I had too many encounters with scary mall Easter Bunnies as a child and as a result, I do not love Easter. But my 7-year old nephew loves Easter. He loves the Easter Bunny, he loves dying eggs, he loves Easter candy– he enjoys all the secular Easter traditions. Now that I have a child, I’m going to give the Easter Bunny another chance. Read more…
When I was pregnant people kept asking me if belly button had popped. I kept repeating that it was not a turkey timer. Eventually, we started calling the baby “turkey.” It stuck. He is almost 6 months old and we still call him Turkey. Fast forward to Thanksgiving and the nickname has become hilarious. On an up note, he has received lots of turkey-themed gifts this Fall and I was gifted a neat turkey cookie cutter. Read more…
Superbowl Sunday is my day in our house. It is the day when Nate goes off to watch football and I have the house to myself. I cheerily bake Valentine cookies and snuggle in with Masterpiece. It is one of my favorite days of the year. Read more…
This year, Nate is thankful for pumpkin spice toffee sugar cookies, adapted from this recipe. He has been eating the dough out of the freezer as fast as I can make it. I did manage to get a few cookies out of the batch, but I’m told the uncooked dough is even tastier than the cookies. Read more…
Maybe it’s just me, but this election year has been scarier and more haunting than the most bone-chilling Halloween ghouls. It has been so dark and creepy that I’m opting for cute Halloween cookies this year. I think I found the right mix of fun and adorable (and easy!) for this tutorial. Read more…
My sister recently asked me to bake cookies for an airshow fundraiser event. I agreed, not only because I love my sister (I do!) but also because it was a good excuse to make fun airplane cookies. Read more…
When I was home in December, I discovered a drawer with old table linens in it. [“Table linens” is a generous way to describe some of the treasures I found, including plastic placemats from the early 1980s.] Among disintegrating laminated alphabet placemats, I found a true treasure: the Hungarian folk art table runner I brought back from Szeged at the end of my study abroad program. Read more…
Here’s a secret that every winter cookier should know: piping pine/ coniferous needles is crazy easy. The end result looks like it requires way more skill and effort than it actually does. It’s like getting a really good deal– this design is the 40% off coupon code of cookies. Read more…
I love men’s ties. I secretly wish the 1980s women’s necktie trend would come back in fashion. I openly wish my husband were a necktie kind of guy. But alas, microbiologists dress like college freshmen. Read more…
A few days before Halloween, Nate declared the 2015 baking season officially open. At my house, “baking season” means that cookie-ing goes from a monthly thing to a daily thing. It consumes my kitchen, my dining room, and most of my spare time. To celebrate baking season (and Thanksgiving!) I made pie cookies: COOKIES THAT LOOK LIKE PIE. Read more…
Today is my birthday. I’m in my thirties; I don’t need to reveal how deep into my fourth decade I am, but deep enough that every birthday hurts just a little more (I mean literally; there are aches.) What do aging aching cookiers do for their birthdays? Cue up all the best NPR podcasts and cookie all day. Read more…
A few weeks ago, a colleague asked me to make summer fruit cookies for her Labor Day party. My first thought was how is it possible that summer is ALREADY over? Summer in Washington, DC is not for everyone, but I love summer and it always goes by too quickly. Read more…
I am terrible at identifying cookie cutter shapes. For years, I thought one of my cookie cutters was a tomato shape. Nate flipped it upside down and informed me it was a balloon. Read more…
I live in beautiful Washington, DC. Most of the time, my city is known for its partisan gridlock, political corruption, House of Cards-style power struggles, and complete inability to solve both real and manufactured crises. Read more…
I had planned to make a Valentine set based on the art of Roy Lichtenstein. But last week, a colleague inspired me to do a bit of blog digging in the archives. It was an interesting trip. So, instead of pop art, I decided to make a whole set based on refreshing prior cookie designs. Read more…
Snickerdoodledoo 