When Life Gives You Quick Cooking Oats Make No-Bake Cookies

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. –John Wooden

The other day I mentioned that, must to my distaste, I'd mistakenly bought a box of quick cooking oats and didn't know what I was going to do with it because I certainly wasn't going to eat the oatmeal for breakfast. I got lots and lots of replies suggesting I make cookies. I also got several recipes. I haven't had a chance to make any of these yet, but plan to {because YUM!} and wanted to share the recipes with you and to thank you all for your comments!

This first recipe is from a very wonderful friend, Jenna.

Oatmeal Clusters
¼ cup butter
2 cups sugar
½ cup milk
1 pinch of salt
1-2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup peanut butter
3 to 3½ cups quick cooking oats

• In a 4-quart pot, melt butter then add sugar, milk, salt and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute exactly. Remove from heat.
• Add vanilla and peanut butter and blend well. Then add oats.
• Drop by spoonfuls on wax paper or cookie sheet to cool.

Notes:
• Cocoa can be omitted to make Peanut Butter Oatmeal Clusters
• For dairy free, use Butter Substitute instead of butter and substitute almond milk for the milk.

Jenna also sent this next recipe, which is a favorite in her husband's family. Freda sent me a link to her Mrs. McKenzie's Chocolate No-Bake Cookies, which her family has been using for the last 50 years. The ingredients are identical in both recipes, although the quantities and directions vary slightly. I'm sharing Jenna's recipe here, but check out Freda's for a slightly chocolatier version.

Oatmeal No-Bakes
½ cup butter
2 cups sugar
½ cup condensed milk
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoons vanilla
3 to 3½ cups quick cooking oats
Chopped walnuts

• In a 4-quart pot, melt butter then add sugar, milk, salt and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute exactly. Remove from heat.
• Stir in vanilla and then add oats.
• Drop by spoonfuls on wax paper or cookie sheet to cool.

Notes:
• Butter Substitute can be used instead of butter for dairy-free cookies.
• For a dairy-free substitute for the condensed milk, simmer 1¼ cups soy, rice or almond milk in a pan until it is reduced by 60% to ½ cup. Be careful not to scald it. {For sweetened condensed milk, stir in ½ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar, and stir in over low heat until it is completely dissolved.} It will keep in the refrigerator for several days.
• Another alternative for evaporated milk is to substitute coconut milk 1:1 in the recipe. This will impart a coconut flavor to the recipe.

This final recipe is from my friend, Sparkle Girl, who is as vivacious in real life as her screen name suggests.

Energy Balls
1 cup oatmeal
½ cup mini chocolate chips
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup ground flaxseed
⅓ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla

• Mix ingredients together in a large bowl. Roll into bite size balls. Refrigerate to set.

Thank you Jenna, Freda and Sparkle for the recipes! And now, if you'll excuse me I suddenly have a craving for something chocolatey.

The Box It Came In Would Probably Be Tastier

One of life's best coping mechanisms is to know the difference between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you've got a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference. –Robert Fulghum

I'm a big fan of hot cereal for breakfast. {Come to think of it, I'm a big fan of cold cereal too.} Cream of Wheat? Yes please. With lumps? Even yesser. I pretty much ate that for breakfast the entire 18 months I had braces. Zoom? Love that stuff. And lately I've been on an oatmeal {for breakfast} kick {see also: Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins}. I love the texture. It's comforting. It's less than 500 calories, even with sugar in it. It tastes good. It carries me through to lunch. I like that in a breakfast food.

{Image Source}

Day before yesterday, I didn't have enough oatmeal left to make my usual heart healthy serving. No problem. I popped into the pantry and pulled a box of it {can it be called a box if it is a cylinder?} off the shelf only to discover that what I bought {old-fashioned oats} was not what I brought home with me {quick cooking oats}. I hate it when that happens. But, no biggie. I mixed some of the quick cooking oats with what I had left of the old-fashioned oats and got on with it. It tasted a little funny, but it wasn't too bad. I thought that maybe it didn't have enough salt in it. Yesterday, it was all quick cooking oats. I added a tiny bit of extra salt. That wasn't the problem. I'm not sure what happens when you make oats quick cooking, but it changes the taste considerably and for the worse. The cardboard box it came in would probably be tastier.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with an entire box/cylinder of quick cooking oats. I had Cream of Wheat today. Specially made with lumps. It was a little bit stale {it might very well be left over from when I had braces, 6 years ago}. But it was still better than those quick cooking oats. Is it grocery shopping day yet?

"C" is for Cookie and "D" is for Dairy-Free

Now what starts with the letter "C?" Cookie starts with "C." Let's think of other things that start with "C?" Ah, who cares about other things.
"C" is for cookie, that's good enough for me.
"C" is for cookie, that's good enough for me.
"C" is for cookie, that's good enough for me.
Oh, cookie, cookie, cookie starts with "C!"
–Cookie Monster, The Cookie Song

I'm not a big fan of baking cookies. It takes a lot of time {a minimum of 2 hours a batch. Perhaps I'm just slow?}, dirties a lot of dishes and they disappear all too quickly from the plate only to reappear on my hips and thighs later. So I mostly buy cookies. Or at least I did until I gave up dairy. I still buy Oreos, because they are dairy-free {which makes me wonder what sort of chemicals they use to concoct the "creme" centers}, and I started buying a really yummy Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie at a health-food shop downtown every once in a while when I'd stop in to pick up vegan sour cream for taco night. And then I decided that a $1.79 for one - 12,000 calorie cookie was kind of ridiculous. I figured out that I could buy a bag of dairy-free chocolate chips and make about 12,000 - one hundred calorie cookies {which comes out to about 8₵ a cookie} instead, so I changed my tune.

I found this recipe at The Live-In Kitchen. It was already in its third iteration, so I think it is OK to share my take on it because I've made a few tweaks.

Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
1 cup butter or butter substitute
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
2½ cups old-fashioned oats
¾ cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips or dairy-free mini chips

• In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.
• In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and coconut. Slowly add to the butter, sugar and egg mixture and beat until combined. Add the oats and chocolate chips and mix to incorporate.
• Drop by rounded tablespoon onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350˚ for approximately 10 minutes; let stand on baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 6 dozen

Notes:
• If you are using real butter, use it at cool room temperature. If you are using butter substitute {I prefer the kind made with olive oil}, use it straight from the fridge.
• 10 minutes in my oven plus 2 minutes on the baking sheet {a preheated Pampered Chef baking stone} produces the perfect cookie — not to crispy and not too doughey. You may have to adjust for your oven and/or baking sheet, especially if you make larger cookies.

--

And everyone needs a good chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe, even the dairy-free folks.

