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Travels with George and Marta

Journeys in the Botanical World

Travels with George and Marta
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Holiday Baking – Sugar Cookies

Travels with George and Marta Posted on December 4, 2012 by MartaDecember 4, 2012

Sugar Cookies

Holidays are the time for baking. I love to bake especially cookies. G and I have been spending the extra time I have before starting work trying new and old recipes for cookies. It is a fun project to do together.

The first cookie we made were Sugar Cookies. I did not have a tried and true recipe so I consulted a couple of books and cruised the web for a recipe. I decided to make this recipe for a buttery cut-out Sugar Cookie from Food.com
We decided not to frost them.

They bake up a little soft but firm enough not to break up like butter cookies. They are not that sweet. They might need a bit more flavoring or sugar since they were a little bland. But they were great with coffee and gone in a day or two.

Sugar Cookies
Kittencal at Food.com

Cookies
1 cup butter, softened ( no substitutes)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Frosting
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar ( the sugar must be sifted)
1 tablespoon milk ( adding in more if needed for proper spreading consistency)
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon almond extract ( can use 1/2 teaspoon vanilla in place of the almond)
food coloring ( use your choice of colours)

Directions

For cookies

In a large bowl combine butter with sugar, eggs, vanilla and almond extract; beat using an electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy.

In another bowl combine the flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.

Set oven to 400°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper (do not grease cookie sheets use parchment paper only).

On a very lightly floured surface roll out the dough into about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. Place cookies 2-inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake 4-6 minutes. Remove cookies to wire racks to cool completely before icing.

For the frosting;

In a small bowl mix the confectioners sugar with milk (start with 1-2 tablespoons, you will likely need more milk for the perfect spreading consistency). Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until the icing is smooth and glossy (if the icing is too thick add in a small amount more of corn syrup).

Divide into as many separate bowls as you wish for different colours. Add in food colouring until desired intensity is achieved. Paint the icing over the cookies using a brush, or dip edges of cookies into icing. Allow to set on waxed paper.

Posted in Cooking | Tagged Cooking | 2 Replies

Introducing Neo and Amelie

Travels with George and Marta Posted on December 2, 2012 by MartaDecember 2, 2012

New Kitten members of the family New Kitten members of the family

Here are the new members of our family – two month old kittens Neo and Amelie. We picked them up on Saturday at PAWS. It is such a joy to have two kitties back in the house. They are getting along great.


New Kitten members of the family
Neo

New Kitten members of the family
Amelie

New Kitten members of the family

New Kitten members of the family

New Kitten members of the family

New Kitten members of the family

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged Cats | 2 Replies

End of November

Travels with George and Marta Posted on November 30, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014


Torres del Paine
Torres del Paine

Woohoo! I made it! One whole month of blogging. Thank you for staying with me while I blogged my travels and random thoughts. I hope to continue to blog more frequently – probably not every day – but hopefully once or twice a week.

I will leave you a picture from the farthest end of earth that I have been to – Patagonia Chile. This picture was taken December 3, 2003 – almost 10 years ago. Amazingly, I started my blog just before my trip – 9 years ago!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged NaBloPoMo | 2 Replies

In memory of Cassie

Travels with George and Marta Posted on November 29, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014

Cassie

It has been a year since our kitty Cassie was put down. We got her originally in 1996 with sister Mina. They were born on a farm from dumped cats. She was the ‘beauty queen’ compared to her runty sister. She had a mellow temperament and took all kinds of abuse from her jealous sister. And she took over the house after Mina.

She was my garden kitty. She loved to join me while I worked in the garden, lying in the sun and following me around. She started getting sick at the beginning of 2011. Old age was taking its toll; hyper-thyroid, bad teeth and eventually a tumor in one eye. We made her last year as good as possible but we finally had to put her down shortly after Thanksgiving. We have grieved many months for her.

Cassie – we miss you so much and you will always be in our hearts.

