Avocado Bacon Baked Eggs

Marathon training requires a lot of running, well duh. And a lot of running requires a lot of eating – yay!  My usual breakfasts are entirely unremarkable. But post-long run breakfast? Well that is something I plan in advance and get excited about!

This past Sunday’s run was a hybrid workout/long run. When I first saw it on Coach George’s marathon training plan (2 mi ez, 4 mi tempo, 1 mi ez, 3 mi tempo, 1 mi ez, 2 mi tempo, 1 mi ez, 1 mi tempo, 1 mi ez, 16 total) my thought was, Gah! This is too complicated! I am not smart enough for this! But then a second look showed that it really wasn’t that bad: the workout is a 4-3-2-1 ladder at marathon pace, with one mile in between each tempo. With a 2-mile warm up and 1-mile cool down, it totals to 16 miles. We started at Jack’s Boathouse in Georgetown at 8am on Sunday morning and ran across the Key Bridge, along the Mt. Vernon bike path to Alexandria, and back.

Luckily I was running with people who had fancy GPS watches to tell me when to start and stop, and also to check in on our pace. Running-wise I’m a bit like a wind-up toy: point me in a direction and start me at a pace and I will maintain that exact pace for however long is required. This “skill” comes in quite handy in tempo runs. And it's the same re: eating: put delicious food in front of me and I'll eat until it's gone (not sure if that's a good or bad thing...)

So anyway, the run went well, and by the time I got home around 11:30 am I was starving in the way that only long running can make me starving. Soon enough LOTR-Emily was on her way over with avocado and bacon, and we proceeded to make the best post-run breakfast ever. 

We scraped eggy bacony avocado onto whole wheat English muffins, basking in the warm glory of my living room, watching Big Easy Express. This is a direct quote from Emily: “Avocados and coffee and bacon! Mumford and Sons and nail polish! It literally does not get any better than this!!!” Agreed.

Avocado Bacon Baked Eggs

Printable recipe. 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 medium or large avocado
• 2 small eggs
• 2 sliced of bacon, cooked then crumbled
• 2 English muffins or slices of toast
• Salt, pepper
• Hot sauce (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Cut avocado in half and carefully remove the seed (like this). Scoop out some of the avocado to make room for the egg.
3. In a medium baking dish, try to rest the avocado half inside the edge of the dish so that the avocado doesn't tilt over. We used tin foil to fashion a little avocado nest so it doesn’t tip and spill egg everywhere. 
4. You can crack the egg directly in the avocado, but it might overflow and make a mess…so instead, crack the egg into a small bowl and then use a spoon to scoop out one of the yolks and place it into the hole of the avocado. Then spoon the egg whites into the avocado hole utill it's full. 
5. Salt and pepper the eggs and bake for about 15-20 minutes. Watch the eggs! Ours went from raw to done very quickly. 
6. Cook bacon however you want (we used a frying pan). Crumble bacon on top of your avocado/egg.
7. Enjoy!

Oh don't worry, in actual practice there was extra bacon on the side!

Printable recipe. 

Cake of the Week: Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Bundt Cake

My very best friends and I have a super-amazing tradition. It all started way back in late-summer 2010, when I’d been living in DC for just over a year. I saw a Groupon deal for a one-man show of The Lord of the Rings, and sent out an email to a random group of friends – Hey, This looks like it might be awesome and I’d really like to go. Anyone interested in coming with me?

Through the subsequent email exchanges, I learned that 6x6, LOTR-Emily (now her blog name makes sense, huh?), and LLC also happen to love The Lord of the Rings. (I’m not sure if this makes it more or less ridiculous, but for the record, I loved the books loooooong before the movies.)

After seeing the show, 6x6 had an absolutely genius idea – We should have a Bilbo Baggins Birthday party on September 22! (That is his “actual” birthday.)

We decided to celebrate by watching the movies while eating LOTR-themed food. None of us has the stamina to do all the movies at once, so this became a 3-part party: over the course of late September through October we took turns hosting, choosing different Middle Earth species-themed food for each movie: The Fellowship of the Ring = Hobbits; The Two Towers = Elves and Ents; The Return of the King = Orcs and Men.  Anyone who liked LOTR was welcome, so these nights ranged from 5-15 people!

