A Morning in the Kitchen......

I wish I could say I loved to cook.....but I don't. Basically, I spend as little time in the room with the appliances as possible. And I stopped baking a long time ago. Certainly when our kids were young we had lots of holiday traditions that revolved around Christmas cookies....and I did have fun creating them with my two appreciative participants.  But once they grew up, moved away and began their own traditions I happily dropped cookie baking from my to-do-list.

Until I met Janie. We were living in Delaware and she and I met while attending Newcomer Club functions. She and her husband moved to the area from Seattle and we "found" each other while I was living in New Castle.  We felt an instant connection, a recognition.....and decided we'd been sisters-in-another-life.  Janie was an excellent cook! So we decided to get back into the swing and for the years we both lived in the area it became our new tradition. She'd come over to my kitchen and we'd put together multiple batches of Christmas cookies.....lots of different kinds. Christmas carols playing on the radio and laughter bouncing off the walls. Baking with Janie was fun....and the results delicious!

So here we are in 1993......busy mixing, baking, icing and sampling the finished results. Such fun memories.

The years pass....and lives change. Janie and her husband, Phil, moved aboard their sailboat and spent more than ten years circumnavigating the globe. We worked a few more years, then we too moved aboard our smaller sailboat and spent two years exploring. There was no baking going on while we were afloat!

But yesterday I found a really easy four-ingredient recipe on the internet.....Almond Joy Cookies. Today I baked them......fast, easy, pretty good. Yes, the carols were on the radio and they went together easily....but I missed the friendship, the laughter and the cookie variety! I missed Janie!

She's now a phone call away.....living in Alaska. So I picked up the phone and we shared a few memories and some laughter. Signing off with "I love you"..... my-sister-in-another-life. I sure wish she lived nearby!