Recipe: Old-Fashioned Gingerbread Cookies

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I baked a batch of these gingerbread cookies a few weeks ago (well, part of a batch - the recipe below makes six dozen!).  I felt like baking something Christmasy and old-fashioned and these were just perfect (just ask SD).  So good, in fact, that we decided to make another part of a batch to give as gifts to friends and colleagues this week.

Plus, our heat hasn't been working that well for the last week, or so and we were happy to huddle around the oven for a few hours on Saturday!

One of our cookie gift baskets, ready to go!

There's something so special about giving to others at this time of the year.  Whether it's the gift of time or patience, or something more tangible, I am convinced that showing our love and appreciation for others at any time of the year makes the world a better place.  Enjoy the gingerbread cookies!

P.S. Don’t forget: I'm hosting a holiday giveaway!

Read the details and enter here.  Hurry!  The giveaway closes the day after Christmas.

Old-Fashioned Gingerbread Cookies from Southern Living

Ingredients: 1 cup butter 1 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup molasses 2 tablespoons white vinegar 1 large egg 5 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 tablespoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions: Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar and salt, beating well.  Add molasses, vinegar, and egg, beating at low speed just until blended.  Combine flour and next four ingredients; add to butter mixture, beating at low speed until blended.  Cover and chill 8 hours.  Divide dough into fourths.  Roll each portion to a 1/8-inch thickness on a floured surface.  Cut with a 3-inch cookie cutter.  Place on lightly greased or parchment paper-lined baking sheets.  Bake at 375° for 8 minutes.  Cool on pans 1 minute (this allows cookies to lift easily off of pan); then place on wire racks to cool.  Decorate as desired.  Yield: 6 dozen.

For a twist on this traditional favorite, see this recipe for Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies!

The Season of Giving + A Giveaway!

A few weeks ago, I found out that my Grampy needed semi-emergency foot surgery.  All went well but he has a long road of recovery in rehab ahead of him (prayers appreciated!).  SD and I had already planned to visit my grandparents in NJ over the Thanksgiving holiday (and surprise them with a short holiday-themed saxophone/piano concert) but given the recent events, we ended up with the opportunity to spend part of the day visiting with them in the rehab facility... and we brought our music with us.

Love is something we do, something we show with our actions, not just our words.  Love does things.

The facility was thrilled to feature us as "special guests" and at 2:00 p.m., they wheeled residents from multiple floors into the Dining Room to hear us play.  We had a 30-minute program prepared - a mix of art song transcriptions, holiday classics, and more modern reflections on the season.  I thought some of the residents might know some of the things on our list so we encouraged them to sing along!  And they did.  Melt my heart.

For those of you who are interested, here is a list of what we played:

Danyew 2013 Holiday Program

Simple Gifts (arr. Copland) Dank sei Dir Herr (Ochs) Ave Maria (Schubert)

Silver Bells (Livingston/Evans) White Christmas (Berlin) The Little Drummer Boy (Davis)

Listen to Christmas (Hayes) The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting) (Tormé/Wells)

This is what it's all about, y'all.  Sharing what we have with others.  Giving of ourselves, our time, our talents, our resources to others.  Loving on others.  This is what matters.

Christmas is two weeks away (TWO WEEKS!) and in the spirit of love and giving, I want to challenge you to go and do something this season that shows someone you really love them.  Bake cookies for your neighbor.  Write a note to a loved one who lives far away.  Be a good listener to someone who needs a friend.  Dust off the hymnal in the piano bench and gather friends and family together for an evening of singing around the piano.  Hug your loved ones a little tighter.  Writing this post made me realize that it would be fun if we shared some of the meaningful ways that we are sharing our love and gifts with each other.  To help encourage this sharing, I'm hosting a... drumroll...

Holiday Giveaway! Win a set of eight hand-lettered note cards with matching white envelopes for thank yous, love notes, or thinking of yous (two of each design: "love," "joy," "thanks," and "hello" with blank inside).

Enter any (or all!) of the following ways:

1. Leave a comment below with one of your favorite holiday memories or traditions or a way that someone has blessed you this holiday season. 2. Follow me on Instagram, post a photo of your sharing/giving/loving in action, and tag me. 3. Follow me on Twitter, share your story, and tag me.

