nostalgia

Classic Red Truck with Christmas Tree

/ Jodi / 52 Comments
Classic Red Truck with Christmas Tree Watercolor - 11x14 - 140lb Fabriano Artistico

Classic Red Truck with Christmas Tree Watercolor – 11×14 – 140lb Fabriano Artistico

Classic Red Truck with Christmas Tree.

Is anybody else starting to think about Christmas?

When my boys were young, I loved getting ready for the Christmas holiday.  I would often start playing Christmas music in October… much to Hubby’s dismay.

We prepared letters to Santa, and I shopped and put carts full of toys on “lay-away” months ahead of winter.

My best friend and I went to craft shows and stores and bought santas and snowmen and other holiday decorations, as well as things to make decorations – often while pushing strollers and carrying diaper bags.

I would prepare for “Sammy” the elf to make his arrival at our house and plan out his adventures each night when the boys went to bed to surprise them in the morning.

I created homemade Christmas cards for the boys to color (and later they drew them) to send to friends and family.

I stocked up on sugar and flour and baking supplies when they were on sale and collected festive tins to make hundreds of cookies and dozens of sweet breads and nut rolls to share with friends and neighbors.

As the boys got older, the excitement of Christmas dimmed a bit.  We still enjoyed it, but the excitement leading up to it was not the same as when they were young and the magic existed.

But now….. I’m a grandma!  And that just makes me absolutely giddy for Christmas again!

And since my daughter-in-law, Colleen, and I have created our McKinneyX2Designs Etsy shop and have started also selling our art at a local gift shop, Berry Vine Gifts, it is so fun to get excited about preparing for Christmas again.  And it seems there are others like me out there, because holiday cards and paintings have already sold!

So I’m having fun creating Christmas and holiday art… like this classic red truck with a Christmas tree.  Doesn’t it just make you so nostalgic about Christmas?

So even though we are still experiencing 80 degree Autumn days, I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.  It’s so fun to dream!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

I want to ask you …

/ Jodi / 78 Comments

I want to ask you …

What makes your heart skip a beat?
What memories cause goosebumps on every inch of your skin?

I want to ask you …

Who has hurt you so deeply that you have lost all confidence in who you really are?
What loss has caused bitterness in your soul?

I want to ask you …

If you could be anywhere right now, doing anything you wanted to..
where would you be, and what would you be doing?

I want to ask you …

When you take a deep breath and close your eyes, what is the first thing you think about?
Does it make you happy, or does it make you sad?

I want to ask you …

What makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning?
What makes you smile when you go to sleep at night?

I want to ask you …

What do you think life is really about?
What is our purpose?

I want to ask you …
but is it okay?

Maybe I should just ask you …
How was your day?

Isn’t that
the polite thing to say?

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

The House by the Lake

/ Jodi / 26 Comments
The House by the Lake in Black and White Nostalgia - Lake Arthur, Moraine State Park - May 2017

The House by the Lake in Black and White Nostalgia – Lake Arthur, Moraine State Park – May 2017

I’d like to spend a day
in this house by the lake.

I’d spend some of the time
roaming the rooms

Looking and listening
and smelling and touching

Imagining the stories
of the occupants through the years.

I’d spend some of the time
on a reclining chair in the lawn

Watching the sailboats and fishing boats
and birds and fish and wildlife of the lake

Imagining the stories
of its occupants through the years.

I’d like to spend a day
in this house by the lake.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

The Ultimate Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookie & That Something about Baking

/ Jodi / 61 Comments
reeses-peanut-butter-cup-cookies-stack

The Ultimate Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookie

The Ultimate Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookie

A few months ago, I recall my youngest son, watching me mix together a batch of cookie dough, asking, “Do you actually enjoy doing that?  Seems like a lot of work!”

I thought about it.

It is a bit tedious.

It makes a mess in the kitchen.

I could be binge-watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix or painting or exercising or reading or so many other things.

But…

There’s something about baking…

reeses-peanut-butter-cookies-close-up

There’s something about using Grandma’s old tin measuring cup and reminiscing about childhood summers.

There’s something about the way the house smells like home when you bake.

There’s something about the smiles you know will emerge when hubby sees stacks of cookies cooling on racks when he comes home or comes in from out of the cold.

There’s something about making goody packages to send home with your kids (even though they are grown and on their own and perfectly capable of making themselves).

There’s something about taking a special treat into the office for a long day of meetings and seeing your co-workers’ faces light up.

There’s something about taking a plate of cookies to the Thursday night gang at John’s Bar and watching your buddy eat one cookie before his dinner and two after.

There’s something about trading a cookie or piece of cake with Cliff the mailman when he delivers a package and handful of mail right to the kitchen door (with a treat always in hand for your furry kid).

There’s something about your kids’ friends saying “You make the BEST cookies Mom M!”

reeses-peanut-butter-cookies-with-coffee-and-book

So you see – baking is more than the chore of mixing butter and sugar and flour.  It’s about creating happiness.

