Green Acres

Yesterday I was working on getting things ready for our 4-H meeting. We are making "Wanted" posters for each of the club members to hang in our clubs booth at the fair. There is another Spanish exchange student living with one of our members, just like Anna is, so I decided to make them honorary members of our club, and we'll make "Wanted" posters for them too.

Look out when I get an idea in my head, and I got a doozie of one yesterday while working on the posters....We have our county fair coming up in another week, right (ACK! We are so not ready!)? Anna is here to experience American way of life, right? Since we will be involved with the fair, why not let Anna be involved as well. But how....hhhmmm? Then it came to me. She can exhibit a baked item or photgraph in the open class show. I quickly remembered my days of dealing with a toddler and knew not to ask Anna IF she wants to do it (she's so shy, I knew she'd say no). So instead, I gave her a choice: cook or shoot. She giggled in her nervous way and said "oh, I don't know". I said "Great! Cooking it is!" LOL

The next step was deciding what recipe. Anna said she had never cooked much, so I knew it needed to be a simple recipe, which is good, because that's what I need too (I'm more of a Betty Crocker baker than a Martha Stewart baker). I knew Anna and I were in trouble when she asked me if we could just buy something to have judged or make something from a bag (which I later learned meant like our box mixes). Not wanting to scare the poor girl even more with my lack of abilities I said "No way. We don't need a mix", but inside I was thinking "hhhmmm, I wonder if they do have a category for mixes? Mental note to check on that".

Chelsea had made Gluten-Free cookies for the fair and each time they were selected to go on to be judged at the State Fair, so of course my first thought was to let Anna make that type of cookie. But the more I thought about it, the more I decided that she should be proud of her heritage and bring a little Spanish flavor to the county fair. I asked her if she had any favorite cookies she liked and she said "No, I like them all" and then she laughed. "Oh no, dear girl, you're not getting out of it THAT easy!" I said and she snapped her fingers and said "Oh darn".

Last night I stayed up late searching the internet for recipes for different types of Spanish cookies. I stayed up late enough that I have toothpicks holding open my eyelids, which means I will be taking a nap this afternoon, so no one better call me during that time or their ear might get sore as I toss the phone across the room. hehehe

Anywhoooo...back to the recipes. I found 5 of them that look pretty easy and all contain ingredients we can get here in the grocery store. I was worried I would find recipes containing unheard of ingredients that would make the grocer tilt his head to the side as I asked him how to find ________. Today I will go over them with Anna so she can select one. We practice the recipe once this week and then on Sunday or Monday we'll make them for the fair.

I think I'll add plastic to the shopping list. Big, giagantic rolls of plastic, like the kind painters us. I will cover my cabinets, tables and appliances in the plastic to protect it from two non-bakers who will become bakers in the next few days. Wish us luck!