**GASP** Jeff's changing a tradition!!!

For those who don't know, I'm a pretty "traditional" kind of guy. There are certain things that just don't need to be changed. I prefer hymns greatly over contemporary choruses. I bowhunt rather than gun hunt. I can't cook a turkey without making the cornbread & sausage stuffing that goes with it. I do experiment from time to time with new stuff, but, for the most part, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

One of the most firmly held traditions in our family are the "Grandma Corey" cookies at Christmastime. Grandma Corey is my great-great-great-great grandmother on my mom's side. As my mom says, "Christmas officially starts in our house with the first batch of G.C. cookies". These are as traditional as it gets for me. The chances of me changing this recipe are about as slim as the chances of my Poppop getting a tattoo and a nose ring. The same chances as my Uncle Tom in Minnesota voting for Al Franken. But, tonight, I made a change...

We had made a batch of the cookies already today, and needed to make a second batch, but, alas, there was not quite enough flour. Staring me in the face from the cabinet was a container of cocoa powder. Hmmmm? Might I use that? Make some kind of chocolate Grandma Corey cookie? So, I consulted with my Mom and her mother, Mee Mee. Both seemed to think that it just might work. I looked at the container, and it read, "Add 1/3 cup to choco chip cookies for at chocolatey treat!" I measured out my flour. The recipe calls for 4 cups. I had 3 2/3 cups. Do you see? The flour & 1/3 cup of cocoa add up to 4! It was as if Grandma Corey herself was looking down and saying to me, "Jeff, it's OK to try it..." So, I gave it a whirl. After I made the batter, I took a taste. Hmmm...pretty good....chocolatey....not bitter at all...

As I type, the batter is chilling in the fridge until 8:30, when I will bake the first batch. We'll see what happens. I will update when the first batch is done.

I just might be bringing Pop Pop down to the tattoo parlor...

*********UPDATE********************

The cookies are great! just the right amount of cocoa and a little extra sugar, and they are fantastic. Tomorrow we'll put on the icing! woo-hoo!

What's that smell?? Part 2

So, for the past 2 weeks, there's been a smell in the basement. It started as a faint odor, and grew from there. At the end of last week, we got our septic tank pumped, thinking that the smell was maybe coming from our tank, which is only a couple feet from the house. Empty tank, smell was still here.

Today, I get a phone call at work from my beautiful bride. One of those "good news-bad news" calls. The good news was, she discovered where the smell was coming from. The bad news was, the smell was coming from our freezer FULL of meat, which had been (for the past 3 weeks) not closed all the way!!! It was my fault. I was the last one to close it, so I take the blame...

The good news is (and I thank God for this!) that we only lost about a quarter of the meat. I guess because of the moisture in the air, most of the meat in the freezer was encased in a block of frosty ice. The meat in the door, and the front part of the freezer, however, was encased in green/black/red goo. Smelly goo. And, the goo was on the bottom of the freezer. And it had leaked out of the freezer door, and was pooled on the basement floor.

The other good news that I really thank God for, is that the meat that we lost was mostly ground beef and ground venison. We unfortunately lost a few venison backstraps (the best part of the deer), and some venison steaks. Although, we just got a quarter of a cow (that's when i didn't close the door all the way), and the prime beef cuts were frozen solid in the back of the freezer (sirloin steaks, rib steaks, t-bones, roasts, london broils, etc), along with the last cuts from the half a pig we got last year (2 fresh shoulder roasts, spare ribs, and scrapple). In other words, the stuff we lost is relatively inexpensive to replace.

So, in the midst of chipping away at a glacier in the freezer this evening, I actually found myself feeling happy, and thanking God that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Yes, I'm bummed about losing some of the BEST ground beef I've ever had (from a local farm), but, it could have been worse. A LOT worse.

And, the smell is gone...

Where have I been???

Sorry to all 3 of you who check this blog regularly...

The past month has been a little hectic, and I haven't had much time to blog. Here is a quick update of things at our house:

1) The Christmas Tree is up
2) We now have FOUR deer in the freezer, and a quarter of a cow...
3) Thanksgiving was great!
4) I'm starting my Master's Degree in Music Education in January
5) I'm currently in the middle of concert week (3 concerts in 8 days)
6) God is Good. ALL the time!
7) We have decided to live a debt-free life (more details to come later)
8) We have canceled our credit cards. Yay!
9) Pellet stove is great!
10) Danielle is the best wife ever!

There you have it!