Kiss Me, I'm... TIRED!

Happy St. Patrick's Day and a good Monday morning!  Where to start?!?  I fully intended to do an update on my cookie baking extravaganza this weekend, but after 15 hours of baking and decorating (no joking), I'm way too tired to give the explanation I initially planned.  Have I mentioned I am no Martha Stewart?  I can't possibly go into all the detail of my already ill-conceived plan going awry, so let my just make a few key points before moving on to today's exciting entry.

• Hosting is hard.  Cassie coordinated the first bake-off, so frankly I was CLUELESS about exactly how much work and planning went in to making it happen.
  
• 99.9% of the time things do not come out the way they are pictured in the cookbook or in this case the Cookie Box recipe card.  I attempted making leprechaun hats from cupcakes, an oatmeal cookie, green icing, tootsie rolls, and yellow decorating pens.  DISASTER!   I ended up throwing the whole lot of them away.  Even if I could have "engineered" them to work, I cannot help but think they would have tasted awful.
  
• Pay attention.  I got all the way through the sugar cookie recipe - which interestingly enough called for cream cheese and sour cream (in addition to a number of other things) - and realized I forgot to add the sour cream.  The dough was already in the refrigerator for its requisite two hours.  I pulled it out of the refrigerator, unwrapped it, put it back in the mixer, and added the sour cream.  It was about 7:00 a.m. when that happened.  That, in retrospect, was foreshadowing.

Is this all sounding negative?....

Here's the good news...

• I just finished putting the final touches on 10 little packages for teachers, friends, and the postman.  I feel great.  This morning I will brighten the day of a number of unsuspecting people and that is a good feeling.  It will immediately wipe away any questions about whether it was worth the time and energy.
• We had fun.  Cassie; Nan, my neighbor; and I had great conversation while decorating the cookies - shaped as pots of gold, horseshoes, four leaf clovers, and leprechauns (we had beer mugs too, but time and stamina ran out).
• I learned something new.  Baking a sugar cookie, yes.  I had done that.  But outlining and "flooding" cookies....  This is a world I knew nothing about.

Do I recommend the experience?  I am not going to pretend it was easy.  I am NOT Martha Stewart, so it took a lot of energy on my part.  If you are like me, it is the kind of experience that you enter into with caution and a lot of extra time.  But, yes... I recommend it. 

 

Now onto something that is a Beeny Family tradition and more my speed.  Shamrock Shakes!!!

Brief history... When I was a kid, I went to St. Aloysius.  We wore green uniforms and so St. Patrick's Day always felt a little special - at least in my house.  We are not Irish, but my mother has the wonderful ability to make even the smallest things seem like an occasion. Every St. Patrick's day my mother would give me $1.50, so that after school my best friend and I could walk to our local McDonald's and buy green shakes.  This quickly became a tradition. I didn't realize that Shamrock Shakes were a regional, New York-thing.  I couldn't get them when I went away to college and so I kind of forgot about them until I met my now-husband and stepson.  Kids have a funny way of pushing us to remember all the best parts of being a kid.  At the time I was living in Dallas and I called around to 10-12 McDonald's searching for a franchise that sold green shakes.  Not one did I find.

So, we went to work creating our own family tradition.  Each year on St. Patrick's night we make our own Shamrock Shakes. It's my kind of simple... milk, ice cream (mint chip if you feel inclined), green dye, and the kicker... McDonald's straws.  McDonald's straws are a MUST!!!

On this you may not compromise.  Fact.  Shakes taste better out of a McDonald's straw.  They are bigger than any straw you buy in a store and Wendy's straws don't come close either.  Oh, and the other essential - at least in our house - the kids draw straws to see who gets to add the green dye.  They get a kick out of seeing how green they can get the shake.

That's it.  Green shakes on St. Patrick's Day and my kids think they have died and gone to heaven.  It's not too late to try.  One stop at the supermarket...  a quick drive through McDonald's... and you'll have everything you need.

 

Signing off until tomorrow when we celebrate the second of six GREEN ideas - in honor of St. Patrick's week. Cheers.

That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles

My sister in-law is a doer! Periodically I have creative thoughts about things I'd like to do. So does Cassie. The difference is she will stay up until all hours of the night making them happen. One night Cassie was at my house describing, in detail, a Valentine plan so elaborate, that if left up to me, we would still be working on to this day. Part - and I do mean, part - of the idea involved baking and decorating fish-shaped cookies.

When she was telling me of her "design" I was suddenly reminded of the box of cookie cutters and cookie craft projects I so ambitiously subscribed to while living in Athens. I was under the illusion, while working on my Ph.D., that I was going to have all kinds of extra time to bake cookies for my neighbors, friends, family, classmates, son's classmates. In my mind, everyone and anyone I wanted to thank was going to receive hand baked cookies. I subscribed to a series of cookie recipes to arrive at my door step monthly. Each package contained recipes, packaging ideas, cookie cutters, and sugars or sprinkles for decorating the cookies. It didn't take long before the company-issued cookie box was filled... pristine and barely used. The magical box moved with me from Georgia to Kentucky and then from Kentucky to Texas, always with the hope I might someday put the ideas to good use. Enter the picture, Cassie.

