chocolate chip deliciousness II

A big shoutout to my big sistah Heather who gave us the original recipe—it's Mrs. Fields.

By popular demand (well, four people) here's the recipe:

2 C butter
1 1/2 C sugar
2 C brown sugar
3 eggs
2 T vanilla
6 C flour
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t baking soda
4 C chocolate chips

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

Now, my tips & techniques that, I believe, make them de-lish!

1. Use butter and only butter. No margarine, and no crisco. I feel very strongly about this. Also, you MUST let the butter soften on its own. NO MICROWAVING!! I think the microwave changes the butter somehow.
2. Stir all the ingredients by hand, with a wooden spoon. No taking short cuts by using a hand mixer! Once again, the fast mixing of the hand mixer changes the consistency of the dough. So build those arm muscles and stir by hand.
3. I often only make a half batch because this recipe yields a million cookies! It is a bit tricky to half three eggs, so I just use one whole egg, and one egg white.
4. In my opinion I think that using semi-sweet chips make these ultra yummy. I used to use one cup of milk chocolate and one cup of butterscotch, but I am on a semi-sweet kick right now. The great thing of course is that you can use whatever chip you like best. The Heath chocolate pieces are also very good.
5. When I take the cookies out of the oven after 10 minutes, they are still pretty soft, so I let them sit on the hot cookie sheet until they cool, so that they cook a little more, without getting overcooked in the oven.

So you may think that I'm neurotic when it comes to the cookies, but they are GOOD, if I do say so myself! Have fun and enjoy.

Sorry I'm being crazy cookie lady.

P.S. James & Melissa, I promise to make you guys a fresh batch the next time you are in town!

more of nezzie

While we're at it, here are a few more Nezzie-isms:

She loves to sing "Jimmy Crack Corn."
She calls The Brady Bunch, the Gravy Bunch.
Her favorite song is "Portabello Road" from Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
She holds out her hand and talks to a tiny, imaginary animal that she calls "Fido," which I can only assume is a dog.
She LOVES the book "A Bad Case of Stripes" by David Shannon. It will be a sad day when that one has to go back to the library.
She is very resistent to being potty-trained.
Her favorite thing to say is, "but Mom!"
She recently told Dave, "You're funny Daddy. Congratulations."
She goes to (pretend) Disneyland with Grandma Kewish at least once a day.
She loves her Strawberry Shortcake dolls, and told me that I need to buy her some other ones with "all [my] money."
She has the cutest little kid accent, Her "L" is a "W" and her "TH" is an "F." i.e. "wook" and "nufing" are common.

I just love our Nezzie girl. Especially when she says, "Mommy, I fink your bootiful."

i am a child of god

Nezzie was recently moved out of nursery and into primary—she's a sunbeam now. Apparently, she was asked to say a prayer in primary today, and according to her teacher, Nezzie stood at the pulpit and said "I am a child of God and He has sent me to Him. Let's pray."

Where do they come up with this stuff?

chocolate chip deliciousness

I'm normally not one to spouse-brag, but I feel it my obligation to state publically that Holly makes the best chocolate chip cookies that have ever been made on the planet earth.

i made a water bottle

We (Janda Design Company) received our promotional "Creative Juices" water bottles today and I think they look pretty sweet (if I do say so myself). It's strange to hold something that I designed. Almost all my design work up to this point has been web-based.
Let me know if you want one—I might be able to arrange something. I know a guy.

4 8 15 16 23 42

Dave and I have recently gotten into watching the tv series "Lost." My parents have seasons one and two on DVD, and the first six episodes of this season are online, so we should be able to catch up before this season resumes on February 7th. We are currently on season two—one of the early episodes—so don't spoil anything for us... that is if anyone was planning on commenting, I think Dave and I are the only ones who read this.

another snow day

Yesterday it snowed and it was the perfect day to bake. Nezzie enjoyed licking the brownie bowl, and then played outside in the snow with Uncle Jon. It was a great day.

dental plan?

We just can't get enough of our fake teeth. Santa put them in our stockings. I am pretty sure he got them at Walmart–4 for 88 cents. What a bargain for all the laughs that they have provided us thus far!

iWant

You will be mine, iPhone. Oh yes. You will be mine.

snow & prunes

Last week, Nezzie got really sick and did not have a bath for an undisclosed number of days (I just didn't want her to catch a chill). So, when she finally had a one, I let her play in the bath FOREVER. When she got out, her feet and hands were the wrinkliest things I have ever seen. In this picture, she had been out of the water for 20 minutes already, so the wrinkles appear more subdued than they originally were.

Last week, when Inez was so sick, it snowed quite a bit and she wanted badly to go outside and play. When she was on the mend, I bundled her up really well and we went outside. I tried to make a snowman, but the snow wouldn't pack. Now, there's a pathetic little mound of snow in our front yard. While I was becoming increasingly frustrated with the snow, Nezzie began eating it (she said tasted like peppermint), and Grandpa Kewish started throwing snowballs at us. It was great fun.

love the bumbo

Here's our little Gwenie sitting in her Bumbo seat. She is still getting used to it, and is really good at arching her back when she doesn't want to be in it. But it's pretty funny to see a 3 month old sitting.

I love the look on her face right here. She's got real attitude for an infant.

no love for flying robots

I had my red robot t-shirt on tonight as I was reading Inez a good-night story. She noticed the illustration and asked me what was on my shirt. I told her it was a flying robot.

"Why do you have a flying robot on your shirt?" she asked.

"I don't know—I guess I like flying robots." I said.

"Oh. I don't like flying robots, daddy." she said.

"You don't? Why not?" I asked.

"Because," she said, "I like flying supermans!"

keep on truckin'

Grandma Kewish was going through her old pairs of glasses this morning and she ran across these beauties from the seventies. Nezzie wanted to try them on, and so we decided to take some pictures of her. Luckily, the fake teeth that Nezzie got for Christmas were nearby to complete the magic.

the bumper bonnet

The bumper bonnet. Because you can never be too psychotically over-protective.
Please note: this is not our child. Also note: no children were harmed in the creation of this blog post. Note number three: if you have a bumper bonnet, want a bumper bonnet, or are a psychotically over-protective parent, we apologize.