Sugar Cookies! - with Judi Gedye

Preheat oven to 350* & cover 3 cookie sheets with parchment cooking paper

1 Cup white sugar – first into the bottom of the mixer bowl )

1 Cup butter (room temp) Add to sugar & beat until light & fluffy (2 min on medium speed)

2 eggs ) Add these 3 ingredients to butter mixture and beat until fully mixed in

1 tsp vanilla extract ) NOTE: (start slowly to avoid splashing)

¼ tsp almond extract )

3 Cups flour ) Mix together and then add to egg/butter mix in 3 equal amounts

1 tsp baking powder ) Mix slowly when 1st adding dry ingredients to avoid clouds of flour

½ tsp salt ) Do not overmix When almost all combined pour onto floured surface and knead lightly until all the ingredients hold together Divide into 2 equal portions and form into disks with even sides (no large cracks) Wrap in waxed paper and chill for at least one hour and as much as 24 hours.

On a lightly floured surface roll each disk to about 1/8 – ¼ inch thickness – chopsticks on the sides as you roll help with consistent thickness so that they bake evenly. Cut into preferred shapes, re-rolling any extra dough until it’s all used Arrange shapes on prepared cookie sheets placing same sized pieces together on one sheet (larger on one, smaller on another) Bake until just starting to turn golden (about 10 minutes) Remove from the oven and immediately remove from the cookie sheets onto wire racks as they will continue to brown on the hot sheets (NOTE: a slightly browner shade is more “caramelized” and might be preferred, but watch closely to avoid burning)

ICING – 1 tsp cream of tartar

3 cups icing sugar

½ tsp lemon extract (optional)

2 drops (preferably gel) colour – if you only have liquid colour, use less lemon juice.

Up to 6 tablespoons lemon juice (added one T. at a time until wet enough to come out of a piping bag easily – but only with applied pressure, not running out on it’s own Test it on a spoon and it should slide off but not run off )

Mix all together well and spoon into a piping bag or rolled up paper cone with the end snipped off Cover each cookie with as much or as little icing as you like Depending on how much lemon juice you add, if dry enough, it could be an outline or edge, or if wetter it will spread and cover the surface Leave to dry about 1 hour and then pack into airtight tin – placing pieces of parchment paper (can be the same ones used in baking) between layers to avoid cookies sticking together

ALTERNATIVE ICING FLAVOUR: (use vanilla extract and milk instead of lemon)

Untethered - by Christie Stashyn

A mooring ball in grey deep bay

I bob and weave amongst the waves

My leash untethered far below

My chain escaped its concrete hold

At its mercy, now am I

Of wind and swell and moon and tide

Purposeless, adrift, unmoored

Algaed chains below unheard

Pulled away from pebbly beach

Thrust along the causeway ’ s reach

Striking rock and sucking sludge

Creatures refuge in the mud

Oblivious to my own pain

I try to stay the course in vain

To be what I was meant to be

Stay deeply rooted like a tree

So flighty vessels large and small

Need not fear the tide at all

Because they have the faith that I have gripped my hook to block so tight that I would rarely, barely sway until this fairly dreadful day.