I'd found the perfect home for my cookie box of ideas. No more guilt about not using them.

The next morning I snuck to Cassie's home with all the contents in a big white gift box, bearing a note on top... "Help! In Search of A Yummy Home." I left it on her doorstep with a the requisite gingerbread latte from Starbucks, rang the door bell and ran! Finally the cookie box and accompanying supplies had been placed with the PERFECT home! Kind of.

Cassie called me the same day to explain that the only way she would let the box reside at her home is with the promise from me that each month we would get together to create a cookie project inspired by the box. Can you believe it?! For years this box sat dormant in my cabinet and now I'm into this thing MONTHLY! So here I go. Cassie hosted February's project and tomorrow I will host the project for the month of March. What I love about this arrangement is that we will be doing it together (and this month we've invited a third friend). I like the idea of surprising someone with baked goods, but I love it even more if I can do it with friends. I will report on Monday about what we created and whether or not I was successful in passing the box off again.

As for February's creation... Picture a fishing pole made from a a sturdy stick; strung with string to look like fishing wire; red and white fishing bobbers (perfectly valentine's day); bright colored valentine notes reading things such as "Hook, Line, and Sinker you're the best." or "You're a REEL catch."; and on the very end... cellophane bags filled with brightly colored fish-shaped cookies. Cute, cute, cute. I felt like a rock star walking in to Preschool on Valentine's day. There was a long string of admirers following behind my four year old son as he traipsed through the hallways on his way to deliver the treats to his teachers. All thanks to Cassie, the visionary for the project.

Signing off until Monday...

Birds of a Feather Flock Together

If I've noticed anything over time it is that creative people find one another... and in many cases help bring your creativity to a whole new level. Today's blog is compliments of my dear friend from Pennsylvania.

Nineteen years ago, while in graduate school, I started hosting an annual Random Acts of Kindness packaging party. It served two purposes. First, it was a great way for me to reconnect with friends who, because of the rigors of graduate school, I fell out of touch with. Second, it allowed me to share my obsession with mail - hoping in the process I might find some unsuspecting girlfriends who would keep me company.

I love sending packages. When other people are building their wardrobes and shoe selections, I am buying printed tissue paper, stickers, foam shapes, hole puches, crinkle of every color, sharpie markers, cool notecards, and above all CLEAN, NEW, WHITE BOXES! I have a collection that probably verges on excessive. What goes in the packages that I send is far less important than the cool packaging and thoughtful note surrounding the treat.

So what exactly is a Random Acts of Kindness Party? Once a year (usually two weeks before Halloween) I invite 10-12 women to my house (it can almost be more fun if the gathering of women is eclectic and don't already know each other). Their task is to bring to the packaging party two things - addresses for 3-4 people to whom they want to send a pick-me-up and a set of twelve small items that can be packaged in a box about 7x5x4 in size (bigger than that can be expensive to mail). Items are typically things such as fun packages of baked goods, bookmarks, candles, recipe cards, small picture frames, soaps, holiday socks, keychains, handmade braclets, etc.... All the items brought by your guests are placed on a community table from which they can shop around for the perfect combination of goodies to send the recipients of their packages.

My contribution is all the packaging supplies necessary to turn your package from simply being thoughtful to being the talk of the postoffice. Lucky party goers move from table to table selecting fun treats to mail to long lost friends, a neighbor needing a pick me up, an old boss or mentor, an aunt or uncle you rarely see, or someone else who is on your mind. Once the treats are selected, participants move to the boxing stations (usually set up all over the kitchen, living room, dining room). Here they select colorful tissue paper, crinkle, ribbons, and most importantly a notecard.

Before the packages are taped shut, one more small task! Placed inside each package is a small note reading "Catch the spirit, do a random act of kindness." This will often times spark a packaging party in another city (to which every once in a while, you might actually recieve and unexpected random act of kindness in the mail). Finally, the packages are wrapped, sealed, addressed, and then decorated on the outside with stickers and markers. This is why it is essential that the boxes are pristine, white boxes that have never been used (not even the pre-printed ones purchased at Target or the post office). I get mine from the Container Store, but if you don't have one near you, you can either order on-line or visit an office supply store like Staples or Office Depot (brown can work in a pinch, but markers are definately more vibrant on a white box).

Wanna do one? Either wait until September when I start planning my annual October party (and talking about it on my blog) or jump right in create your own occassion... St. Patrick's Day, spring break, or first day of summer could be examples.

The great pics are from my good friend's Random Acts of Kindness Party: Valentines Day! I was, in fact, the lucky recipient of a package - the fun contents of which you will have to wait until next Valentine's Day to discover! It, afterall, sparked a whole new fun and creative idea.

Signing off for the day....