Cookies, Cookies, and More Cookies

and Support Your Local Business Owners

A few weeks ago I mentioned I had gotten my hands on a cookie cookbook that I wanted to share with everyone. Well today is the day I'm blabbin about it!

Through a friend of a friend, I was able to get this fantastic cookie cookbook before it really hit the streets. It's been written and published by a local author which is a plus since I'm trying to buy local these days as much as possible.

I know, your like "big deal, there are a million cookie cookbooks out there".

This one is different!

The author Dianne Berst, is a local girl born and raised here in the Pacific Northwest. Dianne has been a long time contributor to the Everett Herald and her cookbook was recently featured in the same newspaper.

She's a fantastic cook!

Dianne's cookbook I love Cookies is 250 pages filled with nothing but cookie recipes that she has collected over the years and pryed from the recipe boxes of friends and family. Each one of these recipes has been tried and a proven hit.

Here's what makes this cookbook so special and not like any other. It's a cookbook dedicated to her life long friend Naomi and Naomi's love of cookies. The story at the beginning of this book is touching, heart breaking, and so very inspiring. It's fantastic! As soon as I got this cookbook, read the story, I knew this was going to be my new cookie cookbook. The one I refer to all the time for new cookie recipes. Move over Paula Deen!

$20

Here are a couple recipes I made recently that will be marked in my cookbook copy as

"Great, make again!"

Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Super easy, and they where a hit at The Hubs work.

Mix all the ingredients together.

I'm a big lover of batter! Yes, I know, it's probably going to give me worms or make me sick. I don't care!!!!! I love good batter and if the batter is good the goodies I'm making are going to be even better. This was one of those batters (you batter lovers know what I'm talkin about) I couldn't stay out of when making it.

Frosted with cream cheese frosting. NUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMY!

This was what The Hubs had to say about the Banana Bars in an e-mail the next morning after taking them to work with him:

Those bars are the rage today! There are three left. Lots of happy people wired up on sugar around here!

Up next............................

Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

All my ingredients mixed up and ready to bake.

These were delicious too!

If you are interested in ordering a cookbook please contact my new BFF

Dianne Berst. They are $20 each (that includes tax and shipping) and worth every penny. A thoughtful, unique gift for those on your list that like to bake.

She also has a fundraising program available if you have an organization that would like to raise a little money.
Dianneberst@AOL.com

Happy Holiday Cookie Baking!

Hope you and your family have a wonderful Norman Rockwell day today!

Is this what your Thanksgiving Day looks like?

I know ours doesn't.


What's your favorite part of Thanksgiving?


Mine.........Spending time with my family and friends of course

My mom's stuffing and gravy


Putting olives on all my fingers

Oh Yeah, I'll do it as long as I can get away with it and

I'll teach any kid about it that will listen and follow.


Planning my Friday shopping strategy
Every year I say "I'm gettin up at 4:00 am and goin to town" I have NEVER done that! I usually make it to town about noon.


Here's a pie recipe Laurie Ann at Tinkers Piggies wanted me to post after I had written about on WSU Laura's blog.


Eggnog Pie
Make a pie crust. You can use store bought if you wish. My mother the fantastic pie maker would have a stroke if I used store bought pie crust.

I doubled the batch to get two pies. I suggest you use a deep pie pan if you have one. If not, a single batch makes a pie and 1/2.

Make pudding mixture. When thick and bubbly, let it cool a little, then add your egg yokes. Stir quick when you add these.

This pie uses a lot of bowls when making it.
Make your meringue out of the egg white. Isn't that beautiful?

My Kitchen Aid mixer does the best job of whipping. It makes whip cream, meringue, and marshmallows in a flash. I did it for years with a little $9.99 hand mixer. That worked great but this works soooooooo much better.

Whip Cream
Fold everything together in the biggest bowl you own.

WALLAH! Eggnog Pie

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tbs Corn Starch

1/4 tsp Salt

1 cup milk

3 egg separated

1 Tbs butter

2 Tbs vanilla (use clear if you have it)

1/2 tsp cream of tarter

1/2 pint whipping cream

9" baked pie shell

Nutmeg

Directions

Pudding In a sauce pan blend; unflavored gelatin, sugar, corn starch and salt. Gradually stir in milk. Place over low heat stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils. Boil one minute. Remove from heat, add 3 beaten egg yokes a little at a time. Return to heat and bring back to a boil stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla. Allow to cool.

Meringue; Beat egg whites and cream of tarter until stiff. Set aside

Whip Cream; whip whipping cream until stiff. Add a little powder sugar if you prefer a sweet whipping cream.

