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Lord, Thank you this day for my daily bliss

 

Daily bliss 2009-08-13 004 (400x294)

The thought of going out after work felt hollow, but I desired a treat so much. This is my new Folger’s Vanilla Biscotti coffee topped with cream whipped with powdered sugar. I once had a quantity of leftover heavy cream and so whipped it for our hot drinks. Once I tasted it I couldn’t go back to half-and-half or flavored creamers. Today on impulse I dumped a healthy quantity of powdered sugar while I was whipping. Mmmm… I’m so glad I didn’t go out for coffee after work but came home, did the right thing and put some laundry in, then this…

We find it turns out better if you sing “You must whip it” while you whip your cream.

In the shadows are my “thrift cookies,” my first cookie salvage recipe. I am definitely putting this one into my recipe journal. I made some chocolate chip cookies after we came home from vacation, still don’t know quite what went wrong there! The dough looked delicious, but they spread like wildfire all over the cookie sheet once baked and tasted… off. I made the second batch much smaller in size, and they burned around the edges. I have been waiting for a chance to use this salvage recipe in the event of cookie disaster, and I was really pleased with my re-work results. … you can tell I work in manufacturing.

Thrift Cookies

  • 2 c. dry cookie/cake crumbs
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/2 c. milk
  • 1/4 c. shortening
  • 1/3 c. peanut butter
  • 1/2 c. brown sugar
  • 1 c. cake flour
  • 1/2 t. salt
  • 1 t. baking powder
  • 1/8 t. soda

Grind cookie or cake crumbs and sift. Beat egg, add to milk and pour over crumbs. Cream shortening, peanut butter and sifted sugar together, blend well with crumb mixture. Sift dry ingredients together. Drop by teaspoons onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F 15 min. Makes 54 2-inch cookies.

Speaking of work… I think what I like best about work is… my work. I like interacting with people about work. That’s one thing I miss about my former position, and one thing that brightens my day sometimes now. I feel like I’m growing into a better balance between benchwork and interfacing about work. I liked that in my former place, but it felt so hollow without the additional chemistry work to make the minutes fly by. I love it when I am busy, and a day flies by… a week flies by… I look back and see that it was full of solid work, all written up now.

There are particular people that are so professional, and I really like interfacing with them. I have really admired how they keep it neat and business-like. There is a great Zen beginner’s mind about that. Not getting into messy entanglements, not having more and more baggage to carry around the workplace every day. Just keeping it polite. I like that. Yeah. LOL.

No, really, I, uh, well, have been spending a lot of time by myself on my breaks, trying to catch my breath, organize myself, and that’s made a huge difference when I get off my shift. I feel energized to complete my after-work errands, make dinner preparations, while scheduling a healthy portion for journaling/creative work. This week has been pretty hectic, but not a huge wreck, and I feel pleased about that. So yeah, I have been by myself a lot, both on and off the shift.

I have two thoughts for the day:

  1. The bad thing about adults is that there is no one to discipline them.
  2. The more you are talking the less you are listening.

I know these are not eloquent or profound. I am just trying to extract the truth from some moments that give me pain.

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