Up until that time, we’d all been friends separately – I was friends with 6x6 through work and running, LLC was(/is) my Long Lost Cousin (obviously), and LOTR-Emily and I had lived together for almost a year – but our LOTR parties solidified us as a group. The first series was such a success that we just had to do it again in 2011 (when Uruk-hai joined the party, bringing super-extended Blu-Ray to the table). And two occurrences clearly makes it a thing, so there was no question of not doing it in 2012.

Now let’s talk food, since that’s about 75% of the fun! I’ve made Hobbit Truffle Cakeballs, Lembas Bread (shortbread), “Red Sun Rises at Dawn, Blood Has Been Spilled this Morn” Cupcakes, Dead Marshes Dip (not photogenic enough for the blog, but similar to this), and now: THE ONE RING CAKE.

My original plan was to make a gold cake, but I was in the mood for chocolate this weekend, so whatever. This cake, like most things made with Oreos, is obscenely delicious. The chocolate cake itself is excellent, the Oreo Cream Cheese Filling is dense and intense, and the glaze over the top makes is super-pretty. I’ve adapted the recipe from Baker’s Royale to make it easier (i.e. instead of three egg yolks and then 2 eggs, how about 3 egg yolks and 3 egg whites? Efficient. Instead of milk and buttermilk, just use buttermilk for both, since every time I buy milk it goes bad in my fridge. Again, efficient.)

As we watched the lighting of the beacons, Faramir riding out to re-take Osgiliath, and Frodo and Sam struggle up Mt. Doom, this cake kept us good company.

Even if you don’t love LOTR (what? No.) you should make this cake.

Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Bundt Cake 

Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or spray bundt pan and lightly coat with cocoa powder or flour.
Printable recipe. 
Ingredients:
Oreo Cream Cheese Filling

• 1/2 cup Oreos, crushed (about 10 whole Oreos)
• 4oz. cream cheese (1/2 block), softened
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Cake:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 12 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
• 3/4  cup coffee or water, boiling
• 3 ounces quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped (if you’re using chocolate chips, it’s about 2 tablespoons less than ½ cup)
• 3/4 cups buttermilk
• 3/4 cups butter, melted and cooled to warm
• 1 2/3 cups packed brown sugar
• 3 egg whites (leftover from making the filling)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Icing:

• 1 cup of confectioner sugar
• 2 tablespoon buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon of crushed Oreos

Instructions:

To make the filling:

1. Place Oreos in a food processor bowl and pulse until crumbled. OR, place Oreo is a Ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush them. Set aside 1 tablespoon of crushed Oreos for icing.
2. Place all ingredients in a bowl and beat until combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To make chocolate bundt cake:

1. Place flour, baking soda and salt and whisk to combine. Set aside.
2. In a heat proof bowl, add cocoa and whisk in boiling coffee/water. Add in chopped chocolate and whisk until combined. Add in buttermilk and whisk until combined.
3. Mix melted butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add in egg whites and beat until light and fluffy. Add in vanilla and beat until combined.  Fold flour into wet mixture in 3 batches, alternating with cocoa mixture.
4. Pour half of batter into pan. Using a spoon, make a well for the Oreo filling and evenly spoon it in, keeping filling toward the center. Pour remaining batter on top. 
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 50-60 minutes or until the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. Remove from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Place a wire cooling rack on top of the cake and carefully turn over – remove the pan and let cool completely.

To make icing/Assemble:

1. Add confectioner sugar and buttermilk into a bowl and whisk to combine. Add more milk as needed to thin icing to preferred consistency.
2. Pour icing over bundt cake and sprinkle remaining Oreo crumbs on top.

Printable recipe. 

Cake of the Week: Blackberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Blackberries taste like end-of-summer, fingers-and-mouth-stained, arms-scratched, shady-back-porch-barbeque wonderful. 

(Not my best pictures, but I promise it's a delicious cake!)

