Happy Birthday, Dad!

Shot this on my cell phone and it's a little dark.

I just returned from Concord, CA where I spent a lovely long weekend with my dad, who was celebrating his 84th birthday. We had a lot of fun, going to see Cirque Du Soliel's Totem, eating numerous yummy meals out, playing scrabble. Mostly we just enjoyed one another's company!

Benicia Park

It was especially sweet for me to see my dad and daughter together. Life throws unexpected things at us, and it is important to enjoy the good times when they occur, isn't it? The cool fall day we all went to Benicia Park for a picnic of shrimp salad sandwiches, lovingly made by JD, will forever remain in my memory as one of the happiest of times. Happy Birthday, Daddy! Here's to many more!

Molasses Cookies for Christmas

I'm not much of a baker. Oh,I can whip up a pie. With J peeling and slicing, we can have an apple pie "as quick as a cat can wink it's eye." And my parents baked bread all the time -- brioche, white bread, salt rising, even baguettes baked in loaf pans made from down spouts. It was the 1960's, and there wasn't a Williams Sonoma on every corner!

As you can see, the cookies are a "can't miss" recipe!

 But not cookies. I never baked many cookies.

So at the holidays, I would bake only four kinds, and none of them fancy. Toll House, peanut butter, oatmeal, and ginger. Ginger are my favorite.

They were my mom's, too.

I don't think of Mom around Memorial Day when she died, or in January, on her birthday. But I do miss her as I'm making the one batch of cookies I will make this year. I wish she was around to enjoy one with me.

Molasses Cookies
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

3/4 cup margarine, melted
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup white sugar

In a medium bowl, mix together the melted margarine, 1 cup sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in the molasses. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger; blend into the molasses mixture. Cover, and chill dough for 1 hour.
Roll dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining white sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until tops are cracked. Cool on wire racks. Makes 30-36 cookies.