Cookies and Other Stuff

It's days like yesterday and today that I'm really glad I don't have to drive to work. I was sitting safe at home while people were skidding all over the roads. Of course, it would help if people were willing to adjust their driving to the conditions. On the news last night, while a reporter was trying to shoot a story about what the highway department was doing, he ended up getting several accidents on tape because they couldn't aim the camera at the road for more than a few minutes without someone flying by, then hitting a slick spot and spinning out. But I was home and warm, and I didn't have to worry about driving to work this morning on possibly icy roads.

Now, a random selection of items:

First, here's what I've been up to in the past week or so, the plate of cookies I took to a meeting this weekend:



The Christmas trees are "my cookies," the recipe I make every year that most people say they look forward to. I'm not sure I'd be allowed in the door by my parents if I didn't bring some of those. They're Spritz cookies, sort of a butter cookie with a hint of almond flavoring, made with a cookie press. I don't do the roll-and-cut-out cookies very well, so this is my way of doing "fancy." I also had some Swedish teacakes (aka Russian wedding cookies and Mexican wedding cakes, but my last name is Swendson, so we'll go with Swedish teacakes) and a new experiment for this year, meringue mushrooms. Here's a close-up of the mushrooms:



Once I got the hang of it, they were pretty easy, if a wee bit tedious, but they look really cute and are also tasty (and low-calorie). I kind of feel like I need a garden gnome figurine to go in the middle of a plate of these. They have been requested for the New Year's Eve party, but I'll have to see what the weather's like. They don't do well on humid days.

Back to the topic of holiday movies, just after I made that last post about movies, Doctor Who (and many other things) writer Paul Cornell polled some of his writer friends (including yours truly) about favorite Christmas movies, and you can see the results here. I went with a more specifically Christmas movie for the purposes of this. In other posts, he's also polled Doctor Who writers about favorite Christmas songs and comic writers about favorite Christmas recipes.

I've discovered that Turner Classic Movies has The Shop Around the Corner and The Bishop's Wife on OnDemand, so that may be part of my movie marathon this weekend. Of course, it looks like it's going to warm up and get nice for the weekend, so I'll feel guilty about burying myself on the sofa, but Sunday's supposed to be cold again. But first I have to get some work done, and it seems like My Anchorman is doing the mid-day news this week, so I have to go have a farewell fling.