Munchies and musings...

Growing up in Indiana, I had a mild fascination with the Amish. Something about their wholesome, simple life was very intriguing to me. Our local paper ran a weekly food column by an older Amish lady. Each week, I couldn't wait to get the paper so I could hear about her week and try out some of her recipes. Even after I moved out on my own, away from Indy, my dad would clip her column and send it to me.

About five years ago, when we were back in Indiana visiting my folks, I had the opportunity to drive up to Amish country. I went to their weekly auction, flea market and then stopped by an Amish restaurant for dinner. The food, good old-fashioned home-cooking, was served family-style. Each table got a loaf of bread, peanut butter spread, apple butter, large bowls of vegetables and a choice of meat. I wasn't quite sure what to expect since I was dining alone but I still got a loaf of bread, bowls of veggies and a large plate of fried chicken. I hate to admit it but I ate the whole loaf of bread myself...it was hot, fresh from the oven and topped with the peanut butter spread and apple butter, it was delectable. I could hardly eat anything else I ordered.

At the back of the restaurant was a large bakery and gift shop. The line at the bakery was incredibly long and I couldn't imagine what could be in those cases that would be worth the wait. Until I took a little look in the case. Two chocolate puffed cookies stuffed full with cream...the whoopie pie! In every Amish cookbook I had there was a recipe for whoopie pies. I couldn't imagine what one would taste like so, despite being incredibly full, I stood in that long line to buy a few to take home with me.  That's when my obsession with the whoopie pie began.

Since then, I've made and eaten a lot of whoopie pies. Pretty much, the whoopie pie has become my signature cookie to take to potlucks. Though time-consuming, whoopie pies are fairly easy to make and most recipes make a ton of little sandwich cookies. Lately, I've been obsessed with making different versions of the whoopie pie.

A couple of weeks ago, I combined a few recipes to come up with a simple cake mix version for the pumpkin spice whoopie pie. They were good but not great. Everyone else really liked them but they weren't quite up to my whoopie pie standards. Today, I decided to try the recipe again to see if I could tweak it just a little more. The recipe's still not exactly perfect but, this time, I think the cookies taste pretty good. When  I look in my fridge and see them all individually wrapped ready to give away or put into lunches, I'm transported back to that day in Amish country. Aren't they pretty?



If you're like me, crazy for whoopie pies, let me know and I'll post the recipe. I, personally, think they'd make a lovely addition to any Thanksgiving dinner.

Tonight was Bible Study night. We're almost through with our four week study on "One Month to Live". The whole study is about finding your passion and living your life authentically. It's so funny to me that when God is dealing with me on an issue, He makes it so that all areas of my life correspond with that one topic.

When my daughter was little, my family used to take her with them to baseball games. Notice I didn't say I took her to games because, well, I can't stand sports. I think sports are boring. Except for maybe hockey and then only because you can ring cow bells and watch the players fighting each other. Who doesn't love shouting "fight, fight, fight" at a bunch of grown men?

Anyway, I digress. I didn't even realize that my daughter still liked baseball until a few weeks ago when she caught Yankee Fever. My mom and her have been monopolizing the tv watching the Yankees (and the World Series). Boring. Boring. Boring. But, because I'm a good mom (pats self on back), I've happily relinquished control of the remote to the two of them. If watching sports is inherited, then it skipped a generation in my family because my daughter doesn't get it from me.

What she does get from me, though, is the ability to make an event out of a simple ballgame. Each night leading up to and including the Series, she planned special food for us to eat. One night, we even ran out to 7/11 to pick up hotdogs for the game.  Saturday morning, I awoke bright and early to hear her in the kitchen baking a special cake for that night's game. It's the first cake she's ever made on her own. I so wanted to interfere and show her the "right" way to make the cake but I quelched those desires and let her do it her own way. The cake turned out great (and, it was quite tasty if I do say so myself).  Here's a picture of the finished cake:


I'm happy that Lorrin enjoys making simple events into extra-ordinary events. I love that she's finding her passions early. I know that she'll have all kinds of different likes and dislikes over the years but I'm glad that she's brave enough to try things she's never done before, like baking. At 40-something, I'm still trying to find out what it is I should be doing.  I have to admit that sometimes fear of failure holds me back from trying things I really want to do. I'm so happy that Lorrin goes after things without worrying about failing. As she was baking the cake, it looked like it might not turn out but she found a way to make it work.

After all these years of me showing Lorrin how to live her life, she's now teaching me how to be fearless. I guess you could say that the student's become the teacher. Way to go, Lo!

Anyone else out there suffering the effects of the time change? I find myself getting up before the crow flies and falling asleep on the couch at 8:30pm. The time change has totally affected my internal body clock. It always does (but the effects are worse in the Spring when we lose an hour). It'll take about a week before I'm back to normal. If you can call my regular behavior "normal" -- LOL.

I'm also blaming the time change for my "bloggers block". Hopefully that will go away soon too.

It's been a lazy day here. I always feel this way when the time changes. I do better "falling back" then I do "springing forward" though. The extra hour of sleep is a good thing. After weeks of feeling overly-tired, I actually felt refreshed today. I had plenty of time to do what needed to be done without feeling stressed or rushed. Normally, I'm running around on Sunday night trying to get things ready for the week but, tonight, I'm relaxing on the couch catching up on Law and Order reruns. Not a bad way to spend the evening.

