A few good skills

The things I want to learn about/to do are mostly on the practical side. I'd love to be able to speak another language, and am currently beginning to learn French since I'd like to live in Canada, but it's slow going - I forgot just how hard it is to learn another language!

I really enjoy learning specific baking and cooking skills. Partially, it satisfies my curiosity because then I understand the science behind it and how that works, though of course I also enjoy tasting and sharing the results. The current projects that confound me are croissants and puff pastry, as well as meat. In general. I've taken a lot of the meat out of my diet due to finances, so when I end up being in charge of cooking meat, either in the oven or on the stovetop, I'm totally at a loss and have to look up recipes.

I'd love to learn how to sew well. I have some of the basics down, enough to make my own curtains.... but not so much that I didn't make a whole lot more work for myself by sewing parts of it crooked. Whoops! I get intimidated when I'm invited to sew with the other sewing people in my family because it's obvious that I'm very bad at it, but of course if I'm sewing on my own I don't have anyone to troubleshoot projects or offer tips.

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to draw and/or paint well, but I've never become very good at it. It's one of those things that would be nice to be able to do, but I'm not so invested in it that I'm willing to take time away from knitting, or the internet, or cooking, etc.

And that, my friends, is my wishlist of knowledge and skills. Enjoy your weekends, and DFTBA!

Nostalgia Cookies

Well, okay, that's not actually their name. But with these as a staple at all the family holiday gatherings and the sense of happiness just the smell of them baking brings me, they could just as easily go by the other name.

These cookies are dense and chocolatey without being overly rich, and are delicious whether they're covered in festive sprinkles or dunked in a morning cup of tea. The recipe itself is quite simple, and the only real time investment is letting the dough chill for a bit and, until you get the hang of it, rolling them out into pretzels.

Mom's Chocolate Pretzel Recipe

Makes 24 large pretzels or 36 small pretzels

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa and salt.

In a medium bowl, beat together the butter and sugar, then beat in the egg and vanilla.

In 3 additions, beat in flour mixture.

Divide into 2 logs, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours, or overnight.

When ready to shape the logs, take them out of the fridge (If chilled overnight, allow 10-15 minutes for them to thaw slightly) and set the oven to 350 F

Divide both into 12 or 18 pieces depending on how large you'd like the cookies to be.

Choose one log to work with first, and return the other to the fridge.

Shape each pretzel one at a time: gently roll out a piece into a 6-8 inch snake.

Take one end and bend it over toward the middle.

Repeat with other side, and allow the two ends to cross over each other.

You're welcome to stop here, but if you'd like yours to look a little fancier, twist the two ends over each other 1-2 more times.

And then position them so the bottom of the twisted ends is at the bottom of the pretzel, like so:

After each pretzel is shaped, place it on a baking sheet. Shape the remaining pretzels and place them on the baking sheet, leaving a couple of inches between each one. Repeat with the other log that was in the fridge.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until set.

Enjoy with a glass of milk :)