'Tis the season...

Well - it has been one busy week.

Work has me hoppin' as usual this year. And every year - I swear I will no longer work retail the next holiday season. Fat chance.

So, without further ado, let's talk about last weekend.

I met Becke of Columbus Foodie (and her hubby) this past Saturday. Becke had declared me winner of of her 100th post/first birthday contest and said she had a bag of swag for me. So off I went to the North Market, offspring in tow. My daughter's agenda: to eat food, then go the Yankee Trader to buy loot. Becke and I had a great time. We ate Cassoulet from North Market Poultry, wandered around and looked at a craft show the market was hosting, chewed the fat and generally had a fun time.

Oh, and guess what else?!!! Becke, Lisa , Renee and I were written up in the North Market newsletter. I want to thank Jeni (of Jeni's Ice Cream fame) for the kind words. So what was in the bag?

• A gift certificate from Pure Imagination Chocolatier . I used it to buy a nine piece box of chocolates. My fav: the salty caramel truffle.
• Some beautiful streaky bacon, thick cut from Bluecreek Farms . I put this in the freezer. It will make a reappearance at a later date.
• Z extreme hot sauce from Cajohn's. I have not opened this yet. I am saving it for new year's eve when we will have our friend George the chili head over. That boy has no pain receptors left, so it is fun feeding him new hot sauces before we try them.
• Organic raw milk feta - waiting on me to think of something creative to do with it.
• Formage des Clarines - a Stinky French cheese from Curds and Whey . I love stink. It means good things for your taste buds.
• Cranberry Mango Pepper Jelly from Whole Foods
• Crostini from Trader Joe's - These were eaten by Sunday evening. They were dunked into homemade tomato soup and devoured by a hoard of ravenous football fans.
• and lastly, a homemade version of Starbuck's pepperment brownies from Becke's own kitchen. These were taken to Sunday's event and eaten by hungry cookie bakers.

Thank you so much for the goodies Becke!

Sunday, the Cookie Clache started our annual cookie baking marathon. Here is the problem though...none of us are in a very holly jolly mood this year. I think we are getting burned out on whole holiday season before we even get close to the real holidays. Our employer gave us the holiday phone greeting the first day of OCTOBER. Give me a break people! I just flat out refused to answer the phone with it until mid-November. Corporate American can bite my butt.

It took us a huge helping of Becke's brownies, two pots of coffee and a whole boatload of gossip before we felt the motivation needed to start out cookies. Here is a picture of Gail's kitchen after the Hurricane Rosie hit it.




This year's cookie list includes, but is not limited to

• Pecan Pie bars
• Orange - Poppy Seed Pinwheels
• Ginger Spice Crinkles
• Chocolate Shortbread
• Pecan Sandies

ah hell - I can't remember any more off the top of my head, but trust me, I'll cover them all!

The most interesting cookies we are making this year are Lebkuken. The recipe comes from Gail's family and is believed to be over 100 years old. I plan on writing up the recipe for my upcoming round up for The Spice Is Right IX: Warm me up baby - It's cold outside... Consider yourself reminded!