Arlene's Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup shortening
½ cup butter or butter substitute
2 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
5 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 cups flour
⅔ cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
¾ cups milk chocolate chips or dairy-free mini chips

• In a large mixing bowl, cream together shortening, butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.
• In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Slowly add to the butter, sugar and egg mixture and beat until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
• Drop by rounded tablespoon onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350˚ for approximately 10 minutes; let stand on baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 8 dozen

Notes:
• If you are using real butter, use it at cool room temperature. If you are using butter substitute {I prefer the kind made with olive oil}, use it straight from the fridge.
• The type of cocoa powder you use makes a difference. In the first batch, I used regular cocoa powder. I was disappointed with the color and the flavor. The second time I made these, I used Hershey's Special Dark, which is a blend of regular and Dutch-processed cocoas and it made a huge difference. Someday, I may even get my hands on 100% Dutch-processed cocoa.
• Obviously, the flavor will be different if you use milk chocolate chips versus the dairy-free semi-sweet chips. Whichever chip you use, I highly recommend that you use mini chips. They're just so darn cute.
• 10 minutes in my oven plus 2 minutes on the baking sheet {a preheated Pampered Chef baking stone} produces the perfect cookie — not too crispy and not too doughy. You may have to adjust for your oven and/or baking sheet, especially if you make larger cookies.

Easy Zucchini Quiche Supreme

When I pass a flowering zucchini plant in a garden, my heart skips a beat. –Gwyneth Paltrow

It is that time of year again. Zucchini season! And I love zucchini. Did you know that August 8^th is National Zucchini Day, otherwise known as Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch day? I don't usually grow zucchini because I have a very kind neighbor who always brings me some of hers. She doesn't even have to sneak it over because I always appreciate it. Zucchini is awesome.

I know it's been a few days, but if someone snuck you some zucchini and you're still wondering what to do with it, try out this bit of deliciousness.

Easy Zucchini Quiche Supreme

2 medium-large zucchini {about 4 cups} sliced about ½" thick and quartered
4 oz. {about 1 cup} coarsely chopped mushrooms
¼-½ cup finely chopped onion {to taste}
3 large tomatoes {about 1½ cups}, seeded and chopped
½ cup butter or butter substitute
2 eggs, well beaten
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
2 tablespoons dried parsley or ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons fresh minced parsley
¼ teaspoon dried basil or ¾ teaspoon fresh minced basil
¼ teaspoon dried oregano or ¾ teaspoon fresh oregano basil
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 {8 oz.} can crescent rolls
2 teaspoons mustard
2 cups grated Monterey cheese

• In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat; sauté zucchini, mushrooms and onion until tender. Add tomatoes and heat through.
• Heat oven to 375˚. In a large mixing bowl combine eggs, garlic, parsley, basil, oregano, salt and pepper.
• Separate crescent rolls and press into the bottom of a 9" x 13" pan. Spread the crescent rolls with mustard and place the zucchini, mushrooms, onions and tomatoes into the pan. Pour the egg mixture over the zucchini and then top with cheese.
• Bake for 18-20 minutes, making sure the eggs have set. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Notes:
• I made my quiche dairy-free by using butter substitute and vegan mozzarella. I used a lot less than 2 cups {probably about ½ cup} because it just doesn't act or taste like real cheese, but does add a bit of nice flavor. The fresh veggies give enough great flavor that I really didn't miss the cheese at all. As a matter of fact, it was so yummy that Mr. Bug and I ate nearly half the quiche between us.
• If you don't have all of the veggies called for, substitute in what you've got. It would be delicious with yellow squash and/or bell peppers of any color.

For lots of other yummy zucchini recipes, here's a fun recipe book. To print the booklet, print the file out on both sides of the paper {if your printer won't do it automatically, print odd pages first, flip the pages and arrange so that the first page is on top, printed side down, and so forth. Then print the even pages}. Fold down the middle and you've got lots of new recipes to try.

Dairy-Free Basics: Taco Seasoning and Ranch Dressing

Food allergy side effects may include healthier eating habits, improved baking skills and an increased number of meals together at the dinner table. –Tiffany Glass Ferreira at Food Allergy Fun

Going dairy-free was not a lot of fun. Besides all the yummy things like pizza and ice cream that you have to give up, dairy is hidden in a lot of places you'd never expect to find it. Shortly after giving it up I made chicken tacos, which is a favorite at Bug Cottage. At the time, I was kind of at a loss about what to eat and when I planned my menu for that week I figured I'd be safe as long as I didn't put any cheese on mine. As I was putting the tacos together, I decided to check the ingredients and discovered that there is dairy in the seasoning packets you buy from the grocery store. I didn't know what to do. It was getting late and everyone was hungry. So I made the tacos for my family and had a bowl of cereal {with rice milk} for myself.

Later, after talking with a neighbor who has kids with lots of food sensitivities and allergies, she gave me good recipe. If you've been dairy-free for a while, this is probably old news but I thought I'd share anyway.

Taco Seasoning

½ tablespoon chili powder
⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
⅛ teaspoon onion powder
⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes {or ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper}
⅛ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon Cumin
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon dried onion flakes
¾ teaspoon Pampered Chef Southwest Seasoning {optional}

• Combine all dry ingredients. Add seasoning and ⅓ cup water to one pound of meat. Stir to combine; simmer until the liquid is gone.

--

Ranch dressing was never my favorite, but as soon as I couldn't have it anymore, I suddenly wanted it. My friend, the same one who gave me the taco seasoning recipe, gave me this yummy dairy-free version. I like it a lot better than the lactose-laden original. Probably because it doesn't give me heartburn.

Ranch Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon dried parsley or 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely minced
1 teaspoon onion powder
⅓ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

• Mix mayonnaise and vinegar together until smooth. Add parsley and spices; stir to combine. Keep refrigerated.

Lately, I've been on a fresh-herb kick. Dried herbs are good. And it takes a little more time to chop fresh ones, but it seems like the fresh ones are just a little bit better. Plus, they make nice garnishes.

{Dairy Free} Zuppa Toscana

A dairy intolerant woman went into a local restaurant for a meal and asked the waiter, “I can't eat anything with dairy in it. Can you tell me how this meal is prepared?”

“Oh yes,” said the waiter, smiling helpfully, “It’s cooked in a Wok!” –adaped from WhatAllergy.com

Dairy has bothered me with varying degrees of severity/ annoyance for about as long as I remember. But over the last couple of years it has gotten worse. About seven months ago, I went dairy-free. I immediately felt better, but soon realized that I should probably be a whole-lot-of-other-things-free too. Giving up dairy was hard and I'm stubbornly avoiding trying to weed out any other intolerances, especially when the official test said I don't have Celiac Disease {gluten allergy}, which is pretty serious if left unaddressed. But that's an adventure for another day.

When giving up dairy, I looked for ways to find substitutes at first, but there are just some things that can't be recreated without dairy, so I only substitute when it doesn't alter the food too much. Mostly, I look for recipes that don't have dairy in them in the first place so they don't feel incomplete without it. It's always fun, though, to find a good dairy-free recreation of a dish that usually has dairy in it. Today, I want to share a really yummy dairy-free {and gluten-free if you use the right mayonnaise and sausage} Zuppa Toscana.

Zuppa Toscana

1 lb. mildly spicy sausage
½ cup finely diced onions
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
1½ tablespoons finely diced fresh parsley or 1½ teaspoons dried parsley
⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2½ lbs. red potatoes, diced
¼ cup mayonnaise
4 cups rice milk

• In a large saucepan, brown sausage; drain off excess grease. Add onions to sausage and cook until onions turn clear. Stir in chives, parsley, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Add potatoes. Whisk together mayonnaise and about ¾ cup rice milk. Add remaining rice milk to ingredients in the pan and then stir in mayonnaise and milk mixture.
• Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer together until potatoes are tender.

