rolls and bread and cookies that she makes. I think I have the cookies down and I have been semi-successful in the roll department but I have never made bread. Until now.

This week my mom talked me into going to her Relief Society Bread Making Class and then forced me to put together my own batch of bread. All was going well, and you would have thought I had done this before, until I started talking to my table-mate. Suddenly, I had way too much flour in the mixer and the dough turned dry and crumbly. I added almost half a cup of water before it returned to the right consistency. But the bread baked up beautifully and tastes just like Mom's -- and it was really easy to make.

First Anniversary

Dave and I have made through our first year! And we are still madly in love!



To celebrate he took me back to the restaurant we ate at on the night we got engaged. Then we spent the night in the same bridal suite. Dave planned it all months ago and kept it a great surprise. What a guy! I'm pretty darn lucky he is mine!

I LOVE YOU, DAVE! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Sour Cream Cookies

I found this recipe today as I flipped through Betty Crocker's Cookie Book and decided to make them for Megan's bridal shower. They were a hit! All 4 dozen cookies were gone well before the shower ended.


SOUR CREAM COOKIES
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Browned Butter Glaze (below)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Beat brown sugar, sour cream, shortening, vanilla, and eggs in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in pecans.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched in center. Cool 1 to 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Spread with Browned Butter Glaze.

BROWNED BUTTER GLAZE
1/3 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 to 3 tablespoons hot water

Heat butter in 1-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown; remove from heat. Stir in remaining ingredients until smooth and spreadable.

MAKE IT YOUR WAY
For apples and spice and everything nice, try APPLESAUCE COOKIES. Substitute 3/4 cup applesauce for sour cream. Stir in 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves and 1 cup raisins with the flour.

Warm-up to tropical flavor with COCONUT-SOUR CREAM COOKIES. All you do is substitute shredded coconut for the pecans.

You can't work for peanuts, but you can put them in your cookies! SALTED PEANUT-SOUR CREAM COOKIES are easy to make, just substitute salted peanuts for the pecans.

Old-fashioned flavor can be found in SPICE-SOUR CREAM COOKIES. Mix 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves; sprinkle over cookies before baking. Omit glaze.

Comfort Movie

We all have our "comfort foods." Mine would be pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches, and warm chocolate chip cookies.

The other day, after a particularly straining afternoon, I wanted comfort. But I didn't really want to eat (actually, I didn't want to cook and make a mess of the kitchen). So instead I found the perfect "comfort movie," The Sound of Music. That was exactly what I needed. It lifted my spirit and made everything better -- and the very best part of all was it was calorie free!


photo credits

Who Do You Think You Are?

I have a new favorite TV show, "Who Do You Think You Are?" on NBC. The show is all about celebrities on their quest to discover their roots. It is fascinating to watch them travel around the world tracking clues and discovering who their anscestors are. I love it! Be sure to tune in tonight on NBC or catch up on missed episodes on NBC.com.

Cruel April Fool's Joke

April is supposed to mean Spring and flowers and butterflies. Right? Well Mother Nature had a different idea this morning as we woke up to an inch of snow. Cruel.