Bun's Blog ~ March 2010
Life Rules
Spring is coming to Spokane early. One of my pictures shows daffodils sprouting on February 6 and one from last winter with Tony, formerly the voice of McManus Books, preparing to shovel several feet of snow off our roof. What a difference a year makes.
I have a friend who during the winter underwent chemotherapy. She had beautiful thick hair but was losing it fast. I knit her a cap that would fit at the height of her hair loss and another for when her hair came back. The only difference in the hats besides size was a white band on the later one. I think the smaller hat went to one of her grandchildren when my friend no longer needed it. I found my pattern atwww.chemocaps.com.
I also made her ginger cookies. Ginger cookies are supposed to settle your “sicky” stomach. There is a recipe on some candied ginger I got from a Chinese store in Seattle that was very good. Unfortunately, I didn’t save the wrapper. Then I found this recipe on a flier from Safeway. My friend says it helped and some days the cookies were the only thing she could eat. If you know someone who is going through the same experience, the cookies might be a welcome gift.
Butterscotch Gingerbread Cookies
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 9 minutes
Cool time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
¾ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup mild molasses
1 large egg
1 2/3 cups (11 oz. package) Nestle Toll House Butterscotch Flavored Morsels
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt in small bowl.
Beat sugar, butter, molasses and egg in large mixer bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in flour mixture until well blended. Stir in morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
[Adventures in Antarctica, 2001--Bun pulling stuck ship and summertime at the Port Lockroy British Research Station--(note penquins on roof behind me and behind Norma on the left.]
There was a time when ginger cookies didn’t do it for me. My sister Norma and I were coming back from an Antarctica Peninsula cruise where the seas are notoriously rough in the Drake Passage to Ushuaia, Chile. We were both sprawled out in our beds hoping for landfall soon. Then there was an announcement over the loud speakers that the ship’s store was having a final sale. We popped out of bed, slipped into some clothes and rushed upstairs. On our way out of the store there was a table set up offering tea and ginger cookies, guaranteed to help with the seasickness everyone on ship was experiencing. We each grabbed a cookie and rushed back to beds with our purchases. I was able to eat the cookie, but I think it was the bargains that made me feel that life was worth living after all.
There was a story in the local newspaper about “Life’s Rules.” I didn’t read it because I didn’t think much of the idea. But it might make an interesting blog, so I pinned Pat down over his breakfast coffee. Here is what he had to say:
Get up every day.
If you sleep until noon, the days are not nearly as long.
One thing about bad hearing, you don’t hear the things that will irritate you.
Various illnesses become our hobbies.
Any more the only gardening I do is my hair and beard.
Be happy. It works!
There you have it. I don’t know about the “life rules,” but that reminded Pat of another thing
and he went off to write it for his March blog.
FINALLY THE GUS REPORT:
As you know Gus claims Pat’s bathroom as his own and there is much yowling if Pat doesn’t hurry out of there when Gus wants in. Now Gus has laid claim to Pat’s chair. Pat is fighting back and says, “There is no way Gus is getting the TV remote too!”
Remember to pick your battles carefully,
Bun