Giveaway runs from today, December 11, 2013 through December 25, 2013.  Winner will be chosen at random and announced here on the blog.  Yay!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know I've said it before, but Thanksgiving really is my favorite holiday.  We're spending the weekend in Connecticut with SD's parents and we have big plans for cooking together (SD and I are responsible for the stuffing, corn pudding, and cranberry conserve), making music, and decorating the Christmas tree.  So, so grateful for this life.  God is good.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy birthday, darling

Dear SD,

Happy birthday, darling!  I love this picture of you from our Christmas card shoot - it reminds me of the silly moments we've shared and all the things you do to make me laugh.  Best feeling in the world.  I love sharing this life with you and feel so fortunate to have you by my side.  I'm so grateful for the opportunity to celebrate you this week!  Wishing you a wonderful birthday and a great year to come!

xo, Ashley

Sweet November

Sweet November, that wonderful season of preparation, thanksgiving, and rest before the holiday hustle and bustle.

The nights get cooler, the days get shorter, and we wait for glimpses of those first few snowflakes of winter (well, some of us do). But with the rush of the end of the semester, a full teaching schedule, and a few other projects to manage, the rosy glow of my ideal November fades a little. 

I admit this is usually the time of year when I put my head down, do what I need to do each week, and look forward to a fresh, new year when I can take a breath and hit "restart" on goals, plans, and living in general. I get burnt out on my goals. I get tired of my routine. I lose focus.

But this weekend, I took some time to sit still, to be still, and I realized—life is too short to live with your head down. There are so many things to enjoy in the moment (like the brilliant yellow trees, glowing in the sunlight outside my window right now). 

Sometimes I find myself so wrapped up in my to-do list that it doesn't seem like there is time to do anything but what is absolutely essential. Does that ever happen to you? This weekend, I was reminded (partly from reading this post) that we're given enough time for everything that matters. It comes down to how we manage our time and the priorities we set.

What really matters? Here are a few things that came to mind:

1. Making time for that passing conversation with someone in the hall

2. Offering a word of encouragement to someone who is feeling overwhelmed

3. Baking cookies to give away to others

4. Making the people in my life a priority and being fully present

5. Going the extra mile with kindness and grace

This is how I want to live my days this holiday season. This is how I want to spend my time: focusing on what matters. The rest will fall into place, as it always does. What will you make happen this month?

Grounded in Gratitude

Oh, y'all.  The past few weeks have been hard.  The unrest and turmoil in the government.  A great loss in the Eastman community.  The stress of work and school and teaching and trying to find a proper balance.  The pressure to succeed and make a mark.  It's easy to succumb - to complain and get frustrated, to give in or give up.  It's also easy to become immobilized by these challenges and feel incapable of moving forward.  I write these words from lived, personal experience. But I believe there is more to life than the pressures of our daily lives.  From the midst of these challenges, we can be grounded in true, sincere gratitude.

Image Credit: Lara Casey

Do you believe these words?  Does the seemingly simple act of giving thanks really have the power to change things - big, daunting things?  I believe it does.  So, I'm starting over.  I'm starting with gratitude.

First, this is my favorite time of year.

There are so many wonderful things I love about the fall season - the crispness in the air, the crunch of leaves beneath my feet as we take an evening stroll, the need for scarves and boots, hot apple cider on a chilly evening, and the beautiful colors that greet you at every turn.  It's glorious.

With fall, comes my very favorite holiday - Thanksgiving.  I love the traditions, the hustle and bustle of gathering together, cooking, preparing a meal together, serving each other, and visiting with friends and family.  And I love that though we've progressed as a society since that first Thanksgiving, it's name hasn't changed.  Thanksgiving - a time to give thanks.

Here's what I'm doing to stay grounded in gratitude this season - making a gratitude list (you can download the [download id="1" format="6"] here).  Hang it above your desk, print it out and add it to your planner, or if you're like us, post it in your kitchen so that you see it every day.  Make a list of everything you are grateful for in life and add to it each day.  Look for the little things, the things we tend to overlook in the hustle and bustle and business.  Live a life of gratitude.

Happy anniversary, darling

Dear SD, Two years ago today we celebrated the start of our marriage together on the most beautiful, sunny fall day in the rolling hills of southern Vermont.  We reminisce often about that day and the sweet memories we hold and I'm so grateful we had the opportunity to build another year's worth of memories together this year.

Remember that time we visited Niagara Falls in the winter?

We went skiing in Utah, saw Pink Martini at the Jazz Festival, and watched a few of the chase scenes for The Amazing Spider Man 2 being filmed downtown.  We shared a pulled pork sandwich from Bogart's in North Carolina (the best!) and sampled the wares of several local food trucks - Marty's Meats (with that amazing fried chicken sandwich), Le Petite Poutine, Macarollin', and Cheesed and Confused (with the pulled pork + macaroni and cheese grilled cheese sandwich).  We bought an air conditioner and wondered how we ever got along without one.  We had a white Christmas, saw the pink magnolias in full bloom in the spring, ate lobster in the summer, and went apple-picking in the fall (we even made an apple pie - and crust - from scratch!).