When I read a recent blog post by one of my very favorite blog writers, Pam at Catching My Drift, I knew I HAD to try her cookie recipe.  Pam is not a food blogger, but a storyteller – a GREAT storyteller I might add.  And the story she wove about her persistent and passionate quest to recreate her ultimate cookie painted a picture of the most heavenly bite on earth.  Pam tells the story of  how she loves sitting in the Starbucks snack bar of her local Barnes & Noble noshing on the most amazing Reese’s peanut butter cookie while sipping dark Italian roast and paging through glossy magazines.  You must read about her 35-year quest to recreate this cookie and the surprising place she found the recipe.

reeses-peanut-butter-cookies-1

Well, dear Pam, we were certainly not disappointed in this Ultimate Reese’s Peanut Butter Cookie!  It is indeed the ultimate.  It is a new favorite of hubby’s.  And it will now be a staple in my cookie recipe collection!  They are super crispy on the outside edges and tender and  soft on the inside.  The perfect combination of texture and flavor.

Here is the recipe as shared by Pam (which of course I doubled – because I knew I had to share)!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup margarine (I used butter)
  • 1 cup peanut butter (I used Jiff Creamy)
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • Candy or chocolate of your choice to mix in (I used 4-6 Reese’s peanut butter cups, chopped, and 1/2 cup chopped Hershey’s Kisses.)
  • Sugar for dipping

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat first six ingredients until fluffy.  Add next four ingredients.  Blend well.  Fold in chopped candy.  Shape into 1 1/2 – 2 inch balls.  Roll in sugar.  Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.  Flatten with sugared bottom of glass.  Bake 12-15 minutes or until browned on the edges and beginning to crinkle.  Remove from oven, and cool completely on wire cooling rack.  

Enjoy immensely!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Classics

/ Jodi / 43 Comments

red-chevelle

Things that are Classic…
a short list…

Red sports cars, Red Woolrich flannel, Red lipstick
Converse tennis shoes, Peep toe pumps, Timberland Boots
Ray ban sunglasses, Blue blazers, Black dresses
Levi’s jeans, Heather grey hoodies, crisp white cotton shirts
Cashmere, Herringbone, Houndstooth
Diamonds, Pearls, Mood rings
Chanel, Armani, Dior
Aerosmith, Beatles, Elton John
Chocolate chip cookies, Apple pie, Birthday cake
Champagne, Martinis, Cabernet Sauvignon
Monet, Picasso, Van Gough
Kindness, Honor, Grace
Smiles, Hugs, I love you’s

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

 

#Nostalgia
#Local

 

 

One of these things is not like the other…

/ Jodi / 39 Comments

fall-or-spring-september-2016

One of these things is not like the others…

Who remembers this song from Sesame Street?

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn’t belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

I took this picture of some chrysanthemums and pumpkins in my front yard, and when I looked at the picture, I was startled to see “the thing that doesn’t belong.”

Can you find it?

My oldest son, Jake, LOVED Sesame Street when he was little.  He was transfixed when it came on, and he learned so much from it.  Sometimes I joined him, and other times I did housework while he was pre-occupied and entertained, but so many of the songs still run through my brain triggered by the most unusual of things.

It is funny how something as simple as this can take your mind to a specific place and time and song.

Memories…

The wonderful, whimsical, wacky wonderment.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Grandma’s Old-Fashioned Apricot Nut Bread

/ Jodi / 40 Comments

apricot nut bread

It’s not officially Christmas baking time until I make Grandma’s Old-Fashioned Apricot Nut Bread.

apricot nut bread mini

And that is exactly what I did this past Sunday.

Unlike most of the things I bake, this recipe is for me.

Measuring the flour with my favorite antique tin measuring cup from Grandma,

snipping the apricots just like she did with kitchen shears,

mixing with old-time Christmas music playing like we did when I helped her as a child…

Remembering how she smelled, remembering how her hands looked and felt, remembering her voice, remembering her love.

Baking this bread every year at this time just takes me back – makes me smile – allows me to remember – fills me with love.

apricot nut bread slice

The smell of this bread baking is one of my very favorite smells in the entire universe.  (In fact, sometimes I go outside for a couple of minutes, so that I can come back in and be HIT by the smell!)

The taste of this bread…

not too sweet – a bit dry – densely filled with bursts of tart apricot chunks and crunchy walnuts….

For me – this bread is love – it is memories of childhood – memories of a grandma’s heart.

Do you have a recipe that does this to you?

I wonder if Grandma is why I often express my love for people by baking?

Thanks for the memories, Grandma.  Thanks for the love.  You are my Stella Star!

You can  find the recipe for my all-time favorite thing to bake here – Grandma’s Old-Fashioned Apricot Nut Bread where I shared it last year.

Hope you are enjoying the season.  I’m going to go have a slice and a cuppa!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi