Today was so much better than yesterday! I feel so much calmer, and even a bit chipper! I got so much done today: post office, run, work, seeing old friends, finished anatomy lab, baking. Just an awesome feeling! 🙂
I had plans to go to a Valentine’s party at my old job, which I was happy to do because I do miss the people there. Because they view me (often times incorrectly so) as a baking goddess, I felt it necessary to oblige them and whip something up. That something was a particular cookie recipe I’ve had my eye on since it was posted: Toasted Coconut Shortbread. I have mentioned so often how much I love coconut, and it is most perfect to me when toasted (and put on ice cream), so I’ve been looking for a reason to make these.
These came out thin, crispy, buttery and delicious. I made Deb’s recipe, substituting almond extract for the vanilla because that’s what I had, and I think almond and coconut go together like peas and carrots. I wish I had cute heart shaped cookie cutters, but for right now, as long as we have something in the house that does the job close enough, purchases such as that are unnecessary and thus, not happening. These circles, while not as festive as Deb’s are, I’m sure, equally delicious. I really love the slight saltiness that comes through on these. It breaks up the richness of the butter really well.
In the middle of all this baking excitement, my doorbell rang, sending the dogs into fits of frenzy. Another package for me!! How lucky can one girl be? A few weeks ago, when I raved about the Zhena’s Tea I fell in love with, Ann from Zhena’s contacted me to tell me they appreciated my support, and they want to send me a sample of the Chocolate Chai I had been drooling over.
I am so excited! I did not get a chance to try it yet, but I will let you all know when I do. After the UPS man dropped this surprise off, I checked the mail and saw a got my portion of the Sleigh Ride Sugar Cookie Tea from Sarah for participating in the BSI contest! You can see why I’m feeling so jovial today! 🙂
I did have class tonight, which was actually really interesting. We went over the body’s homeostatic mechanisms, and one thing we talked about was how if they fail, and the body endures something like a high fever for a long time, proteins can denature causing serious problems including deafness. This happens most often in children because their bodies’ mechanisms are not fully developed yet. As those of you who actually know me outside the blog know, this happened to my mother when she was about 8 years old and she suffered permanent hearing loss, resulting in near total deafness, so I thought it was really fascinating to learn the exact reasons behind it.. (I’m sure my whole class was like “Why is this crazy chick asking so many questions about this?”)
Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!! There is no such thing as a bad Friday in my opinion. 🙂