Posted in Memoirs | Tagged NaBloPoMo | 2 Replies

Holiday Spirit

Travels with George and Marta Posted on November 28, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014

December scene

Thanksgiving was so early this year plus going to Hawaii late in October has made it very hard for me to realize that it is almost December. I keep thinking it is still October even after stuffing myself for three days with turkey. I finally got around to designing our Christmas cards and ordering our gift calendars. Both were pretty easy to do this year.

I’m also starting to plan for our annual Christmas gathering with our friends from Vashon. This year’s theme will be Mexican. I’m planning on making turkey breast with mole sauce, maybe enchiladas, salad, winter squash and for dessert Mexican chocolate ice cream. I need to test our a couple of the sauces.

I’m also in a crafty mood. Looking for something fun to make to decorate the house. Not my normal style but I have some time.

Oh yeah, we are looking forward to our annual trip downtown to check out the lights, decorations, window decorations and even the crowds. We’ll probably go down either this Saturday or next.

What are you doing for the December holidays?

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged NaBloPoMo | Leave a reply

Snowy Owl Returns

Travels with George and Marta Posted on November 27, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014


Snowy Owl

We are home and trying to get back into our routine of walking. We stopped for about two weeks while G and I have had colds. We did the Marina walk today. G has been bringing along the binoculars and camera just so we can check out the birds.

I had seen a posting from a local business of a snowy owl that was seen on a roof top in Edmonds. Last year was a snowy owl irruption. Every 4-5 years, young owls travel south for food. They typically eat lemmings and other small rodents. If their food supply dwindles the young owls travel farther than typical to look for food. There were many seen last year even within the city limits. We saw one on a roof top and also traveled to Nisqually delta. I did not expect them to return this year but they have been seen again at the usual spots and also in the city limits. When G and I started our walk – we jokingly said to each other – may be we’ll see the owl.

We were heading back and I suggested walking out on the Edmonds Pier to check out the poster of season birds. We noticed that it was a little more crowded than usual and then I noticed several cameras set up. Hmmm… there must be an interesting bird. We thought at first it was a Kingfisher or maybe a seabird until I spotted the white lump on the jetty rocks. It was the snowy owl! We talked to some of the birders and they said he had been there the previous day also. My luck – I did not have the memory card in my camera so no photos. But I’ll share a few of Nisqually Delta and the snowy we saw last year. We’re hoping he’ll be there again tomorrow.


Barns at Nisqually
Twin barns at Nisqually NWR

Pair of Eagles
Bald Eagles

Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl watching out towards the water

Posted in Local Sights | Tagged Birds, NaBloPoMo | 1 Reply

Christmas Card via Shutterfly

Travels with George and Marta Posted on November 26, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014
Photo Card
View the entire collection of cards.

I’m late getting my Christmas cards ordered – We love their cards and their services. Calendar is up next to do.

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged NaBloPoMo | Leave a reply

Ziplining in Kauai

Travels with George and Marta Posted on November 25, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014


Zip Line Kauai

I’m still going through a lot of my older pictures. I came across this one from a trip to Kauai that I did in 2008. I met up with a good friend from high school. She was finishing up a convention and planned on staying a couple more days. I was unemployed so I flew over. I had not been to Hawaii for over 20 years.

It was great fun – but one of the best things we did was go zip lining. We decided to do the zip line at Princeville Ranch – mainly because they were the highest and you could do 7 zips and end with a swim and picnic. It was a blast.

Just so you know it is me in the picture above – here is close up.


Zipline in Kauai

Posted in Hawaii | Leave a reply

Sunny Bay Area

Travels with George and Marta Posted on November 24, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014


SF

Another sunny day in the Bay Area. I love this warm late fall. Temperatures almost up to 70’s.

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged NaBloPoMo | Leave a reply

Columbia River

Travels with George and Marta Posted on November 23, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014


Columbia River

Today’s post is from a trip through the Columbia Gorge. We did a quick but long one day road trip two years ago traveling from Seattle to Vancouver – then along the Washington side of the Gorge to Maryhill and returning by driving through the fertile Yakima Valley and Snoqualmie Pass. The trip took about 12 hours but what beautiful scenery.

Posted in Pacific Northwest | Tagged Oregon | Leave a reply

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