Freedom Cookies

Well, yesterday was a slower day than I'd anticipated with P getting whacked by the combination of exhaustion and the flu/cold thing that had knocked me down and continued to do so over the weekend. Yesterday was the first day I started to feel almost like my old(er) self which was nice since it was my birthday as well as 9/11.

And things do get more difficult with a highly active 14 month old boy who thinks he's a mountain climber and a dancer. Actually, let me explain that a little bit so it makes some sense. He climbs everything, Graydon will pull a chair out from under the table, climb on it and then climb onto the table where there's all kinds of good stuff to grab and throw on the floor.

He also likes to climb on to stuff and then shake his booty. Which is pretty darned adorable but also pretty darned dangerous and we're working to head off some his extra dangerous dance routines atop his rolly cart, atop the toilet seat and on the rocking chair (on which he demonstrates some truly impressive balancing abilities for such a wee fellow).

We had a slow morning, finally got dressed and then headed south to go and have a nice lunch. We'd planned on hitting The Whole Enchilada down in Moss Landing but ended up at Charlie Moss's just a little further on. We took our time in the mostly empty bar space, enjoyed some really good calimari, cocktails and a fire roasted marinated artichoke that my sister would have absolutely loved (yes, we can go back when you guys come out for a visit, Skootchy!).

And then, after a late, long lunch, we cruised back home where P crashed out, Graydon fought his nap for a little bit before succumbing and I got to baking. I used the recipe inside the top of the Quaker Oats cylinder to make some excellent Oatmeal Raisin cookies to deliver to the local firehouse for my own personal 9/11 commemoration. The cookies came out really well and I had a few extra to share with my reinvigorated family as they woke back up.

Graydon and I drove over to the firehouse at around 7:30 last night to drop off the cookies. We were let in by a reserve firefighter who accepted them with grace and appreciation, it was a nice moment really. And then he invited us back to tour the antique fire engine yard they have next door, which we will probably do next weekend if we don't end up hitting the county fair.

It was a really nice way to cap off a nice day and I hope those firefighters enjoyed the cookies as much as I enjoyed making them for them. The few pics I took didn't really come out very well, too much flash so the cookies look weird, but believe me when I say they tasted awesome! How can you go wrong when the recipe starts with butter, brown sugar and white sugar?
Tags: 9/11, nineleven, cookies, oatmeal raisin, firemen, firefighter, sacrfice