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Today’s post inspired by Mason-Dixon Knitting and their Grandma Mabel Memorial Recipe Box Show & Tell Contest.

Hi Ellen!

I’m sure you remember these cookies from our youth. Mom found a scrawled recipe in Grandma J’s stuff. (For readers — Aunt Gene was our Grandmother Hazel J’s aunt. That made her our mother’s great aunt and our great great aunt…following?) Mom thinks it is the one that Aunt Gene and Great Grandma R (ours, not our mom’s) used when they made their lemon cookies.

She copied it out on a 3X5 card for me, stuffed it in the back of a drawer and sent it to me several years later. I then carelessly left it lying around to be water-damaged carefully preserved it in my recipe box and waited several years to try it out. This was the year!

The really audacious thing about these cookies is that they are made with ammonia — it took a while to convince Dale that baker’s ammonia could be consumed…especially after he got a whiff of the kitchen. I explained that the ammonia really didn’t stay in the cookie, but was how it was leavened. (Not sure he got that.) If you want to try to make these, I got my ammonia and the lemon oil from Penzey’s. The pencil marks on the card are mine…my experimentation to determine to what “about 1/2 crock of flour” equates.

I know I didn’t get the icing right, but after the marathon baking session we did earlier in the season, a lemon glaze was all they were going to get. Fortunately the nonpareils dress them up a bit. (We always have nonpareils in our household for that very reason — if I’m too lazy for even lipstick, nonpareils do suffice.) The cookies themselves are tender and have a delicate but distinct lemon flavor. It really makes itself known after the cookie has already been gone for several minutes. It’s that lovely piquant sensation you get from citrus oil…a bit of a tingle and a note of lemony-deliciousness. And it’s pretty addicting. I didn’t roll out all of the dough…will see how it freezes.

These would be awesome if I could figure out a nicely tangy lemon icing that could just be dolloped on them. Maybe lemon curd even?

There also has been a bit of knitting going on. I am down to 8 pattern repeats for the center panel of Marie’s wedding shawl. That said, I needed a break with something requiring a little less concentration. (I have no idea how folks memorize 12 row repeating lace patterns…I have to check every row. Though I do have the rows pretty well memorized, I just can’t keep track of which I’m on without checking.) So I started “Hearts for Heidi” the socks I promised Heidi for her to wear at the wedding. I also have to get busy on my own shrug, but have at least progressed on that to the narrowing down to 8 patterns stage.

I’m also working on this. Can you guess what it is?

Gotta get going…Dale is slowly building resentment that I am playing on the blog while he vacuums in preparation for our very casual gathering tonight. Some friends and their mom/mom-in-law are coming over. We’ll go to the “Scottish Walk” in Portsmouth and come back to our place for heavy finger foods (the foods, not the fingers, though after this holiday all parts are a bit heavy), some champagne and celebration of the New Year based on Greenwich Mean Time. Yes, we are as young as we feel…and that would be fairly old!

Love, Jan

Hi Ellen!

You are, of course, absolutely correct about the need to knit well vice well enough. I frogged the cap and started over…and am now very pleased with the results. Not only did I finish knitting it up last night, but I took my pattern notes and converted them into an actual written pattern! I’m going to e-mail it to you so you can do a check for me. Hopefully this weekend I can do a bit of blog tending and establish a section for us to make patterns available. I might even have the audacity to submit to Knitty or one of the other sites like Who Knits? or Ravelry.

The cap itself is for my friend Ann who recently found she has ovarian cancer. She has formed a group of supporters around her that is helping her stay strong in the fight. More evidence that it’s our connections with others that form our safety nets. Tina graciously agreed to model for blog pix and for the published pattern. I’m pleased with the results — front and back…I’ll mail the cap off to Ann soon.

Have fun seeing the Ohio folks…It’s been too long since I’ve been back, but I just don’t have the energy to get there over a weekend.? Maybe after the wedding I hope!? Give my love to all.

Love, Jan

Hi Ellen!

Boxing Day is meant to observe the day after Christmas when British well-to-do “boxed” and delivered gifts for their servants…but having to drag my sorry behind out of bed and into work today made me feel like it was more about having survived a number of rounds in the ring! At least I came in with some wonderful memories from the last few days. We did have a great holiday — lots of the stuff you’re supposed to have…togetherness, love, appreciation, personal and spiritual reflection. Our bunch ranges along the Christian line from believer to agnostic, but we’re all well invested in being part of a better world by “being the change we wish to see in the world”. (Oh, wait a minute, that was on the paperweight we put in Marie’s stocking.) As my lovely amaryllis from my lovely sister bloomed on Christmas morning, I’ve gotta stick with believer.