Clearly I have very distinct late summer memories of blackberries. When I was a kid, my mama, sisters, and I would head to a friends’ house in Kenwood, CA (we’ll call them the V’s – three kids in their family too).  Anyway, we’d wear old t-shirts and leggings (blackberry bushes + shorts = asking for trouble, and Mini-Mollie was staunchly opposed to jeans). From the V’s house we’d drive to a spot previously scoped out on one of Mrs. V’s runs, empty pots and pans rattling in our trunk.  

The moms then laid big plywood boards over the ditches, giving us access to the innermost berries, and warn us to stay on the boards. We then proceeded to pick as many blackberries as humanly possible for hours on end. By late afternoon we’d be tired and sticky, dark purple juice staining our fingertips and little red scratches covering our hands and forearms and any other unfortunately exposed body parts. We’d drive back to the V’s house – those previously empty containers completely overflowing with juicy blackberries balancing on the car seats, the floor, and our laps, destined to become jams, pies, scones, or frozen for later consumption. 

This particular blackberry memory I’m thinking of took place in the evening after such a day. I sat at the kid’s table on the V’s back porch, smashing fresh blackberries into my bowl of vanilla ice cream and thinking the deep purple vanilla-y soupy mess was the absolute best thing in the world. 

And so for LORT-Emily’s birthday this year I wanted to re-create that flavor, in cake form.

This cake recipe can be adapted using any berry (the original is strawberry, and I’ve made it with cherries in cupcake form). 

Blackberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Printable recipe. 

Makes 12-16 cupcakes, one normal-sized 9-inch round cake (which I cut in half to make a short0ish 2-layer cake). If you want a bigger 2-layer cake, double the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup fresh or frozen blackberries (thawed if frozen)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. coarse salt
• 1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 2 large egg whites, room temperature

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour one 9-inch round pan. 
2. Place blackberries in a small food processor or blender and process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree. 
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla and berry puree; set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl and just use a spoon to stir – people sometimes tell me they “can’t bake” because they don’t have a mixer…not true! Just use your muscles!), cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
5. Add about half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, until just blended.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and finish cooling completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 block (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons milk, as needed

Directions:

1. Beat the butter, cream cheese, vanilla. Beat in powdered sugar, adding milk as needed to reach a spreadable consistency.

Assembly:

1. Once the cake is completely cool (this will be easiest if you refrigerate it for a bit), use a large serrated knife to cut it in half lengthwise to make two layers. 
2. Frost the first layer, add the second on top, and cover it all with delicious cream cheese-y frosting!

And it's purple and pretty!

Printable recipe. 

Weekend Report: Watching Soccer and Olympics

I love when people get excited about things they really really care about. Everything is the most fun for everyone when people get into what they’re doing or watching! (Superlative count in that sentence: 3, and I’m not ashamed.)

For example, on Saturday night, SpeedyKate, LOTR-Emily, her BF, and I went to a DC United soccer game. All of us like soccer, have played it at some point, and enjoy watching it; however, compared to the super-fans in front of us, we were just casual bystanders. But because they were so excited – literally shaking the stands, chanting, flag-waving, and throwing $10 beverages in the air when United scored – we got pretty amped up too. DC United beat Columbus Crew 1-0, and it was a  really fun Saturday night!

The soccer game was an example of others’ excitement affecting me…but Olympic Track and Field, well now that’s a thing that I get ridiculously excited about. All the swimming/gymnastics/etc. over the first week of the Games has been good warm-up, but now the real Olympics (for me) have started and it is important that I see it all.

Did you watch the Men’s 10k on Saturday afternoon? The moment when Mo Farah (UK) won the race, turned, and realized that his training partner Galen Rupp (USA) got the silver was hands-down my favorite Olympic moment to date. SpeedyKate and I were literally screaming at our TV for the last 800m of that race.

Is excitement compoundable? Because if it is, then the running enthusiasm increased exponentially for the Women’s Marathon on Sunday. One of our former CAR teammates, Claire Hallissey, ran the marathon for the UK, so a group of CAR-ers convened to cheer for her en masse.