Serves 5-6

Notes:
• I used sausage labeled as "mild spice," and with the red pepper flakes it wasn't too spicy. I like things mild so you can increase the spiciness of the dish by getting a medium or hot sausage.

Mrs. Potato Head

A skin have I, more eyes than one. I can be very nice when I am done. –A Potato

It's been a really long time since I posted any kind of recipe. It's not that I haven't been cooking. But I posted most of my favorite recipes. Also, I just found that getting good {i.e. appetizing} photos of food to be difficult. And photos to accompany a recipe are kind of a requisite. I mean, isn't it the photo that draws you in and makes you want to try the recipe? Nevertheless, I am posting a couple of recipes today with somewhat non-spectacular photos.

Since I went dairy-free in January of this year, I've been limited in what I can eat. There are milk products in everything from chocolate to taco seasoning to bouillon cubes. It is kind of ridiculous. Over the past several months, I have been relying heavily on Mel's Kitchen Cafe to replace my dairy-laden casseroles. Mel does not use many canned/prepared items {i.e. cream-of-whichever soup} in her recipes, so it is easy to use dairy substitutes. I particularly enjoyed her post on food allergies, during Food Allergy Awareness Week earlier this month.

Today I want to share a couple of potato recipes. Potatoes are a tricky business for dairy-free folks. While they do not contain dairy themselves, they aren't particularly appetizing with out it. Mashed potatoes with almond milk and butter substitute are not bad. As a matter of fact, the Not-So-Little Bugs didn't even notice. But I'm not too fond of the sour cream substitute I've been able to find and wouldn't really like to try it on a baked potato. Whipping up a batch of flavored instant potatoes is out of the question. So, I've been looking for different ways to dress up a potato. Here's what I've come up with.

Garlic & Herb Potatoes

Garlic & Herb Potatoes (with Lamb Shanks)
Photo courtesy of Shay at Quilting In My Pyjamas

8 medium to large red potatoes
1 teaspoon fresh minced rosemary or ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon fresh minced thyme or ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon fresh minced oregano or ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon fresh minced parsley or 1 teaspoon dried parsley
½ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon paprika
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
¼ cup olive oil, butter or butter substitute

• Scrub potatoes and dice into ½" - 1" cubes. Fill a 4-quart pot about half-way with water and bring to a boil. When the water reaches a boil, add 1 teaspoon salt and the diced potatoes all at once. Return to a boil and boil potatoes for 5 minutes. Drain potatoes.
• Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl add rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley, salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper and garlic to melted butter or olive oil. Toss together with potatoes to coat.
• Place potatoes in a greased 9" x 13" baking dish and place in a 350˚ oven. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Notes:
• For crispy wedges, cut potatoes into wedges rather than dicing them. Combine seasonings as directed and toss with potatoes to coat. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake as directed.
• I've tried this recipe with dried and fresh herbs, as well as russet and red potatoes and it is delicious no matter which way you make it.

Gram's Best Potato Salad

1 dozen eggs
5 lbs. red potatoes

Dressing
2 cups mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard

Additional Ingredients
½ cup pickle juice
1½ cups chopped celery
¼ cup finely diced onion
½ of a dill pickle, finely diced
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons fresh minced parsley or 2 tablespoons dried parsley
Paprika

• Place eggs in the bottom of a 4-quart pot and add cold water to 1" above eggs. Bring to a boil over high heat; cover pot, reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow eggs to stand in hot water for 10 minutes. Drain water from eggs; fill pot with cold water and ice and allow eggs to cool.
• Peel and slice the boiled eggs; reserve the slices with pretty yellow centers for garnish on top of the potato salad and grate the remaining eggs to be added to the potato salad.
• Scrub and dice potatoes. Fill an 8-quart or 10-quart pot about half-way with water and bring to a boil. When the water reaches a boil, add 1 tablespoon salt and the diced potatoes all at once. Return to a boil and boil potatoes for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, to prepare dressing, mix mayonnaise, sugar, red wine vinegar and spicy brown mustard together in a small mixing bowl.
• After the potatoes have boiled for 10 minutes, drain them and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Pour the pickle juice directly on top of the hot potatoes. Add grated eggs, celery, onion, dill pickle, salt, pepper and parsley and stir to combine. Toss together with dressing. Top with sliced eggs and sprinkle with paprika. Refrigerate 6 to 8 hours.

Notes:
• There are no notes, except to say that no picnic is complete without a good potato salad and this is a good potato salad .

I Must Ask . . . How Often Do You Cook?

There is no sight on earth more appealing than the sight of a woman making dinner for someone she loves. –Thomas Wolfe

Two weeks ago, I asked how many picky eaters there were. Among the picky eaters, texture was the main cause for not wanting to eat something, which I thought was interesting because for me it is mostly taste. And although there were more total combined picky eaters, there were a surprising number who said they weren't picky, but then went on to list this or that they wouldn't eat. From one picky eater to another, I don't blame you one bit .

We're still talking about food this week. I'd planned to ask this last Thursday and then ran out of time to put it together, so it was a funny coincidence when the new girl at work, who'd noticed that I bring left-overs for lunch quite often, asked me how often I cook. I was all ready with my answer because I've been thinking about this post for a couple of weeks now. Generally speaking, I cook five times a week. I write out a menu that has three weeks on it. I fill the first week in and shop for groceries for everything I need on Saturday. I always cook something nice for dinner on Sunday {LadyBug requests pork chops frequently, which compliments Grasshopper's requests for mashed potatoes and gravy}. I do pretty well Monday through Wednesday. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are the days I have a harder time cooking. Sometimes, I swing by the pizza place on the way home from work on Friday night, but we don't eat out too often. Most of the time if I don't cook, we kind of eat what we can find; leftovers, cold cereal, ramen noodles. Whatever I have on the menu for the nights I wimp out on cooking gets moved forward to the next week, so that's one less meal I have to think of for the next go round. I find it really helpful to plan a menu and have done it most of my married life. That way I can have all the ingredients on hand for what we're eating that week, I don't have to think up something every night when we're all hungry and tired and if I know what's coming up, then I can "get in the mood" for whatever's on the menu. It also helps manage the expectations of the picky-eater Little Bugs. I have them help me plan the menu and if they can see that there are several dinners they like on the menu during the week, especially dinners they've chosen, there tends to be less complaining.

I don't mind cooking much. It's the dishes I don't like. Mr. Bug takes care of that most of the time {I think I've only loaded the new dishwasher once}, so that makes it really nice. I do not care much for the handling of raw meat, though. I buy hamburger 5 lbs. at a time and do all the handling at once. If meatloaf is on the menu, I make up two meatloaves, cook one, freeze the other, and then while the meatloaf is cooking, I brown the rest of the hamburger and divide it into 1 lb. portions to freeze and use later. It makes handling raw meat more manageable because I know that I only have to handle it once, but I get five dinners out of it. The same goes for chicken, only I will usually get between 10 and 20 lbs. at a time because handling raw chicken is at least twice as yucky as handling raw meat. I will divide out a couple of pounds and package and freeze those raw for dishes that have you cook the chicken as you make the rest of the meal. I bake the rest of the chicken and divide it out into 1 lb. portions, freezing it for future meals. Then, when chicken tacos {or chicken chili, or chicken enchiladas or chicken casserole} comes up on the menu, I pull a package of chicken out of the freezer, thaw it in the fridge overnight, and when I go to put dinner together all that is left is the shredding or cubing. It saves a lot of time.

