While I am not obsessive about April Fools’ Day, I have been known to put flour in a roommates blow dryer and set my high school boyfriend’s alarm to 3:45 in the morning to mark the day. I know I posted about the funniest April Fool joke of all time by Gmail over in my sideblog, but I just saw a totally awesome April Fools’ joke go down on live TV and since it involved a friend, it had me laughing my ass off and I had to share.

Some of you know that I have a dear friend, Bryan who has a cooking show on a news station in Salt Lake. He is fabulous and I have known him forever.

We’ve cooked and shared many a meal and recipe idea together.

I’ve gone to see him in the studio to cook and had the camera turned on me (which I admit, I loved), and he’s been known to give me ridiculous shout outs (which again, I totally cop to loving) on the air.
Like this:

I catch his show when I can. Today he was making a sour cream coffee cake. It is done on the noon news and so he cooks in little segments between news items and banters back and forth with the anchors in the studio.

Right before he unveiled the finished cake during his final segment, the anchors broke in and told him that they wouldn’t be able to finish his segment because he was being preempted by an exclusive interview they procured with Hannah Montana.

For about 2 seconds, Bryan looked really confused until they said “APRIL FOOLS’!”

Although it was admitted that his coffee cake WOULD have taken a back seat to an exclusive with Hannah Montana, it was seriously funny, and I’m glad that everyone there has a sense of humor.

So…Did anyone else have a practical joke played today? Did you pull anything yourself?? Have you done anything spectacular in the past on April 1st???

This was supposed to be Sunday’s post and my fridge and pasta post was supposed to go up Monday. I wrote them at the same time and must have transposed the publish dates.

Boo.

Oh, well. This way I can talk a bit about Easter, so I’ll just do two posts on Sunday. It never killed anyone, right?

Right.

How is your Easter going? Good? Are you having food and fun with family? Awesome.

How is my Easter?

Weeeelllll…

Easter suckasuckaSUCKS.

It just does so far.

It sucks a duck. Or a goose. Or quite possibly even a turkey.

Due to some highly emotional things that occurred last night, I totally made some Easter boo-boos and dropped the ball.

I had the kid’s baskets (full of candies they like, and these books, which I was excited about getting for them.) hidden on the lower shelf of our mobile island. You can see it next to the fridge in the post below. I was up crying a lot of the night and so I forgot to move all the Easter stuff to the table before I curled up in the fetal position in my bed around daybreak. (Can we please just ignore this part in all ways, shapes, and forms? Thanks. I appreciate it. It’s only applicable because there was a major reason I forgot to actually put the baskets out on the table.)

Jon and I don’t get a lot of Easter stuff. I splurge on REALLY high quality chocolate bunnies that I look forward to all year, some Russell Stover’s marshmallow chocolate eggs for me and some peanut butter eggs for Jon.

That’s it.

I stacked them on top of the island and because they are big, we but the boys “Carrot baseball bats” next to them.

My kids came running in to our bedroom and I was curled into a ball in the fetal position (yup. Still crying.) and I told them I forgot to put the stuff out and that it was in the island.

They were thrilled and ate it all up.

Problem?

They ate up the wrong pile.

So, I had no Easter candy. Not a big deal, it’s just a small example of the suck of the day that I feel like talking about. We aren’t even having Easter dinner with anyone. Jon and I thought the other was making arrangements and I didn’t get any fixings to make an Easter dinner.

So, anyway….The day just blows thus far.

Now that this cheeriness is all done, let’s move on to awarding the Peep of the Week.

The award goes to….

ADAM from the blog, Shadowy Figures.

Holy cow, this former lurker is comment gold!! Try clicking over to his blog and seeing the post about selling a saltine that looks like the state of Wyoming or how his dog, Floyd, should be cast as Tzeitel in an upcoming production of Fiddler on the Roof. It’s a crack up. He’s hilarious, yo.

Adam immediately caught my eye with his first-ever comment on my blog when he was commenting about my kitty, Wilbur and her whorish ways.