In the largest bow you have, fold pudding, meringue and whip cream together until mixed. Then add to pie shell. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Keep Refrigerated.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

3 Days Until New York!

7 Days Until New York!

I can hardly think of anything else!

I'm so excited!

In one week I will be on a plane to New York City! I'm crashing WSU Laura's birthday trip with Genine and Michelle.

Yeah, I'm that friend! Princess Invite Myself.

I've been to New York once before. The Hubs and I went for a few days while he was there for work. It's been a couple years ago and I never thought in a million years I would get another chance to visit. We loved it so much and have talked about going back several times when we could really take our time. This is a huge treat for me and I can't even tell you how thoughtful it was of The Hubs to surprise me with this.

We want to see everything and do every tourist thing. Laura, Genine and Michelle haven't ever been there before so it's going to be fun. We are all giddy with excitement!

Now the real stress begins................WHAT TO WEAR???

When you spend all day in jeans and sweaters it's hard to come up with something fabulous to wear to the most glamorous city. Not to mention the whole Sex in The City thing has me thinkin this is how I need to look. I need to be on top of the fashion trends and stylish 24/7. SHIT! Are you kidding? That will never happen! I'm 43, over weight, my feet always hurt, and...............I already feel like the Country Mouse going to The City.

However if there really is a Naked Cowboy playing a guitar on the streets of New York, I'm pretty sure my jeans, turtle neck sweater, down vest and Danskos aren't really going to matter!

Have you seen those people dressed on the Plaza at the TODAY Show this time of year? They are all dressed like we dress here in Washington when it's a blizzard. I'm scared I don't have warm enough clothes for traveling this time of year to New York. YIKES! It seems to be much easier to pack for warm weather rather than cold weather when you live in a mild climate year round.

DAMN! Guess I'll have to do a little shopping before I leave!

So with my what to wear dilemma, we also have the where should we go first dilemma. There are so many choices we don't really know where to start. Of course we will be doing all the usual tourist stuff.

Suggestions?

I would love to hear about your trip to New York.

What was your favorite;

Sight

Restaurant

Show

Store

Tour

Best Tourist Tip

Best Places for Star Sightings

How did you get tickets to show tapping's

Last minute Broadway Shows

I would love to hear from you.

My AAA doesn't have the inside scoop! Lots of discounts but not the inside scoop. That's what we need

Happy Monday!

Guess Where I went Last Night?

YEAH! That's right!

Kathy Griffin Live. The Hubs and I were lucky enough to be invited by the WSU's to see her at the Paramount Theater last night. It was a fun night of WSU gloating (they won Saturday) in the heart of U of W country, cocktails, and laughing until your sides hurt followed up by laughing so hard you give yourself the hiccups.

The evening started out with us going to Cascadia for sliders and martinis. The reviews for the restaurant weren't so good but we heard they had some fantastic sliders and a pine martini we needed to try.

After driving around in Bell Town for a little while we finally found the address.

This is what we found.

Not the actual restaurant but you get the idea.

BOARDED UP!

I guess the bad Yelp reviews did it in. Don't under estimate the power of Yelp.

We ended up at the Bell Town Bistro which had fantastic happy hour specials that were great! We drank, gloated over The Cougs win some more and enjoyed visiting with The WSU's.

I will be writing a Yelp review on Bell Town Bistro. It really was a great dining experience and I recommend it.

After drinks and dinner we were walking down the street back to the car and inside this little shop WSU Hubs spotted a picture he wanted to look at. So he and The Hubs went in to take a real quick look. WSU Laura and I waited outside. We didn't want to get caught up in the shopping when we were suppose to be getting to the show. Once you get us in a store we don't usually get out quickly.

The next thing you see is The Hubs standing in the window waving me in frantically.

So we go in to see what the fuss is about.

HOLLY MOTHER OF GOD!

Yes that's right! The Hubs knows me so well. He knows I love funky shoes and boots. There isn't much funky about me but I do love me some funky ass shoes!

Plaid rubber boots. I'm so getting these! They didn't have my size at the cute little store we stopped in but I got home and IMMEDIATELY looked them up online. Seems Buy Trendy Shoes is where I need to get me some funky ass boots! They have lots of fun styles. LOVE THEM!

We were off to the show

Can I just say.................

Kathy Griffin Rocks!

I really do like her. I know she's all crude and offensive but I don't care. Hell, I'm crude an offensive. I love her! I love how she gossips and tells the dirt on Stars and the best part of it is..........you know she's telling the truth. WSU Laura and I left with mascara running down our faces from laughing so hard. The Hubs and WSU Hubs spent the rest of the evening recapping, reciting, and laughing. This is a great show if you have a chance to go...........GO! Even your straight husband or boyfriend will enjoy it.

