Now who?

John Edwards has withdrawn from the presidential race. He's been my first choice, though he remained in third place. Since I'm very torn between Clinton and Obama, my plan was to vote for Edwards in the primary. I guess I hadn't counted on him dropping out before I could. Now I will have to choose. Shoot.

-Liz :)

What a good-looking bunch!

The Wood clan gathered for a family photo while sis-in-law Jill was in town. We tried a professional but didn't get any pictures worth looking at. So after we got home, we played around with the digital camera and got a pretty good one in our living room! We should have saved the money and done this from the beginning.... lesson learned :)

-Liz

Hearty soup for a very cold night

I made Hearty Corn Chowder tonight from BHG.com (photo stolen from Web site). I pretty much followed the recipe, though my measurements are never exact. I used frozen corn and didn't peel the potatoes (a major waste of time, in my opinion). It was super tasty and, indeed, hearty! I paired it with a baguette and a simple fruit salad.

-Liz

Recycle, reduce, reuse!

Pastor Gregg shared a great message Sunday about the Bible's perspective on environmentalism and what the response should be from "the church."

He posted the message on his blog. Click HERE to read it.

-Liz

Fun in the snow

Sean, Brad and I set out yesterday for some cross-country fun in the snow. We started out on the Yellow Jacket trail at the White River Canyon sno-park.

We knew it was a challenging trail, but it ended up being a bit above our ability (or at least my ability). And Sean had rental skis that weren't designed for the back-country terrain we were trying to tackle. So after some fruitless attempts, we ended up changing our plan and heading down (or up, I guess) the canyon. It's a gradual incline that you don't notice so much until you start heading back. I got into a groove (literally and figuratively!) and ended up coasting a long way in the soft, new snow. At one point, I overtook Brad, barely missing him and some trees as I sailed past. Low clouds blocked any potential view, but it did snow most of the time, and that's always fun.

Oh, and there was a local band shooting a music video when we got back to the parking lot. We overheard that it was "Blue Skies for Black Hearts." We're curious to see the finished product. It reminded us of our Whistler ski trip last year during which Janet Jackson was filming a movie right outside our condo! Fun stuff.

Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera again rejected the cold weather and wouldn't let me take a picture of the adventure :( I need to get that figured out ASAP.

Muffin top

No, I'm not talking about tummies pooching over jeans - that's a different topic for a different day. I just realized that the "cakie" cranberry cookies I made Tuesday are like little muffin tops. When you think of them that way, they are WAY yummy :)

-Liz

Stealing

I am totally stealing this idea from my friend, ChaCha. I just found her blog, which shares her kitchen successes on the World Wide Web. Since I'm home a lot more than I used to be, I've been indulging my passion for baking and cooking. I like to try new recipes, so now I will share my successes and failings with you!

#1 - I'm going to ChaCha's house for dinner tomorrow and was asked to bring "something dessert-y." Knowing that Mr. ChaCha is a cookie monster, I promised a treat "in the cookie family." I had a container of whole cranberries burning a whole in my fridge, so I went out in search of a recipe.

I came up with Cranberry Drop Cookies on Cooks.com. I mostly followed it, but I melted the butter and didn't sift the dry ingredients separately (I never do). Oh, and I didn't use nuts (because I didn't have any). I added a little dried cranberry on the top of each just to be festive.They turned out well. I baked them to the minimum 10 minutes (always under cook - that's my secret). They taste great, though I wouldn't call them fabulous. In other words, I was able to eat just one without gobbling up the whole batch in one sitting like I often do. They are more cakey than I was expecting, but still yummy.

#2 - Brad had asked for meatloaf on this week's menu. I don't have a recipe, so I again went hunting. I found a simple one that looked traditional (Mom's Basic Meatloaf) on About.com. While the photo is a little less than appetizing, Brad assures me that it was really good - a keeper! (It was a vegetarian grilled cheese sandwich for me tonight) The loaf didn't stay together, but I think that's because it finished before Brad got home and I covered it with a lid. I think it just sweated a lot.

Both recipes are going in my box :)

-Liz