Off Topic Ramble...

I recently took a part time job 3 mornings a week for a courier service. The job is easy. It gets me up and moving early and it's a lot of movement in and out of the car, walking up steps, etc. I'm happy to be out and about moving around before 9:00 and getting paid for it. The weekend before Halloween, Rondoni Farms in Santa Cruz donated about 40 pumpkins to the Boulder Creek Library for their annual pumpkin carving event. They donate every year and because of this... we are able to offer the pumpkin carving event free to the public. They have a great little farm with all organic produce, right on the ocean off Hwy. 1.

I've been trying to bake some cookies to take to Rondoni Farms for what seems forever. I made the dough 2 weeks ago and it's been sitting in the refrigerator waiting for me to do something with it. The last stop on my job route is only 5 miles from Rondoni Farms so last night I baked the cookies so I could drop them off after my route today. I made a silly little turkey out of one of the small pumpkins thinking that it would be a fun Thanksgiving craft project for the library next week. I had a couple of them so I took one with me on my route today to use as a centerpiece for the cookie platter. I knew the folks at Rondoni would like it. It was funny because when I started out the pumpkin was rolling all over and I knew it would get ruined unless I could somehow secure it. The feathers and head are just out of paper so it was a bit of a challenge to keep them from becoming smashed up and tattered. At first I placed the turkey on the seat next to me and held it against the seat back while I drove. Then I thought, why not just put the seat belt on it...duh?  The turkey stayed put through all those turns on Hwy 9. Amazing! It was in perfect shape when I took it out and placed it on the platter. Everyone at Rondoni Farms loved it and the cookies were a big hit. They are currently heavy into brussel sprout production. The pumpkins are pretty much gone and it's all about the brussel sprouts now.

 

The whole reason I bring this up is because last night I managed to bake over 3 dozen rolled butter cookies and only ate 2. Today I had them in my car all day and only ate one, (and only ate it because it was broken when I went to plate them up). That is a big accomplishment for me. I did make sure that I was not hungry when I started baking last night. I'm challenged in the evenings enough as it is... so I ate a banana and a bunch of apple slices before I started. I was proud of myself for not going off track.