Homeward bound

Leaving for a trip has its mix of excitement, anticipation, and worries (What did we forget? Will the weather be good? What if the condo is a dump?) Last Friday was smooth sailing, once we got out of town.  We arrived to discover we had all the important stuff (except my Kindle and camera battery chargers), the trip down was (mostly) uneventful, the weather was sunny but a tad cool, and the condo was beautiful and spacious, if understocked on some basic items. Like a can opener.

The week slipped by too fast, as it always does. Any minor bumps and mishaps along the way are soon forgotten, and the memories distill into a warm blend of sweet and funny moments that will stay with us until the next trip rolls around.

Preparing for the trip home is always bittersweet but has fewer unknowns: just make sure everything gets packed up. The extended weather forecast is no longer important and sleeping in our own beds again sounds pretty sweet.


Happy (and safe) travels!

Recipe of the Week: Monster Cookies

This recipe was given to my mom (and me) many years ago by a friend who baked them for her teenage daughters and friends to enjoy on high school game trips. These monster-sized cookies are flourless (good for those who are looking to eliminate or reduce gluten in their diets), but they are definitely not diet-friendly.

The batch of cookie dough is so large, I splurged on a huge Tupperware bowl just for them.  Mine is identical to this one except it has a bright pink lid (all the better).  It has come in handy for other things but it is still used when I make a full batch of monster cookies.  

When we return home from our annual "last dance with summer" on the white sand beaches of Florida, it will be a good time to usher in fall with some of these scrumptious, oversized treats.

Martha's Monster Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups white sugar
2 cups brown sugar
3 cups peanut butter
6 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons corn syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 teaspoons baking soda
9 cups rolled oats
1/2 pound M&Ms (plain)
1/2 pound semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, cream butter, sugars and peanut butter. Add eggs one at a time, then stir in remaining ingredients in order given.  Drop by large spoonfuls (or a small ice cream scoop), 6 to a sheet.  Bake for 12-15 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool slightly, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.  Store in an airtight canister (can be frozen).  Makes 6 dozen cookies.

Since getting this recipe, I have figured out it can be cut in half fairly easily, although we rarely throw away uneaten cookies.  If you happen to have an empty oatmeal canister due to this recipe, you may find it works great for stacking these huge cookies and transporting them.

Happy baking!

So how do YOU prepare for a trip?

For me, preparing for a trip has at least two major components:  readying the house to leave it for the duration (I hate coming home to a messy house or unfinished laundry), and packing/planning for the trip itself.

Depending on the state of the house when I start the preparations, that part might actually take more time than packing for the trip.  But not this time - I let those staying behind know that I'm simplifying things.  (I've finally learned my lesson:  they're adults, they will eat if, when and what they want, and whatever I try to make is likely to remain frozen or go bad.)  All this trip demands is a quick pass through the bathrooms, run the vacuum and dust, a little laundry and I'm free to roam around the countryside, guilt-free.

As I counted down the days to our road trip to Florida, I tried to do as much ahead of schedule as possible (although some things still got put off to the last minute, as happens with us procrastinators.)

So my week went something like this:

Sunday:  check the extended forecast for the area.  Pray fervently for safe trip, good weather and NO HURRICANES. Check. Repeat daily until we leave.
Monday:  take car to get tires rotated, balanced (and aligned - ouch).  Check
Tuesday:  get toenails painted (very important part of preparations); plan menu and grocery list for condo (because I really hate spending wasting hours at the local grocery as we try to devise a menu and grocery list on the fly.  That is always an expensive and wasteful effort - we inevitably forget something, and buy way too many items that we don't really need.)
Wednesday:  take car for oil change, emissions test and tags.  Wash & vacuum car. Check and check. Plan route with Google and TomTom.  All done.  Post pictures of the weather report and route on Facebook, because my enthusiasm knows no bounds.
Thursday:  final grocery run (okay, I bought those staying behind *some* snackage), tidy the house, pack my suitcase. (Yeah, these rather important things got put off until the very end.)  Check with condo manager to get door code and parking info. Check.
Today:  pack grocery staples I'm taking, put suitcases, camera, laptop and paperwork in car, and get last-minute work and a final load of laundry done before school lets out and we hit the road.

So, how does everybody else count down to leaving?  Is this routine pretty typical, or do you have a better way of getting everything done? Don't be shy...I'd love to hear your ideas!

Happy vacationing!