Category Archives: Family

4 January 2012

Cookie Dilemma

By Nicki

Have you ever had issues with what you are baking? I made cookie dough. I made two different kinds, both what I consider Christmas cookies. The first batch was sugar cookie rollout dough. It was my mother’s recipe and I use to hate using it as I am not a wait for the dough to get cold kind of gal. I like making my dough and my cookies and being done with it all. The second was a gingerbread recipe that also needed to be chilled.

The sugar cookie dough was done on a Saturday in December. My oldest daughter was having a party the next day and I was making these cookies for that party. I never got them cut out and baked. There is that chill the dough part coming in again. I left the dough in the refrigerator for some time but when I did decide I was going to make cookies, the dough was all crumbly. I added a bit more water and still was having issues. I re-wrapped the dough and put it back in the refrigerator.

I have several gingerbread cookie recipes. I have, though, lost my favorite one which did not require refrigeration. I cannot wait to find another not necessary to chill the dough recipe. In the beginning of December, I made one recipe. I refrigerated it and then got it all rolled out and made a gingerbread-mince roll. It also had ginger flavored cream cheese in it and was delicious. The roll had some issues in the oven but tasted fantastic.

The second batch I used a recipe that came with a Tupperware calendar I had years ago. The recipe was larger so I could do some cut outs and another roll if I wanted to do so. I refrigerated the dough and, sure enough, it was all crumbly. I do not know what happened. I added more water and re-formed several – four to be precise – balls of dough and put it back in the refrigerator.

I am ready to make cookies again. Now, will the two dough be good enough or will a crumbly-ness continue and will I eat the raw the cookie dough?

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Family, Food and Recipes, Just my Thoughts

22 December 2011

Stuffed Dates

By Nicki

Memories are important pieces of each individual. Frequently, we associate or remember different activities that we did with certain people in our past. Again, this holiday memory comes from my grandmother.

I grew up in my grandparents’ home from age five. Nowadays this may be more common place but in the mid-60’s, this was an oddity. My grandmother would make all kinds of cookies, fudge and other goodies for the holidays. I would always help if allowed.

Stuffed dates were not something I enjoyed at the time but now I love dates. Consequently, I decided to take some stuffed dates to a party I was to which I was to bring an appetizer.

Stuffed Dates

INGREDIENTS


Dates
Chopped walnuts
Sugar

PROCESS
1. If you have dates with pits in them, make a slice in the date and remove the pit. If your dates are pitted, open the date. You may still need to make a cut line if the date does not open easily.

2. Chop walnuts to a small pieces.

3. Place chopped walnuts in the opening in the date.

4. Pinch date closed and roll in sugar.

This is approximately one pound of dates.

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15 December 2011

Johnson City Holiday Parade

By Nicki

Two weeks ago, on the first Thursday evening of December, the Johnson City Business and Professional Women put on the annual Johnson City Holiday Parade.

 

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14 December 2011

Two Flavored Fudge

By Nicki

I am posting several of my favorite holiday recipes. Once you see what is in this recipe, you will understand why I only  make it at the holidays.

With us in the grasps of the holiday season, I know, as well as you all do, that a lot of celebrations center around food. In that vain, I am going to share several of my family holiday recipes over the next few days.

My grandmother always made a lot of goodies for the holidays. My favorite recipe is the one for Two Flavored Fudge. I have to admit that fudge is hard to make. I will also admit that I have made this one time when it did not set and we sat at my other grandmother’s table and at the soupy mess with spoons.

Two Flavored Fudge

2 c. firmly packed brown sugar

1 c. granulated sugar

1 c. evaporated milk

½ cup butter

1 7-oz. jar marshmallow cream

1 6-oz. pkg. butterscotch morsels

1 6-oz. pkg. semisweet chocolate morsels

1 c. walnuts, chopped

1 t. vanilla

Preparation Instructions

In a saucepan combine the first four ingredients.