I love the things you do to make me laugh.  I love your sweet, selfless nature and all the ways you serve me.  I love when you tug on my hand during our after-dinner walks to encourage me to walk a little slower and enjoy the moment.  Thank you for showing me kindness every single day.  I admire your integrity and your giving spirit.  I love your heart, SD.  I am so grateful for you!

Happy 2nd anniversary!

Music and Worship Arts Week

I know it's been a few weeks since our trip to NC but our time at Lake Junaluska was too good not to share!  Here's a quick recap of our experience at Music and Worship Arts Week 2013:

- observing the middle school choir, under the direction of Dan Stokes
- meeting new people and catching up with good friends
- buying new music to play with SD
- accompanying two reading sessions
- attending an amazing organ recital, given by Andrew Henderson
- singing around the piano at the house
- learning a few new handbell techniques
- discovering the Blue Rooster Southern Grill (we ate there twice in one week AND we ran into our former pastor from Rochester and his wife BOTH times we were there.  Really, what are the chances?!)
- inspiring worship + inspiring sermons by Susan Leonard-Ray
- huddling under an umbrella on the deck in the evenings during summer rain storms

Love the Blue Ridge Mountains - there's something so peaceful about this view and that fresh mountain air.

The Rose Walk at the Lake did not disappoint and I loved making this walk to worship each morning and to seminars and rehearsals throughout the day.  Such beauty!

In the evenings, we spent some quality time at the lake house - so many memories here, including having the guys grill for us last summer!

SD had been waiting for this moment for an entire year - the best pulled pork sandwich (ever?) from Bogart's in Waynesville.  We had more than our fair share of good southern food during our week's stay!

On our last day, we took a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway - can you ever get tired of this view?

The hydrangeas were in full bloom everywhere we went and I could not get over the blues and purples - my favorite!

Read about last year's trip here.

XRIJF 2013

Last week, Rochester welcomed jazz musicians from around the world for the 12th annual Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival.  SD and I always love being a part of the crowd at festivals like this - downtown comes alive with good food, good music, and people of all ages.  The Jazz Fest offers a variety of shows - some free, some $20, and a few headliners at $55-$125 per ticket.  We're usually more than content with the shows on the various free stages set up in the streets and we made a plan to visit Gibbs Street (pictured above) for the opening night festivities.

Friday afternoon, I received an email saying an anonymous donor had donated XRIJF club passes for a select group of Eastman students!  So began our exciting night as club pass enthusiasts.

We hopped in and out of several of the $20 shows (Prime Time Brass, Bill Dobbins, Phil Robson Trio, and Patricia Barber, to name a few), pausing long enough to hear snippets of the groups on the free stages and sample of few food truck wares.  Halfway through the night, we stopped in the middle of Gibbs Street to review the evening's line-up in the program book.  A young couple approached us and asked if we wanted free VIP tickets to Friday's headline show, Pink Martini.  The show was halfway over at this point but we gratefully accepted and eagerly made our way to the crowded hall.  It was AMAZING.  We heard the last seven or so songs, spanning a variety of genres and styles, pinching ourselves to make sure it was real.  We found the couple after the show and thanked them again for giving us the opportunity to attend such a great show!  We walked around a little while longer, happy and overwhelmed with gratitude before heading home for the night.

We spent the week in North Carolina (more on our trip soon!) but we made it back to Rochester in time for the last night of the Jazz Fest.  After we finished unpacking, we walked down to one of the free stages to hear Trombone Shorty.  The crowd was ridiculous - around 30,000 people - it was so awesome to see so many come out for an event like this!

The show was great - mostly pop/funk rather than the jazz side of things I know he's sort of known for but we really enjoyed hearing him live and being part of such an exciting finale to this year's Jazz Fest!  We are already looking forward to next year!

Image credit: personal

Off to the Lake!

It's Lake Week!

We're off to North Carolina for a week of worship, seminars, reading sessions (I'm even accompanying this year!), and a little R&R (including our share of southern food).  This is my sixth time attending Music and Worship Arts Week and I learn something new each time.  It's a time of renewal, inspiration, and fellowship and I always feel refreshed when I leave.  Here's to a great week!

P.S. Read about last year's trip here.

Image Credit: unsplash