Chocolate chip cookies with walnuts

The prospector has been building a retaining wall and our neighbor came over to help yesterday. Since I didn't have to be outside helping, I did something I haven't done for a while. I baked some cookies.
Moke came into the kitchen and sat down like something big was going to happen. Of course, he always does this if we go into the kitchen for longer than five minutes. We laugh at this behavior because he,s so serious about it and we think that he thinks "food" won't happen without his vigil. We call him the "helper dog".
So I baked cookies. I don't use a recipe because this is the cookie I've been making since (as my boys use to say) "...the stone ages." It's a very basic dough and I just add different ingredients to it. That's usually whatever happens to be in the freezer, "fridge" or cupboard at the time. I just bought chocolate chips and walnuts at Costco(the best price around), so that's what went into the batter. Sometimes I add pecans and dried cranberries; or almonds and raisins . You can add anything, (well almost): Left over fish wouldn't work. ( but you knew that, right?) Any ingredient that would make a good cookie is fine. Peanut butter, spices, coconut, yogurt, sour cream, breakfast cereal, etc. Just adjust the liquid: Use less if you put any wet stuff in. If you use oatmeal add two tablespoons of milk. A good basic recipe is always on the back of a bag of chocolate chips..... and beg, borrow, or call me for fresh, free range eggs. They make cookie batter fluffier and you can eat the dough. Then, if you have any dough left you can bake cookies. Enjoy!
P.S. Dogs like to taste test after the cookies are baked. Just no chocolate ones, please.

The Process: "Eat dough first"

The Hen's helped: why we can eat cookie dough

MOKE: serious help in the kitchen

Spring Brilliance

PEAR TREE

Life reveals itself
In flowering elegance
Springing forth
In popcorn blossom
Days of blue sun,
Where languid earth responds
And seeing warms my heart.

*****
***

Haiku

Give me bark skin and
Limbs reflecting sunlight, now.
The crow flies quickly.

*****
more photos of the old oak tree and it's scars

Visit with the old Druid

HELLEBORUS ARGUTIFOLIUS

OLD OAK TREE

On my walks down our road I always pass the same old tree. Half of it's trunk is missing at the ground. It looks like it might have been hit by lightning at one time. You can see the inside of the tree. Half of the trunk is gone on the road side and yet it is still standing and growing. Every year we wait for this old druid to fall. But still it stands in our tenth year of living here. After each storm in winter we expect to find it lying across the road. Other oaks fall; smaller ones, taller ones, younger and stronger trees that seem to give up and surrender to the rain and strong wind. But this one, that looks so fragile and old, remains.
Today I took it's picture. I was careful not to show the missing part of the trunk. I took the shot standing as close as I could to the tree. I had to be careful because it's on a very sharp drop off next to the road and so I leaned on the tree to support myself. I said aloud "Don't let go old lady." I'm not sure whether I was talking to myself or the tree. I looked up into the still dormant branches. The sky was very blue with light wispy clouds in it and I thought that this must be why the old tree was still standing. It was holding onto the sky. Invisible threads of silk (maybe from the oak worms) had attached themselves to the universe and now the old tree was being supported from above, not below. Maybe this is why belief in something beyond this world becomes so important as we get old and maybe if we believe strongly enough magic threads will attach themselves to us and give us support in our old age. We'll , I like to think so, anyway.

SENIOR CITIZEN

OH! CAN YOU INHALE THE FRAGRANCE?

MOSS MAGIC

The Cutting Edge

Happy Happy, Sharp sharp

One thing that makes me crazy is not having a good sharp knife to cut food with. I've never understood why so many people have knives that are dull and useless, sitting around in their drawers, taking up space. Maybe their grandmother gave it to them long ago and they have sentimental attachments to it; or maybe their husbands have used it too many times for "other purposes" out in the garage. Whatever the reason, there are a lot of old dull knives around that should have been thrown out along time ago.