The cookie and candy making crossed three days of the holiday and we delivered collections of springerle, dream bars, cranberry bars, rice krispy treats, sour milk rollouts, lemon squares, peanut butter and chocolate fudge, light and dark peppermint bark and buttercream mints to 9 recipient families/groups. We still have quite a stock of leftovers — even after Heidi and Marie took another boxful home with them.

My favorite cookies were all of our self-portraits. I don’t know if Marie had read your post for inspiration, but she decreed that we would all have to create them. And all did. I’m particularly tickled by Dale’s conversion of the santa into an astronaut. Allen’s detail on his Sailor was amazing too. And I love that Marie chose to do a burlesque costume and Tina went for evening dress. Heidi said she was going to wear what she was comfortable in — a buttoned down shirt and slacks — and that’s why she’s smiling so broadly. All got their personalities well captured!When I got out of the kitchen and to the decorating table, I had a little problem in that none of the ginger ladies or ginger men were left. I settled for using an angel. Allen points out that I am anything but an angel…I point out that not all angels are nice and she does have knitting in hand. And possibly most remarkable are the Max and Ruby cookies…what a surprise given that they don’t have opposable thumbs.

Christmas morning brought many happy rippings of wrapping paper and lots of ooh’s, ah’s, and exclamations of “I love it!” Stockings were well stuffed and everyone got more than they deserved was blessed with many lovely gifts. We rounded out the day by rounding ourselves out by mass consumption of the traditional steak and baked potato dinner, more cookies and candies, adult beverages and more cookies and candies. Heavy activity ensued — card playing and puzzle making.

And of course, knitting — but EASY knitting…a simple chemo cap pattern for a friend with ovarian cancer. I am very pleased with the feel of the fabric, but am ready to rip and restart as I’ve decided I designed for too much negative ease. It will go on the head, but I think to be comfortable for longer periods needs to have an extra inch or two. Dale, Allen and Tina encouraged me to keep going on it last night (they each wedged it on tried it on last night), but you know how it is when you just aren’t happy with the way something is turning out? You just know where you have to go, so on to the frog pond for me.

Despite the missteps on the cap, I would be lying if I intimated that we all were anything but happy and content…and at least I still am!

Love, Jan

Dear Jan,

We, too, are having a lovely approach to Christmas. Wilson and I gathered Karen in Cleveland and drove to West Virginia to join his parents and his sibs and their families for our traditional holiday. Karen’s kitties joined us. Biscuit hasn’t exactly settled in yet, but Ganymede is happily receiving tummy rubs from everyone.

First job – get a tree. We hiked out to the Christmas Tree Farm (located in the backyard) and selected a mighty spruce. Jon felled the tree. Decorating was scary, as this spruce was extra spiny, but we managed it.

One traditional event is the Christmas Eve walk. This started when we needed to burn some energy off of Karen and Jenny when they were little. Now we really need to burn off some of the holiday goodies, but it is always nice to get out and see some of the neighborhood lights. We walk a lot faster when we are doing the holiday in Minnesota.

Another tradition is Grandpa’s reading of “Silver Packages, An Appalachian Christmas Story” written Cynthia Rylant. This never fails to bring tears to 2/3 of the audience. Jenny joined us by Skype from Korea. It was wonderful to see her. Nice traditional Christmas picture, isn’t it?

Love,

Ellen

P.S. Guess who we met at airport security in Mineapolis?!

with a nod to Dar Williams

Dear Jan,

About a week ago, my boss and I had a conversation about how much he missed having the Santa Claus breakfast at work and lots of Christmas decorations in government buildings and at work and how he was sad he didn’t feel that we could just say “Merry Christmas” with abandon. I replied that I understood his nostalgia for the past and it was a shame that people couldn’t lighten up and accept a wish of Merry Christmas as a wish for happiness, not a forced indoctrination into Christianity. I did say that as a non-Christian, it could feel a bit lonely (despite being surrounded by lovely pagan symbols like wreaths and trees, but can I really count them when I know they aren’t sincere?). But basically I agreed – why can’t we all live and let live, and wish happiness and peace for all?

Yesterday a florist’s truck pulled up and delivered a lovely Christmas cactus. The card read “Happy Solstice and Happy New Year”. It was signed by my boss. It made me so happy.

And Happy Solstice to you, too.

Love,

Ellen

P.S. Snow was falling at sunrise. Gorgeous start to the holiday.