Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

We had a craft night at my house and I decided to try this recipe that I had seen on a number of food blogs. It was very good!
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH DIP

1 stick butter
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. powdered sugar
3/4 c. chocolate chips

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and stir until sugar dissolves and mixture starts to bubble. Remove from heat and add vanilla. In another bowl, mix cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Pour in brown sugar mixture and mix until combined. Add chocolate chips. Chill in fridge until ready to serve.

Serve with: Animal Crackers, Graham Crackers, Apple Slices, or Pretzels

Kathy Whisler Funeral

My Grandma passed away on January 18th, 2011. She was born on January 21, 1923 in Hereford, Texas. Her funeral was today in Riverside. My sister Kathy (her namesake) was able to come into town and stay with us for a few days to be able to attend the funeral. I was asked to play the organ for the services. We sang "peppy songs" at the funeral because Grandma always enjoyed when hymns were played at the correct tempo (vs. the sometimes "dirge" that they are played at) and enjoyed the peppier numbers. I was honored to play as Grandma was the one that taught me how to play the piano when I was very young. She would drive into town and give me lessons, before I was even in Kindergarten.

Going to Grandma's house in Elk was always an adventure. I loved that she provided for almost everything on their farm (eggs, cows, chickens). She had a huge garden and would make the yummiest Mustard Pickles. She cured and smoked her owns meats and made homemade sausage. She would come into town to buy a 50# of brown sugar and a couple other staples (salt, baking powder), but for the most part everything else came from her land.

Besides being a wonderful pianist, she had beautiful flower gardens, sewed and would also crochet lovely items. I have a tablecloth and a runner for my piano that she made (on my request).

A couple of my favorite memories: Grandma floating down the Little Spokane River in an inner-tube with us one summer. Buying penny candy from the little store in Camden when we visited. Being pulled in a wagon or sleigh by her horses. Dancing around the piano in the evening while Grandma played songs. Drinking just-milked-from-the-cow fresh milk in Tupperware cups with ice cubes (to cool it down). Making homemade marshmallow eggs for Easter by covering the counter-tops with flour, making an egg indentation with a real egg, pouring in the marshmallow mixture and then dipping them in chocolate. Heading literally over the river & through the woods to Grandma's house for all the holidays and eating delicious meals to include soft fluffy rolls, celery with pimento and cheese, mashed potatoes & gravy all served on clear blue bubble dishes.

Will miss you Grandma!

Oklahoma: Day 3

Today was our last day in Oklahoma and we were flying out in the evening, so I was on a mission to find the souvenir spoon!! (We had looked last night too, but no luck). I dropped John off and headed to the Chamber of Commerce. They did not have any there but suggested a couple of spots - a truck stop and a gift shop. I started at the truck stop (Love's) and they had one - that I really, really liked! But just for fun I went to the gift shop (Kayes) to see their selection (they had none), but ended up having a wonderful conversation with the lady running the store that day. I mean I was probably in the store and talking to her for 30-45 minutes. Nice morning.

I had the National Cowboy Museum on my itinerary for the day. The first thing I saw when I entered the museum was "The End of the Trail" sculpture by James Fraser - 18 feet high. Then you are able to go on a self-tour through the Native American Gallery, Prosperity Junction (replica frontier town), Western Performers Gallery, American Rodeo Gallery, Art of the American West, Fine American Firearms and Frontier West display. It was a very large museum and worth my time to explore. Afterward I ate lunch in the museum restaurant, Dining on Persimmon Hill. I chose their buffet that included a couple of soups, various salads, meatloaf, turkey/gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls, pineapple spoon bread and a myriad of desserts - including apple pie and bread pudding. It was good comfort food. I then had to check out the museum store before leaving.

Because we were not able to go into the Oklahoma Memorial last night, I headed back to downtown Oklahoma City. I parked and walked to the entrance only to see this:

They had evacuated the museum and the fire trucks were lined along the street. Found out rather quickly that because it had been so cold, a water pipe had burst. So I waited outside with the others until the spraying water was shut off.

The museum starts off with an exhibit showing you the timeline of April 19, 1995. Called "A Day Like Any Other" - Gave specific names - this person arrived at 7:30, this person dropped off their child to the daycare at 8:05, etc. Then you enter a room where you hear the official recording of an Oklahoma Water Resources Board meeting from that morning. The meeting, just across the street from the Murrah Building, starts at 9:00 am. Two minutes into the recording, you can hear the bomb go off. The next display shows news footage of the building taken at 9:13. Then you hear the survivor experiences, world reactions and learn about the rescue and recovery processes. The next level of the exhibit honors the 168 who were killed with a room listing each victim's name with their picture and a personal artifact displayed. This was very sobering. There is also a section on the investigation and trial. And finally an area of Hope.

"We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity."

After that very reflective afternoon, I picked up John and we headed to the airport to fly home. Flights were delayed, especially when we stopped in SLC (because of the heavy snow). It was good to get home but we're glad we went. Had a great time!

