While my sister, Dovima, and I pound Trader Joe’s Brandy Beans by the fistful, her daughter, my niece and heir to my string collection, Sweet Pea, is busy baking all the Christmas cookies.
Excellent!
Gotta say Dovima has raised that kid right! Sweet Pea is baking snowballs, press cookies and Oreo Truffles.
Snowballs, also called Mexican Wedding cookies or Sandies (a name preferred by our late grandmother, Vesuvius) are my favorite. Sweet Pea is baking those first.
Cooling sheet of naked snowballs.
Bowl of powdered sugar snowball dressing.
Dressing the balls.
Unwelcome intruder.
Snowballs!
After baking the snowballs Sweet Pea moves onto another holiday hit, press cookies in the shape of Christmas trees.
Pressing away!
Pre-launch press cookies.
With the leftover dough Sweet Pea makes three freak-shaped cookies – one each for her mother, father and aunt, which we eat while watching The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at the multiplex.
Freak cookies. Yum!
Company cookies.
A few words about the film; we liked it very much, but everyone spoke English with a Swedish-y accent. This reminded me of films made back in the day when the bad guys whether they be German spies or Japanese military men always spoke English to each other with accents, probably because Hollywood has issues with subtitles. Our real problem with the accents is that our three sets of middle age ears each missed portions of the dialogue. Dovima is still banging her head against the kitchen counter since she entirely missed the twist at the end The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo resolving the mystery with Christopher Plummer’s granddaughter. My sister’s new mantra is:
Dovima: Idiot!
My brother-in-law, Herb (with a silent h), and I have tried to assure her that she’s not an idiot, just pretty deaf. Herb even went so far as to claim:
Herb: Honey, there were times during the movie when I wanted to stand in front of the screen with a hearing horn!
His attempt at delivering a comforting lament fell on deaf ears.
Overall, this film is a very entertaining thriller and probably even better if heard in its entirety.
Back to cookies, after baking the press cookies, Sweet Pea made some Pillsbury slice and bake for a friend of hers.
Not bad.
Product placement shot like Coca Cola and Marlboro cigarettes in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Dovima and I, the official tasters, tried a few of those. Surprisingly, they were pretty good.
Dovima: What do you think’s the center stuff that makes them taste so good?
Me: Probably a lot of hydrogenated fat.
Then, Sweet Pea made her own favorites, Oreo Truffles. Just smash a package of Oreos to smithereens, mix in a brick of cream cheese and refrigerate for two hours or freeze for 45 minutes.
Pulverizing Oreos.
Mixing cream cheese with Oreos.
Truffles ready for chilling.
Thurber keeping his distance.
Outside cat taunting Thurber, "Hey Big Dumb Wuss!"
Highly not recommended for the lactose intolerant set.
Lame Adventures 