When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemon Biscotti

I was just finishing breakfast and preparing to make the dough for the Biscotti this morning when the phone rang. Yup, it was the Acme. Could I come in at 12:30 and work eight hours? There was a call-out.

No, I couldn't work eight hours. I really shouldn't have worked at all, but I need the extra hours. I ended up going in from 12:30 to 5:30. I wasn't terribly happy about it, but I don't want my bank balance to start tipping towards empty again. I did manage to get the Biscotti dough done before I headed out.

After all that, the Acme was mildly steady all day, never really busy. There were a few annoying customers (including one lady who stared at me while I bagged everything...then proceeded to re-bag several herself), but other than that, there were no major problems.

I still felt a little down when I got out. I really wanted to get the Molasses Roll-Outs done today, too. To cheer myself up, I decided to do the other thing I had planned for today, wander around the neighborhood and look at light displays. I just did it on my bike instead of on foot.

It wasn't a bad night for it, too. Yes, it was cold, but there was a nice snap to the air, and the breeze had the scent of burning pine from many fireplaces and wood stoves. It felt good to be outside after being in the warm kitchen and the stale air of the Acme all day.

The people of Oaklyn have a lot of fun decorating for the holidays. The lights around here range from candles in windows to lights wrapped around porches, railings, roofs, and yards in displays that make Clark Grizwauld look restrained. I especially like the pretty LED lights - the vibrant blues and greens on those strings look especially nice. I also noticed a few houses now have multi-colored icicle lights that were very attractive.

I finally got home around 6. After a quick dinner of a hoagie I bought at the Acme, I got down to the business of making biscotti. The biscotti I give away for Christmas isn't the hard rusks many of you eat with your coffee. Instead of baking them into rusks, I roll them into candy cane and wreath shapes and decorate them with colored sugar and cinnamon Imperials.

In fact, I think the Biscotti are my favorite to actually make of my yearly Christmas cookies. They're easier than the Molasses Roll-Outs and a lot more fun than the bar and drop cookies! The only reason I don't make them for myself year-round is they use a lot of butter and are also very fattening.

I ran the 1986 Babes In Toyland while making the Biscotti. This is an odd one. Drew Barrymore plays a very adult young lady from Cincinatti who doesn't believe in toys or Christmas...until she dreams that she finds herself in the title fantasy world, helping Jack Be Nimble and Mary Quite Contrary escape the evil Barnaby!

I think it's kitschy-but-cute. Drew Barrymore is fine as the overly adult Lisa and familiar sitcom actor Richard Mulligan has a blast as Barnaby. Other folks are a lot less comfortable, including Pat Moriyata as the Toymaker and Keanu Reeves (!?) as Jack. This and the other video I watched tonight, the 1975 animated Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus aren't currently on DVD, but could probably be found fairly cheaply on eBay.

As for the Molasses Roll-Outs, I'll just flip-flop my plans for tomorrow and do them Friday and the Cherry-Coconut Bars tomorrow.