Swings

Andy is on swings. Which means he works from 12:30 PM to 12:30 AM. Which means that if I want the car, I have to drive with him and Emma to work so that I can drive the car back. I do this when I need to do things like grocery shopping, etc. The problem is that I then have to go pick him up at the end of the day. This week that means waiting til midnight to leave and get him... Hopefully everyone will be on time so that everyone (including Emma and I) doesn't get punished with having to stay another half hour... But, alas, this is life in the Navy.


I tried making all sorts of things today. Petite lemon curd cookies, which are built off of the basic
butter cookie recipe, (we didn't have salt, and cookies are horrible without salt! They're all sugar and nothing to differentiate... much like South American, maybe Mexican, cookies. If you want something funny, find someone who has never had American cookies. They will be delightfully surprised at the complex flavors and the way the salt actually brings out the sugar!)
Sorry about that aside, but anyway, I didn't have all the tools for the petite lemon curd cookies (Even though they sound delicious... Three cheers for lemon curd!) I needed a round cookie cutter and lemons... Alas, does the shopping list never end?

So, instead of this, I consented to clean out my pantry. While doing this, I stumbled on a bottle of Root Beer Concentrate Andy and I had bought intending to make our own root beer. Inevitably, we never had done it, not having the sparkling water and yada yada yada... But today I happened to have bought 2 liters of sparkling water for my soda! (I like to mix 100% fruit juices with seltzer water to make a healthier pick-me-up)

So, it's cooling in the fridge right now, but it smells like Barq's! While Barq's does have bite... I have to say that I much prefer A&W. It's just sweeter. But after making my own soda... I really have to appreciate the amount of sugar they put in that stuff! I assure you, well... I'll just have to give you the recipe to illustrate:

Bring 1 1/2 cups flat water to a boil. Add 3/4 c. sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Add 1 1/2 tsp. Root Beer Concentrate. Allow to cool. Place in a pitcher. Once cooled, add 1 liter of sparkling/spritzer water.

When you're actually pouring the sugar in, you realize that it's half of the original water! This is ridiculous!!! Buying sodas with real sugar is a step up from HFC but come on... That's a lot of sugar!


I am going to start making more things myself. For instance - cookies are very good. Not the most nutritious thing if bought from the store, and I'm not saying that making them at home makes them nutritious. But, when you buy baked goods from the store, you get trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils). These are bad. They are little fats that bounce around in your body forever because your body cannot break them down. They were created in the 50's (Crisco, anyone?) as an attempt to make oil solid at room temperature. It is not natural (*shudders). It is evil.
So, it's a step in the right direction, my making cookies at home. It also gives a wonderful air about the house, and, as the instigator of the "heart" of the home, I think it is my duty to make a lovely home. This is getting hard these days with the lack of money, but who says you can't make cookies? :-)

KR