Parsnips Pandas, and Parisian Orange Cookies.

Alrighty, folks. This has been an exciting week for me and this little blog here. We're going global. Yes you heard me right. World-wide. Okay maybe not. But I've signed up and been accepted into a few different blogroll sites to get more exposure of this blog (You may notice the little ads on the side of the home page). To you that may sound silly, but it makes me excited!

So the first site I'm now connected with is called "Foodie Blogroll." This is basically a site that advertises, in a way, different food blogs to it's members. My blogging friend and second cousin (maybe...I think) introduced me to it. Hop on over to his site, it's pretty sweet.

The second one is called "Petit Chef," and it basically does the same thing. So I've applied to have my blog published on their site as well.

On a non blog-related topic, I've finished exams and started the second semester of grade eleven today. Exams were wonderful. Okay, not wonderful, but I feel super confident about all of them. And my new classes look promising too. So here's to the second half of this school year!

The title of today's post was inspired by Mr. Popper's Penguins: A wonderfully, ridiculous movie featuring none other than Jim Carrey. For those who haven't seem it I highly recommend it! Mr. Popper's assistant, Pippy, speaks mainly in words beginning with the letter "P." It's the most wonderful thing, really. So this post is dedicated to Pippy!

So let's focus on the first part of the title: Parsnips. I work at a grocery store. Now I know the names of most of the produce that people bring through my till, but last Saturday was a different story. I starred at this bag of weird looking produce for a good five minutes before having to ask my customer what it was. A parsnip. Right. I knew that. So just what is a parsnip? Well...Wikipedia tells me that it's a root veggie related to the carrot. And that's all I need to know.

I hope I taught you something new.

Number Two: Pandas. So this is a rather old video, but for some odd reason I remembered it the other day. Watch it. I promise you will smile.

How cute! If you're ever wondering what to get me for Christmas or my birthday...a baby Panda would be acceptable.

And finally, number three. Parisian Orange Cookies.

These guys created the best aroma ever. Well...maybe not the best but they smell wonderful.

I enjoyed them when they were still warm and soft but after they cooled down they harden quite a bit. They still tasted alright, but not my favourite. My Dad did enjoy them a great deal though.

This recipe was adapted from Betty Crocker's Cooky Book. A delightful book of a gazillion recipes for yummy cookies!

Parisian Orange Cookies

• 2 tablespoons grated orange rind
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

*Preheat oven to 375*

*Mix orange rind, water, and 1/4 cup sugar in a saucepan

*Boil gently for about 10 minutes, until mixture becomes syrupy

*Cream butter, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla extract until fluffy

*Mix dry ingredients- flour, baking powder and salt- in a small bowl

*Mix 1/4 cup of the syrup mixture and all of the dry ingredients into the butter/sugar mixture

* Roll into 1" balls (I used a small cookie scooper)and place on cookie sheet, flatten with a fork and sprinkle with sugar

*Bake for about 9-12 minutes

Taadaa! They look lovely and sparkly from the sugar on top! And who doesn't like sparkly things?

So give it a try. Oranges not your thing? Try mixing it up. Use lemon rind instead of orange, or be daring and try it with limes...I'm not promising good results but atleast it's something fun to try. And who knows, maybe you'll stumble upon someting wonderful!

Thanks for reading, Have a super-duper week,

Sydney <3