Which brings me to my happy news. I bought a new knife while I was visiting the Bar Area. Don't get TOO excited. I know there are some people out there who will fail to understand why I'm so delighted, but I also know that there is acknowledgement out there in blogland; folks who are nodding there heads and smiling because they know what a sharp knife means in the kitchen.

I don't like to spend a lot of money on things. I'm a real "thrift shop" diva; but some things are sacred and knives are one of them. My oldest son gave me a Gerber classic walnut handled 10" cooks knife about 15 years ago and my obsession was born. He set the standard for me. I have no idea how much it was then, but I have it professionally sharpened every so often and it has become my knife of choice for just about everything. Since I can't afford the Gerbers, the Henckels or the Wusthofs , I'm always looking for the perfect knife that isn't too expensive. Well, I found the bargain of the year at T.J. Maxx. It's a Santoku knife made by Kitchen Aid. No kidding! The knife has a high-carbon, steel 4.5" blade and a black, riveted handle. It's light weight and the balance is wonderful . I don't think I will ever have to sharpen it ...., and are you ready....., it was only $6.00. Yep! Honestly! I'll be slicing those home grown tomatoes in style this summer.

OLD TOWN SACRAMENTO

Revealed bodies and lunch on the river

The prospector(my husband) and I left the foothills and drove down to Sacramento today. It was a beautiful, spring-like day and everything had a green glow. Our brown hills have started to change color.Even our "Happy California Cows" seemed more contented than usual. No poppies yet, but it's only a matter of time.

We had been talking about going to see the controversial Bodies Revealed exhibition and decided that this would be a good day to go because we had heard that the weekends could be very crowded. There was a good share of negative publicity about this exhibition because, after all, these were real bodies that had been preserved using a process called polymer preservation. Well, it was an amazing experience. Seeing these human beings from the skeleton to the outer skin was breathtaking, but also kind of overwhelming.

At first I was fascinated seeing the insides of these bodies; but then the realization hit me that this had been a living being with feelings and emotions. I found myself saying "I'm so sorry" to these whole, very dead and exposed humans. I started thinking about Hannibal Lecter and all the real bad horror movies I had ever seen. You know. The ones where you close your eyes during the scary parts. But I couldn't close my eyes. I started looking at the complexity of these bodies, our bodies, my body.... and I was caught up in the wonder of it all. When you see the whole circulatory system standing on it's own, with this network of blood vessels and the heart making it all work, you think that something is going on that is way bigger than anyone really knows; that this heart, that beats continuously inside of us until we die, is a remarkable thing. I saw how the amazing nervous system works and how connected everything is. To see the brain; the mysterious organ that runs the whole show, and learn that we are the only animals who know we are thinking, is, well... food for thought. The human body works in harmony with itself until we damage it or life wears it out. Seeing this exhibit gave me knowledge, a sense of wonder, and a kind of organic (dust to dust) reality. It was sometimes hard to look at but I'm glad we went.

We drove down to Old Town Sacramento for lunch: Ate good sandwiches at a restaurant on the river and looked through some of the shops just for fun. Bought some toys for my grandson's birthday next month and a caramel apple for dessert. YUM!

Got home in time to feed our spoiled dogs and pick a few weeds that were appearing( way to fast) in the garden. Didn't feel like a big dinner so we grazed our way through the evening and watched four more American Idol contenders bit the dust.

Good to be home.

MOM'S GARDEN: wordless wednesday

MY MOTHER'S HOUSE

Short Trip

I'm going down to the Bay Area to see my Mom for a few days. She's going to be 90 years old this July and has taught me a lot about how to be a brave senior citizen. She has always been my shining example of how to be a really good mother and beautiful human being. I try to go down every month and the time that I spend with her is a gift. I'll take some pictures and post them when I return next Thursday.

There was an eclipse of the moon last night around 7:00 p.m. but we didn't see it because of the clouds. Sacramento did and a lot of the valley towns. We must have been too close to the mountains and too far under the clouds because we missed the whole thing. Darn!

Earthquake centered in Wells, Nevada; 6.3 mag. this morning.