10/365: Snow, finally.

Woke up to fresh powder, which is always nice. Even when school's not cancelled.

9/365: Decadence

Ready for snow with a cup of Mayan hot cocoa (hints of cinnamon, vanilla and ancho chiles!) from Cocoa Dolce. This stuff is awesome. Many thanks to Sherry Chisenhall, who lent me the cocoa mix after she saw me all excited about free "hot chocolate" from the office vending machine. :-P

8/365: Coffee at Panera

Saturday morning coffee with Tara and Alice. Good times. :)

7/365: Report card pizza

Great report cards on Friday, so the kids got Pizza Hut for dinner.

6/365: Keeping Christmas

This week's column was about how I love my Christmas decorations and don't feel like taking them down just yet. Least of all these awesome nutcrackers in the kitchen.

5/365: Muscles

4/365: Nerf warriors

Celebrate life

“Celebrate life. We tend to be so focused on efficiency and convenience that we forget to invite our children to share in life’s messy or inconvenient pleasures: finger paints, late-night fireworks, mud puddles, the sunrise, baking a cake. The pure joy of a moment fully lived is more precious than clean hands, an hour of lost sleep, dry shoes, or a perfect dessert.”

-- Katrina Kenison

3/365: Back to school...

And not very happy about it.

Resolution

Borrowed from this awesome list of resolutions.

World's Best Snickerdoodles

This recipe is from the "America's Test Kitchen" Holiday Cookies 2010 cookbook. And it was the best, most delicious surprise of our last holiday baking day.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 3/4 cup sugar, divided

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in bowl.

With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each until well-incorporated.

Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture gradually and mix until just combined.

Combine cinnamon and remaining (1/4 cup) sugar in bowl.

Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls with moistened hands, toss in cinnamon-sugar to coat, then place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake each sheet separately until edges are light golden brown and centers are soft and puffy, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating each sheet halfway through baking.

Cool 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

2/365: Baby Jesus

Put a few Christmas decorations away today. Part of me wants to keep the Little People nativity set up all year.

Project 365: This will require some caffeine...

I'm launching a resolution today, hopping on the Project 365 bandwagon. Will take a photo a day in 2011. Decided to kick off the project with a shot of my new best friend. Thanks again, Mom and Dad.