World Champion Cookies *

A favorite recovery cookie. Sometimes I am recovering from a hard ride, sometimes I am recovering from a large dinner. They work equally as well in both modes. I am not suggesting these are healthy, I have been told all the sugar added is no fat, and the oat flour counter acts all the negatives of the Butter Flavored Crisco.

1 Cup Butter Flavored Crisco
2 Cups Brown Sugar
1 Cup Sugar

Mix Above In Mixer

2 eggs

Mix into above

1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
3 tsp Vanilla

Mix into above

3 Cups Oats
3 Cups Oat Flour

Mix into Above

2 Cups Chocolate Chips
1 Cup raisins

Mix into above


Makes approximately 40 cookies. Just take a dough ball about 2" in diameter and place 20 of them on a cookie tray. Bake at 375 for 9-10 minutes. Click here for a picture of the making process, as well as the resulting cookie.

*Note, these cookies won the Wolcott Cookie Championships. There is no data to suggest that they would not win the same award in a larger population of cookie contests. The surgeon general strongly recommends complimenting these cookies with an espresso, for the dueling sugar, caffeine whammy. For an even better sensation try them with a bit of this.

Gadget Hound

Hello, my name is Taylor and I am a gadget hound. For better or worse I will try any new gadget that promises to save me time or money and is electric or somehow connected to the internet. I've experienced lots of failures in this domain (blogging for one), but I feel compelled to report on my most recently purchased gadgets.
First the Roomba a home robot for vacuuming the floors. I was skeptical at first, as I had mixed reports from the internet. Finally I decided to get one when an aquaintance of mine said it did not work. You see this person is always wrong, which is a good trait, because taking the opposite of his opinion usually ends up as being the right decision. Consistency is important here. Anyway the roomba arrived and after a few hours of charging the battery, I let it go. First of all it works. It cleans the floors without a lot of interaction. Second it provides entertainment. Watching Buzz go about cleaning the floor and getting out of trouble reminded me of watching my kids begin to walk. Once done or tired, Buzz finds his recharger and goes to sleep. The only issues to date as it gets stuck under a low spot in the couch and occasional it eats power cords. Buzz recognizes its in trouble put out an Uh Oh beep and stays put. There is some question to whether it really cleans. No mater how many times it goes over the same spot, there will always be trash in its little trash bin. There is a remote possibility that it actually synthesizes the trash, but this problem seems harder to solve than actually cleaning the floors. I tested my theory by placing 3 random peanuts on the floor and walking away for an hour. Later the peanuts where gone and Buzz was on his recharger. Perfect.

Second A Garmin GPS for the Car. From advice from a friend who is usually correct, I selected the Garmin C330. I've only used it on routes I know, but now being in Europe and using one on roads I had no clue about, this is the thing if you travel to unknown destinations, uh like bike races. It all works very well. If you are constantly going to the internet to get driving directions and reading those while in the car, this will save you time and gives you peace of mind.