When I asked what your favorite chore was, cooking got the most answers hands-down. Today I want know know just how much you like to cook, so I must ask . . . how often do you cook? Just for clarification, heating up a frozen dinner in the microwave doesn't count. But, everything doesn't have to be from scratch, either. I totally count those prepackaged pasta meals as cooking, because you use the stove top, it takes more than 4 minutes on high, you dirty a dish in the execution and I don't do them that often. I'm sure there are other prepackaged items that require similar efforts, so use your best judgement. I'd love to hear your favorite thing to cook in the comments.

P.S. I would add to Thomas Wolfe's quote that there is nothing more appealing than the sight of a man making dinner for someone he loves. Mr. Bug grills the best steaks. Ever.

I Must Ask . . . Are You A Picky Eater?

Pickiness, natural skepticism of new foods, prevented the cave baby from putting just about anything – like a poisonous berry – in baby’s mouth. –Stacie Billis, One Hungry Mama

Thank you to everyone who left a comment about last week's question on creativity. I loved what you all had to say and was really surprised that only one person declared themselves to be a color-outside-of-the-lines kind of a person. For a while there, it was a fairly close race between those who colored inside the lines and those who did a little of both, but at the end the color-inside-the-lines pulled ahead. I'd dare say that even the strictest of the color-inside-the-lines person likes to break the rules every once in a while, though. I thought my dad summed it up nicely by suggesting that if you draw your own lines and then color within them you are creative enough to make something beautiful and disciplined enough to see it through to completion. Thanks, dad. As a side note, I really hit the jackpot in the creative gene department. Both my parents are incredibly talented and creative people.

Now for today's topic. I'm sorry I'm a little late getting to the party. I got distracted. My question was sparked by a post by my wonderful friend, Jenna, on picky eating. I hope you won't mind if I recycle my comment on her post into a post of my own, because I really enjoyed her thoughts on picky eating. If you have a minute, click on over and see what she had to say.

I am definitely a picky eater and I think that stems from taste and texture. I find eating to be pleasurable as well as necessary and as far as taste goes, I like things to be "just right." I like consistency. I like to be able to count on my food not being merely familiar, but on tasting the same every time. If I've planned to make something and don't have all the ingredients, I usually will wait to make it until I can get to the store. No substitutions allowed and since I'm doing the cooking, I suppose I can be as fussy as I want, right? If the texture is weird {as defined by me} I'd really rather not eat it. If the combination of taste and texture is weird {like in the case of cashew fruit }, count me out.

My question to the universe at large is this: why do the things that are supposed to be good for you not have a corresponding good taste on the "yucky-to-yummy" scale? Take for instance vegetables. They are supposed to be really good for you, but in order to make them taste good you have to add all kinds of things that are bad for you, like butter and salt. Mind you, I do serve veggies at dinner every night, usually green beans or broccoli, because those are the two I like best as stand-alone side-dishes. But my favorite way to eat vegetables is in a casserole type dish, where there is a sauce and little bit of seasoning to disguise them. I love to make chicken or beef pot pie, which has corn, carrots, peas, green beans and sometimes lima beans in it. I also like to make minestrone, which has all sorts of vegetables I wouldn't eat by themselves, but with spices and seasonings and all the flavors mixing together, I love it.

While we're in the general neighborhood of vegetables, salad is another thing I don't care much for. When they ask, "soup or salad" I choose soup {I'd rather say neither; if you eat the soup there's no room for the main course} because I just do not like iceberg lettuce. You might as well go out in the back yard and eat grass for all the nutrition you're getting. And it is about as digestible as grass. In the interest of making more healthy food choices, I've been doing salads for my lunch a few times a week, and I like the "fancy" salad mixes {which, interestingly enough, have dandelion greens in them, but they call them by a different name so you won't know you're eating weeds} mixed half-and-half with spinach. I add mandarin oranges, cucumber slices, a little bit of Parmesan cheese and grilled chicken on top and then homemade poppy seed dressing, which is just yummy. I'm sure the "yummy" factor I add to the greens more than cancels out the "nutrition" factor, because in my opinion the only reason to eat a salad is for the dressing. Which, coincidentally, is another thing I'm picky about . Ranch dressing? No thank you. But I digress. I was ranting about iceberg lettuce. When I eat out, I ask to substitute spinach for iceberg lettuce and if they don't have spinach, I just have them leave the lettuce off. It's not really a matter of nutrition though. I just like it better that way.

Over the years, I've grown less picky about certain things like tomatoes and mushrooms. But seafood is something I have never changed my mind about. I just do not like it except for tuna fish, which is sort of ironic since it is the "fishiest" tasting fish there is. If we're at a party and there's a shrimp cocktail, I will eat one or two shrimp with lots of sauce to disguise the flavor, but the fishy flavor and rubbery texture are not my favorite. Sometime when I was between the ages of 14 and 18 my mom served fish sticks for dinner and I pretty much refused to eat them. She gave me the choice of eating the fish sticks or doing dishes {for seven} by myself. I picked the dishes. Now that I'm an adult I try to keep a more open mind about things. When Mr. Bug and I go out to dinner and he orders fish, I always try a little bite just to make sure I'm not being ridiculous about the whole thing. Every time I try it, it is confirmed that I do not like seafood.

On a positive nutritional note, I'm looking forward to the summer season, when fresh-from-the-garden produce is abundant. I am trying to be more health-conscious of what I eat. I try {but do not always succeed} to avoid simple carbs and instead have fruits and veggies for snacks. I love to munch on those little clementine oranges, grapes, or carrot and celery sticks. I'm looking forward to when the watermelon in the produce department are bigger than a softball and cost less than $7. I like to cut it up into cubes so it is ready to have at dinner or eat as a snack any time. We go through about a watermelon a week during the summer. Corn-on-the-cob, bought from the local farmer's produce stands, is another favorite summer treat I'm excited for. I can't wait for the nectarines on the neighbor's tree and the raspberries in my yard to be ready. I love zucchini dishes and have six or seven favorite zucchini recipes that I'll make throughout the summer.

On a not-so-nutritional, but still positively positive note, I love most sweets. There are a few exceptions. I don't like nuts in most things {banana nut bread being the exception to the exception} and I don't like raisins that have been cooked. No oatmeal raisin cookies for me or raisins in the cinnamon rolls, thankyouverymuch. I do like raisins on their own {I have a few little snack-sized boxes of them in my drawer at work, in case I get hungry} and I also like them in vanilla ice cream {something I discovered while living in Brasil; I know it sounds weird, but it is good}. And some days,chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup and Oreo crumbs on top is completely called for.

