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I haven’t blogged in ages, and all I want to talk about is how I’m going to go to great lengths to make what are supposedly the quintessential chocolate chip cookies.

Apparently it takes $14/lb chocolate disks. These are for my friend’s baby shower. I love my friend and I’ve all ready gone to great lengths to make her baby shower special for her. I feel a bit like I dropped the ball with the wedding stuff, so I’m trying to make up for it. Plus she helped throw MY baby shower way back when.

So I’ve done a hand-made invite, I’m going to make some yummy things for the tea-themed party (like these cookies), and I’ve got one other special thing up my sleeve, which will remain a secret in case she reads this post. It’s gonna be great. I’m channeling my inner-Martha Stewart.

Oh, so these cookies, also require “coarse salt” (that’s kosher, for those that don’t know), cake flour AND bread flower, and sea salt. I can’t wait!

Think my cookies will look like the one below???

So we’re back. Back since Friday. *sigh*

Now, I wait and plan for our big trip next January. Disney World again, but only 3 or 4 days, then a 3 or 4 day Disney Cruise. Big trip. Gonna be awesome.

Pictures are on the Photos page, but here’s a smattering:

So I know it’s been ages since I’ve posted. About all I’ve managed to do is put up a few pictures on the Photos page. I just looked, and I last posted on Dec. 14th. Yikes. That Guitar Hero video was Isaac’s doing. Ella actually was doing the air guitar of her own accord, but it was Isaac that posted the video to this blog. I’ve got 3 slide shows to add to the Photos page. I’ll take care of that after this post.

So we’ve had the Snow Storm since I last posted. Ridiculous weather. One of the things I love about this area (aside from it being the place I’ve lived nearly my whole life) is there are no weather extremes. If I wanted a winter wonderland I’d move to the Midwest, and I don’t think the Midwest has much to offer because our area is filled to the brim with Midwest imports. Hard to see the locals through all the imports in fact. But I digress!

Can you tell I don’t like snow?! Husband and daughter though loved it.

Then we had Christmas. What will be the most memorable was the fact we had some last-minute guests. Isaac’s 3 youngest siblings from NY were on their way to see Dad Henry and they got stuck here in Seattle for 4 nights (sans luggage, poor kids). So they stayed with us. I think they were fairly miserable. I, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed their company.

Despite the weather we 3 Louies did make to the “Lessons and Carols” concert at Benaroya Hall, featuring the Pacific Northwest Boys Choir. It was truly lovely. Ella behaved herself pretty well considering the concert started at 7:30pm.

The kids were with us Christmas Eve and Christmas morning so we got to share that time with them. We surprised them (or they acted really well at being surprised) with presents and stockings. I do believe that today they are traveling back to NY. Safe travels kids!

We didn’t do much for New Years’ Eve. Stayed home. I don’t like the idea of forcing Ella to be up that late and who’s going to babysit on New Years’ Eve? New Years Day was different. I decided to go see “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (awesome!) and initially Isaac and Ella were going to go to the zoo but Ella was have major ‘tude problems so Isaac took that possibility away. They decided instead to go view the polar bear swimmers. That was the initial plan. To view them. They in the end decided to be polar bears themselves. They are crazy. Isaac says they’ll do it again next year. I will watch, and take pictures. You will never catch me doing anything that crazy. I will say that Isaac provides Ella with some really great experiences. She’s a very lucky little girl.

I’m not sure I will post again before we head off to Disneyland. Just 2 more days here at home before we jet. We’ll just be gone 4 days, but they’ll be 4 very fun days! Will post pictures of course!

I haven’t done a ton of interesting cooking lately. I got the “Martha Stewart’s Cooking School” book and today got around to actually doing something different. Roasted Pork Loin has pancetta wrapped around it and Rosemary. It came out really well. Nice and tender, perfectly cooked. I’ve had issues in the past with roasts. I think the difference this time was that I roasted the pork in my cast iron skillet, rather than a roasting pan. I’ve never done that before. The cast-iron skillet is fairly new, not sure if I’ve mentioned it before or not.

I’m drinking hard cider. My tolerance for alcohol is very low and I’m starting to feel a bit light-headed. I’ve never had hard cider. I guess tonight’s had a few firsts. Yea me!

Mmmm! Look at that bacon-wrapped pork! I could eat more!