~ sweet wedding cookies ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday is often a sweet baking day for us.  

So whether it is cookies, muffins or biscotti,

we're sure to be found in the kitchen on Thursday afternoons,

cooking up something sweet.

This Thursday we decided on wedding cookies.

My great Aunt Edie used to make wedding cookies around the holidays.

So while the kids were helping out, 

I told them little tidbits of stories about her.

While we cracked and finely chopped pecans from my grandparents farm in Virginia,

I told them about the ivy and lanterns lining the walkway up to Aunt Edie's house.

We toasted the pecan to bring out the flavor.

About five minutes on 350 degrees F was perfect.

We put some all purpose, unbleached flour in a large bowl

and grated some cinnamon into it.

I need a rasp, but we made due with what we had.

This took a long time, long enough for me to tell them 

about the beautiful hemlock that grew in Aunt Edie's backyard.

I used to fill flower pots full of their tiny cones.

Lela asked "Did you Aunt Edie like it when you did that?"

"More than anything."

We added the powdered sugar and butter and toasted pecans to the flour.

The children scrounged for powdered sugar!

While the girls took turns stirring the batter,

I told them about the beautiful chandelier that hung in her dining room.

She would lift me to touch the many dangling crystals.

The dough is sticky yet firm,

so I rolled them into small balls

and placed on the greased cookie sheet.

In they went into the oven.

The girls love watching!

This is even more fun in the chilly winter,

and here I told them about the long red and green snakes

that lay at the base of the doors to keep drafts out.

We decided that they would be fun to make!

They inevitably start rolling on the kitchen floor.

At any given point in our day,

you can find this scene or a similar one.

Out came the cookies!  

One of the twenty-four crumbled, 

so it had to be consumed.  

The girls took all the responsibility for 

rolling the cookies in cinnamon powdered sugar.

I told them about the hourglass egg timer that sat in Aunt Edie's kitchen.

Don't forget to taste!

And enjoy!

I adapted Edie's recipe a bit, 

substituting butter for margarine, and adding cinnamon.

I also cut it in half to make 24 little cakes,

but this recipe makes 48 yummy cakes.

*************************************

Great Aunt Edie's Wedding Cookies (adapted)

2 sticks butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar + 1 cup for rolling

1-2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans, lightly toasted

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

In a large bowl, mix cinnamon and flour together.

Add butter, vanilla, pecans and 1/2 cup powdered sugar to the flour, and mix together well. 

The batter will be stiff.  

Roll into approximately 48 1-inch balls.

You can refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes if it is difficult to work with.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 400F for 10-12 minutes.

Cool a few minutes, then roll in remaining powdered sugar while hot.

Cool on a wire rack, then roll again in powdered sugar.

According to Edie, you should store these in a tin box in waxed paper.

Keep cool!

*******************************

My husband and I find they are delicious with coffee in the morning.

My daughters were delighted with their light texture and dainty size.

Hope you will enjoy making some of these special treats with your loved ones.  

We are continuing the family tradition of making these for the holidays.

~carrie~

*Our work space is perfect for cooking with children, but poor for photographs!*

~ off camping and a look back ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We're off to the mountains for a few days

to enjoy some time sitting by the fire, fishing and exploring nature.

I thought I'd share some pictures of some of our first camping experiences

when we were only a family of three, with two on the way!

Here's 16-month old Lela and me in June 2006.

We were camping at a favorite spot on the Conway River, VA.

In case you're curious, that's a twin belly at 3 1/2 months.  

Check out that tiny tent.

Notice it is sitting *on top* an air mattress.

Rapidan River, Virginia.

Lela is now 18 months and that's a 4 1/2 month twin belly.

Lela and Daddy fishing.

Our last camping trip to the Conway 

before Laurel and Livvy were born. 

I'm getting ready to release this tiny native brook trout

at 6 1/2 months pregnant.

Fast forward to May 2009 before we were brave enough to take

a four year old and two two-year olds camping.

We upgraded to a much, much bigger tent.

It's REI's Kingdom 6, an excellent investment. 

REI is a great organization, we are co-op members.

For our May camping trip, please see this post.  

And our June (bear) camping trip, please visit here.  

I'll be cooking on our camp stove in the mornings, and over the fire in the evenings.

Lunch will be sandwiches and snacks are fruit, veggies and cheese.

Thank you to my friend Cookie for loaning me her lovely cast-iron Dutch oven.

All my cooking will be cast-iron, thank you to everyone for converting me!

And thank you to my friend Nikki for these great links.  


eartheasy Campfire Cooking - building a cooking campfire, solar ovens and recipes
SCOUTORAMA  - camping and Dutch oven recipes
Joy of Camping  - camping recipes

So we're off to the wilderness and we are so excited.

