Aunt Milly's Cookies!

Last night a bunch of us "Natale" ladies went over to my cousin Susan's to learn how to make Aunt Milly's cookies. Aunt Milly is now in her 80's and threatens at every holiday that she's "too old" to make the cookies anymore. And in case that ever actually comes to pass, Susan had the great idea for Aunt Milly to transfer her knowledge onto us. With the recipe alone, we'd have been a disaster for as it turns out, Aunt Milly has her own touches that make the recipe truly hers.

Aunt Milly and her apprentices:

Jen (me), Jen Natale, Ally (Chris' girlfriend), Jenny Tighe, Kara Tighe

Yes, Aunt Milly broke her wrist :( So it was a good thing we had a lot of helpers.

We started out by laying the saran wrap on the counter and putting out the cooling racks on top. Its VERY important to do this first so you're ready to go... and well, hopefully there's enough room to put everything else you need on the counter too.

In a mixing bowl, put in 1 cup sugar and melted butter which has been cooled. Crack one egg, ensure there are no shells, then beat the egg before adding to the sugar/butter mixture. Repeat until you’ve added all the eggs.


It was a very long process. Especially with Gram whispering in my ear "you don't need to whip them in a separate bowl one at a time!" I was waiting for someone to just toss them all in the bowl. But we were trying to be good students and heed the wisdom of our Chef.



Add flavor, 2 tsps vanilla and 1 tsp orange juice. Add 2 cups flour- one cup at a time, sifting it as you pour into the bowl. Then add 6 heaping teaspoons of baking powder and mix. Then add 2 more cups of sifted flour and mix.

Mom with the antique flour sifter. Which fell into the bowl of batter no less than 3 times during the process-- something that may or may not have anything to do with the fact that Mom was trying to break the rules and put 2 cups of flour in there at once instead of 1. We all agreed that Aunt Milly has trained that sifter to only accept the maximum amount of flour that should be put into the recipe at once and go on strike should the operator try to push it ;)

Stirring the batter was hard work... but as you can see Kara was stirring with a smile. Think that Reisling was helping her attitude.

And if you know any single men or tv producers, this is also Kara's audition footage for Real Housewives of Boston.

Linda gets some muscle into it :)

I think the sifter broke again. Good job Mom!

Finally we could scoop them out on the Crisco greased cookie sheets.

Some already done. Some waiting for the oven. We had a little bit of trouble getting them to cook at 375 in 12-15 minutes but we made it work.

When cool, frost cookies- 6 at a time, and then sprinkle with a generous amount of sprinkles. Repeat until all cookies are finished.

The OFFICIAL Sprinkles are exihibited here on the left. The imposters that Susan bought are on the right. Take note :)

Aunt Milly must have been getting tired, because she let Kara and I pretty much exclusively handle the frosting and sprinkling. I mixed up the frosting and Kara added the finishing touch.

But Aunt Milly was still keeping a close eye on us.

Kara is super impressed.

Can you blame her!? We pulled it off.

Not one burnt cookie!

The final product!

Doesn't it look delicious?

It was!

Thanks Aunt Milly for teaching us this recipe. Though none of us will ever do this as well as you, we'll do our best to carry on this very important family tradition.

For this I am very thankful today!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving

I haven't written in so long that I'm not sure where to begin!

Its been a crazy couple weeks. Work has been increasingly busy and stressful so I haven't had time for much of things I like to do- exercising, cooking my meals at home, getting some downtime with Dan. But that's life and it will even out soon.

Then on Saturday while getting all excited about my new compost bin- I left my camera (aka 3rd appendage) out on a stump in the backyard and somehow didn't realize it was missing until Tuesday -- can you tell I'm a bit out of whack lately?! Thankfully, somehow, it was ok. My hand-me-down case from Kris and Matt is kick-ass! Even though it was soaked nearly throughout it didn't actually let any water drip onto my camera. We dried it out for a couple days. I turned it on this morning and I'm back in business. Didn't even lose any pictures. Someone or something is looking out for me somewhere ;)

I started PT for my back. Trying to be good about doing my stretching exercises. Really hoping it helps. I've also gone for 2 rounds of trigger point injections which hurt like hell, but again- hoping it helps, so its worth it.

Went to a Mark Party at Sheri's house last Friday! So much fun to have a glass of wine (or a few) with the girls and just catch up. As much as I usually love things being more low key than they used to be, I really miss hanging out and chatting on Friday nights at Reggio's like we used to.

Had fun with the Natale ladies at my cousin Nicole's baby shower. Abigail Josephine (Abby Jo) is due in January! I can hardly believe it! :)

Ok off to upload some pictures and hopefully I'll find my way back here!

Apple Picking

Yikes I uploaded these photos on 11/11 of our Apple Picking Adventure and never put any text with it so I could publish. Going to make this quick to get it done :)

Grammy & Riley enjoying a cider donut.


Melissa, Uncle Bob & Aunt Wendy!
Sampling is allowed :)

The whole fam damily- Megan, Melissa, Uncle Bob & Aunt Wendy

Grammy & Riley

Auntie Jen & Riley
She's even sweeter than the apples, I promise you!

Riley & Pepere picking apples together.

Auntie Jen, Pepere, Riley & Grammy


They had this cool little petting zoo there. How cute is this sheep?!?! I seriously wanted to take him home... Doubt that Dan would appreciate that though.

The animals loved Riley!

After apple picking and animal petting we took a storybook hayride through the field.