I'm so excited for her new season of My Life on The D List to start.

After the show we went on a little tour.

We happen to know someone, who knows someone, who is a Big Shot With Keys to the new 1521 Second Street Luxury Condo building that is almost complete in downtown Seattle. These condos have the most spectacular views from their 1.8 million dollar condo windows you have ever seen. We went up on the roof to where the community deck will be located. Also located on top of the building (floor 39) are two private decks for the penthouses.

So here is the view from the top. Snapped with a camera phone by the Big Shot with the keys! It's fantastic!You can see all of Seattle. We were told that in the day time you can see Mt. Baker to the North, Mt. Rainier to the South, The Olympics to the West and The Cascades to the East. Including all the bodies of water that surround the Seattle area. It really was a spectacular view last night.

This is a view out of one of the condo windows. Right over Pike Place Market. HOW FABULOUS!

The Big Shot With Keys snapped this photo of The Hubs and I in front of another spectacular condo view.

Space Needle and huge Flag flying in the background.

What a great time we had touring this property after hours. You can't imagine how beautiful these condos are. Not only do they have fantastic views from every condo window but they all have automated toilets that come with remote controls. Freaking amazing! I never knew I needed help in the bathroom but apparently I do!

Here is something cool that I found (well actually Big Shot With Keys pointed it out) on the website of the company that is building all this fabulousness.

Click Here to go to OPUS

Then go to Back to Web-cam (to the right)

Then go to Time-Laps (to the right)

Then hit the arrow in the middle of the building.

This is freakin awesome!

Excuse some of the blurry pictures.........it rains here sometimes.

What a fun time we had with The WSU's last night. Thank you Laura for getting great tickets for us. Thank WSU Hubs for driving downtown and being The Big Shot With The Keys. It was fun to see what you have been working so hard on for the last couple years. The Hubs and I were totally impressed!

Now it's time to get busy!

ONE WEEK UNTIL I LEAVE FOR NEW YORK!!!!!

Look At These Beauties?

While in Snohomish yesterday at Annie's I was in aaaaaaaawwwwwhhhh of how beautiful her store is right now. It's always really pretty and inspiring but it's got the holiday magic goin on right now. She has some fabulous Christmas items. You should plan a trip to Snohomish and stop in there. You will be amazed and instantly in the Holiday spirit!

I stopped (got up off my lazy ass, got dressed and drove down on down) in there because she had these beautiful pieces of furniture last time I was there that I couldn't stop thinking about. I wanted to see if they were still there. They are too big for my house but I have a friend who I think would LOVE LOVE LOVE them. I needed to get out of the house and going to Annie's to take pictures was a good excuse. I wanted to e-mail the pictures to my friend since she doesn't live local. Maybe entice her to come visit.

Well..................

As I was sending the pictures to my friend I thought "these are so pretty, I'm going to post the pictures" I didn't take pictures with the intent to blog about them so I didn't capture all the lovely holiday items that Annie has in her store right now. Sorry about that.

As usual my pictures don't do them justice but you get the idea.

The Hutch

The wood and trim detail up close. The trim looks like little crowns.

What girl doesn't like a crown?

The buffet

Side tables

Dresser and mirror. This could probably be used for another buffet.
Think of all the vintage linens you could store in this baby!
Makes me giddy just thinking about it.
I love linens!
The dresser up close.
There is a tall highboy dresser too but that picture didn't turn out. It's just gorgeous too.

Love this piece also.

By the time I got home I had a sale notice from Annie's about a sale coming up.

Friday November 28th

Not just her store but all the stores in Snohomish will be open late and having sales. I love the little town of Snohomish, and I think I'll be shopping there on Black Friday. I can't think of a better way to spend the day shopping.

Screw Wal-Mart!

Screw The Mall!

Wait until the Monday after (the news predicts big savings that day on line) and shop on line so you don't have to fight the crowds. Go to Snohomish, get a steaming cup of happiness, and wonder all the lovely stores. There's lots of fun small town stuff going on downtown for the whole family.

Click Here For Info

SHOP LOCAL

SHOP SMALL BUSINESS

FIND SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Auntie Marge and Uncle Bob are sick of Hickory Farms

They want something new and exciting!

Check this out..........

Please join all of us here in Snohomish on Friday November 28th to kick off the Holiday Season with savings all up and down First street.

