Baking Bug

Since I am currently jobless and have a husband that is regularly MIA (get all the juicy details in his blog- warning! some of it is a bit gory), I've picked up a baking bug. So far, I've made blackberry cobbler, zucchini bread from Joy of Cooking, oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies from Field Guide to Cookies, and tonight, these babies....make them, they're amazing! I'm sure there will be more goodies to come. Alex's schedule isn't looking much lighter anytime soon...

Honey-Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from recipegirl.com)

¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup old-fashioned oats, semi-blended in a food processor
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup honey
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, oats, soda and salt; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, use electric mixer to beat peanut butter, brown sugar, butter, honey, egg and vanilla until well blended.

3. Stir half of dry mixture into peanut butter mixture. Add second half and stir until all is well-blended. Stir in chocolate.

4. Cover and refrigerate until dough is firm and no longer sticky, about 30 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

6. With hands, roll 1 heaping Tablespoonful of dough for each cookie into 1 ¾-inch-diameter ball. Arrange cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing 2½-inches apart. Bake cookies until puffed, beginning to brown on top and still very soft to touch, about 10-12 minutes. Watch closely because they will burn if baked too long. Cool cookies on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Using metal spatula, transfer cookies to rack and cool completely.

Makes about 30 cookies

Impromptu Disney Trip

Well, here we are once again back at Disney World! This was definitely the biggest last-minute trip I've ever experienced, but it was a blast!! It all started with my mom and me doing tons of research of fun trips we could do while Andrea was home from Asia. I ended up coming back to CA without us deciding anything. After many phone calls and various scenario discussions, Thursday morning my parents decide to go for it. They had enough United mileage to get the 5 of us tickets, but the only availability was out of SF on Friday morning, so we could take the cruise leaving Sunday! So, the 4 of them DROVE out here Thurs. night, met me Fri. morning and we took off for the airport, layover in D.C. & arriving in Orlando that night around 11pm. Went to Disney Saturday (see above pic), then off to the cruise Sunday - Thursday....

As I've said before, the Disney Cruise Line is the BEST! This is us in Triton's our first night on the Wonder. For some summer cruises, they're having Disney Channel "stars" on the ship. We had a few people I'd never heard of from Sonny With a Chance and Camp Rock and Corbin Bleu (from High School Musical). It was so funny to watch all the girls be in awe over him, and to have these random people roaming around with their families. I'm sure if I was about 15 yrs younger, I would've been one of those teens, too :)

Pirate Night! An exciting party with Mickey flying through the air and fireworks!! Oh, how could I forget, the late night buffet with a million desserts and turkey legs!

We stopped in Nassau for a day, then Castaway Cay another day (Andrea and my parents have all those photos), then the final full day was at sea. There were a lot of events going on, one of which was a galley tour. This man is one of the head chefs; they had fresh warm cookies waiting for us, too. Of course, the food was phenomenal and I think I ate enough bread puddings, cakes, Diet Cokes and soft-serve to last me until 2018....
Back on dry land, we spent 2 more days at the parks. In Hollywood Studios, there is a whole new area dedicated to Pixar, I was in love :) It looks just like our backyard, ha! We couldn't get enough of Toy Story on this trip. The cruise has a new musical that was excellent (Sid stole the show), and now the Toy Story Mania ride back at Disney World. The waits were insane, 140 minutes. We finally got fastpasses and checked it out...GO NOW! It is so so fun, and cute, to boot!
The pic above is at one of our family favorites, Beaches and Cream, over at the Beach Club Resort. We were starving for dinner, so the kitchen sink shown here is from our neighbors. It is ridiculously huge with every topping in the shop. If you eat it alone in 1 hour, it's free.

I had to include a photo of these folks, they were everywhere...the Brazilian tour groups...gotta love 'em!
On SF Street in Hollywood Studios. I want to go back, I miss it there terribly. We missed seeing the Fosters, and bring along Alex, Laura, Brian and Bobby :( Gotta start saving for the Vacation Club, right? Or maybe just figure out how to move there in 4 years...heehee.

The Best Entrance Ever

I love this...it gave me goosebumps watching it! Please, someone who invites me to their wedding (outside of the temple of course:), consider beginning this way...please??

Dex

On New Year's Eve, little Dexter entered the world. 10 weeks later, he joined my parents and Nick. This is what he looked like...

Now, he looks like this:

Golden Retrievers grow way too fast- they're amazing dogs. I can't believe how smart and aware he is already! A major change from growing up with a Westie...Shorty would never put up with the things Dex does, or even pay attention for more than a minute. But, why do they have to get so dang big and be so sneaky?