The Summer of Our Content

I'm writing this from the Library Lounge in the Renaissance Syracuse Hotel
in New York.

How did you happen to be there, you ask as you scratch your head.
You live in Michigan, Happyville to be precise. How came you to be so far from
hearth and home?

I had the great good fortune to fall in love with, and subsequently marry a man whose career
involves a certain amount of travel during the warmer months. This is one of those trips. And I was invited along. It meant six days and five nights of peace and escapism.

I'm big on escapism. And so here I am in New York.

I am surrounded by opulence of a sort, if you're impressed by over-sized club chairs
that gather you in their soft leatheriness and whisper relaxing nothings in your ear; and plush earth-toned carpet lined with bookshelves. Who wouldn't want to write in this place?

One other patron slaving away on a laptop--otherwise, it's just me and a discreetly hovering
bartender, watching but not watching, in case I should suddenly find my muse
dried up and in need of that next vodka and cranberry.

No household tasks, no children, no worries, no cares,
NO TELEPHONE.

As a teenaged American girl, our rotary dial phone was practically an
appendage. I had that thing sticking up against the side of my head constantly.
I'm not sure why or when it changed, but I despise the thing now.
I cannot stand talking on the phone. What a time-waster. I could be perfecting my Solitaire skills or winning copious amounts of make-belive cash in online Jeopardy, where my every answer is applauded by a studio audience.

I'd much rather e-mail or drive the distance it takes to have a conversation in person.
Of course, the phone, especially the cell type, is very, very practical and useful.
But...once I'm at home for the evening, I tend to guard my time jealously, and I
hate to share it with some little appliance, as if it's the boss of me or something.

At their advanced ages, my kids still fly toward the land line when it shrills, but I
refuse to be its slave. When I keep sitting and let it just ring repeatedly, they look at
me as if I've taken one too many punches to the head.

I guess I've learned that short of a national emergency in which President Obama
desperately needs my unique and skewed point of view on the nation's current problems
(one of my current fantasies, btw) it'll keep.

We have an answering machine, after all.
I fully doubt that any incoming call could be that important that it couldn't keep until
morning, or whenever I feel like checking the voice mail.

This, however, is a long way away from Syracuse. We arrived Wednesday and will
be leaving on Sunday, breaking our journey in Pennsylvania somewhere.

But until then, I have almost every day free to...well, do anything I please.
True, I have no transportation, but I am a resourceful person and don't need wheels
to amuse myself. There's a great little bistro within even my walking distance for
sustenance that I frequent so my nourishment is taken care of.
What else could any girl want?

Just give me free WiFi and I'm happy as a clam.

When's the last time you had several hours to surf, research, or just play on
your computer, with no distractions to pull you away?
See, to me that is heaven. That may not hold true for you. (If not, you're strange and I
don't understand you.)

And reading.

Accompanying me on this trip are many magazines, books, and
reams and reams of paper on which I printed out all those things that I didn't have time
to investigate further in my real world. This is vastly different from JaneWorld,
in which investigating further is a high priority and must be pursued right then and there.
In JaneWorld, reading rates bigger than baseball, the Pope's fractured wrist, and the disposition
of Michael Jackson's will.

(I see I'm terribly off-task, as they say of first-graders. Back to the subject, my girl.)

So I'm here in Syracuse. What I want to post about, however, is

How I Spent This July Fourth Holiday, by Jane.

My husband and I managed to eke out several days to travel to my favorite place
in the state of Michigan: the Leelanau Peninsula.
It borders Little Traverse Bay and is lush, hilly vineyard country.
We had been there last year over the Fourth, and were lucky enough to score


a room at a wonderful bed and breakfast this year that was so lovely that I don't know
how it's managed to escape attention of the Mongol hordes, but I fervently
hope it continues flying under the radar so we can keep it as our own secret.

I am posting a few pictures (I took millions over the weekend) but will not
tell you the name of the inn for obvious national security reasons. If you can recognize
the place by the photographs, you truly deserve to know about this nirvana,
and I will gladly alternate weekends with you.

But only if you enjoy many flower beds planted in the English cottage-style.
I couldn't do justice to the beautiful pinks and purples with my poor little Canon
and slowly emerging camera skills.
And if you don't like strange innkeepers depositing creative, fresh, and delicious hot breakfasts
outside your door, this place is not for you.

