UPDATES galore.

Well, here is a glimpse of the past month: work, school, birthdays, friends, family, work, school. I promise to keep a daily update now!

the waiting game

So, as an update--I am down to 3 part time jobs. I am no longer a GAP, Inc. employee. Which, to be honest, is not the worst thing. I wasn't really into driving an hour-EACH WAY-to work a 3 hour shift, making minimum wage. 

Also, I had the revelation, in about November, that I decided I wanted to be teacher. So, I have applied to the University of Saint Thomas (which was very tough for me, being a bennie and all) to the Master's Of Education-Health. My dream would be to teach a high school nutrition class. Currently, I'm not sure they are offered, but I couldn't think of a better issue/topic to incorporate into a curriculum. Nutrition is such an important topic and I can't believe how little people know, or acknowledge. Ideally, I'd like this class to be offered as a science class to juniors/seniors. So, getting accepted to UST is the first step...and I'm patiently waiting....sort of.

Katie & Don's Engagement Party

This is going to be just a quick summary of that partay--and boring with no pics because my camera was dead. WAH WAH. We celebrated the new year at Bulldog NE with friends, drinks and tots. Not better way, if you ask me-we also continued the celebration of Katie and Don's engagement. It was fun to get the two groups of friends together and catch up. It made me look forward to the wedding...A LOT! Again, so excited for the two of them!!!! 

the chief/ganoosh/booboo/tjl's 1st christmas

Ok, ok, I know I'm biased, but he really is the cutest freakin' kid.  As TJLs is getting older, we are getting to know his personality. He loves to bounce on unky pat pat's knee, climb stairs and be tickled. All of those things make him giggle and his cute little dimples come out. He does not like to be held by strangers...luckily by day 3 I was no longer a stranger--because I love to snugs with the babe. He also made a new friend while he was in town--Avery. Ave loved to play with baby Thomas and all of his toys, and it was really cute to watch them. Ave will make a great big sister some day... (wink wink ;) ) Thomas also got lots of new toys (gammy Kat went a little overboard) and some super cute new clothes (baby gap, where else?) But we loved his time here and we all love him to pieces and miss him already! And uh, Mike & Stacey, too. Oh yah, uncle don got a new blankey, too. He wubba it.

Greatest 48 hours in the history of the Laschen family.

I can't say too much about this because there's not much to say...so here goes. Here is the order in which it all went down.
(1) Mike got a new job--a promotion at that--and he and the family are moving to Seattle, WA most likely sometime in February.
(2) Katie got a new job! She has retired from her part time work at MHC, the GAP and Wildside caterers. She is looking forward to being the Large Store Creative Activation Manager for Coca-Cola Refreshments...or as she likes to refer to it, The "it" girl.
(3) KATIE & DON ARE ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the planning has begun already, of course.


And all of that happened in 48 hours. Then it was Christmas. It really was the most wonderful time of year.

5th Annual Christmas Party

We had our annual party, but were 2 friends short. Shan is still in Ireland, returning in exactly one week from today. We can't wait to hear her crazy stories, because there will be crazy stories. And Rachel wasn't able to make it home in time because of work--boo being a grown-up! So, it was just the 5 of us. We laughed, drank wine, and stuffed ourselves. We had salad, artichoke wantons, wraps, rum cake (of course) and Kristin's new favorite discovery--bacon wrapped weenies. Let's face it, what's not to love about that? It was a relaxed, casual get together that I love every year. Hopefully the Christmas 2011 party will not be held at the parents' house and in my own residence...dare to dream. 

best cookie recipe--really.

After many many attempts (and giving fault to the oven) I have found a chocolate chip cookie recipe that really is as good as the title states. I will say, however, there is more effort and love that goes into this recipe than your standard Nestle recipe. I like a chewy cookie, versus a crispy cookie. So, I naturally I googled "chewy chocolate chip cookies". The recipe that interested me the most was one by Alton Brown. Typically I don't like his recipes because they deal with weird ingredients. But I thought, you can't really make cookies too weirdly--and it had 5 stars out of 779 reviews...couldn't be that bad, right? The things I noticed that were different that may have had an affect on the cookies:
(1) Use melted butter vs. softened butter
(2) Bread flour
(3) Baking soda AND baking powder
(4) Egg yolk vs whole egg
(5) and more brown sugar than white sugar. 
They turned out wonderfully! I followed the recipe exactly. Part of the recipe is to chill the dough...which I did for about 45 minutes and that seemed to be sufficient. I also had put it in the garage during the winter, which may of been a littler cooler. 

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Hardware:

• Ice cream scooper (#20 disher, to be exact)
• Parchment paper
• Baking sheets
• Mixer

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat.Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.