FOOD FRIDAY

BEACON HILL COOKIES

1 cup sugar

1 cup softened butter

2 egg YOLKS

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup oatmeal

3/4 cup Rice Krispies

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

a dash of almond extract if desired

Mix sugar & butter, add egg yolks, vanilla & salt. Stir in flour, baking powder, oatmeal and Rice Krispies. Scoop and roll into small balls, place on greased cookie sheet and press down with a fork. Bake at 350* for about 10 minutes.

Hello From British Columbia

We arrived at the Trendwest/Worldmark resort at Whistler about 5pm Tuesday. We actually made pretty good time. We left the house at 8:30am, stopped in Everett (north of Seattle) for breakfast, stopped at a couple Rest Area's for potty breaks and crossed into Canada about 1 o'clock in the afternoon. It's about 78 miles from the Vancouver area to Whistler. And Vancouver is about 70-80 miles north of the border. We did run unto falling snow in Seattle and north of there, but nothing drastic. Once we got into Canada the snow stopped.

The road up here to Whistler is not real good. The rock cliffs along the highway are sort of scary. You can see areas where previous slides have occurred. There are places where the pavement is good & there is two lanes in each direction. Other places it's very rough and single lane in each direction. They are working on the highway, however, getting ready for the 2010 Winter Olympics. They are really fighting a battle at this time. It's cold and it's obvious that there's been lots of snow this winter. In some places the snow is piled along the highway higher than the cars.

We stopped at a Walmart about 30 minutes south of the resort. I'd forgot to pack some grated cheese for the one breakfast meal that Bob likes. I was horrified when I saw the price of a 16 ounce package of a grated cheese blend~just under $7.00. I can get the same package for just under $3.00 at home. I'm glad we brought milk with us....I hate to think how much that might be. We topped off the gas tank in Washington....the gas here is about 99 cents a liter which I guess is around $4.00 a gallon. I filled up Monday for $1.86 gallon and we got it in Bellingham, WA for $1.96 a gallon.

Anyway, the resort here is quite lovely. We got that car unpacked, brought all our stuff up and put it away. Then went down & took the shuttle bus into the village. It was very cold (and I wasn't dressed right) so we didn't stay long. But it was so beautiful at night, with the snow & all the lights..oh my! If you looked way up in this one area, you could see the grooming machines on the mountain. There was a gondola running but we both decided we didn't want to ride it up and back down the mountain when it was pitch dark.

Bob left about 10am in his ski gear, ready to hit the slopes. So once I get off here and get ready, I'm going to go down & get on the shuttle and head into Whistler Village and check it out in the daylight.

I understand there was a lot of snow at home yesterday. They get Seattle TV stations up here, so I was watching the news and saw that there's lots of schools closed or running late today, due to icy road conditions.

My heart goes out to those folks in Australia where the wild fires continue. Also to those in Oklahoma where there was lots of damage due to tornado's.

Until next time......Linda coming to you from beautiful British Columbia, Canada

Wednesday

"Forget Love~I'd rather fall in Chocolate"

FULL MOON

Did you happen to see it last night? It was glorious~I know there are names for each full moon so checked out the Farmer's Almanac. Here's what they had to say about February's full moon; • Full Snow Moon - February Since the heaviest snow usually falls during this month, native tribes of the north and east most often called February's full Moon the Full Snow Moon. Some tribes also referred to this Moon as the Full Hunger Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult.

It's 8am and we haven't left here yet. I'm seeing on the local news that there's snow falling north of us, so we're bound to have a slow go...as we head north.

Bob is saying "I wish we would have left Monday afternoon." Grrrrrrrr, that what I suggested and he said "no." Oh well.............Until next time Linda

HAPPY MONDAY

Canada Here We Come !

Bob has been wanting to go skiing at Whistler, BC. Last night one of his daughter's offered us their Trendwest points, as they are not going to be able to travel this year and if the points aren't used they loose them. So we now have confirmation of a Trendwest condo unit at Whistler for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. I'm not sure if we'll leave Monday & stay somewhere else Monday night or just make the drive up there Tuesday~if we do that, it will be a long day of driving. We'll be staying in the Cascade Lodge. Here's a couple pictures of the place.

I'm so excited. I haven't been in Vancouver in years and have never been to Whistler which is about 110 miles north east of Vancouver. I'll be taking my laptop but am not sure of Internet availability so you may not hear from me this next week. However, I have a few entries scheduled to post in the next week....so you'll get those. (Guido~thank you so much for telling me about scheduling entries!)

So today I've been busy gathering clothes, food, etc. for the week. These time share condos are completely furnished with everything you need to live but you do have to bring your own groceries. Gabi is going to go stay with my grand daughter and my neighbor is going to pick up my mail. We'll be back late Friday night...hope everyone has a good week. Linda

White Lie Cake

Have you ever told a white lie?

You are going to love this, especially all of those who bake for church events.Alice Grayson was to bake a cake for the Baptist Church Ladies' Group in Tuscaloosa , but forgot to do it until the last minute.

She remembered the morning of the bake sale and after rummaging through cabinets, found an angel food cake mix & quickly made it while drying her hair, dressing, & helping her son pack for Scout camp.

When Alice took the cake from the oven, the center had dropped flat and the cake was horribly disfigured. She thought, 'Oh dear, there is not time to bake another cake.

'This cake was important to Alice because she did so want to fit in at her new church and in her new community of friends. So, being inventive, she looked around the house for something to build up the center of the cake.Alice found it in the bathroom - a roll of toilet paper.

She plunked it in and covered it with icing. Not only did the finished product look beautiful, it looked perfect.Before she left the house to drop the cake by the church and head for work, Alice woke her daughter Amanda and gave her some money and specific instructions to be at the bake sale the moment it opened at 9:30 and to buy the cake and bring it home.

When Amanda arrived at the sale, she found the attractive, perfect cake had already been sold. She grabbed her cell phone and called her mom.Alice was horrified - she was beside herself.

Everyone would know! What would they think? She would be ostracized, talked about, and ridiculed! All night, Alice lay awake in bed thinking about people pointing fingers at her and talking about her behind her back.

The next day, Alice promised herself she would try not to think about the cake and would attend the fancy luncheon/bridal shower at the home of a fellow church member and try to have a good time.

Alice did not want to attend because the hostess was a snob who more than once had looked down her nose at Alice because she was a single parent and not from the founding families of Tuscaloosa but, having already RSVP'd, she couldn't think of a believable excuse to stay home.

The meal was elegant, the company was definitely upper crust old South and, to Alice's horror, the cake in question was presented for dessert! Alice felt the blood drain from her body when she saw the cake!
She started out of her chair to tell the hostess all about it, but before she could get to her feet, the Mayor's wife said, 'What a beautiful cake!'

Alice still stunned, sat back in her chair when she heard the hostess (who was a prominent church member) say, 'Thank you, I baked it myself.'

Alice smiled and thought to herself, 'God is good.'