I’m making a throw blanket for myself. I’ll be honest, I’m in love with it. First of all, I’ve never made a blanket for myself, I rarely crochet things for myself besides a quick scarf or cowl here or there. The perk of making a blanket is that once it gets to a certain size you can use it to keep warm while you work on it!
The yarn is from Michael’s, it’s their private brand: Loops & Threads. The type is Cozy Wool in “Aster” and “Harvest.” And I got he pattern from a small booklet by Bernat called “Around the Season Afghans” that I picked up in the store.
The pattern I’m using is for a different size yarn so I had to adjust for that, and I’m creating my own stripe pattern, so I’m adjusting for that too. Stay tuned for the “after” picture. Happy Friday!
For the past two weeks, I have been busy attending trade shows researching new products for the 2012 season. Yesterday I went to the US Food show…the biggest and baddest food show of the season. This company goes all out to make their customers feel appreciated. Not only do you get a chance to taste-test an overwhelming amount of products but you are comped a stay at one of the participating casinos. This year I was able to stay at Caesar’s. Not only do you get a comped room, but you get to attend a three-hour cocktail party at the House of Blues. This is no ordinary cocktail party. It is three hours of an open bar with buttered hors devours and a great cover band.
Now wait just a second, the night was not over after the House of Blues party. The gang and I hit up the craps table til the wee hours of the morning. Here’s a tip that I passed onto someone last night, always play the PASS line (thank you Kylie). For a small buy-in of ten dollars, you are able to stand around the table and wait to see your money multiply. For the first time last night I was able to throw the dice on the table. What an exhilarating feeling as everyone waits to see what you roll! Though you might crap out the first time without doubling up, just hang in there and see what the next roller throws. Last night I was able to turn $10 into $80. The key is to knowing when the going is good and to back out. My friend made the mistake of continuing to play for another couple of hours and lost everything. You gotta know when to fold ’em!
I was a Girl Scout from first grade until six or seventh grade and I have the patches to prove it. I missed the Daisy stage in kindergarten but promptly informed my mother that things had to change. I was a Brownie, and a Junior I think. I can’t remember any of the other ranks. I do remember troop meetings in the basement of the Methodist church right next to school, and camping trips and hikes near the Delaware Water Gap.
The corner stone of any respectable girl scout troop is the annual cookie sale. I usually sort of cheated because I would send the sign up sheet with my dad to work. He works in Manhattan so I took advantage of all those city folk who weren’t related to a girl scout. Other than that, I only really only sold cookies to my neighbors and my grandparents because my town was so small that every girl scout had a very limited territory.
Perhaps the most iconic cookie on the list is the Thin Mint. In my house we refer to them as “cold cookies” because my mom stored them in the freezer. That’s definitely the best way to enjoy them. The internet is riddled with copy cat recipes for Thin Mints, and even though the cookie takes a few extra steps than the average chocolate chip, I was surprised by how do-able they actually are. I ended up picking a recipe that even used whole wheat flour, so they’re almost healthy!
1 lb semi-sweet chocolate (might need a little extra)
peppermint extract to taste
Method
Cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla.
Add in cocoa and salt. Then add flour. Mi until incorperated but try not to over mix. The dough will be pretty crumbly.
Turn the dough out onto the counter and form into discs of dough to place in the freezer to chill for 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350. Roll dough out pretty thin (remember how thin and small Thin Mints are). Use cookies cutters to cut desired shapes and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.
(I used the cap from my Pam spray as a cookie cutter because I could only find Christmas shapes in my drawer)
Allow cookies to cool completely.
Melt chocolate by cutting into small pieces and microwaving for 30 seconds at a time until almost completely melted. Then stir until chocolate is smooth and add peppermint extract to taste. (You might want to melt chocolate in two batches so it doesn’t cool down too much while you’re coating the cookies)
Dip the cooled cookies in the minty chocolate. Make sure to coat the whole cookie, but allow excess to drip off. Used two forks to balance the cookie and allow excess to go back into the bowl of chocolate. Place coated cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Place cookies in fridge or freezer to allow chocolate to set. Enjoy!
Sadie Dishes 