Bring to a full boil over moderate heat, stirring frequently. Boil 15 minutes over moderate heat, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat. Add marshmallow cream, butterscotch morsels and chocolate morsels. Stir until morsels are melted and mixture is smooth. Blend in walnuts and vanilla. Pour onto a greased 9x 9 inch pan. Chill until firm. Makes about 2 ½ pounds.

1 comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Family, Food and Recipes, Just my Thoughts

29 November 2011

Cornell Hockey

By Nicki

Last week, my daughter and I picked up a former classmate of hers from university and made what seems to be our annual trek to Cornell University. We live about 40 miles from Ithaca, New York and Cornell is an easy drive for a game or event, providing weather cooperates.

The reason for the trip this time was the Niagara University men’s ice hockey team was going to be playing Cornell. The 7 pm start made it easy to get her friend from college and get to Lynah Rink with time to spare. I will say I have never before had to park in the garage for a hockey, soccer or basketball game at Cornell but, even with the Thanksgiving break beginning, the parking lots around the rink were full.

Lynah and Cornell have some great hockey traditions. The banners that hang from the rafters tell the story of a program that wins and produces championships. Games are very hard to get tickets for, between the student section – which was full last week despite the impending break – and the season ticket holders. While there were seats in the area of the season ticket holders that looked empty, those seats most likely belonged to someone who was out of town for the holiday.

We saw some great hockey played by both teams. Niagara, who is not having a great season as far as wins, played very well and almost took the game to overtime. Unfortunately, a goal went in for Cornell with approximately 8 minutes left in the third period.

Enjoy the slideshow of sights from the game. Please realize the red you will see is mostly on the fans as I was looking to get good shots of Niagara players. Also realize that all photos were taken through glass. While our seats were practically on the ice, section O – where Cornell puts visiting fans – is not conducive to great photos of the entire ice.

 

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Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Collegiate Sports, Family, Just my Thoughts, Sports

28 November 2011

Advent Thoughts

By Nicki

This is the first in a series of four posts on the liturgical season of Advent.

 

Yesterday began the Advent season in the Roman Catholic church. Growing up I was not Catholic but Episcopalian so I am use to Advent as a liturgical season but many people do not recognize this period of waiting for Christ to be born.

In the church, there are two periods of waiting and anticipation. Advent is the first as the new church year begins with Advent. Lent is the other and is the anticipation of Christ rising. Back to Advent.

As I do on most first Advent Sundays, I looked for two items. The first is for me, personally. Many years ago I bought a copy of a book that is meant to be read throughout Advent. I bought it closer to Christmas that first year. I packed it away , not thinking I could read from that date forward. The next time I brought it out during Advent was in 2001.

Advent of 2001 was a prayerful time for me. I was concerned as three of my children were flying in December. They were headed to a Catholic youth conference that had been scheduled for a month earlier but postponed, cancellation was a possibility, because of the attacks on New York and Washington in September. This national conference was in Indianapolis this year and would draw over 30,000 Catholic teens from around the US. Many in charge thought it would be a perfect target for additional attacks. I was just worried about plane travel at that point in time.

I knew that this trip, if it happened, was a pray and let it go to God trip. Nothing I did as a mother or an adult was going to make a difference in the experience or the outcome. So I took my kids to the airport and did just that – prayed and let it go to God.

Ten years later I still remember pulling out Anders’ book every morning the kids were gone and reading and praying for all those who were in attendance – the teens, their chaperones, the priests, those who would get them there and back safely.

1 comment   |  tags: , | posted in Family, Just my Thoughts

16 November 2011

Travel Tidbits 2

By Nicki

As flawless as my travel east to the west was, my flights going home, west to east, were as bad as the travel out was good. I traveled in both directions with no specific plans on the day of arrival. Because of this, when airlines were looking for someone to bump – of the six flights I was on, all but one was oversold – I was more than happy to offer myself to be bumped. If I were getting compensated for so, I was more than willing to change my travel plans.