Annie's will be open until 8:00 pm with store savings of up to 50% off select merchandise. Almost everything will be 20% off, including furniture and accessories!! I will have some great goodies for you to snack on to keep your shopping energy high!!!
I hope you get to spend your Thanksgiving with all the people you love...
Annie

Annie's on First
1210 First Street
Snohomish, Wa. 98290
360 568-4242
Tues-Sat 10:00-5:00
Sunday 12:00-5:00

Did she say sale and goodies???

I'm soooooooooo there!

Why Can't We Have Fancy

Soap Like Everyone Else?

The Hubs and I were at the mall the other night. While we were wondering through Macy's I walked by the Martha Stewart handsoap and lotion display.

Turning to The Hubs

Me: That new Martha Stewart lotion smells really good.

Here smell it.

I hold out my hands for him to smell.

The Hubs; That does smell good. You should get some of it. We should get some new stuff for the bathrooms too. Something that smells good and looks nicer. Anytime we go to other peoples houses (The WSU's) they always have nice handsoap in nice containers.

Me; Nope! We aren't getting any!

The Hubs; No? Why? Why can't we get some fancy handsoap like everyone else?

This said in his best imitation of me throwing a fit

Me; Until the bathroom appearance quality goes up, the soap quality isn't going up! Let that be an incentive for you!

The Hubs; Whatever physco spoiled brat!

I was in Macy's yesterday and Martha Stewart had all her stuff on sale. So I broke down and bought handsoap and lotion FOR THE KITCHEN.

The Honeysuckle is really nice.

So until the bathrooms get remodeled we will be continuing to use the mismatched bottles of Softsoap that I keep refilling with the large no smell refill jug.

I use to have good smelling softsoap in the bathrooms but they discontinued the flavors I liked so I just started refilling the old containers. I never found a favorite flavor again.

When I'm in love with my bathrooms, I'll start dating them, and bring them gifts of nice soap!

On a completely different subject...................

I try not to buy prepared food. I usually make most everything from scratch.

It's sometimes cheaper, it's better for you, I'm allergic to some additives in food, I'm such a picky eater I like to know what's in my food and (I) Princess Lazy Ass has nothing but time.

Prepared items with meat is something I TOTALLY stay away from. I'm super picky about meat so I never eat anything that is prepackaged for my convenience. I barley can eat a hamburger or chicken from a fast food place.

I was in Costco (where two people with no kids don't have any business shopping for food unless they are expecting a crowd. We don't, it's too much food that gets wasted for us) shopping for WSU Laura's birthday and I came across some turkey burgers.

I thought "WOW!" " I love turkey burgers, I especially love them made with Swiss cheese and caramelized onions"

I was thrilled. I've been making my own turkey burgers with these ingredients for years. It's something I make a large batch of and freeze.

"How easy, I won't have to make them, I'll just pop them in the microwave."

This is what I bought

Don't they look delicious?

These suck!

They have the texture of a 1970's Banquet Salisbury Steak TV Dinner or an old sponge. They STUNK so bad when I took them out of the package I about gaged. Heated one up, took my first bite and I bit in to something hard and gross. It looked like turkey guts (bone) when I spit it out. The texture, taste, and smell was AWFUL!

These will be going straight in to the garbage!

I totally got sucked in to Costco marketing. While shopping around trying samples of other delicious item I got sucked in! Made me think........oh how convenient, totally forgetting why I don't buy prepared food.

It only took $9 to remind me!

What was your worst Costco purchase?

Let The Party

Season Begin!

Not since the last party we had

has this house been so clean!

The last party The House of B's hosted was the 2007 Ugly Christmas Sweater Party . We were due for hosting a party just so we would get some projects done and crap cleaned up around here. In true House of B's fashion we procrastinated as much as we could all year long. Seems we work better under stress, freaking out, and down right mayhem and chaos.

Three weeks before Laura's party (we actually didn't know for sure we were going to be hosting it then) we decided to update our downstairs family room. It could have been done this summer (we talked about it) but we were busy camping and doing nothing. Three weeks seemed like plenty of time. Right??????

One forgets about all the other preparations that need to happen to prepare for a party. It's not just painting, staining, getting carpet laid, baking cupcakes, cleaning bathrooms, and just general mess cleaning up. There is food prep, table cloth ironing, gifts wrapped, seating figured out, table planning, making sure there is enough of everything (beer and propane) as well as ..................just the everyday stuff that has to be done. Then there was big fat messes I shared with you on August 13th that still weren't cleaned up. I had been working on it but they weren't all done. Your starting to get the picture right? I think they call it biting off more then you can chew. That's me!