Now that I've talked your ear off, I must ask . . . are you a picky eater? I think we all are on some level, whether it is about taste or texture, nutritional content, or based on principle {vegetarians choose not to eat certain foods based on principle and that is being picky every bit as much as people who choose not to eat foods based on taste}. Unfortunately, people with food allergies or intolerances are forced to be picky eaters, so I'm throwing a category in for that too, although I know it's not voluntary. Food allergies are one of those things in life I just don't get. I'm certain that if I had a gluten intolerance I would miss white bread most of any of the things I would have to give up. Vote in the poll and tell me if you're picky too.

I Must Ask . . . Do You Color Inside or Outside of the Lines?

Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing. –Harriet Braiker

It's been three weeks since I asked you about your favorite breakfast foods. Three weeks! We've had breakfast for dinner twice since then. My lack of posting isn't for lack of questions, because I've got plenty of them. I keep a little list so I can think about what I want to ask a few days before. I've just been trying to do everything I want and need to do and not finding enough time for it all. This week, the first week of the month, is my busiest week. I work 40+ hours, and yet, I MUST ask you all a question today. But first, the back-story because this is how it works. I tell you a bit about what I'm thinking and then you answer my question on the topic.

About a month ago, I woke up with an idea for a quilt in my head. Michelle Thompson has designed the most adorable Sesame Street character patterns and I decided that I needed to make a quilt using them. Starting a quilt when I already have 10 in the works is nothing new. I do have a "no new projects" policy to try to curb this kind of thing, but I violate it pretty often. You know how it is when you get an idea, right? To add to the crazy, this quilt has an impossible deadline. I want to have it ready for the spring quilt shows the first of which is June 8-9. I finished my first block, Elmo on April 11^th. He took roughly 10 hours to do. They all take roughly that long. Paper piecing. Meh. But, I figured if I finished one block every three days, I'd be in good shape to finish the quilt top by mid-May and have a couple of weeks to get it quilted and bound.

I'm four blocks in. I have eight to go and five weeks to the first quilt show. Cookie Monster, or rather, Cookie Monster's fabric and pattern have been sitting on my sewing table for 10 days waiting for me to start sewing. I can't seem to get a seam in edgewise around here. But I digress.

Before I finished the first block, I started planning sashing, borders, binding, the quilt label, and how I would quilt it. I spent hours browsing through the Moda Marbles at Web Fabrics, trying to decide which colors would best supplement those I already had to make the best and brightest Sesame Street characters. All of that planning was kind of hard to keep organized in my head. I needed someplace to put it. I needed to make a framework with it, so that I could know my next move.

I drew my layout on graph paper; I scanned it into my computer, colorized it in Microsoft Paint and started filling in the spaces with the blocks I'd finished so far. I wanted to have something to manipulate, which wouldn't take over my entire living room, could easily be altered and would help me decide where to place the finished blocks and to know what background colors to use for the next blocks based on what was already in place. Besides my virtual layout, I've started doodling out the quilting on my graph paper to see if what I want to do will work in the space I have. I'm not sure if it works, but that's a different post. Don't worry, there will be poll questions for that too.

This is my creative process. I like to have a plan, a goal in mind when I start something new. I work best when I have a framework where I can fill in the details as they come to me. I like to color inside the lines. For some people, that's not creativity. They like to have a go at a huge blank canvas and wherever it takes them is creativity. And that's OK. It's OK for me to be creative inside the lines and it is OK for you to be creative in a way that works for you.

I read an interview once, by Stephenie Meyer, where she talks about her creative process. She uses a very detailed outline when she writes because she likes to write the more interesting and vivid scenes first, the scenes that move the plot along. Once she gets those parts finished it is easier for her to write the transitional parts, the bridges that take from one part of the story to the next. She said that without an outline, writing the interesting stuff and then trying to put it together doesn't work. If you ask me, she likes to color inside the lines.

Today I must ask . . . do you like to color inside or outside of the lines? Are you an organized creator, going by a plan every step of the way? Do you prefer creative chaos, letting the project take you wherever it wants to go? Or are you somewhere in the middle, with a method to your madness? Vote in the poll and leave me a comment telling me your favorite way to create.

I Must Ask . . . What is Your Favorite Breakfast Food?

Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon. –Doug Larson

Has it been two weeks already since I posed the question about belly buttons? I'm not sure where the time went. And I was surprised that not a single person who voted had an outie. I knew innies were more prevalent, but I thought there'd be a handful who had outies. Perhaps asking people about their belly buttons was too personal and the outies didn't want to out themselves? In any case, I liked Iris' idea about why some are innie and some are outie and some are innie-outies. A belly button is a scar and she suggested that they are all different because everyone scars differently. I think that's very smart, and probably right on the money.

Last Thursday, we had breakfast for dinner. I made Belgian waffles with the fancy new waffle maker my mom got us for Christmas. I offered a variety of toppings; homemade maple syrup {nothing too fancy, just sugar, water and a little mapelline flavoring}, spiced peaches {again, nothing too fancy; I thickened the juice from a can of peaches with cornstarch, added a little cinnamon, ginger and allspice, stirred the peaches back in and warmed them through}, or homemade raspberry freezer jam. We also had bacon. It was a long work week for me and by Thursday night, I needed a no-fuss-easy-to-fix dinner. It got me to thinking about all the different kinds of breakfast foods and then I started wondering what you all like to eat for breakfast. Or breakfast for dinner. I was going to ask this last week, but was too tired and decided to go to bed early instead. So, this week, I must ask . . . what is your favorite food at breakfast? I've kind of grouped things in categories, with a few miscellaneous things thrown in. Vote for your favorites in each category and if you want leave a comment and tell me what you love the most. I'm sure I forgot something delicious, so please make sure to leave me a note.

I Must Ask . . . What's Your Favorite Chore?

I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.... I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby. –Nancie J. Carmody

As usual, I forgot to include a few categories on the poll two weeks ago. Most notably {excuse the pun. No. Wait. Don't. I love puns!}, music {choir, band, orchestra, etc.} and the arts {drama, visual arts, etc.}. When I made up my list, I think I kind of assumed that being athletic was the norm and didn't stop to consider that I might not be the only indoors kind of girl . There were two people, besides me who lettered in Home Ec and in the “other” category, two people told me in the comments that they lettered in band, another in music and a third lettered in Badminton. Awesome!

Well, I think that concludes my reminiscences on High School. The weather has . . . well . . . I guess it is behaving like March. One minute it is sunny and almost warm and the next, the wind is howling at your door. Then it is snowing and then it is sunny again. In like a lion, eh? In any case, the days are getting longer, which always makes me happy. Spring is a lovely time of year. The other day, I posted a partial list of 40 things I'd like to do before I turn 40. One of them was to turn out all the drawers and closets in the house and I think that has a lot to do with the weather. I think it is kind of freeing to go through things and throw a bunch of stuff away. I like to open a drawer or cupboard or closet and find it all neat and tidy inside.

Chores are just a part of life. They get complained about a lot, but today, I wanted to talk about favorite chores. Laundry is something I don't mind doing at all. I did my own laundry by hand for about a year, and trust me, scrubbing clothes in a stone basin and wringing them out to dry is a laborious task. Throwing them in a machine, which does all the work, really isn't a chore at all. And there's something satisfying about putting a nice stack of freshly washed clothes away. I also really like gardening. It is more therapy than a chore for me. Doing a job where getting dirty on purpose is so enjoyable for me.