I’m always happy to spread the sports-love and explain running/sports/Olympics to any friend or co-worker who asks, but there’s something super-awesome about watching a marathon in a room full of legit marathoners. Everyone knows what they’re talking about and can connect to the experience – it was fun.

I took that London marathon inspiration and went for my own rainy-day run on Sunday night. It definitely wasn’t 26.2 miles, but 10.4 is pretty marathon-ish for me at this point and running in the rain is glorious!

Weekend Report: Happy Bastille Day, Climbing, and Biking

Well happy Monday to you!

I had a truly excellent weekend – the perfect balance of activity and lounging and exercise and sleeping. Friday night I introduced yet another co-worker to the wonders of Francis Pool. After a loooooong week there is nothing that generates relaxation as immediately as floating in water as the sun sets.

In all my excitement about running again, I kind of forgot that I’m supposed to be taking things slow avoid the dreaded too-much-too-soon injury phenomenon. Therefore, I did not run this weekend. Instead I climbed for an epic 3 hours (16 climbs – i.e. a lot) Saturday afternoon, and biked 48 miles on Sunday. Yes, yes, I know that doesn’t sound like “taking things slow” by any normal definition…but it’s not running, so work with me here.

Saturday’s climbing excursion was not to the outdoors (we decided it would be too hot). Instead, my little climbing club ventured all the way to Rockville to climb at Earthtreks, the largest rock gym in the country. After climbing we embraced the suburban-ness of the location and went to get absolutely amazing tacos at a hole-in-the-wall strip mall taco shop. It felt like California and made me excessively happy.

Saturday night I celebrated Bastille Day with my francophone friend LOTR-Emily and her boyfriend.

Nous nous sommes assis sur son toit tout en mangeant une tarte aux prunes. C'était fantastique. Bonne Fête Nationale! (We sat on her roof while eating a plum tart. It was fantastic. Happy Bastille Day!)

Sunday the aforementioned biking happened. Per DC usual, it was HOT, so I tried to be smart about the procedure and stopped at every water fountain along the 3 hour and 45 minute way. However, despite all precautions taken, when I got home I definitely had to guzzle almost a gallon of liquid and lay on my floor until I felt human again.

Once life returned to my limbs, LOTR-Emily and I tested a new fro-yo place on Barracks Row. 32 Below was surprisingly AMAZING. I had Irish Mint and Chocolate with brownie and nuts on top – ummm hello delicious!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend too!

Weekend Report: Floating and Biking

Memorial Day traditionally marks the beginning of summer and apparently DC listened, bringing us the kinds of temperatures that say It is summer and you will rue the day you thought living in a mid-Atlantic swamp was a good idea.

Oh well. Sweatiness aside, I still love my city. And on Sunday of this most glorious 3 day weekend, a group of my friends and I went “floating” at Harper’s Ferry to take full advantage of the summeriness. (In my family we call this activity “tubing,” but apparently to southerners it’s all about the float.)

(This isn't us - I didn't bring my camera on the river.)

We drove out to Harper’s Ferry, where a very bossy and militant “trip leader” herded us onto a bus and drove us to the Shenandoah River. (So much stress to go relax!) But once we were butts-in-tubes on the water it was pure floating bliss.

I am an experienced tuber – my family has been floating down the Truckee River and bobbing in tubes in Tahoe for years. There is nothing better than laying back and enjoying the sunshine on my stomach, gunshots in the background and tree branches falling into the river. (That just took a turn for the unexpected there, huh? I’m not even kidding – gunshots in the distance - we were in West Virginia - and a huge tree branch almost took out LOTR-Emily and her boyfriend!!!) But despite those mild hiccoughs at the beginning, it was a glorious couple of hours in the sunshine.

After tubing we headed into the town of Harper’s Ferry (I’ve been hiking around there before). We sat outside for lunch, then explored the historic town, complete with reenactors and ruins and everything.

(It took all of my will-power NOT to climb to the top...)

We concluded that next time we'll be a bit more prepared and pick a place with a longer float.

In other weekend news, I needed exercise like woah, so the other outsidey thing I did was take SpeedyKate’s bike for a couple rides. Saturday morning I had a limited amount of time, so I biked to Alexandria and back (about 23 miles). That was just a warm-up for my Sunday ride, which I couldn’t start until 3pm at the height of the heat.