So with that said.................I'm going to display my hard work proudly today! I crammed 6 months of work in to 3 weeks.

First up the living room

I love this room. I love it when it's clean, slip covers washed, dusted and ready to receive visitors. This room has a lot of stuff in it because it's easy to find things for a room you love. I've had so much fun decorating this room. I always find something new for it. I'm hoping the other rooms become as easy to decorate now that I have fallen in love with them too. Everything in my living room and dining room is second hand. I either bought it at a garage sale, thrift store, off Craigslist. Even the slipcovers are made out of second hand bedspreads.

I keep trying to bring in another color with the black and white. Green, pink, blues are the colors I lean toward. I still find myself always going for just black and white. The lime green does look great in there. So does the pinks.

Ohhhh what's a girl to do?

Nice pile of hamburger buns in the dining chair. You won't see that in any magazine! That's my original idea. It's called REAL LIFE.

Guess Cottage Living won't be calling me anytime soon.

Every thing was dusted, Windexed and ready for visitors.

I'm not a collector of anything. I buy things I like but I don't collect anything. This however is something I have started to collect. I picked all these little dog figurines up at garage sales, thrift stores, and antique (Annie's) stores. They just make me smile and I think I'll keep my eyes open for some more of them. The Wired Haired Fox Terrier are my most favorite of course. They look like my little buddy Charlie. The Boxer was for The Hubs. He wants a boxer and this was the best I could do for him. I'm not ready for that big of a dog yet.

The dining room all ready. Love this room too but we never use it. Maybe that will be one of our New Years Resolution this year. Use the dining room more.

I won't bore you with anymore pictures of the new downstairs family room. I have posted enough of them. We love this room!

Just know it was clean and ready too.

Even the sun room got a cleaning.

Windows washed, slip covers washed, vacuumed, dusted, and furniture rearranged for a party.

We enjoy this room so much.

We use it all the time during the spring and summer but this year we decided that we would use it for the party and extend the party out to the deck. Which is new this year too. Well, we had it last year but it wasn't finished (bad contractor story that I should share with you and bad mouth the contractor in public, but I won't) so we could never use it. This year it's done (Thank you Brian from Quicksilver Construction) so we put up tents over the deck and used it too.

This is the deck. We put tents up over the lower part. The weather is too unpredictable around here. However on Laura's birthday we had

B E A U T I F U L weather.

I laid out an outdoor rug, put the vintage wrought iron furniture out, and set the beverage table up outside. The Hubs also had he BBQ set up at the other end of the deck by a fire pit.

At night we had some small lights on that were strung up on the railing and candles burning. It really looked great. I was so happy with the way everything turned out.

I really wanted it to be special for my good friend Laura.

She threw me the most special party of my life a couple years ago. She had an afternoon tea party for my bridal shower. It was so lovely that people are still talking about it.

She really is the master party planner!

Having her 40th at my house was such and honor. I wanted everything to be perfect for her.

Now for the best ZERO cost idea I got while trying to get things ready for the party.

I was at Annie's last week (making sure she didn't have anything I couldn't live without. Of course she did) talking with her about the party. I mentioned that I had all these urns that I needed to fill with something. I didn't want it too be too fall and I wasn't' ready for Christmas yet either. Any suggestions?

That Annie, she's so freakin brilliant! She said "go out to your cedar tree, pick up the branches that came off in the last wind or cut some and stuff those branches tight in to all your urns. " "Put a bucket with water in the urn and then fill up the bucket with branches."

Perfect! We have 3 huge cedar trees in our back yard and a holly tree. That will be perfect and FREE!

Look how damn fabulous that is! It looks great on the front porch with my black door.

Franklin checkin it out. It's his new favorite place to hide under.

I loved the look so much I filled up 2 more urns and put them in the sun room. They smelled wonderful! Now for Christmas I'm going to go cut some more holly branches and stuff in there. Maybe bet some large Christmas ornaments and shove in there too.

Well that's it! Everything is cleaned up and ready for the next party.

We will be hosting the 2nd annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party on Dec 13th. I'm getting ready for that. I'll keep you posted and I'll find last years pictures to share. It was a great time.

I have to get everything ready and set up before I leave. I 'll only have a week when I get back to get ready for another party.

Where am I going you ask????

NEW YORK CITY!!!!

I'm so damn excited I can hardly stand it. I have been to New York once before and loved loved loved it! The Hubs surprised me last week with a phone call telling me to get myself a ticket and go with Laura and the girls.

Love him!

So stay tuned for more chaos and mayhem from The House of B's!