loo-KAY-see

For a while I'd been looking for an excuse to break out my cowgirl boots. (Right, like that excuse I "needed" to eat that third cupcake last night. Bleh ... that was stupid.)

Anyway, I'll be heading back to Texas in four days to see family and I'm really looking forward to it.

I spent a lunch a few days ago talking to a fellow Texas A&M grad I recently met at my apartment complex of all places (WHOOP!) about how different Tennessee is from Texas. They're really not too far apart on normal everyday life. There's just something about Texas that makes people from there feel like they've got something in common when out of the great Lone Star state.

We're arrogant cusses. What can I say? Our state rocks and yours sucks balls. Facts are facts.

Oh, and people around here don't have a goddamned clue about TexMex. Dry rub and fried foods, they've got down. A decent enchilada ... nope.

But back to the point, I'm wearing my freakin awesome Lucchese boots today so don't mess.

It's stupid to say shoes put me in a good mood. It wasn't slipping them on and not flinching even a bit when Crystal Method started playing on my computer. It was just the thought of getting to go back home. Texas will always be home and I will always want to spend time there even if I never take up residence there again.

Gawd dayum.

Adding chocolate

There's a family cookie recipe my mother would make every Christmas called "thumbprint cookies". These little cookies were a slice of heaven the way the simple sugar dough would combine with the tartness of red plum jam and just melt in your mouth. They're killer cookies.

When I was little, my mother modified them to a peanut-buttery dough and strawberry jam. They were the cookie of choice for any little kid -- especially one like me who never had her fill of peanut butter and jelly.


I've now modified them again. This time, I took the simple dough of butter, sugar, flour and vanilla extract and added some cocoa and chopped up chocolate chips. The dough was a little less stiff than normal, but I had to play with the cocoa amounts until I got the right chocolate flavor. The raspberry jam provided a much smoother flavor than red plum or strawberry.

In all, I'd say these cookies were a success. Now I need to get them out of my sight so I stop eating them all the time.