“Wow. Hey Loralee. Long time lurker, first time commenter. I was coming here to comment on yesterday’s post, which I may still do. But I just had to say, holy jeez! Our cats must be doppelgangers. Mine looks EXACTLY like yours.

And another freakish coincidence, HER name is Otis! (Thankfully, she is not the trollop yours seems to be. I chalk that up to my raising her Catholic. The whole “fear of God” stuff we lay on the kiddies (see what I did there? kiddies kitties. ).

Just wanted to say. Great blog. I’m working my way through the early archives, even though you’ve expressly wished that we not. Nyah! (You’d have to look very hard to see it, but I’m sticking my tongue out at you right now.)”

Then today he cracked me up with his commentary about my fridge.

“You just couldn’t resist bragging about your incredible fridge, eh? Now how am I going to go on, knowing that my fridge could be measuring out for my water bottle?

And I stand there eyeballing it, like an IDIOT!”

Thanks for the smile, Adam. It was appreciated.

If you want to give a commenter a shout on your blog, feel free to post a link to it below:

Go feel up someone you love!

I was going to say that it was giving more time and focus to my wee ones, but looking at this photo I realize that they are not so wee anymore.

Sob.

Treasure the time, people.  It goes by FAST.

Happy New Year!

Please be safe tonight.

Catch ya all in 2008!

*Comments OFF.  (Who wants to be talking to my blog on New Year’s Eve??)

Aside from Jonathan nearly getting a”Reckless Driving” ticket in front of our boys for doing donuts in an empty church parking lot and a hideous amount of exposure to all things “High School Musical”, Christmas was pretty perfect.

There is something to be said for a day when it is entirely acceptable to be photographed with no makeup and bed head.

My favorite gifts are my laptop and a heated, quad-roller shiatsu massage chair cover.

SO? What about YOU? What was your favorite gift this Christmas?

Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace, deep peace.

With humble appreciation and much love,
Loralee

*Comments off. Enjoy your holidays, you wonderful people.

Is it horrible to admit that there are times that I just don’t feel like writing? I mean, they don’t happen all that often, but happen they do.

Tonight is one of those moments.

I try to never let more than three days pass without posting (And really, I prefer daily or every other day) but tonight I am just so content in my real life that it almost seems sinful to open up my laptop. I had a lovely evening. Jon’s family came over and we ate, played games and watched one of the best movies of all time, “The Muppet Christmas Carol”.

After laughing and crying over those delightful muppet creatures, we watched “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” and Jon sang, “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch” for everyone. He sang it at his company Christmas party last night. Well, we both sang.  Ever since she found out that Jonathan and I met in Chamber Choir at college, the receptionist has been trying to get the two of us to sing.

We finally gave it and did it.  We performed with a jazz duo, my sister in law who is a gifted jazz pianist, and an electric bass player. We wanted to show a range of styles so we did three traditional English carols, then we did the jazzy, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and Jon soloed on the Grinch piece. He is SO freaking talented. You all should hear him. He won’t let me post the video, but he rocked the house and I think we sounded ok on our pieces.

We wrapped up the evening by playing Apples to Apples, a game of hilarity that every family should own.

It was so nice having family around.

After they left, Jon and I cleaned everything up and I finally got my house whipped into shape. I probably should have done it before the relatives came, but the day was a bit crazy.

Right now, my kids are happy, clean, full and sleeping. My husband is soaking in the tub and I am having a nearly perfect holiday moment.

It isn’t often that I am comfortable in the quiet of my own company, but this moment is an almost perfect experience.

My house is clean. The floors are swept, the furniture polished, and everything is in its place. The air still smells like the Wassail Jon and I drank after we cleaned the kitchen. All the lights are off, but the there is a lovely glow from many cinnamon apple candles and soft white twinkle lights strewn here and there in my living room. I have Christmas music playing and I’m stretched out on my couch wrapped up in a fluffy blanket clicking away on my new laptop.

If you could put Christmas in a box and open it, it would be my living room right this very moment.

I am not sure if there is a heaven or not, but if there is?

Please let it be like this.