Oklahoma: Day 2

After dropping off John for his class, I was on a trek to check out Route 66. I headed to Arcadia, OK for a couple specific tourist spots. The first place was Pops. It is a newer attraction on Route 66 with over 500 flavors of soda pop to purchase and a 66 foot tall LED pop bottle outside. I took a picture of just the root beer available to purchase as it took up an entire refrigerated section. Audrey would have had a good time here! Unfortunately, carrying liquids on planes is frowned upon so a t-shirt, mug and pop bottle opener are the items I picked up for souvenirs. Just down the road I went next to the Round Barn. It was built in 1898 and then left to the elements as the town of Arcadia declined because the highways became a more popular way to travel than old Route 66. In 1988 the barn's 60' diameter roof collapsed. A local group worked together to restore the barn by 1992. It is the only truly "round" barn (most are hexagonal or octagonal) and is 45' high with 2-stories. Unfortunately visiting very cold Oklahoma in January is not a big tourist season, and the barn was only open on weekends. I did have a fun drive though.

Next I headed back to Oklahoma City to the Harn Homestead, a 10-acre homestead claimed during the Great Land Run of 1889. The grounds included a one-room schoolhouse, the first two-story home built in Oklahoma and a Sears catalog home where the Harns resided. I was able to tour the grounds (again in the very cold windy weather) and was grateful for the opportunity to tour the inside of the house to get out of the elements. It was also interesting to learn more about the "Sooners". Not too far away was the Overholser Mansion, the first mansion build in Oklahoma City. The three-story home looked amazing from the outside so I headed up to the door for a tour. The sign directed me to the carriage house, but when I went there the door was unlocked but the lights were off. Yoo-Hoo?! And someone answered from an upstairs office to tell me they were sorry the mansion was closed for January since the indoor heating was not working. "Come back in February!"

I knew for sure what would be open and WARM so I headed to Penn Square Mall where I walked around, browsed and then picked up a snack at the Toll House Cafe. Since we try to frequent restaurants we don't have at home... well, any excuse for a chocolate chip cookie and chocolate milk! After spending a little more time in the mall I just went driving along some of the main roads to check out shops we don't have in Spokane. I spotted a Panera Bread so had to stop for lunch. Yummy! I still had time to spare before John would be out of his class, so I stopped into a Cracker Barrel Store to check out the fun trinkets there. I also had been on the hunt for a spoon... I collect spoons when we go on trips, but for some reason every where I went on this trip only had thimbles or mugs, no spoons! More to come on that story.


John and I met back up for the evening. We headed to downtown Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma City National Memorial. We parked and headed to the entrance, only to find that they stop selling tickets about an hour before closing. We were able to walk around the grounds though. They have the Field of Empty Chairs (168 chairs symbolize a life lost, with smaller chairs representing the 19 children killed in the bombing). There was a wall at one end of the grounds with 9:01 etched on it and another wall with 9:03. The 9:01 represents the innocence of the city before the attack on April 19th and the 9:03 represents the moment everything changed after the the bomb went off at 9:02. Very sobering.

We headed next to Bricktown, which would best be described as the entertainment district (had a ballpark and concert venues). There is also a Water Taxi that takes you along the canal (though it was too cold so they were closed). We strolled along the canal where there were restaurants and shops to explore. Jazz music flowed out of the bars and it was a pretty busy place considering we were there on a week-night. We could not decide where to eat, but knew we were kind of getting cold, so we headed back towards our hotel. We ended up stopping at a place called Shorty Small's. We only ordered one entree to share and still had left-overs. Good ribs and barbecue!

Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives: Cattlemen's Steak House

Oklahoma: Day 1

After spending most of the day in the airplane or airports, we arrived in Oklahoma around 1:30pm. We got our rental car and headed straight to the training center so John could start his VisionIP System Administration class. I then headed to our hotel to check-in, relax, read and figure out where we would explore that evening.

We decided to head to the historic Stockyards City district - home to the Oklahoma National Stockyards, the largest cattle market in the world. They had various businesses along the street to explore. We were amazed not only at the amount of cowboy boots for sale, but the various colors, styles and prices. Something else we noticed was the heavy use of crosses as decoration: T-shirts, boots, wall hangings, whatever you could think of! Crosses were everywhere. After a little browsing, we decided to have dinner at Cattlemen's Steakhouse, famous for their steaks. The restaurant opened in 1910, but transferred owners in 1945 due to the owner betting on a high-stakes craps game and loosing. Our steak was delicious and was served on a platter with Au-jus poured over the steak - unique, but quite tasty. The house salad dressing was also rather unique. Looked just like they had put a big blob of mayo on our salads, but turned out to be rather flavorful and addicting. Recipe was a creamy garlic and cheddar dressing. Something we did not order off the menu: Lamb Fries. I actually had no idea what they were so checked on-line. Glad I did not order - no need to eat boy lamb parts...

Oklahoma: Day 1, kind of

John had some training for his job and needed to travel to Oklahoma. His boss actually suggested I go along for the trip, so I purchased my own ticket and let Audrey stay at home by herself. We got to the airport in plenty of time and waited for our boarding to be announced. Instead we heard that our plane had a flat tire and it would take over an hour to get fixed, meaning that most of us would break our connections. They were able to fly us out the next day which was a bit of a dilemia since John's class started at 8AM and we would not even land in Oklahoma until 2PM. So we headed back to our own house to sleep that night and then wake up really early to get back to the airport.