The nice thing about biking though, is that you can do it when it’s hot. Running yesterday afternoon would have been absolutely impossible and I would have melted into a puddle of misery. But biking has an inherent breeze-in-your-face factor that keeps me normal-temperatured. I peddled my way to Mt. Vernon, listening to music in one ear and singing along when appropriate/able. Every park I passed through was full of Memorial Day celebrants out enjoying the day, odors of charcoal and bar-b-q wafting along the bikepath and kids all over the place.

I had a headwind on the way there, so I was pretty tired by the time I arrived at Mt. Vernon. And then the sad fact of out-and-backs hit me – I’m tired and thirsty and now I need to get home! 

On the way back I cut across the George Mason Bridge in the interest of avoiding tourist-covered traffic-y Mall. Clearly I made it and was fine (40 miles!!!!), though I definitely drank about a gallon of water and had to lay on my floor for a bit the moment I walked in the door.

I ended the day as all summer days should end – eating (well-deserved?) Fro Zen Yo with LOTR-Emily. Ummm hello new non-fat butter pecan flavor!

And that, my friends, was that. Happy Memorial Day to you all!

Weekend Report: Cherry Blossom Fireworks and Easter

Whether you celebrate Passover or Easter or Cherry Blossoms or spring, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! Mine felt soooo long, which is essentially the goal of every weekend…#winning!

On Saturday LLC and I walked all over DC. It was mostly shopping-related: I started with two grocery stores in search of rhubarb (fail – apparently it’s not time yet, or I missed my window?), then we bought pretty spring clothes in Georgetown, then we got Passover cupcakes (i.e. flour-less chocolate decorated with Stars of David) and lounged on the Georgetown Waterfront, then we walked back to my house and then all the way up to Target in Columbia Heights.

Weeks ago we’d marked Cherry Blossom Fireworks on our calendars, just as an if-we-don’t-have-anything-else-going-on-maybe-we-should-do-this? note. So when on Saturday night we didn’t have anything else going on…fireworks? Sure, why not?

It was us and the tourists at the Southwest Waterfront Festival: Light-up paper mache-covered carp boats, fire baton twirlers, yachts decorated in pink lights, and of course fireworks! The fireworks were from Nagaoka City, Japan, “a city renowned throughout Japan for its two day fireworks festival, created especially for the 2012 Centennial.” (So basically, this got me excited for 4^th of July!) It was great, I really really love fireworks. A Happy Cherry Blossoms to you all!

And of course, Sunday was Easter. There was no egg hunt for us (I am still scarred from my childhood.) Like the adults we are, my friends and I celebrated with a lovely brunch chez LOTR-Emily. 

The weather cooperated so we could sit outside and enjoy a spinach and goat cheese frittata, LLC’s chocolate waffles (recipe tomorrow), lots of strawberries and cheese, and some stray care-package chocolates.

Brunch took up most of the day (us: How is it already 4pm???), leaving me just a few more weekend hours to savor. 

I rounded out my Sunday with my first Meridian Hill Park Drum Circle of the season.  I did a crossword while listening to the drummers and watching the dancers – it was excellent.  

Cookie Week Day 3: Apricot Bars

These are ideal breakfast cookies – LOTR-Emily’s Apricot Bars. I don’t know if words can express how much I love them…but clearly I’ll try. 

They’re in the shape of biscotti, but with a scone-ish texture and mild sweetness (minus the usual scone-y dryness).  A  biscotti-shaped cookie-scone? Yes. That’s exactly what this is. They have dried apricots for chew and walnuts for crunch, and since LORT-Emily uses whole wheat flour, I can easily convince myself they’re semi-healthy. 


They go really well with coffee - definitely the kind of cookies that get me excited about the morning! 


Apricot Bars
(Go here for the printable recipe.)