The picture at the beginning of this post is the view from the front lawn of the inn.
You can see Little Traverse Bay peeking through the trees at you. Very enticing.

We spent our few days lazily winding through the Leelanau area, up hill and down
dale, drinking in the beauty of the vineyards and orchards and hamlets
full of --dare I say it lest it sound too vapid?-- local charm.
Friendly people abound who are always glad to steer you toward the best little restaurants
(and ice cream places--Moomers, anyone?).

And of course we were in Traverse City for the Fourth. We shopped, ate, shopped, drank,
and ate some more before it was time to gather on the Bay for the spectacular
fireworks display. I have developed a serious addiction to The Cherry Republic's Boom Chugga
Lugga Cherry Cola. It's only distributed locally which is the pits (sorry) so I hauled
some of this nectar home with me. If you ever get the opportunity to get your hot little
hands on a bottle of this stuff, hang on with all your might and DO NOT SHARE.
You'll thank me later.

Not to change the subject but...

Did you know that some point-and-shoot cameras have a 'fireworks' setting?

Neither did I.

But it didn't stop me from clicking furiously away at the bursts of fire gleaming over the water.


No, that's not my husband. He insists I tell you that. Marty has hair.
We got very fond of this guy, though, and a good thing, too, since he appears in
every bloody shot I took that night.

I am such a doofus.

(Disclaimer: If the aforewritten seems a little manic, please excuse. I am high on escapism and much, much Mountain Dew.)

Chocolate Fudge Cookies with Dried Cherries and Toffee

Chocolate Fudge Cookies with Dried Cherries and Toffee


I scored pret-ty big this weekend, and no, I don't mean that way,
although if this was a true-confessions-type of blog, or one of those
graphic and crude ones, I could tell you some stor...nevermind.

I like Scharffenberger chocolate. I don't like the news that Hershey's bought
the company because I hate to see smaller companies scarfed up by conglomerates
only to have the smaller company name disappear. I haven't been able to learn
if Hershey plans to make Scharffenberger go away or not yet, but I hope they leave
the name and quality alone. If you have any newer information about this, please
let me know.

The thing that brought all this to mind was when I was perusing the aisles
at my local Meijer, (for those not living in Michigan and Ohio, it's a huge
grocery and department store-kind of place) I found myself in the baking section,
where I am often found, truth to tell, drooling over huge chunks of chocolate
and other add-ins for cookies and various other baked goodies.
I spotted the Scharffenberger with orange price stickers: this means only one thing:
clearance. They were originally marked $4.99 but cut down to $2.50.
$2.50?!?! As I grabbed bar after bar, I wondered if maybe the reason they
were marked down was because they were running the stock out in order to
change the package, name, product, etc.
I hope not.


Chocolate Fudge Cookies with Dried Cherries and Toffee
(Regan Daley)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups AP flour
1/2 cup unsweetened dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup plump, moist, dried Michigan cherries
8 oz. bitter or semisweet chocolate chopped into chunks about the size of the cherries
1 cup English toffee pieces for baking such as Skor Bits

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two heavy baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together in a bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and both sugars until light in color and fluffy-about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture in 3 additions, blending just until the dry ingredients are moistened. This part is really easier with a wooden spoon since the batter is very dense. Stir in the chocolate pieces and cherries and toffee bits.

At this point the dough may be frozen for up to 4 months; wrap securely in plastic wrap and place in a plastic freezer bag; thaw in the refrigerator without removing the wrapping before portioning the cookies and baking.

Drop the batter by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets and place them in the center of the oven, turning half way through baking.

Bake the cookies for 15-18 minutes or until barely set in the center and just firm around the edges. Cook cookies on tray for 3-5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely before storing. Store in air-tight container layered with sheets of parchment or waxed paper for up to 5 days.

I do want to warn you, though, that these end up pretty flat. I was a bit disappointed
that way, since I really don't like cookies that are flatter than the goodies you add to the dough.
But I'm not beaten.
I intend to try this one again, modifying it somehow to keep them from flattening
like the proverbial pancakes. They do have an excellent taste, with that crispiness
that you get with brown sugar in the dough. These are definitely
worth trying again.

And then I'll take pictures of them!