When I was 14 my parents took me on a long-ass 3 week trip to the East Coat. Some of it was kind of fun. Some of it was kinda neat. Some of it was alarming (ask me about my monkey story). A lot of it was a big drag being around my parents the whole time. I enjoyed following the lines painted on the sidewalk in Boston. I liked going to the House of Seven Gables, partly because gables are an enjoyable architectural addition to any home, and partly because they had the bedwarmer that was used on an episode of Bewitched on display. I enjoyed walking around Greenwich Village in New York and going to some clothing store I was really excited about. It was the storefront from a catalog I had. Dang it. I can't remember. It was along the same vein as the stores Alloy, Modcloth, Delia's, but from the 80's and it wasn't Benetton. I did not enjoy touring the Naval Academy, but I think it was because I was 14 and with my parents for too long, and not because the Naval Academy wasn't interesting. I did not enjoy driving around Maine looking for a dumb ass covered bridge. Except for the hour I spent in Spencer's, the mall store that sells fundies, fart spray and posters of Heather Thomas, I did not enjoy New Hampshire. The Statue of Liberty wasn't as exciting as I thought it was going to be. I enjoyed Washington, DC. I got to see Fonzie's jacket, Dorothy's shoes, Archie Bunker's chair. I got to see airplanes and spaceships. I really enjoyed the FBI museum. We toured the White House. One of the only souvenirs I bought the whole trip was a cookbook. The First Ladies' Cookbook. It was filled with recipes that were the favorite of each President, presumably, what the First Lady cooked for the President. I got it because there was a recipe for a fried egg. I thought it was weird that a fried egg recipe needed to be published somewhere. Totally unrelated but nonetheless serendipitously coincidental, prior to my DC trip, my dad gave me a book from The Galloping Gourmet Graham Kerr. In it, it had a recipe for
Perfect Scrambled Eggs. I thought it was funny that there were recipes for fried eggs and scrambled eggs. The book ended at Regan, because it was 1986. I wish I knew where it was right now. It's not something I would have thrown away. It'll turn up sooner or later, I suppose.
Anywhoozle, I made cookies yesterday for the freezer, so we could have cookies whenever we want them. I made peanut butter chocolate chip, masa cherry and white chocolate, and speaking of First Ladies, Busy Bars.
Busy Bars are kind of like cowboy cookies, but more kitchen-sink-y. The recipe I use as the base is Laura Bush's Cowboy Cookies. It's a big recipe and makes a shit-ton of delicious cookies. It's my favorite cookie. It's delicious raw and frozen, an equally delicious freshly baked. A Cowboy cookie is a yummy cookie with a base that's kind of like a chocolate chip cookie, but with cinnamon in it. Added to it are 10 cups worth of oats, coconut, pecans and chocolate chips. In my version, I play fast and loose with that 10 cups and add whatever the heck I want. I always add 2 cups of oats, and then play with the remaining 8 cups. This time around I added chocolate chips, white chips, coconut, dried cherries, dried pineapple and macadamia nuts. In times past I have added walnuts, toffee pieces, m&m's, dried cranberries, butterscotch chips, chopped up Hershey kisses, broken up Ghiradelli squares. What goes inside is subject to whim, necessity and access, really. The world is your oyster Busy Bar. I line a pan with parchment paper, press the dough into the pan and bake it into bars.
You could make it cookies instead of bars, but bars are easier to make and Busy Bars is more fun to say.