I'm curious to know what you all like to do around the house. I must ask . . . what is your favorite chore? Vote in the poll and leave me a comment telling me what your favorite task is. I'm sure I forgot something {I always do}, so if you don't see your favorite on the list, make sure to tell me.

I Must Ask . . . What Is Your Favorite Music Genre?

Were it not for music, we might in these days say, the Beautiful is dead. –Benjamin Disraeli

I had so much fun reading the comments from last week about your dream jobs. A fair few of you already have your dream jobs, which is really awesome! Doing something you love definitely makes work a lot less like work. While we're on the subject, it's been a long work week for me {with a lot to go, still}, so I'm going to cut my comments short today. I wanted to write a whole bunch, but I'm just worn out. I'm even too tired to sew tonight and I'm going straight to bed as soon as I post. But there was one job mentioned that kind of tickled my fancy. Anna is a ranger at Yellowstone National Park. How cool is that!?! Even though I'm mostly an indoors type of gal, I would love to take a vacation to Yellowstone. When we were little, my parents took the three oldest kids to Yellowstone {the three youngest weren't born yet} one summer. We stayed in a cabin on the park, which was already occupied by a squirrel. I don't know that anything spectacular happened and I'm sure it was a lot more like camping than a vacation should be, but I have kind of fond memories of that trip. I would love to take my Little Bugs there. I can't persuade Mr. Bug, though. He's convinced that we'll all be eaten by bears.

Today the big question I must ask is . . . what is your favorite music genre? I'm all over the map. There are only a few kinds of music that I don't like. They are the kinds that aren't so much music as they are like noise. Of course, that is a matter of taste, so I'd like to hear what you like. Tell me what your favorite bands and songs are. And if you're so inclined, tell me what is the most embarrassing song on your iPod/mp3 player/playlist or the most embarrassing CD in your collection. In that category, I have most of Celine Dion's CD's, but I totally own that. She has such a beautiful voice. I also have a couple of Brittney Spears songs on my iPod and I even have a little bit of a secret crush on Barry Manalow. After all, he writes the songs that make the whole world sing.

And what would a post about music be without a music spot? I just love those spunky Dixie Chicks, so here's a little something fun to end with.

I Must Ask . . . What Is Your Dream Job?

Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties. –Doug Larson

I guess I satisfied your curiosity last week with my answers to your questions, because there were only a few more this week. But they were a really great bunch which gave me plenty to talk about. I'll start off with Richard's question: What are your 3 favorite blocks. And what block do you hate (and no, "square ones," is not a fair answer to either)?

My favorite blocks to make are Pinwheels, Stars and Flying Geese, not necessarily in that order. A pinwheel block was the first block {other than squares} I ever pieced and it was love. That pinwheel was the very center of the quilt and it went inside a star block, which uses flying geese units for the points. I'm just guessing here, but perhaps that is why those blocks are at the top of my list. I'm working on a Pinwheel Sampler quilt, which I hope to finish up in the next few weeks. I'm also working very, very slowly on a star quilt, which I hope is going to be awesome if I ever get it done. I've only been working on it here and there for about five years now. As I mentioned, flying geese are most often used in star points, but I also love them on their own and plan to use them in the border of another of my many, many Ph.D quilts. For flying geese units, I really like Patti Anderson's no-waste method of piecing them.

And blocks I don't like to piece? Any block that doesn't come out how it is supposed to .

From my cute sister, Jill, If you could have any animal as a pet, what would you choose?

We have a fire-bellied toad named Pants {sadly, Violet died}. I like keeping toads, aside from the keeping live crickets to feed the toads and having to buy cricket food to keep the crickets alive and keeping the aquarium slime-free.

Someday, I think we'll get a dog. That will be dependent on how long I keep working, though, because keeping a dog locked up all day while we're away just wouldn't be nice.

I think the pet I would absolutely love the best, though, is not really one pet, but more of an eco-system. I would love a salt-water aquarium. A really big one. With lots and lots of colorful fish. And sea horses. I once saw a tank of just sea horses and they were the coolest little creatures ever. This tank would, of course, have a built-in maintenance man to keep the tank clean and balanced and running like it is supposed to.

And finally, Ann Marie asked, If you could have your dream job, what would you be doing? Where we you be living to do it too?

Great question! Thank you so much for asking . I have several dream jobs. Some of them are jobs that would be a dream to do and others are more like jobs that I could only do in my dreams.

In the category of jobs that would be a dream, I would love to work on the gardening/landscaping crew at an amusement park. Specifically, I'm thinking of a local amusement park, which sits smack in the middle of my mom's house and Mr. Bug's job. If we moved to the city where it is located, it would cut 5 hours and 20 minutes of commute time every week for Mr. Bug, bring me a hop, skip and a jump away from my mom AND make working in their gardens a possibility.

As far as other plausible jobs, I'd love to work in a quilt shop, and especially would like to teach classes. Working at quilt shop, however, does not seem like a very good source of income. I know all you fabric-a-holics know what I mean. I think that would have to be a job where I wasn't depending on wages earned.

In the realm of really-cool-but-a-total-longshot would have to be the writer of books that people like to read. You might have noticed that I like to write. I have ideas for a couple of books floating around in my head. The trouble comes in inventing a conflict that is interesting enough to engage the readers without doing something that has already been done. Doing so almost necessitates using supernatural elements in the story, which I'm really hesitant to do. After all, who can top Harry Potter? Still, one day, I might actually try stringing together a few thoughts and see if a plot develops.

If none of those work out, I've got a day job that I like. There are certain things I don't like about where I work, which I won't go into because that can get you fired. The job itself I do like. I work with numbers. They are predictable. Consistent. Dependable. Constant. That I like.

How about you? I must ask . . . what is your dream job? There is a poll in the sidebar with lots of options. Vote. Obviously, I couldn't anticipate everyone's dreams so if you don't find what you're looking for {or even if you do} leave me a comment and tell me how you'd like to spend your working hours.

I Must Ask . . . Coke or Pepsi?

Although when compared in double blind taste tests, the majority of people could not tell the difference in taste, people will swear they love one or the other. –WikiVS

Whew! We made it! Christmas has come and gone for another year. For the most part, it looks like we were all pretty on top of things. I got all of my big projects finished up but had a few little things that didn't get done. The gifts that needed to be mailed didn't go out until yesterday and today. And there are a few little neighbor gifts still sitting under my tree. I better get those delivered. Or, I could keep them until next year and save myself a little stress in 2012.

Today's question popped into my head yesterday when I stopped at the drive-thru for a Coke to help with my headace. The particular place I went to didn't have Coke. I was only after the caffeine and I didn't really care about the delivery method so I went with a large Pepsi. And then I wondered if I was going to like it because I haven't had a Pepsi since about 1998. To my relief I discovered that it doesn't really much matter.