I'll be back here at the end of the week, sharing stories and pictures.

Hopefully no bears, though we are counting on the pup to keep us on notice.

Enjoying nature,

~carrie~

~ color me beautiful ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My mom had the most amazing vanity a kid could want.

Boxes of earrings, loads of lipsticks, broaches, scarves,

and a gigantic "Color Me Beautiful" book.  

I loved to look at it and wonder what "season" I was.

Aunt Bec recently sent the girls a lovely package from Nova Natural

containing a book, Flicka, Ricka, Dicka and the Little Dog 

and the fairy set of Lyra's face pencils.  

Lela, using a mirror, painted this butterfly 

all by herself!  

Thanks Aunt Bec for the wonderful gifts!

Speaking of Aunt Bec, please hop over to her blog, RTJ Photography.  

I also have a button on my sidebar.  

And check out her photograph Yellowstone Colors in this contest.  

She'd love your vote if you are inclined.

~carrie~

~ mount mitchell ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last Saturday night, several of the Waldorf mommas

stayed up ridiculously late talking and laughing,

and suffice it to say, I was quite tired on Sunday morning.

So when I finally stumbled downstairs, 

bleary-eyed from driving home in the wee-hours of the morning

and functioning (barely) on 4 hours of sleep,

the last thing I wanted to do was go for a hiking trip.

But the "new" me is trying to be more agreeable, 

and when the loving husband suggested Mt Mitchell

I pulled it together, slugged back a few cups of coffee,

and packed food and clothes for the road.

Mount Mitchell State Park in North Carolina

is an easy drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway from us.

Driving through those tunnels were simultaneously 

a physical act and a metaphorical one.

We stopped at a pull-off when poor Laurel

had a little bit of carsickness from the winding roads.

But soon we were ready to drive on to the park.

"Let's go!" says Lela.

We were giddy driving up the long park road,

windows down at Lela's wise suggestion.

Of course, like everywhere we go, 

eating is the first thing on the agenda for the girls.

So we had a quick snack and then they found their own dessert.

We stood picking this mountain raspberries for almost an hour!

They were delicious, but for such wild children, the thrill is in the hunt.

"Alright now" says the pup

"I'm ready to go!"

The walk up to the summit less than a quarter of a mile

and is fairly busy on such a glorious day.  

I loved this picture of Liv, turning around and noticing the view.

And this one of Lela.  

She turned around, saw the beautiful mountains full on,

and gasped, putting her hand to her chest.

A moment later I captured her hugging herself 

and smiling so much she started laughing.

 

The sisters that everyone thinks are twins, Liv and Lela.

Then it was on to the very tippy-top of Mount Mitchell!

Even with the haze that is sadly too common here,

the view of the Blue Ridge Mountains was stunning.

(Mount Mitchell is in a sub-range called the Black Mountains.)

I loved this one!

On our way back down,

the real twins decide to play in a patch of enormous clover.

By this point, the poor dog was completely overwhelmed 

with people trying to pet her,

so we quickly sneaked down the nature trail.

There, we were greeted by lush ferns and moss and towering conifers.

A huge outcropping of rock created a little gnome home

for the girls and their Daddy.  

Imagine my surprise to find these pictures 

on my camera when we got home!  

The girls said that it was clearly their great-grandfathers,

Papa and GP,

casting rainbows around them.

I completely agree.

There was a magical feeling about those rocks,

and now I know why.

We wandered further into the forest,

and Laurel decided that she wanted to be a kitty.

She crawled a good bit of the one-mile trail.

Lela and Liv ventured ahead.

These high coniferous forests are under attack from many fronts.

The red spruce-frasier fir forests, home to rare plants and animals

suffers from devastating acid rain.

Careless logging and fires caused their own problems.

Hemlock wooly adelgid and balsam wooly adelgid 

are invasive exotic species from Asia

that attack hemlocks and firs, respectively.

The damage to hemlocks in other parts of the Appalacians is literally gut-wrenching.  

It is hoped that the high elevation of Mount Mitchell

will offer these noble fraiser firs some protection.

.

But one thing is certain:

this is a magical place and there are more than rangers and scientists 

watching after these beautiful forests.

Around each bend and under each tree,

a faery or gnome home awaits.

The girls left offerings of leaves, bark and pebbles.

Lela found a little rock and nestled it down the moss for the mountain faeries.

After leaving the enchanted forest,

we took in the vistas for a bit longer.

I'm grateful for following my husband and my heart

that glorious day, a day spent as a family.

It was most definitely a memory I will cherish.

What mountains are you loving?

~carrie~