I like to cook. Actually, it boarders on love. For one birthday, Jon asked me what I wanted and I said that I wanted to cook a gourmet meal for people that I loved. 5 kitchens, three sets of china and an obscene amount of money later, fifteen of my friends and family sat down to THE BEST SIX-COURSE MEAL. I made everything, EVERYTHING by scratch (Including the herb poaching liquid for the Salmon Mousseline.) I even found Foi Gras to go on top of the Fillet Mignon.

I have a knack for it.

Baking? Not so much.

Unlike her, I am no award winning baker. I’m not even what I would qualify as a “Good” baker.

I’m ok at it.

I don’t bake often because I am not nearly as good at it as cooking. It is too precise and measured (No pun intended.) I have had some major baking catastrophes in my life. It seems like the times that I try “Extra hard” the worse the end product SUCKS. Some of my attempts would have made Julia Child run screaming out of the room to chug copious vats of her cooking brandy.

I have learned over the years to not be hugely ambitious and to not ever, ever tweak or alter the basic recipe. I almost always slightly alter a recipe, but nowhere NEAR the amount I change recipes when I am cooking.

I am attending a holiday cookie exchange party tomorrow. It means making TEN FREAKING DOZEN COOKIES. The good thing about it is that I only have to make one recipe and I will leave with 10 dozen various Christmas cookies.

This year I am making one of my favorite cookies. I took the recipe from Ina Garten on Food Network. My only tweak to this recipe is that I add finely chopped pecans to the coconut mixture.

They are totally worth the widening of the ass that consuming them causes.

Jam Thumbprint Cookies
3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut
Raspberry and/or apricot jam.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until they are just combined and then add the vanilla. Separately, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. (If you have a scale they should each weigh 1 ounce.) Dip each ball into the egg wash and then roll it in coconut. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger. Drop 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indentation. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the coconut is a golden brown. Cool and serve.

Butter is the backbone of this recipe. Lots and lots of fattening, lovely butter. MMM… Use unsalted butter when you bake, people. It’s for your own good, trust me. Oh, and if you even think for a millisecond of using anything other than real, honest-to-goodness BUTTER, you and I may have to meet in the gladiator cage. Since I am freakishly weak, I may not be able to actually give you a smackdown for committing such a grievous sin like using margarine, but I will fight to the death trying.

Cream butter and sugar together. Add a generous teaspoon of vanilla.

*Beginning of “Hatred of Vile Imitation Vanilla Rant*

Please, please, PLEASE use “REAL VANILLA”! I cannot stress this enough. Fake vanilla sucks ass more than Internet Explorer. It is like taking an old wad of stale chewing gum, throwing it in some boiling water and calling it peppermint herbal tea. It HAS to be bad for you. I can’t find any statistics that prove that imitation vanilla flavoring has actually killed anyone, but I wouldn’t be surprised. So, DON’T BUY IT, PEOPLE! Because I care about your health, I really do.

*End of rant*

Slowly add flour to mixture and incorporate.

Roll dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap.

Chill for 30 minutes. (Smilee face optional).

While your dough is chilling, whisk your egg wash and gather the rest of your ingredients.

Roll dough into balls. Make most of your batch about 1.5 inches across. I make some of my cookies slightly larger (Below) and slightly smaller as well because of the way that I package them.

.
Dip in egg wash and roll in coconut/pecan mixture.

Assemble on a non-greased cookie sheet and make an indent with your thumb. Reseal any cracking that occurs or your jam with run onto the cookie sheet. They should look like little bird nests.

Take a teaspoon and fill with jam. I like to use multiple jams when I make these as gifts. This time I picked apricot, raspberry and blackberry, and strawberry. I like a healthy amount of jam, so I use about a half a teaspoon instead of an 1/8th.

Bake at350 for 20-25 minutes. My oven burns VERY hot, so I bake at 325 for 20 minutes. Just keep an eye on them. When the coconut is browned, remove them from the oven and cool on a rack.

My favorite way to package these cookies is to stack them in a cellophane bag and tie it with a ribbon. You want the cookies to graduate in size. This is why I make some cookies slightly larger and some slightly smaller.

VOILA!

Eat up and enjoy.