Waiting for our hayride to pick us up!

The whole fam! :)

Cousins!

At the end we did a little shopping. Riley loved the band- and wanted a front-row view! We literally had to drag her out of there. Girl loves to dance :)

We had a great day! Lots of laughs and wonderful memories.

what's new?

i've been remiss about blogging lately, so here are some updates:

Sunday November 1
Went apple picking in New Hampshire with Mom, Dad, Jeff, Melissa & Riley. My Uncle Bob & Aunt Wendy and 2 cousins- Melissa and Megan! We had a blast! I have a ton of cool pictures from that day. Need to upload SOON!

Wednesday November 4th
I'm 29 and falling apart.
I went to a physiatrist (no, not a psychiatrist! lol) who said I have bursitis in my hips, ITB syndrome, SI joint issues and bi-lateral shoulder issues. Fun stuff right? I had an x-ray of my spine, which I assume at this point is ok since I didn't hear back.

Next Steps: Physical Therapy for my hips and SI joint issues. 3 shots of lidocaine in my shoulders/upper back starting this week. Did I say 29? this sounds like 79! lol

I posted this on Facebook which got many comments... but my favorite of which was this:
Steve Soule: see what happens from walking. just drink beer and eat meat like the rest of us!
I literally almost fell off my chair when I read this one!

{p.s. YES! I'm finally on Facebook. I have myself set to private because frankly I'm not really interested in being friends with people that I don't really know- or haven't been in touch with for decades. But if you are my friend and you know me, email me and we'll be friends on Facebook too! I'd love that}

Thursday November 5
I took a knitting class!
Finally!
I've been wanting to learn for years.
The class frankly wasn't all that great. But it was a decent enough start. And then with some help and encouragement from friends I think I'm getting the knack of it! Believe me, I've made my fair share of mistakes- but I'm knitting a scarf for me, and if it ends up with some battle scars from my learning process I'm totally ok with that.

What else?
Work is going well. Getting busy again in the next couple weeks so I'll be straight out with that.

We have a mass for Bubba on Saturday at 4:00 at St. Bridget's in Abington. Looking forward to spending some quality time with my family and remembering someone who had such an amazing influence on my life!

I'm hoping to continue and potentially even finish my scarf this week so I can hit up a local yarn store to get some tips on starting another (addicted already. its true).

So that's me. Right now.
Exciting stuff huh?!

Halloween 2009!

Halloween this year was a dream!
Almost 70 degrees, a little windy, but comfortable enough
that we spent the whole afternoon outside at Terri & Doug's!

Fortunately or unfortunately most of the kids (Oisin, Riley, Willy and Aila) are too young to enjoy the true pleasure of Halloween (not I'm not being sentimental- I'm talking about CANDY). Raisins were the big hit of the day! Mom gave each of the kids a goodie basket with toys and Halloween related stuff- and Raisins...

Here's Oisin & Riley sharing raisins.

Auntie Jen & Riley (aka Pebbles Flintstone)
Emelyn was the coolest spider! Megg did a great job with her costume.

Though I'm not sure Riley knew what to make of this!

Terri had a pumpkin for each of the kids to carve- with some adult supervision of course. Though my Dad was the head knivesman (for awhile) was also holding a beer half the time. Should have gotten a picture of that! :)

Riley & Jeff

Willy & Doug
(you can just tell he's thinking "this is a mess")

Gradually the kids got into their costumes. Aila was the cutest giraffe ever!! Yes, I'm biased. The fact that my godchild has connections with giraffes makes me happy. And she certainly made Uncle Danny smile from ear to ear too!

It was hard getting a picture of Willy in his ducky costume- but this one cracks me up! If only I had some candy to give him- he was doing his best "Trick or Treat" practice run!

Uncle Jeff with Riley

Finally it started getting dark and it was time to Trick or Treat. We only took the kids to the 4 or 5 houses in the Fortin's cul-de-sac but with a gaggle of mostly toddlers that takes plenty long and they're ready to come home when we're done.

Oisin & Riley are ready in the wagon! :)

We came home after our short but sweet Trick or Treating adventure. Megg and Tom took Emelyn out for some more since she's old enough to enjoy the pure thrill of getting free candy for doing practically nothing.

Mom made our family's traditional Halloween meal- Hamburger Soup (a recipe I gave my grandmother and ironically I don't like the soup). And I made a roasted vegetable soup with homemade croutons. Mmmm!

The kids had fun running around and playing together :) And we had to get a few more pictures too..

far from perfect, but i love this shot of aila! look at those eyes!

And the one reasonable shot of A&W. It went quickly downhill from here. She was squirming. He was trying to reel her back in, attmpting to kiss her but the duck bill was getting in the way. And his costume (read- fat suit) was totally getting in the way.

Um.. yeah... just a little uncomfortable.

Get me out of this thing Mom!

Attemping to get off the couch.

Again. Fat Suit. Getting. In. The. Way!

Soon after Matt took Willy home. Aila and Oisin were sleeping. Megg went to the Middle East to see a friend's band. Dad put on the Yankees/Phillies game. Tom got the house straightened up and got Ois in bed.

And Mom, Terri, Kris and I played Hand & Foot!

Terri had never learned and wanted to learn in a quiet, nurturing environment (aka not at the hands of Gram- who means well of course- but it does get heated).

Em got to sit in on the game for awhile.

Thrilled to get to wear Nanny's light up pumpkin earrings!

Definitely a great night for this little punkin!