Here is my favorite scene from my favorite Christmas movie.
December 23, 2009
Meltaway Shortcut… a Review
(For those of you who could really care less about Christmas Cookies, I suggest you just skip this one and wait for the resumption of the Christmas Countdown tomorrow)
For my family, Christmas Cookies are their own religion. Recipes have been passed down. Certain cookies may not be baked except between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The Grand Cookie Baker was, without question or challenge, my Great Aunt Dorothy. Every season she would retreat to the bowels of her kitchen, not to reappear until she had tins and tins of cookies of all kinds. It was its own Christmas miracle.
Her most amazing creations were the Santa cookies, and their lesser cousins, the decorated cut outs. I never in my wildest imagination would I hope to make confections of such perfection of taste and form. It is simply beyond the reach of us mere mortals.
My other favorite, was the Meltaway (because they just melt away in your mouth). A compact ball of butter, walnuts and sugar, they will always be one of my favorite cookies. They were laborious, if not impossible, to make. And mine always seem crumbly compared to hers.
So imagine my shock to see a box of cookie mix for “Snowballs”.
The picture on the box matched my childhood meltaways to perfection. I quickly put a box in my cart and scurried out of the store. It felt so wrong to try and shortcut the perfect cookie recipe. But I was out of time to make cookies and I REALLY wanted some Meltaways.
Today, I pulled the box out and decided to take the plunge.
This is the box and what comes in it. Not too promising, but this was a shortcut. At least I don’t have to chop walnuts! The only ingredient not in the box was the butter.
I dumped the butter and mix into a bowl and went at it with my hands (the only way to really get the whole mess to gel). It felt less crumbly than Aunt Dorothy’s recipe. That might not be a bad thing, since mine always turn out a little on the dry side.
Then comes the fun part…turning a lump of dough into three thousand little rounded teaspoon balls. They seem impossibly small when you make them. But then the point is to just pop them in your mouth and have them take you to Christmas happiness.
(Pay no attention to the seemingly filthy cookie trays. Some kind of trick of the light)
At this point Joseph stopped by to make himself his own sandwich:
Yes, that is a bologna and chocolate chip sandwich. But he made it himself!
So after a little time in the oven and some time cooling on the racks, I rolled the little buggers in powdered sugar. They looked right. They smelled right, but would they taste right?
Well, they passed. They were not the perfection I remembered from my youth. But they were good and tasted like Meltaways. They are a little sweeter than Aunt Dorothy’s. And one wouldn’t necessarily think that would be a bad thing.
All in all, if you don’t want to put the time in to make the ultimate Christmas cookie, this “snowball” mix works pretty well.
I have already managed to eat about 15 of them, so obviously they will do.
December 23, 2009
Christmas Countdown 2
Second favorite Christmas Movie ever. I have actually already told my boys “you’ll shoot your eye out”
December 22, 2009
The Quinn Christmas Letter
Due to an outrageously fun Christmas Party and an unexpected illness on my part during the thick of the holiday season…I was not able to muster the strength to do the Christmas cards this year.
I know, I know. you are all crushed. You wait all year for that card to show up in your mailbox, catching you up with the weird and wonderful year the Quinns have had. So, to mitigate your sadness, I will post the letter I would have sent in the cards here.
Enjoy
Merry Christmas everyone! We have survived another year here in Oak Park.
Jack (9) has just been signed as the youngest right handed reliever in Cubs history. He continues his winter practices and looks forward to meeting up with the team in Arizona in the Spring. I know, most of you thought he was leaning towards the Yankees. And after that bidding war, it was hard to turn them down. But he really didn’t want to have to get his own place, and playing at Wrigley means he can still live at home. This is of course, when he is not out driving on the Monster Truck World Tour. He has taken over the driving duties for Gravedigger. We will see if he can take on both sports and keep his grades up at school. Boy, he will have a hard time choosing just one if he has to scale down!
Owen (7) has recovered nicely from his little “accident” on the motorcycle circuit this summer. Though he couldn’t compete in the last two races, he still came out on top in the points. So, that makes him the Professional Road Motorcycle champion for the second year in a row. We couldn’t be prouder. I do wish he would move away from bikes and into something with four wheels (and a roll cage!), but I don’t want to stifle his talent. He continues to do well at Beye and says recess is his favorite subject.
Joseph (5) seems to really enjoy his career with the military. I am not sure exactly what he does for them. He let something slip once about “black ops”, but he is not allowed to talk to us about his job. Last we heard from him he was “in an undisclosed location in the Middle East”. His Kindergarten teacher has been nice enough to set him up with internet classes, so it seems he is not falling too far behind. Besides, he is learning so much from his travels.
Paul and I are keeping busy. There are so many games, events, practices, races to go to is seems we barely have time to think! The Genius Grant Paul won this year has really made it easier to keep up with the kids. And keep your fingers crossed about that Nobel Prize in Economics. Vegas odds make him look like he has a great shot this year.
Hope everyone had as good a year as we did!
Okay, so I asked the kids what they wanted me to put in the Christmas letter…but now here is the Reader’s Digest version of our year:
As a family we enjoyed our first trip to the ocean this year, our first trip to the Iowa State Fair, and my first year with all three kids in all day school.
Jack hit some grand slams in tball, played goalie in soccer, and continues to “hunt” and fish with unbelievable focus.
Owen had a grand slam of his own, took a ball to the face in soccer, and wants very much to get a razor pocket rocket from Santa (over my dead body).
Joseph has started at the big school this year with his brothers. He only forgot to get off the bus once, and seems to really like his teacher.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and all that good stuff from the Quinn Family!
December 21, 2009
Christmas Countdown 4
Strange that something like this has become one of my favorite Christmas movies.
Yippee Ki Ay…
December 20, 2009
Christmas Countdown 5
For the uninitiated, Chowder is a cartoon I enjoy with the kids. Everyone is named after a food, and everything’s name is just slightly off…like Knishmish for Christmas, dollaps for dollars, smenchiladas for enchiladas – you get the idea.
So, Merry Knishmas!
December 18, 2009
Christmas Countdown 7
Christmas is just a week away!!!
Breathe…breathe… remember, this is supposed to be a time of love and peace. Peace…peace…