I'm really not a big cola drinker. I mostly use it to boost my caffeine intake when I'm trying to shake a migraine. I'd rather have a root beer or a 7-Up when it comes to soda, but that is slightly off-topic. Mr. Bug is a regular consumer of Coke and keeps copious amounts on hand {which were ironically out of yesterday}. To be honest, I thought I was Team Coke, but my encounter with Pepsi yesterday {and again this morning} leads me to believe that there really isn't much difference.

People started asking it in the 1940's. Coke or Pepsi? There is still no conclusive answer. But still I must ask . . . do you like Coke or Pepsi better?

Since it is a matter of taste we may never find out. But I will say this, Coke has the best ads.

I Must Ask . . . What Is Your Ideal Christmas Gift?

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. –Roy L. Smith

Thank you so much, everyone, for weighing in on your favorite holiday traditions. Hands down, spending time with family took the most votes. I think that getting together with loved ones is one of the best things about this time of year. On the other side of the coin, one of the least favorites was decorating. Not one single person voted for it. to be honest, hauling the tree out of storage and putting it together is not my favorite way to spend an afternoon. Even less fun is stringing lights on a real tree. But I really love how excited the Little Bugs get about putting the ornaments on.

I didn't include this on the poll last week because I'm not sure if this is a tradition, per se, or if anyone else does this but at our house Santa always puts socks and underwear in our Christmas stockings. It is a great way to fill them up fast without spending a lot of money. And my mom always gets everyone new pajamas to open up before bed on Christmas Eve. We all pretend we don't know what's in the package, but new jammies to sleep in the night before Christmas is firmly embedded in our family traditions.

During the Christmas season, people tend to open their hearts and their wallets to give to others. Donations for those in need abound. I love to give gifts that are well received. I especially like finding just the right thing for the Little Bugs. I've yet to give Mr. Bug the perfect gift, but I keep trying. It's also hard to know what to get for my parents in light of how much they give to me. But today I want to talk about the receiving just a little bit. The anticipation of unwrapping something wonderful is part of what makes Christmas so magical. I know we all have a list of things we'd like, whether it be a mental list or one that is actually written out on paper. I would love to open up anything related to my fabric and quilting obsession, from a new pack of machine needles to {AURIfil} thread to fabric or fabric gift cards. At the top of my list is the Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen. I'm holding out hope that I made the “nice” list this year.

There are plenty of other things I'd love {clothes, shoes, cash, a European vacation}, but I want to hear what you'd like. Today I must ask . . . what is your ideal Christmas gift? What would you really love to find under your Christmas tree? Don't be shy and say that you want something altruistic, or that you don't want anything. This is your chance to say what you really want without worrying about looking like a tool for thinking of yourself. Today's poll is a short list of possibilities because it is hard to poll someone's desires. Vote for the most closely related category and leave a comment telling me what you'd like!

I Must Ask . . . What Is Your Favorite Holiday?

I once wanted to become an atheist, but I gave up—they have no holidays. –Henny Youngman

Thanks to everyone who voted for what you are thankful for. Children and Family each took 15 votes and Friends took 16, which just goes to show that you can pick your friends but not your family. I also found it interesting that the Spouse category got only one more vote than the Parents category . Seriously, though. It was nice to stop for a minute and count all the good things and people in my life.

Christmas is in 24 days. Twenty. Four. Days. People. If that doesn't scare the pants off you, then someone else must do the planning/decorating/shopping/baking/wrapping/card sending at your house. Christmas comes with its stress. Finding the perfect gift. Making the money stretch for the perfect gift. Finding the time to do all the pre-holiday preparations. Making it through the family parties with your sanity still in tact. Don't get me wrong. I love Christmas. It is one of my favorite holidays. I love giving a thoughtful, personal gift to someone I care about. I enjoy the parties, the food, the company, the feeling in the air. There is something magical about it. Perhaps it is all the twinkle lights.

Christmas is in my top three favorite holidays. I'm not sure how they rank in order of preference, but the three I love the most are Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Each one has its merits. On Halloween, you can be anyone you want to be. Thanksgiving is filled with friends and family and good food. And Christmas is about remembering the One who gave all for us. I'm not sure that I love the other holidays any less, though. I love potato salad and fireworks on the Fourth of July, staying up until midnight to ring in a new year, pinching anyone who didn't wear green on the 17^th of March, and making paper hearts for my favorite people in February. It is fun to celebrate the little things in life, as well as the big. So today, I must ask . . . what is your favorite holiday?

I Must Ask . . . Who Is Your Favorite Twilight Character

Alice opened the door for me before I could walk in.

She nodded. “Hey, wolf.”

“Hey, shortie.”
–Jacob Black and Alice Cullen, Breaking Dawn, page 321

Yeah. I'm still on a Twilight kick. It looks like the favorite book is Eclipse, by a nose. Eclipse was my favorite movie to date, and is by far the best in the franchise. The Twilight movie was super low budget and pretty campy. New Moon was an improvement, but there were a few departures from the book for the sake of action, which frustrates me. Movies made from books are never as good as the books themselves. Still, it is fun to be able to see the characters that I know come to life. And that's what I want to discuss today. I know that the majority of you aren't interested in the least. But thanks for indulging me and sticking around while this Twilight kink works itself out.

The characters are really three-dimensional and I feel like I'm a part of the story as I read. It is hard to single out one character as a stand-alone, because the group dynamic is so fantastic. But I just love Alice. I went as Alice for Halloween one year. I spiked my hair, which was really short at the time, and semi-spikey anyway, powdered my face, put in gold-colored contacts and finished the outfit with a dark blue trench coat. It was dark out and no one could see my costume, which was fine by me. I really don't advertise my fanatical status, which is a contradiction in itself, since I'm blogging about it on a regular basis {shameless plug: check out the Twi-Quilter's blog. We're posting the quilt blocks for our Breaking Dawn charity quilt and Iris, one of our members, created a really beautiful background for our blog. She's amazing!}. But sharing my obsession on my blog is a relatively safe way to go, since people who aren't interested can basically ignore it. But I digress. Alice. I would love to be her. Or her best friend. Either way, the wardrobe would be fantastic. And wouldn't it be awesome to have a book solely about Alice and how she came to be {hint, hint, Stephenie Meyer}. Emmett is a close second, as far as individual characters go. And I really do love Bella and Edward, although they are in a separate category and are kind of a package deal.

Today's poll is only going to include the 'major players' in the series. There is relatively little interest in this subject and I don't want to dilute the poll with obscure or lesser-known characters. But if you have a favorite that is not on the poll, please feel free to comment. I'd love to hear! I'm allowing multiple selections in the poll so you can vote for more than one character, but try to keep it to your top three, because honestly, there is something I like about every single character, which means I could check them all. With that, I must ask . . . who is your favorite Twilight character?

I Must Ask . . . Which Twilight Book Is Your Favorite?

I told you — you don’t see yourself clearly at all. You’re not like anyone I’ve ever known. You fascinate me. –Edward Cullen, Twilight, page 245

Last week, we talked Ford vs. Chevy. It wasn't a big voting week, but Chevy won two-to-one. I was going to do a spin-off this week and see what you all drive and then maybe next week see what everyone's dream cars are. But I'm slightly distracted this week. So we're talking Twilight. For the record, Bella drives a Chevy. A Chevy that belonged to Billy Black before Bella. The Cullens all drive imports, and I don't recall a single Ford mentioned anywhere in the book. Just so we're clear on that.

