More Cookies

I'm having a neighborhood get-together this weekend and so I wanted to practice on some more goodies to serve. This was my idea: Valentine's Day Cookies that look like real Valentines.

So, I used my Royal Icing for the white frosting and then I cut out a bunch of red fondant hearts and stabbed them with toothpick arrows. I "glued" the fondant hearts onto the cookies with the frosting.

I thought they turned out cute. 

Prepare Yourself

March 16, 2013 The SCBWI Oregon will be having a Prepare Yourself Workshop to help everyone get ready for the May conference.

Location: TaborSpace, 5441 SE Belmont St, Portland, OR 97215


Cost for Shape-Ups:
SCBWI members - $8.00      Nonmembers - $10.00
What to Expect at the Conference is FREE!
No refunds after March 9^th. 
Registration will be closed on March 13th.
To read more, click here.

Poseidon's Arrow by Clive Cussler

This was our book club choice for the month of January.

Clive is my husband's favorite author and I have never read one of his books until now. I really didn't expect to like it at all because I don't like action/adventure movies or books but this was more fun than I thought it would be.

It was a quick page turner and I had no problem getting through it.

Although I do think Dirk Pitt is totally unbelievable. I mean he's like a Navy Seal on Super-Steroids. No one could do all the things he did, including fighting a bull. I mean, I think being a matador might take a little training rather than simply hoping into the ring and waving a red cape around. But never mind all that, it was an exciting story. And I did like the fact that Dirk included his kids in the story. Of course they were Super Seals too but what the heck. How else can you save the world and a super-stealth submarine at the same time?

Anyway, this was a new genre for me and now I'll know what my husband is talking about when he talks about Summer and Al and Dirk, Jr.

So all in all, if you're an action/adventure kind of person and if you enjoy James Bond, I think you'd love Poseidon's Arrow.

Valentine's Cookies with Royal Icing

Sugar Cookies Recipe:

Original recipe makes approx. 4 dozen

Ingredients: 

3 cups all-purpose flour  

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 

2 cups white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sprinkle powdered sugar on the table and roll out the dough to cut into shapes. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for about 8-12 minutes.

Royal Icing:

This is a smooth, hard-drying icing.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Meringue Powder
3 Cups confectioners' sugar
4-5 tablespoons of warm water

Makes 2-3 cups of icing

Beat Meringue Powder, sugar and water until icing forms into peaks.

All That Glitters

All that glitters isn't always gold. At least in my book, glittering gold isn't always the best.

Of course I grew up a tomgirl...yeah a tomboy but what the heck, I wasn't a boy. I just liked to wrestle, climb trees and play almost every sport. I was never "into" purses, jewelry or fancy clothes and it's a good thing because my parents couldn't afford them. I was more into basketball, tennis, and track...

I wanted to run not try to balance on high heels. I wanted to climb not curl my hair. My mom was a beautician and she was always styling my hair, which I would pull down out of it's fancy "waterfall" style, when she wasn't looking, and let it get tangled.

Guess that's why I still only have one pair of high heels and they aren't even that "high" and when my husband buys me jewelry I kind of sigh and say, "do you want me to put that on?" I hate changing jewelry and I almost never wear earrings.

BUT when my husband brought home this funny aluminum "coin" he found when he was out jogging on a business trip, I said, "wow. That's really cool."

The next thing I knew, he was drilling a hole in the scrap metal and making me a necklace.

And isn't this necklace cool?You can even see it from a distance.

So, I guess I'm a cheap date...or at least a cheap wife. I don't ask for diamonds and pearls. I like scrap metal and salvaged aluminum.

Here's how he did it.

He drilled the hole in the metal.

Then he engraved "Kim and Lars - 30" (because this is the 30th year we've been married).

 Then he clamped on an "OH" ring through the hole and inserted a chain to make it a necklace.

 The "OH" ring only cost $1.99 for about 50 of them and the chain was $2.99. So, it was less than $5.00 for the entire necklace.

I think it turned out super cool and I love this piece of jewelry just as much as most of my other pieces. (I do have some sentimental pieces, like my Mom's wedding ring, etc. that mean a lot to me but this is so cool because he made it for me.)

LOVE cookies

Simply dip your favorite cookies into white chocolate, then hold a stencil up to the cookie

Pour your sprinkles on top - the warm white chocolate will act like glue for the sprinkles.

Oh yeah, make sure you have wax paper underneath the cookies - it will help so much with the mess. You'll simply be able to throw it away.

Then pop your pan in the fridge to chill for about a half hour.

Take them off and put them in a pretty box and WAH-LAH!!! LOVEly Valentine's Day gift :D

Make sure you put wax paper between the layers of cookies inside the box so they don't get stuck together.

Writing is a lot like Baking

These are two loaves of bread, baked in the same oven, at the same temperature and using the same recipe. The only difference: one package of yeast was obviously faulty. I tried to make the loaf on the right-hand side better by drizzling honey over the top--it was no no use, no hope and terrible. I had to throw the loaf away, well I composted it. I didn't even want to give it to the birds--it was soooo dense I think they might have broke their little beaks trying to chip away at it. It was hard as a brick.

I should have taken pictures of the dough as it was set to rise...it never did and I should have known just by looking at it that it was going to be horrible. But I went ahead and baked it and this is how it turned out:

I know, it looks like a flat, gooey, YUCKY mess - and it was.

My whole point of this post was to tell people that sometimes you can do everything right and still everything go can horribly wrong. I know people who have baked one loaf of bread and then "never again" because that one didn't turn out. Well, it could have been a simple fix - the yeast. Seriously.

The same goes with writing. I know lots of writers who have written a story, sent it out trying to get it published. Then they've gotten a few rejections and :( gotten horribly discouraged. They give up before they've even given themselves a chance. Sometimes you have to rework a recipe (story) and move things around. As you perfect your craft you'll only get better. And who knows it might not even be your fault that it isn't picked up. It might be that it's "just not right for the list," "it doesn't suit the needs," or it could even be personal taste. You might make the best lemon meringue pie in the world but if the person tasting your pie hates lemons...well, sorry charlie, it's not going to be picked up. That doesn't mean you should give up. The next person who tastes your pie might think it's the best thing on the planet.

It's the same with stories. I LOVE Stephen King's novels but none of my girlfriends will even read his books. I know, It's hard to believe but it's true.

I'm in two book clubs and I have been recommending S King books over and over again. Finally, my girlfriends said, "Kim, we are never going to read Stephen King. We are single ladies who live alone and when we curl up at night it's not going to be with a ghost, ghoul or serial killing maniac."

That got me thinking...tastes can be so different and sometimes things can go horribly wrong...even when you do everything "write" ;D But keep at it and you'll only get better...at baking and writing.