International Relations

I met a very nice girl named Hillary from Estonia the other day. She knocked on my door and I invited her in where she unsuccessfully tried to sell me some very expensive study guides for my kids. Despite the fact that I didn't want what she was selling, we had a good chat. She asked me if I knew where Estonia was, and when I told her her jaw dropped. She said, "How did you know that?" (I assume most people don't know where it is if that was her reaction) and I said, lamely, "Uh, I looked on a map once." I wished her luck. She was a very good saleswoman and spoke excellent English (oh, how I wish our kids learned foreign languages in elementary school!) and I told her Americans love accents.
I myself married a lovely British accent in my husband, but he's been here too long. I need to send him back to England for an accent booster. Still, when we go through drive-through restaurants he has to use his exaggerated American accent to make himself understood, especially when asking for water. The one recurring problem I have with Husband's accent is that when he tells me he's been to the pawn shop looking for good bargains, I always hear "porn" shop. My head snaps around and I say, "Where??" before I figure it out. It's good for a weak laugh.
Yesterday being the 24th, Pioneer Day here in Utah, Husband had a day off and we took Oldest and Children Five and Six to IKEA. I love that store. If Six didn't decide about half-way through that he has had enough, I could probably spend a solid day in there making notes and dreaming. We looked at the things I had written on my list for the kitchen re-do, then we came home and started looking at my paint color fans. It was fun for me. I think even he had a good time. He drew a mock-up of our top floor on Google Sketchup and we played with paint colors for a while. He's not so scared about my desire for chocolate brown walls in the dining room now. Yay!

My friend, J, had a scare this morning. Her husband called early and asked if I could watch their kids again because J was gushing blood and they had had to take her quickly to labor and delivery. He just came back, hours later, to pick up the kids and told me that mom and the baby are fine. The placenta seperated, and if she hadn't been in the hospital already they probably would have lost the baby. Although the little one is just over five pounds and six weeks early, she's breathing on her own and sucking hard on a pacifier. What a relief!

In honor of Hillary, who gushed about American cookies (according to her, European cookies are thin and hard), I have put in one of my favorite cookie recipes, doctored up by me. This one is for you, Hillary.

Double Chocolate Orange Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 - 4 tsp orange extract, depending on taste (or almond is good, too. Okay, vanilla is also good, but we use vanilla extract in everything. Live a little)
1 1/3 cups (1 x 10 oz. package) chocolate chips. If you have really good bar chocolate (something the Europeans do much, much better than we do), chop it up into small pieces.

1. Heat oven to 350 deg. Farenheit (180 deg. Celsius, or gas mark4. It sure helps to have international cookbooks)
2. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and orange extract; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 - 9 minutes (do not over-cook; cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking and flatten while cooling). Cool slightly. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
Cool completely.