The oversold flights from my trip west continued with a 5:49 am flight out of Palm Springs. I did let them know that I was more than willing to fly on a later flight. Much to her credit, the airline employee’s major concern was that I would be getting into Binghamton about midnight. I assured her this was not a problem and I did not live far from the airport. Given that the snow of the week before was gone and weather in Binghamton was forecast to be in the mid-60’s, I was not concerned about flying into BGM late. It ended up that the seat was not needed as several people did not check in.

My sister had been very concerned that I did not have much time between my flights into and out of LAX. I was truly not at all concerned. The smaller plane out of Palm Springs landed at Gate 82 in Terminal 8 and the Boeing 777 flew out of Gate 76 in Terminal 7. I managed to go to the restroom, get a latte and still make boarding of my plane. Little did I know that I should not have bought the food for lunch as I would be in the airport again before long.

I bought some fruit and a large bottle of water at Starbucks along with my gingerbread latte. Starbucks was so nice that they put the food in a small brown bag. Being totally unsure if someone would give me grief for a purse, a laptop bag and the bag of food, I combined items into my other two bags prior to boarding.

After filling the Boeing 777 full to the brim, the captain came on the PA system and said there was a small mechanical problem and our 7:47 am takeoff would be pushed back to 8:30. I knew I had a little over two hours at Dulles to make my next connection so I figured that a 45 minute delay would not be an issue. About five minutes later, the captain came on again. The mechanical repair would take until 9:30. Everyone was to deplane and wait in the airport. Please take anything of value with you were the final tidbits he said. I decided, even though it was bulky, to take both my purse and laptop bag off with me. I was hoping for free WiFi but did not get it there.

As the plane re-boarded, there were several that were not with us any longer. The young Swede who was on the aisle near me had been put on a different flight to be sure he would not miss his connection in Dulles. Still, the customer service people did not move everyone. I had asked to get a seat on the later flight out of Dulles that I already knew was available due to my volunteering in Palm Springs. The representative did not want to do it. I did finally get him to hold me a seat “just in case.”

Since the woman who was seated next to me was ending her travel at Dulles, she was still on the flight. As the four hour plus flight went on, I was very happy the Swede was no longer there as this woman was a mover. I don’t think she sat still the entire time she was on the plane. She would fidget and move constantly. I was happy she had decided to sit in the aisle seat and not her assigned middle seat. I opted to play Bejeweled 2 on the seat back touch screen most of the flight, off and on.

Let me warn you about Dulles. The commuter flights that are operated by small regional airlines but are under a larger airline umbrella fly in and out of the A gates. Not a big deal except that there are only two ways to get to these gates – a shuttle meant to go to the D gates and a train that runs every 2.5 minutes to the main terminal. The shuttle runs during certain blocks of time when those commuter flights are arriving or departing. If you have a tight connection, you may not be able to use the shuttle and may have to take a bus to the main terminal and then the train to the A gates. This is what cost me making my connection on the way home.

Of course, an unexpected four hour delay in my flight home left me with some great people watching time. More later.

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8 November 2011

Traveling Tidbits & Late Winners

By Nicki

I just spent two weeks in the desert southwest. My mom lives near Palm Springs, California and I went out to celebrate her seventieth birthday. Getting to that area from the small Southern Tier of New York town that I live in is never easy but I managed to get there with limited plane changes.

 

Since my sister booked my flight, I had little control over where I was flying but was more than willing to go to several airports if necessary. I had only one request. I did not want to fly through Cincinnati again. The last time I flew out to that area, my flight went through Cincinnati and it was a horrible experience.  No Cinci this time.

 

The flights two weeks ago to Palm Springs were totally uneventful. I flew from Binghamton to Washington/Dulles to Denver to Palm Springs. My puddle jumper from Binghamton to Dulles was early getting in. This allowed me the ability to catch the shuttle from Gate A area to Gate D area. After my flight home, I realized how nice this was and how lucky I was as the shuttle runs strange times. I had, due to the early arrival, almost a full four hours to kill in Dulles which I did online most of the time.