I have to admit, I am a little embarrassed by this huge Twilight obsession of mine. It is not something I talk about, aside from on my blog, because I know it is a little odd to be so completely gaga about a book. It occupies a much quieter place in my life now than it did three years ago. Even at my most obsessed, I kept it fairly close to the vest. But with Breaking Dawn about to come out, I've had a renewed excitement in the series. Posting about it now, as opposed to when I first started my blog in January of 2010 makes things a little more interesting because more of my 'in person' friends read my blog now, so that cat's kind of out of the bag. I suppose my 'in person' friends have a little bit of an advantage over my 'cyber friends,' in that I probably will not ever mention Twilight when I see you. Cyber friends, you'll just have to endure, because I've got at least a week's worth of Twilight -related posts coming your way, and possibly more.

So. Twilight. I'm wondering if you have a favorite among the books? I'm not including The Second Short Life of Bree Tanner, because I haven't read it yet {scandalous, I know}. I'm also not including Midnight Sun because none of us are supposed to have read it even though Stephenie Meyer posted it on her official website. My favorite is Breaking Dawn, hence the sudden upswing in my obsession with the series. Twilight in a very close second. New Moon and Eclipse are kind of dead even and are more like two volumes of one book. Neither one stands alone, kind of like The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi or Dead Man's Chest and At World's End.

I am really excited about the upcoming movie, which, for all my research is supposed to be PG-13. It is going to be a steamy PG-13, if the trailer is any indication. But the word on the street is PG-13. Books are always better than the movies they are based on, but I love to see these characters that I feel like I know on the big screen. And I'm counting the days until part 1 comes out. How about you? Which book is your favorite?

I Must Ask . . . Which Would You Drive?

Q. What do you call a Ford at the top of a Hill?
A. A Miracle.

Q. What do you call two Fords at the top of a hill?
A. A mirage.

Q. How do you make a Ford go faster downhill?
A. Turn off the engine.

Q. Why are the latest Fords so aerodynamically designed?
A. It improves the Chevy tow truck's fuel consumption.

Q. Why do they put sidewalks beside most streets and highways?
A. So Ford owners have a safe place to walk home.

Q. What goes on the last page of every Ford user manual?
A. The train & bus schedule.

Today, as you might have already guessed, we're going to debate Ford vs. Chevy, and you've probably deduced which side I'm on. I want to say, right off the bat, that this is all in good fun and everyone is entitled to an opinion, but bashing and flaming will not be tolerated and abusive comments will not be approved. So if you're here to vent your spleen, move along. These are not the droids people you're looking for.

Before we get into a heated debate over which car manufacturer dominates, let's do a quick re-cap of last week's discussion on travel destinations. I find it interesting that not one person who voted wanted to go to Egypt, Portugal or the Middle East. Obviously, I didn't/couldn't include every possible destination. I completely forgot Greece, Switzerland, New Zealand and Korea. And I kind of lumped several countries together; Great Britain encompasses England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland {I know this because LadyBug did a report in 2^nd grade} and Scandinavia includes Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.

Still, it was fun to hear where you all would like to venture off to. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to comment. I promised to share a couple of favorite comments. I should never do that. It is so hard to pick and I don't want anyone to feel left out. The comments were all great, but I thought I'd share two with you since I said I would. I loved what Annelise had to say: Since my mom is from Denmark, she took us kids back several times growing up. I have so many amazing memories from those trips. Feeding the ducks at the parks, bike rides, canoe trips and kite flying, walking to the candy store with my grandpa, the freezing cold beach, warm pastries from the local bakery... But its been 16 years since I was last there. I ache to go back. I so look forward to the day I can take my husband and my kids with me and share with them everything I love about Denmark.

And from my dad, A year ago, I went to Germany for business. In the city of Hamburg are 2 landmarks I will not forget. The first is a Church you can go up to the Bell tower and look out over the city at night and see the Ships in the harbor heading up the river and out to sea. The City all lit up, with the amusement park lights all aglow in the distance was very cool.

The second Landmark is another Church that stands a few blocks away. A bombed out Church that was not restored and stands as a Stark reminder to never let desire to take what others have, and that Power, Greed and the power of greed can blind an entire nation to the evil of what its leaders want and the horror they can bring upon a nation.

Thank you again, to everyone who commented! I loved reading them all! With thoughts of traveling to new places on our minds, it's time to talk mode of transportation. There might not be that much of a debate about this outside the US, but when we're talking American-made cars, there are two kinds of people: those who drive Chevys and those who don't drive Fords. Most people have an allegiance to one or the other, and it runs generations deep. I come from Chevy stock. My dad has an 1968 Impala that he drove for nearly 20 years. He plans on restoring it someday. In the meantime, he drives a cherry red 2009 Chevy Impala Super Sport. I heard that he might even take my mom on a little road trip to see Mt. Rushmore in it. Over the years, there have been many Chevys in our family. Between the '68 Impala and the '09 Impala, there was a Caprice Classic and in high school, my dad and I shared a 1978ish Camaro. The kids at work called it the car that used to be a Camaro. It wasn't pretty on the outside, but that V-8 had get-up and go. In college, I bought a little white Cavalier. I loved how comfortable the seats were. I'm pretty sure that someone in the family still drives it. And to keep the '09 Impala, which he only drives on weekends and special occasions, in mint condition, my dad drives a Lumina for every day kind of stuff.

The most memorable of the Chevrolets, however, was a 1965 Chevy II, also know as a Nova. My dad used to race in it. Straight from the late 1970's, I present to you the quarter-mile at Bonneville Raceway on 8mm. OK, so 10 minutes of home movies with no sound and about people you don't know is pretty boring. The Nova can be seen at time index 7:37-7:41 and again at 7:53-8:00.


Lest you think that I'm unfairly biased towards Chevrolets, I did once own a Ford. It was a Bronco II. At the time, Mr. Bug was doing fiber installations for a local internet company. It was dirty work and he didn't want to haul tools and equipment around in our then only 3-year old Honda. So he bought this old Bronco, trying to do the previous owners a favor, with the idea that he would drive it around to do his dirty work. Not soon thereafter, he was moved to the IT department for this company and he went back to driving the Honda. It turns out that the Bronco was really no fun at all the drive. The klutch was stiff, the brakes were iffy, the steering was barely negotiable, the seats were uncomfortable, it was noisy, smelly and just plain ugly. But rather than stay home all day with Baby Grasshopper, I'd take our lives into my hands, strap his car seat in the back of that Bronco and venture out in it every once in a while for free samples shopping at Costco or strolling at the mall. It was winter and the risk of life and limb to go some place different seemed worth it at the time. Needless to say, the Bronco was traded in after less than a year.

Now, I realize that this was only one out of I-don't-know-how-many Fords in the world, and perhaps not all Fords are created equally. But honestly, I've never met a Ford I liked. They just don't appeal to me, not even the Mustang. I'd choose a Corvette or a Camaro any day over a Mustang. So now that you know where my allegiance lies, let's get to it. I must ask . . . which would you drive? Ford or Chevy?