Facebook is a wonder and a curse. In the last few months, I've been facing various forms of peer pressure thanks to my participation in the social media forum.
And I? ...I chose the path with cookies.
Let me explain.
The Path To Ridiculous
A handful of local ladies in my social media circle have been signing up for and swearing by classes at a local Jazzercise studio. Regular status updates and wall posts seem to indicate they are enjoying themselves (or trying to earn free classes?) So much so, I was almost persuaded to join them. Especially when the director tagged me in a Facebook promo for a free class(what is THAT supposed to mean ?!)
;)
But then I recalled how one needs rhythm and low chagrin to eek enjoyment out of such gatherings. They held Jazzercise classes for P.E. when I was in Grade 6... The only thing I remember is feeling ridiculous. And though a lot of things have thankfully changed for me since sixth grade, this is not one of them. So, not only did I bypass the 'group aerobics' path, I did so with a feeling of relief...like having an excuse to sit out for gym class...only in this case, scrawled across the paper in my own handwriting are the words "I'm an adult, I get to choose now"
The Path To Elastic Pants
Some of my absolutely favorite people to hang out with online can't be described simply... they're a rather eclectic flock, but we are all birds of one feather or nother. You may not know who they are, but they do. One of these birds is always posting food pictures-you know...the kind of pictures of homemade stuff that guarantee the food you just ordered through a speaker box will not taste like satisfaction. One of his specialties is shortbread.
While his pictures always look tasty, I didn't think I'd be trying my hand at shortbread as soon as I did because, though I love cookies, the art of making them is one I'm still learning. I believe my mediocre results have a lot to do with my lack of patience and/or tendency to measure approximately vs precisely...I'm too often of the "close enough"persuasion.
So...anyway, I figured someday I would try a batch, but no time soon.
(Yes, this path is longer, more winding... but it led to cookies, so...just enjoy the scenery, we will get there...eventually.)
While taking LoLo to transform her Christmas gift money into high tween fashion, we grabbed fuel for the next store from a display of cookies conveniently located near the cash register we were checking out at .. tasty tiny shortbread Scotty dog cookies.. a mouthful to say, but not a mouthful to eat...especially when you have a tot in tow. RyeBird, who was along for the "just girls"outing, and only eats sugary and/ or animal shaped things, got the Lion(ess) share of those cookies.The next day, wanting more cookies but
not more stores, I recalled the facebook pictures of shortbread and my own rarely used dog shaped cookie cutter. I summoned a
recipe with the help of my genie, Google...Only 3 ingredients?! Why haven't I tried these sooner?Then, calling
on my special ability to complicate just about anything, even a 3 ingredient cookie recipe, I decided to tweak the recipe slightly by browning half of the butter.
(Always brown the butter when you can.)
This meant extra time waiting for the cooked butter to resolidify in the fridge and further wait time for the cold butter to soften... meanwhile life happened and happened and just kept happening... the butter was ready to get creamed long before I was free to return to the recipe...so to make an already long story not quite as long, I'll just get to the cookies now (before life happens again).
It was well after 1 AM the next morning when I pulled my first batch of shortbread from the oven...and well worth the time,too. A bonus was that half the batch of dough made plenty so we were able to save the other half of dough for Future Cookies (not to be confused with Fortune Cookies... but those are fun to make too...you should totally try it)
The best part of my chosen path, I'm not going to lie...is not having to go get stretchy pants- though I know I seem rather enthused about that...the best part is "Thanks mom, for making cookies" and also, "Could you please stop making cookies, so I'll stop eating cookies?"
Truly great because that means they are edible (enough)...exactly as a cookie should be.
And yes, I did just use a long and rambling entry to admit and justify that I chose cookies over exercise.
I'll probably do it again tomorrow...what can I say?
Life is delicious, grab a spoon!