 

I spent some time chatting with a wind turbine technician. While this is not work I would want to do, he was very into his work and even had plotted out a “plan” as to the areas he wants to work in next. This connection was a bit weird as Palm Springs has a huge wind turbine farm.

 

There was the man with many cell phones. I was sitting near the Samsung Charging Station as my Windows laptop has a limited battery life. I did want to be able to get online in Denver so wanted to charge instead of just using battery. There was a man there who had four different cell phones plugged into the charging station. This took all the outlets and I was just amazed. Eventually, someone asked him if he could unplug one or more so someone else could charge items. I just laughed. Imagine being so important you need that many cell phones. Either that or he has multiple relationships and a different phone number for each.

 

Denver seemed to be a very long airport. Remember I come in on a big plane from Dulles. I arrived at Gate 32 and departed at Gate 94. I kept walking and walking. If I had known exactly where I was going, I might have stopped for dinner sooner but I was a bit unsure so I waited  until I spotted the gate before settling a sandwich.

 

The story associated with Denver is all about the one flight attendant on the flight. There was a small baby on the flight. I was in row 2. The baby was in the back of a plane that seated approximately 50. The baby started crying before we even took off and the parents were having little or no luck getting the child to stop crying. The flight attendant looked at those of us up front and said she didn’t know what we were going to do about that baby but she was staying up front. I laughed to myself but damned if that woman made only one trip to the back of the plane. The rest of the time she inventoried whatever was around in the galley and didn’t go back there again.

 

That was my trip west. The return trip was not so great so will wait until another day. For now I want to let the winners of the cards from Shutterfly know who they are are. I will be contacting you tomorrow with your code.

Debbie

Andrea

couponboss

Congratulations to you all!!!

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20 October 2011

Traveling

By Nicki

I use to think traveling was quick, easy and fun. Then, I had children. Now, I admit, my children are mostly all adults so I do not have to worry as much about the needs of the kids when I travel but I got to thinking about how much I use to do when I traveled with kids. There is nothing quick and easy about traveling.

First, I am a planner. I like to get everything set up in advance. Take, for example, my trip with two of the boys to Myrtle Beach last February. I made reservations in October. I did have to change these in January as one of the boys had an issue with going as early as I wanted to arrive. Still, the basics were done well in advance. Nowadays, when making plans, I usually have the school calendar available so that I know I am not leaving town when I should be here for something of importance. This usually works unless I am making plans in one school year for travel that will be happening in the next school year.

Second, when I leave kids home (the youngest is 17, the oldest 26), I tend to be sure that I leave a note with them so the older, adult children can authorize any emergency health care for the youngest one. This is particularly important when I know that their father is also going to be out of the area and therefore unavailable for this purpose. In retrospect, this also means making sure the youngest’s medications are up to date and filled and remembering to leave an insurance card home.

Third, I tend to meal plan for those left home. Easier than leaving cash, I do the shopping in advance and leave a menu for what is to be made while I am away. Since my trips tend to be three to four days, this is not a big deal. Some cash would have to be left with a responsible older child if I were to be traveling for a longer period of time. Bread and milk tend to be gone through quickly. These need to be replenished.  I will say the food planning would be easier now that the youngest has a job where he eats at work when he works.

So to get out of the house for a vacation – without even thinking about packing – I can spend several days in preparation.

Do you plan and spend a long time getting ready to take a vacation away from your family?

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16 October 2011

Fall Football

By Nicki

What else is there to do in small town America on a fall afternoon, or evening in some cases, than head to the local high school football game? While the weather yesterday was less than ideal, the date was set for the annual Band Day. While our school district has an excellent music program, the band for football contests is generally a small pep band. One home game a year for the last four years, the pep band invites all band members from grade 5 up to join the pep band for Band Day.

 

The music will vary from year to year but the formation is always the same. The group forms an M-E on the football field and then plays a couple pieces. For some of these musicians, it is their first time playing outdoors. For some, it is there first time playing with the “older” kids, many of whom they have never meant.  Below is a selection of photos from Band Day – some from inside rehearsal which started at 10:30 am to in the stands to on the field.

 

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