Of Baking, Batteries, Basins and Blessings

Of baking ... Today I started my Christmas baking. First up, Candy Cane Blossoms.

They're made like a peanut blossom, but 1) the dough is a plain vanilla dough, not peanut butter; 2) they're rolled in colored sugar; and 3) you use a candy cane kiss (peppermint) rather than a chocolate kiss. They're tasty and they add nice color to a tray of cookies.

Next up, monster cookies for the December, and final 2010 issue, of Cookies of the Month.

 They get delivered to the Y at noon tomorrow. And lastly, Peanut Sitting Pretties, one of my favorites. A shortbread thumbprint cookie rolled in walnuts with a dab o'frosting on top then topped with a peanut m&m.

I've still got a long way to go, but at least I've gotten started. I wish butter would go on sale somewhere. This is how I buy flour this time of year ... big 25 pound bags.

I was at HyVee this afternoon. Oranges 4 lb. bags for $2.50? Gone. Chicken $1.88/lb? Gone. :-( Rain checks for both. :-) I needed cake flour for a poppy seed cake I'm making tomorrow for book club on Tuesday (I think I'll actually finish the book this month, which is good since it's at my house!) I noticed King Arthur Cake flour is being stocked now. However, it's $5.39 for 2 pounds. Too spendy. But I sure would like to try it. I'm a big K.A.F. fan.

Of batteries ... I didn't run at all last week. I'd tweaked my hamstring hiking on Sunday and it wasn't worth another setback so I opted not to run. Lots of hours on the Stairmaster though, which doesn't bother it at all. And several hours in the pool. Anyway, it was a beautiful winter morning. 20 degrees. Freshly fallen, fluffy snow. 8.5 inches in the front yard.

And I was even able to get out of the neighborhood before the plow came by. I usually get stuck on the 22nd Ave hill trying to get out to Folwell Dr. Plow didn't come until the afternoon sometime. So ... I put on my Yak Trax ...

and headed to Dunn Bros. Before I got there, my GPS battery went dead. Bother! I didn't have a watch along, so I grabbed my phone so I'd at least know when it was close to 7:30. I didn't know how my hammie would feel, but I wanted to give it a try after a week. So at 7:00 I headed for the lake on my little test run. Still a little sore, but very runnable. I snapped a photo by the lake.

Of course, what was the status of my phone? Low battery! And memory full!! BOTHER!! I headed back to Dunn Bros. On the front door I noticed a new sign:
 

That would put the kabosh on my Craisin/pecan/white chocolate chip cookies, unless I dealt them from the trunk of my car! I saved them and brought them to the Sun OSS run this morning at Panera instead. :-) There were actually 16 of us there yesterday on a very wintery morning. We decided to skip the originally planned route as it utilized bike paths that hadn't been cleared. We headed around the Elton Hills/Assisi/14th St hill and then around the lake. Reports have it that Kristin has an awesome vertical leap and she quickly jumped up into a snowbank to avoid getting hit by a city bus. :-) or is it :-(  ?? The week off did me good. I ran 2.5 early miles before the 7:30 scheduled start (including 1 loop of the lake). Then around the hill with the others and 3 more times around the lake for me. What a beautiful morning.

 Thank you Yak Trax! The run was much easier with them, I believe.

I now felt really good. The farther I ran, the better, and looser, my hamstring felt. :-) Then it was in for coffee. Took out my camera. What did it tell me? Change battery pack. The battery was dead. BOTHER!!! Actually, after it warmed up a little I was able to get a few photos. (Quality is bad as the light was bright in those big front windows, and it's darker inside.)



Jen, Laura, Paul, Tod, Kristin



Dalene (applying lipstick) and Joy

Jen, Laura, Paul

Paul, Trevor, Tod

Dave, Jen, Laura

Dalene, Braden

This was NOT a good day for me and my electronics!! Afer coffee, I went out around the lake 2 more times. 6 times total. I felt like the 15.5 miles (I was guesstimating as I didn't have a functional GPS) were a lot of work with the snow and all. And I was very hungry. So, I stopped at Kwik Trip for one of my favorite, fat- and calorie-laden treats: a creme-filled chocolate-frosted long john. This one, however, had sprinkles, it wasn't straight-up.

I must say it tasted delicious. But ... my long-standing, self-imposed rules are: 1) a Kwik Trip creme-filled chocolate-frosted long john, straight-up, no nuts, no sprinkles requires a 20-mile run; and 2) a Brothers walnut pancake requires a 20-mile run. I was breaking the rules. And feeling guilty. And ... still feeling really good. So ... I went back out for 5 more miles. :-) 20+ miles. Hoo-rah!! What a bonus.

Later in the day, it was off to Fareway Foods in Stewartville. Pork loins (whole) were on sale for $1.68/lb and I'm making BBQ pork sandwiches for Team R.E.D. on Thursday. I really like that store.

Very good prices, and very neat and clean. I bought some turkey lunch meat and they wrap it in plastic in addition to butcher paper. And they push your cart out to your car and load your car for you. A stop at Michaels and then it was time to head to Winona for the Messiah sing-in which Matt was performing in (with WSU concert choir, Winona oratorio and WSU ACDA vocal emsemble).

Suzanne Draayer (runner)

He was the "12 drummers drumming" in the 12 Days of Christmas and they all wore "festive headgear".

It's a very enjoyable evening and I enjoy being able to sing the Messiah choruses again. I sang the Messiah for 4 years at Luther. Speaking of Matt ... here he is with his Hear & Now acapella group this week. He's in the back row under the "e" in Coffeehouse.

This morning, a few of us ran 7 at 8 from Panera (7 miles at 8:00). Me, Dave, Jean, Kristin, Lana. It was 6 degrees when I left the house, and 8 degrees when I returned. Brrrr.... my teeth were literally chattering on the drive home. My GPS was acting weird again ... displaying half of each line on the screen. I SOOOO have to charge up that new one!! So that's the end of "batteries". I'll digress for a minute and give some kudos ... to Peter Maves for his outstanding 9:56:17 Ironman Western Australia. Wow!! He rocked it. Laree also texted me that she ran a 3:38 PR marathon at Dallas White Rock this morning. Another super performance! And the Vikings. It was fun to be a Vikings fan today with the 38-7 stomping of the Buffalo Bills. I wonder if Favre will start next week. That will be the $100,000 question I guess, and fodder for talk around the water cooler this week.

On basins. This afternoon I went to visit my friend Paula who's in Rochester for colon cancer surgery. Overall she's doing well and optimistic that she won't need follow-up chemo or radiation. Very good news. However, she was feeling nauseated. She thought a walk through the hallways might make her feel better. I suggested we bring an emesis basin just in case. Wouldn't you know it ... several minutes later she needed it. She felt bad for me. I felt bad for her. I just held her hair out of the way and held her basin for her. And thankfully I didn't gag like I usually do when in the presence of someone getting sick. The nurse and I helped her back to her room. What are friends for if not to hold a basin and your hair out of the way for you when you're sick?? I was so happy to be of help to her. Which brings me to ...

Blessings. Like Paula and I talked about, cancer sucks. No doubt about it. But it could have been worse. Number one, she woke up from the surgery to live another day, many days, with her loving husband. She will likely be spared chemo/radiation. Her life will change, no doubt, but she still has many, many things to be thankful for, including the excellent and expedited medical care she received. As I was walking out of the hospital, there was a gal sitting in a wheelchair in the circular drive on the west side of the Charlton Building with a car seat and a precious bundle wrapped up in a pretty pink blanket. A brand new baby. A blessing to be sure. It made me smile. :-)

Have a wonderful evening. Stay warm.