today was the first day of school!!! yay!!!!
It was one entire hour! A whole 60 minutes! 3600 seconds! All to myself.
I spent it wisely, and took a lovely, long walk to the beach. Honestly, every single time I walk/jog/skateboard/bike to the beach, I feel so incredibly blessed that a 20-minute walk would get me to this gorgeous sight.
I’ve recently had a spate of several thought-provoking conversations about the busyness of life. Especially at this juncture — the turn of the seasons, the beginning of the school year — when life seems to be ramping up with stuff. We are constantly in a rush to do things, to be busy, occupied; always doing, but never just being.
Each conversation ended the same way: people wanted to do less, not more.
to be connected face to face, rather than screen to screen.
To spend time reconnecting/rediscovering with the person that sometimes gets the least attention: ourselves.
When I know who I am and avail myself to affirm my needs, I am then able to care more about others. Does that make sense?
So in the days to come, I’m making a decision to take time off and unplug, and just be. Just sit. Or just wait. It’s actually quite difficult. My fingers itch to pull out my phone and start fiddling — checking emails, texting, gorging on the constant influx of useless information. (Okay, sometimes useful. Like the weather. Haha, honestly, why do we even have that app? All there is to do is engage our eye muscles and look outside. But noooooo, we have to check an app that tells us that Vancouver is going to have a little grey cloud overhead today.)
Anyways. Take some time off. Just five minutes, or ten, or however many minutes you can manage and just be. Pray, if that’s your thing, or just reflect on a small, good thing that happened today, and be thankful. 🙂
And then dive into these cookies.
One of my favourite childhood memories was baking these cookies with my mom. This is her recipe, and I want to share it with you because it is so darn easy and so tweakable. I’ve only modified it very slightly from the original.
they are a bite of nostalgia, a taste of childhood, and the aroma of motherly love.
Bake some for/with your little kiddos. Indulge on your own with a tall glass of milk, or slip these mini ones into their lunch boxes for a special treat.
xoxo
happilee,
mlee
marie’s chocolate chip cookies
makes as many as you can eat. about 80 regular sized cookies, and a gazzillion mini ones.
Ingredients
- 3 scant cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups chopped good dark chocolate (i like lindt’s 70%dark chocolate)
Instructions
- put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
- beat together butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed 6 until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
- add eggs one at a time to butter mixture, beating well after each addition. beat in vanilla. reduce speed to low and mix in flour mixture until just blended, then stir in chocolate chunks. chill in fridge for an hr.
- using a small cookie scoop for standard portion sizes, scoop out dough and place 2 inches apart, on baking sheet. flatten slightly. bake, 1 sheet at a time, until golden, 8-9 minutes.*
- transfer cookies to a rack to cool and continue making cookies in same manner using cooled baking sheets.
Notes
*for mini cookies: halve the scoop of cookie dough, and use mini chocolate chip cookies, 7 minutes bake time.
**for monster cookies: use a 1/4 cup to measure out cookie dough, 13-15 minutes bake time.
***dough can be refrigerated up to a week, and kept up to three months in the freezer.
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