Tag Archives: Kool 103

It’s Springtime!

25 Mar

P1000824I’ve always loved springtime… daffodils popping up in the yard, asparagus and strawberries appearing at the market, the chill of winter fading, and a sense of new beginnings circling.  Last year at this time I was traveling to Florida because my Dad had a stroke.  During that time I barely noticed the world around me because I was busy learning medical jargon and trying to make sense of things.

This year, life still is presenting challenges, my Dad’s health being one of them.   As always, for me the hardest part about this journey is that I am not able to “make him well” and that is hard to take.  I want to know that my efforts have some effect, but the truth is that sometimes they don’t.

When things are out of my control (and aren’t they always?) I gravitate towards areas where I feel like I am making a difference.  One of those places where I have found myself doing that has been at my neighbor’s house.  Anny and her new baby boy, Sebastian, are living there.  Sometimes I can help Anny by holding Sebastian while singing and rocking.  If I am lucky and he falls asleep in my arms I almost feel as if I have been awarded the Nobel Prize. In other words, my skills have been validated.

Yesterday I baked an Asparagus, Red Pepper, and Chicken Apple Sausage Quiche for Anny.  I know that taking care of a new baby (and nursing him) is very demanding… and I wanted to give her a special treat for doing such a great job as a new Mom!

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I also baked several batches of Pecan Shortbread cookies this week.  I LOVE those things.. and really, what’s not to love? These cookies are a simple combination of sugar, butter, flour and pecans… and they’re delicious!

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Some of those cookies made it into the hands of the men who delivered my new Kitchenaid oven yesterday (oh my goodness… it is so lovely!) and some of them were given to a homeless man who held a sign saying “Anything helps.”  I’ll admit, I ate two of them and could easily have polished them all off!

Finally, yesterday I made a Chocolate Cream Pie for some friends at a local radio station, Kool 103.  Once again, I was the lucky winner of a prize… and to thank them I dropped off the pie.  Making goodies for them has long been my tradition… and I think that there’s a slight chance that they might even look forward to me winning!

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Tonight I send good wishes to you all for a Happy Spring… and if you are in the mood, try out this recipe.  You’ll be glad you did!

Pecan Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans

Mix butter and sugar together until creamy.  Add vanilla.  Stir in flour until just combined and then add the chopped nuts.  Take tablespoonfuls of the cookie dough and roll into balls.  Roll the balls of dough in sugar and place on cookie sheet; gently flatten each dough ball.  Place pan with cookies into oven preheated to 350 degrees and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until cookies are beginning to brown around the edge.  Remove cookie sheet from oven and let cookies cool.  Enjoy!

“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”  Julia Child

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Day 138: Kool 103

22 Aug


When I was about 13 years old, there was a radio contest in New York City. It was held near Valentine’s Day and there were several ways to win, one of which was to send in the largest Valentine to the station. IF you sent in the “largest” Valentine you won the Grand Prize, but if you sent in one of the top ten “largest” Valentine’s, you won two tickets to a Broadway show. My Mom had a roll of red vinyl that was more than 100 feet long and I made it into a Valentine. It was really heavy and so instead of trying to mail it in, my Mom drove me to Manhattan and I brought the Valentine to the station. And lo and behold, I won two tickets to the show “A Little Night Music” which I gave to my Mom and Dad for their anniversary. I think that was all it took to get me hooked on radio contests.

Over the years I have played many radio games and won quite a few prizes. I think that I will save more of that for another post. Today I want to mention the contest that I won about a week ago. It was on a station called “Kool 103” and you had to name 5 things in a category in 10 seconds. My category was “pizza restaurants” and I was able to name the required number of places in the allotted time. And what did I win? A rafting trip with Noah’s River Adventures

It was only when the DJ, Nikki, started describing the class 3 and 4 rapids that I remembered “I have a broken rib.” I knew immediately that I could not go on that trip. But what a trip it would be! Spending an entire day on the upper Klamath – damn! How could I miss this? Well, I had to. There was no way I could subject myself to this and so I thought about who could go on this adventure. And the “who” turned out to be my neighbor Daniel and our exchange student Stephan. They were both eager to go and it felt good to be able to give them this amazing opportunity.

When they came home from the river trip last night, Daniel and Stephan were both tired and appreciative. They could not say enough wonderful things about the day they’d had. And so today, I knew that I would bring a pie to the station to thank them for this gift. This is not the first time I have brought food to the staff. In fact, the folks there know that if I win, they are soon to receive a home-baked treat of some kind. I have been told, “You don’t need to bake something every-time you win.” But I disagree. I am grateful for all the prizes that I win and want to thank them each and every time. It’s a legacy of sorts – and I like to be known for bringing goodies wherever I go. If that isn’t a good way to be remembered, I don’t know what is.

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