Sorry for the Long Absence

Hi everyone!

I'm sorry for the long absence. I have just been busy with all kinds of crafts and and sewing trying to finish gifts for weddings. This year we have had a number of engagements and weddings in my family and we are still going. The next two months will be a marathon of travel to attend weddings. I prefer to make my gifts. I just think they are more personal and I put a lot of time, effort and love into them.

I have been cooking, but I haven't been trying a lot new recipes. I have a few here that I have made and really enjoyed and I will share them in the posts to follow. Now that it is summer, I don't really cook. The Northern California heat is just too much for me to have any ambition to cook-we have had several days in the 100's and the rest in the 90's. For this Pacific Northwest Columbia River Gorge girl that is just TOO HOT! I will cook if I'm planning a party or we have guests but if not, is easy frozen dinners, salads, fruit, etc.

I've come up with one of my own recipes. I had this cookie by Lofthouse called Strawberry Shortcake Cookies and I loved them. The company will not release it's recipe, so I searched the internet for one but just couldn't find one that seemed right. I decided to go into the kitchen and start playing around. My first try was a success. i have tweeked it a bit since then, and I'm imcredibly happy about it. In fact, I have plans to create other cookies with variations of my recipe for a Orange Cream, Banana Cream, Upside Down Pineapple, Coconut, etc. I haven yet to turn these ones into reality but I will when the weather cools down. i want to share my recipe, and I have with a few select ones, but I'm not ready to give it to the world just yet. I'm sorry, you will have to wait a bit longer. My neighbor says they are her favorite and everyone else that has had them has really enjoyed them. I'm even considering entering a contest I saw in a magazine with it. We'll see. I have so much on my plate and calendar right now that I don't know that I really have the time.

Without further ado, I'll get to posting my two most recent recipes that I've tried and enjoyed. I'll try to keep up on my posts.

Happy Summer!!