Rainy Day Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well, it's a rainy Sunday today so it was a perfect afternoon to bake our favourite cookies. These chocolate chip cookies are wonderfully soft and chewy and if someone didn't sneak dough out of the bowl to nibble on, the recipe makes about three dozen cookies.

Rainy Day Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2- 1 cup chocolate chips - depending on your sweet tooth

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Cream butter with brown and white sugars then add eggs and vanilla. Stir well.
3. Combine dry ingredients then add to creamed mixture. Beat well together.
4. Add chocolate chips and stir.
5. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet or silpat covered sheet. Bake at 375F for 10 minutes or until set and lightly brown.
6. Enjoy! Great with a glass of milk or a cup of tea.

Tomato Pin Cushions

I have to share my heirloom tomato pincushions. The good ladies over at the Sensibility board posted up the link below and their pictures of their own lovely handmade cushions. They looked so sweet I just had to make one - or two! You'll find the instructions over at Martha Stewart . I made mine from some scraps of Souleiado fabric I picked up in France a few years ago, and some leftover green felt from Christmas projects. They went together very quickly, and within an hour or so I had both done.

Ancestors

Austen

Avebury

There and Back Again

Thursday evening I returned from one of my most grandest adventures to date - eighteen days wandering across England and exploring to my heart's content. It was amazing, brilliant, gorgeous, mystical, and in some respects, like coming home. I took loads of pictures and will post a few to tantalize and tempt. Over the next few weeks I'll post more about my adventures and answer intriguing, head-scratching questions like why my mum and I were searching for one of the Hidden Churches of Cornwall, why my first experience with BritishRail was quite shocking, and what in the world did I do when I spent all day in the V&A?

Though I loved every bit - well, perhaps not the part about losing my Mum in the massive Oxford Circus Top Shop- I'll list a few highlights.

Walking tour of Bath with the Mayor's Guide
Mad Max Tour to Lacock, Castle Combe, Avebury, and Stonehenge
York Minster (and tour with volunteer)
Victoria and Albert Museum
Chawton House
Tintagel
Betty's Tea Room, York
Trebah Garden, Cornwall