• 1 cup butter at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda, blended with 2 teaspoons cold water
• 3 c whole wheat flour, 1.5 c white flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon cloves
• 8 oz chopped dried apricots
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Cream together butter and sugar.
2. Beat in 3 eggs.
3. Mix in 1 tsp baking soda that is blended with 2 tsps cold water.
4. Add flour,  cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
5. Fold in dried apricots, and chopped walnuts.
6. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour, then shape into two long rectangular logs about ¾ inch thick on one greased baking sheet. Bake 25 min at 350 degrees.
7. Cool for 10 minutes, then slice the cookies into bars.
8. Spread the bars on a cookie sheet and bake for another 15 minutes until they are almost beginning to get brown around the edges, but still chewy in the middle. 
9. Cool completely before storing.

(Go here for the printable recipe.)

Cookie Week Day 1: S'Mores Cookies

Cookie Week Day 2: Lacey Oatmeal Cookies

Weekend Report: Eastern Market and Christmastime!

It could be the cold weather, or perhaps its all the decorations? But let's be real here, most likely it's the fact that about 90% of my weekend's food consumption consisted of cookies, cookie dough, cookie crumbs, and chocolate. 

This can only mean one thing - it's Christmastime!!! And after a Sunday of Eastern Market, Cookie Exchange, and a Christmas party, I am feeling the Christmas spirit. 

My ideal Sunday afternoon involves sitting on a bench in direct sunlight on a chilly-ish December day, sipping a cup of coffee and nibbling on a cookie while working my way through the crossword puzzle. And that is exactly what I did. Kitty-corner from my sunny bench at the entrance of Eastern Market a saxophonist played Christmas carols, and upwind a grove of Christmas trees smelled awesome. 

I know most people love Eastern Market in the summer, but I definitely prefer it in the winter. Instead of feeling trickles of sweat drip down my back and needing an iced coffee for both temperature control and hydration, I could calmly peruse the craft tables and actually enjoy the feeling of a hot coffee cup warming my hands when I eventually sat down.

From my extensive people-watching experience I can tell you that people at Eastern Market on a Sunday afternoon fall into 4 categories: 

1. Small groups of girlfriends meeting up to shop
2. Couples
3. Couples with dogs
4. Couples with children

And there isn’t much variation in clothing. Women wear coats, colorful scarves, and boots. Men are in jeans, fleeces, and hats. Everyone wears sunglasses, and most carry a paper cup from one of the many coffee shops in the area. 

I saw a surprising number of people with timing tags from the race I was supposed to run attached to their shoes. (I made the "smart" call Saturday night not to run…but I’m still a little bummed about this situation.) 

The crossword puzzle beat me at about the same time the sun left my bench. And the saxophonist had apparently come to the end of his repertoire – I’m pretty sure I heard "Away in a Manger" more than twice…so around 2:30 I finished the last of my coffee and headed home.

Retrospectively, I probably shouldn’t have eaten the cookie with my coffee, since my next Sunday activity was a Christmas Cookie Exchange with my three best friends. And we take our cookies seriously. 

We exchanged (and ate) chocolate crinkles, gingerbread with almond frosting and coconut, apricot walnut bars, s’mores chocolate chip cookies, mocha coconut fudge, and oatmeal lace cookies. (I'll post recipes over the next couple weeks.)

After that late-afternoon sugar coma, my Christmas celebrations continued. Four of my roommates are soon to move out, so we planned a house Christmas dinner party complete with a gift exchange, tree to trim, and sugar cookies to decorate. 

(I know, I should probably quit my day job and become a cookie artist...right???)

And here's an update from the Gchats this morning...no name attribution, but YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! 

8:46 AM 

I ate two gingerbread cookies last night when I got home.

I left all of the baked goods in my freezer, thank God, or else I'd have eaten them all!

At one point last night my internal dialogue went something like this-

"Well you could take the gingerbread out of the freezer but then it would be frozen and you don't have a microwave. but i guess you could put it in a saute pan, that might be weird, but it would work. Okay, put it in a saute pan. No, don't do it..."

And so on and so on.

I ended up not sauteing the cookie...and somehow, that is counted as a victory...NOT sauteeing a gingerbread cookie

This is what we've come to. 

Hope you had a happy holiday weekend!