Have a great week!

Hey...it's been a while. Getting back into the swing of working full-time is kicking my butt! By the time I get home, cook dinner and veg in front of the tv for a little bit, it's time to go to bed and then start the whole process over the next day.

My diet has stalled. I mean, really, who plateaus at 236? It's crazy but I can't seem to get the scale to move downward. My work instituted a new wellness program which requires me to meet (via phone conference) with a coach once a week for, well, forever (okay, really it's just until Thanksgiving but it feels like forever). My coach is really nice and he's helping me make some realistic goals to work toward. Tomorrow will be our third appointment and my goal this week was to drink at least three glasses of water per day. I, pretty much, met that goal. One non-scale or food victory was that I had my blood pressure and cholesteral done (for my appointment tomorrow). My blood pressure was 100/58, which is excellent! For the past three years, my blood pressure has been borderline high (128-138/78-83) so I'm quite pleased that my pressure is back to "normal". My cholesteral was pretty good too - 184 with 50HDL. Cholesteral needs to be under 200 and the HDL is considered good over 40 so I'm happy with those numbers, too. The person who did my tests yesterday said that the HDL is driven by exercise -- last year, my number was about 35 so it's gone up quite a bit over the year. I'm sure my increased activity has helped that number along. Even though the scale hasn't moved much over the past two months, I still feel like I'm moving forward.

Well...that's it for now. I'm trying to get my life a little more organized so I'm going to try to post on Tuesdays, Thursdays and then once (or more) on the weekend.

See you later,

Edie

Okay, I know I haven't posted in a while: long commute, more hours, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I could moan and groan about that but I'd rather share a story about how great God is.

Lorrin and I have been going to our new church for a few months. Normally, we attend the early service but for the past few weeks, we've been going to the later service. A couple of weeks ago, they rolled out the home groups. The first week the lists were up, I tried very hard to get into one of the women's groups. I really want to meet new people and get more involved at the church. But, no luck. By the time I made it to the front of a very large group at the sign up table, all of the women's groups were full. I commisserated with the lady next to me about the lack of women's classes. Instead of signing up for an alternate class, we both decided that we'd wait to see if they'd add more women's groups. As I was walking out of the church, I felt like I should have suggested to the other lady that we sign up together. It was too late, though, because she was already gone.

Flash forward to the next weekend. I stopped by the group sign-up table again. Still no women's groups open. This time, though, I felt compelled to sign up for a group in my area. It's supposed to be a mixed group but all the other people were couples. The group's limit is 12 people -- I was #11. I know, fifth wheel. I thought about that briefly as I was signing up but I signed up anyway.

As I was walking out the door, I saw the lady from the first week. I don't know what came over me but I urged (and by that I mean, really urged) her to sign up with me. Surprisingly, she did.  I need to note here that if my daughter was writing this post, she would say that I basically accosted the poor woman and drug her away from her family to sign up with me. Let's just say that I was a bit more animated then I normally am. Lorrin said the poor lady looked like a deer caught in the headlights when I brought her back to her husband.

So, tonight was our first night. We were supposed to receive an email with directions, address, etc. Well, everyone but me got that email. Not one to be dissuaded, I called the church for the address. Yesterday, I did a little preliminary recon and drove past the house (note: I found out tonight three of us did the same thing -- what can I say? great minds and all that). Good thing because tonight I was running late. I got to the house a few minutes late and, yes, the other woman showed up. She looked so relieved when I walked in. Turns out, she's been at the church for a few years and normally goes to the early service (ME. TOO. - about the early service, that is). We both live in the same town and neither of us knows anyone else at the church. When I didn't show up on time tonight, she said she started to panic a little and then she stopped and said to herself that I would be there. Without a doubt, she knew I would come. And I knew, that despite not getting an email or directions, I would have to get to that Bible Study one way or another, even if I had to walk in late.

When the group was over, the leader walked out with us and said that if we'd feel more comfortable at another group, he would help us get moved. The insecure part of me started to think that he didn't want us there but the bold, animated person that pushed the other lady to join the group emphatically told him we were fine.  That we were meant to be there. She totally agreed (whew - wipes brow). The leader said something like "good - he's happy we're there because it will lend a different perspective to the meeting".

I totally believe we're right where we're supposed to be and I said that to the leader. The Bible says that the steps of a righteous man (or woman) are ordered of the Lord. I thoroughly believe that God had me at that sign-up table at that particular moment for a reason. He perfectly positioned the other lady by the door by where I parked my car. Things unfolded the way they have so far because God has ordered it that way. He directed me. He directed the other lady. He directed the leader to meet with us after the meeting. Thankfully, we're all listening.

To send a special message to my friend, Suzanne, who's getting married today:

I wish I could be there to share this special time with you. I so would have thrown you the best shower. You know I would have. Instead, you'll have to settle for these heartfelt wishes from afar. I pray that you and your beloved will have a long and happy life together. I'm sending you lots of good thoughts, best wishes and love on your special day.

Hugs,

Edie