Just Some Stuff

OK, I think I might have to have a Guest Blogger on here some day and I think it might have to be Ajers since he's just such a funny little fucker.

Today's conversation, first thing in the a.m. upon him waking me up so I can watch him eat breakfast before school. (Oh, and so I can get Diva up too, which is another funny story...I went to wake her up yesterday a.m. and I see she is sleeping with one of those silky eye masks to keep out the light! I'm like WTF? She really is a Diva.)

Anyway, today's Ajers Conversation:

Him: "No offense, but you could brush your hair once in a while."

Me: DON'T BE RUDE TO ME!

Him: "I said, 'No offense!'"

In other exciting Manic News, I am hosting a neighborhood cookie exchange tonight, which is really just an excuse to get some fun cookies (although, who needs 'em now that I've got the Tim Tams!?!?), drink a bunch of wine and eat some appetizers. So, if you live in my neighborhood, and read my blog, you have hopefully been invited to attend.

If you live in my neighborhood, but have not been invited, this means you have googled me in the past, and read my blog unbeknownst to me, so that makes me think you are spy... OKAY, THIS IS TOOOO WEIRD ... as I was typing this line about living in my neighborhood, my phone rang and I saw the name but wasn't sure who it was. IT WAS A LADY IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD ASKING IF SHE COULD COME!!! I didn't even post this yet! Whoa. Too strange. So of course, I told her she must come! And how quickly can she whip up five dozen cookies?!?! I don't even know this woman! Word has gotten out that there's an excuse in the 'hood to cocktail tonight!

Anyway, so if you are a Blog-Readin'--Neighbor-Spy of mine, come clean, call me up or just show up at my door with five dozen cookies! (and a bottle of wine too!)

And finally, here is the type of "cookie" I made for the exchange, and let me tell you, it figures that Manic Mom, who can't cook to save her life, is able to screw up a FOUR-INGREDIENT-NON-COOKIE cookie. Yes, I ruined two batches of this recipe.

Too bad there's hardly any Tim Tams left, not that I would share, but if needed, I could have put them out on a platter and called them my Aussie Creation Cookies or my Ramblin' Rose recipe!

SWEET & SALTIES:

Ingredients you'll need:
Saltine crackers
Two sticks of butter
One cup of sugar
Two cups of chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Take a tin-foiled cookie sheet and place flat edge-to-edge crackers onto the pan.
Cook over low heat the sugar and butter until it gets foamy and bubbly, BUT NOT BURNED.
When the butter-sugar stuff is foamy and bubbly, pour the mixture evenly over the layered crackers.
Put crackers into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. (Make sure the cookie sheet has a lipped edge or else the butter will spill all over the bottom of your oven and smoke will get in your house and the fire alarm may go off and the kids might scream, "What's burning?" and your husband might run around the house opening all the windows and doors and look at you like, "Why the hell did I marry her?" In case that were to happen, of course. Not like it happened when I tried cooking them or anything!)

So, bake for 10 minutes and take them out of the oven. Another thing to remember is to make sure you use TWO STICKS OF BUTTER with one cup of sugar because if you ACCIDENTALLY use ONE STICK OF BUTTER, then the crackers will not get saturated in the butter-sugar mixture so it won't be any good and then you'll have two cookie sheets filled with useless crumby stupid crackers. Just sayin'. In case.

After the crackers with the sugar-butter mixture saturated on top are cooked for 10 minutes, they will be golden brown and almost gooey looking. Pull them out of the oven, using carefully selected oven mitts, not your bare hand, and set them on your countertop.

Pour two cups of chocolate chips over the top of the crackers evenly and let them sit for a minute or two so they can melt.

Spread the melty chocolate chips all over the crackers until they are even and smooth. Then stick the pan in the fridge, preferably overnight. When they are hardened, you can use a sharp knife to 'crack' the stuff apart. You can't cut them neatly because these are like a candy bark or brittle.

You would not believe how yummy they are, and how similar they taste to toffee! So, let me know if you're going to attempt to make them. You probably already have the ingredients in your home, and you're probably searching for some new and unique recipe for the holidays!

And in turn, I'll let you know if I'm hungover tomorrow or not. After all, what's a cookie exchange without a good buzz-on?

Deck the halls with lotsa cookies... fa la la la la... la la la laaaaaahh!
(How many of you suckers actually sang that and made sure I wrote the correct amount of LAs???)

Cheers, and Peace Out!
Faithfully yours,
The Manic One