C-O-O-K-I-E

Tonight Karyna and I baked cookies. Two sister in the kitchen, a batch of cookie dough, a batch of baked cookies, a gallong of milk, and one happy husband (sitting in the green chair - naturally)... Between the phone calls to Mom and Dad, the calls between friends, the studying, the gossip, and the photos - we still had time to eat, prepare, make, bake, and eat some more cookies.

And now, I am in a partially cookie-induced cookie coma.

CCCC.

Go figure.

And while in my chocolate-chip induced-state, I got to thinking about Cookie Monster, and all that he's done for the World.

Sometimes you just need things to be simple.

No scary Rum ball recipies...

Uncomplicated.

No complicated Lemon merangue cookie recipies...

Easy.

No multi-ingredient 7-layer cookie bars that require 22 ingredients.

No - just a simple chocolate chip cookie recipie will suffice, thank you very much. Well that, a good group of friends, a patient husband, a trusty oven, will power to NOT consume the entire batch (yes, I am training for an Ironman, I just don't want to lug an extra few pounds of Chocolate Chip cookie dough down the course with me), and a sense of humor.

Marit and Karyna's Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Pre-heat oven to 375 F. (No - DO NOT let cat inspect. Kitty OUT of the kitchen)

Mix the following ingredients:

3/4 c sisterly love
3/4 c will power to resist throwing flour at each other
2 and 1/4 c advice and memories from previous cookie-baking experiences with Mom
3 eager people (+1 cat to add later)
2 sticks of unsalted Norwegian/Czech/Swedish humor (really 3, but we're trying to be "heart-healthy" here!)
1/2 tsp of butt smacking
1/2 tsp of chopped bad photos
1 T good pictures
1/4 T sprinkled laughter
Pinch of good luck
Dash of good vibes
Spoon onto Baking stone
Caution: Stone may be hot, may contain burn marks of previous baking attempts, so be sure to watch oven time closely.
Bake 23-27 years, er 8-12 minutes

Yield: The love and bod of two sisters

And if that wasn't enough, I'll leave you with the thoughts of one of my favorite characters: Cookie Monster!

"Now what starts with the letter C?"

Cookie Monster replies, "Cookie starts with C!" He then says, "Let's think of other things that starts with C," before casually dismissing their merits, replying "Oh, who cares about the other things?"

Repeat in chorus (Cookie Monster, Grover, Herry Monster, and Oscar the Grouch will join in), 3-4 times: "C is for cookie, that's good enough for me!"

He concludes by biting into a large cookie. "Oh, cookie cookie cookie starts with C!"

Hope that wherever you are, whatever you're up to, you've enjoyed good company, great food, wonderful cookies, and fabulous times all around.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and fall into a sleep-induced Cookie Coma. Because "Cookie" isn't the only thing that starts with "C". Coma, Comatose, Consumpion of too many Chocolate Chip Cookies.

You get the drift.

Try it yourself... you might just like it.

(Cue the sound of Cookie Monster Eating Cookies!)