go bake this. now.

So, I posted a basic recipe
for shortbread cookies a while back.

I'm here to amend it slightly.

Preheat your oven to about 375 degrees F.

For a batch of two dozen,
mix together:

1 and 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
a couple pinches salt

Blend in 1 cup butter,
and whatever excitement you prefer.

a handful of chocolate chips
a couple heaping spoonfuls of caramel
etc.

Shape the dough into small balls with your palms,
and give them a criss-cross pattern with fork tines.

I just pulled my first-ever
salted caramel shortbread
out of the oven.

I only wish I had sea salt to
garnish the tops...

everyone could use a shouthaus

My dear friends from the
Natural Building Apprenticeship
at the Ecovillage Training Center
nestled deep in a little hollow at
The Farm, Summertown, TN...

built this:



It's the Shouthaus,
for all your showring/outhouse needs.

There are two composting toilets
(one to use while the other does the composting thing)
and two solar showers
(with a back-up heater for the winter).

It's timber-framed with walls made of such things as
wattle and daub
light-clay straw
and
wood chip slip (a new one on me).

And you can go here to
read all about it
and see more pictures!

the questions that tie it all together

Brooks and I discussed this the other day,
with maybe a smidge more detail than Grover...

Before we jump headlong into wedding planning,
we're answering these questions:


1. What is a wedding?

2. What makes a wedding?

3. What is marriage?

4. What makes a marriage?

5. How do we create a wedding that honors marriage?

it's these moments that matter

I'm engaged!



My friend, Lauren, convinced me that
we were going on a friend date to the corn maze.
Fun, right?

Well, we pulled into the parking lot,
and she said,
"So, this isn't a friend date. I'm not going with you."

She armed me with a hug, a map, and a route
to the top of the B,
and off I tromped into the maze!

After some wandering and a little bit of confusion,
I found Brooks.

He led me to a picnic, complete with
brie, olives, and wheat thins.
Yummy and oh so classy!

He brought out a guitar and sang to me
a medley of songs that have been
important to us throughout our relationship.

Starting with this one:

Question - Old 97's

I cried.

While he was singing, a puppy came
bounding out of the maze,
jumped into my lap,
and cuddled with me for a while
before running off again.
It was too freakin cute.

Brooks finished and sat down next to me.
He showed me the guitar,
given to him by his father,
and all the images he carved into it for us.

The Scottish flag, for the one country
where we've traveled together.

The Episcopal Shield mirrored by the
window in the chapel at Camp Mitchell,
where we will be married next summer.



Don Quixote, his role model.

A daisy.

12-27-07
The day we started our relationship.

He asked me to carve
11-08-09.

When I was done, he said,
"Becca, you know what's great about our relationship?
I can ask you to do something,
and you just do it, without even asking why."

He laughed.
"Do you know why today is special?"

Of course I did,
but of course I couldn't speak.

He got on a knee,
opened a box his mother had made
to display my great-grandmother's ring,
and asked,
"Will you marry me?"

"Yes, I will."

the first step

this is what I want my day to look like

I want this illustration in my life.

Camilla Engman rocks. But everyone knows that already.

single ladies

perfection.

1:2:4

This is one of the
most important ratios
ever.

1:2:4

sugar:butter:flour

+ a pinch of salt
and
+ a dash of vanilla
or
+ a bit of lemon zest

or any number of things...
fresh lavender ground into the sugar, maybe?
chocolate chips, even.

I've used both powdered sugar and regular,
and they both work out just fine.

I've heard you can replace 1/4 c. of flour
(if you're using 2 c. total)
with cornstarch for an even greater
melt-in-your-mouth effect.

My next variation:
with goat's milk butter.

yumm... shortbread.


The real question:

Why did we wait until
our last week in Scotland
to make it ourselves?