Lots of truth in both quotes . . .

"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal."
-- Albert Camus

"Liberals are very broadminded: they are always willing to give careful consideration to both sides of the same side."
-- Anonymous

All but the kitchen sink cookies . . .

When the weather starts cooling down, I think more about baking. These are a favorite cookie that scents the house wonderfully, is easy to make, and very forgiving when you add or substitute add-in ingredients. Even when I follow the recipe exactly, it always tastes a bit different.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Cookies

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon fresh orange zest
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup oatmeal
4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups of your favorite granola cereal
1 cup bran flake cereal
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 cup dried cranberries or raisins, your choice!
1/2 cup diced, dried apricots
1/2 cup diced, dried pineapple

Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, zest, and vanilla. Blend in the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Fold in the oatmeal, granola, cereal, pecans, cranberries, apricots, and pineapple.

With a cookie scoop, your choice of size depending on how big a cookie you want, place balls of dough about 2 inches apart on a vegetable oil sprayed baking sheet or take the easy way out and use parchment paper. Bake for approximately 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the cookies and your oven capabilities.

These are very hearty cookies and good for an afternoon pick me up, a quick breakfast on the go, and for your children's lunch treat.

Ideas . . .

Toasted almonds and two teaspoons of almond extract would be different.

Adding a half cup of toasted coconut to the above recipe is nice and sort of tropical with the dried fruit.

Sunflower seed, sesame seeds, or peanuts will all give you a different cookie.

I like using bran flake cereal but you can add any kind you like.

Dates instead of the apricots and pineapple is very good especially with the orange zest undertone of the cookie.

Makes a lot, again, depending on what size you make them. Great for bake sales or pot lucks

A beautiful thought . . .

“Love shows us what we have to do. It takes us out of ourselves, makes us emulate the virtues of our Lord, and withdraws us from this world into Him. The reason why so many Christians get no farther than the threshold of virtue is that they will not break the chains that hold them back and will not give themselves up confidently to our Lord's guidance. They feel that if they go to Communion they will be unable to resist the love of Jesus and will be forced to give themselves in return. So they content themselves with books, with words, and do not dare turn to the Master Himself. Oh, my brothers, I pray you to take Jesus Christ Himself for your Teacher! Receive Him within you and let Him direct all your actions.” ~St. Peter Julian Eymard

The Blessing of Monday . . .

When I was working in an office, the constant refrain at the end of every work week was, "Thank goodness, it's Friday!" Being of a rather cynical bent, in those days, I'd quip, "Yeah, but it's only two days until Monday!" This would be met with groans and laughter. Over the years, however, I come to greet Monday mornings with a lot more respect and joy. Reaching Monday means we are given another chance to have a productive week, another chance to do something for our family, another chance to remember to be thankful that we are here to be part of Monday.

Being a mother, Mondays sort of map out my week. I see five days stretching in front of me and, hopefully, they will be filled with accomplishments. I see five days of chances to improve my meal planning. There are five afternoons of sewing. Morning Mass can happen five more times. Although I do plan out we week basically, I tend to dwell on the moment at hand. I try to stop dreading what is ahead and just get today done as well as possible. Believe me, I'm not a saint and there will be many pitfalls along the way but Mondays give me hope. And, if I'm accepting of God's blessings, I can pray that next Monday I will have another chance to see the beginning of the work week loom before me filled with promise.

Easy to believe . . .

You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.

Albert Einstein

Should eggs be separated? Debate! :-)

I used to hate separating eggs. I didn’t mind the separating. It was the question of what to do with the half left over. And it is usually the egg whites. They always seemed to be carefully preserved in a small container until I threw it out three weeks later.

This cookie recipe is a bit pricey as it uses almonds. Depending on the season, some of the warehouse stores carry large bags of them at not too bad a price. Take three cups of almonds and toast them in a 350 degree oven until they scent the air, about ten minutes. Grind them up with 2 cups granulated sugar. Stir the mixture with six egg whites, one teaspoon vanilla and one teaspoon almond extract. The resulting batter should be thick and workable. Refrigerate until ready to use but for at least 15 to 20 minutes. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on lightly greased baking sheet. Vegetable sprays work well for this. Bake 15 to 20 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from the baking sheet. If they cool too much and stick, just warm them up in the oven and try removing them again. Makes approximately 3 dozen small, chewy cookies without too much fat.

If your budget and refrigerator tell you almonds are not available, walnuts will work although they will produce a moister cookie. And if nuts are totally and definitely out of line, save the egg whites and try to remember to use them to shine up your bread loaves before baking.

Fact or Parable?

Every day, a small ant arrives at work very early and starts work immediately. She produces a lot and she is happy.

The Chief, a lion, was surprised to see that the ant was working without supervision. He thought if the ant can produce so much without supervision, wouldn’t she produce even more if she had a supervisor! So he recruited a cockroach who had extensive experience as supervisor and who was famous for writing excellent reports.

The cockroach’s first decision was to set up a clocking in attendance system. He also needed a secretary to help him write and type his reports and …and he recruited a spider, who managed the archives and monitored all phone calls.

The lion was delighted with the cockroach's reports and asked him to produce graphs to describe production rates and to analyze trends, so that he could use them for presentations at Board‘s meetings.

So the cockroach had to buy a new computer and a laser printer and ... recruited a fly to manage the IT department.

The ant, who had once been so productive and relaxed, hated this new plethora of paperwork and meetings which used up most of her time…!

The lion came to the conclusion that it was high time to nominate a person in charge of the department where the ant worked. The position was given to the cicada, whose first decision was to buy a carpet and an ergonomic chair for his office. The new person in charge, the cicada, also needed a computer and a personal assistant ,who he brought from his previous department, to help him prepare a Work and Budget Control Strategic Optimisation Plan …

The Department where the ant works is now a sad place, where nobody laughs anymore and everybody has become upset... It was at that time that the cicada convinced the boss , the lion, of the absolute necessity to start a climatic study of the environment .

Having reviewed the charges for running the ant’s department , the lion found out that the production was much less than before. So he recruited the owl , a prestigious and renowned consultant to carry out an audit and suggest solutions. The owl spent three months in the department and came up with an enormous report , in several volumes, that concluded : " The department is overstaffed ..."

Guess who the lion fires first? The ant , of course, because she "showed lack of motivation and had a negative attitude".

Adapted from Portuguese by PR. Obrigado Mário.