Category: baking

Finally, The Christmas Season Is Complete!

The last of my Christmas parcels was delivered to Mykolaiv this week. Two weeks ago, the parcel sent to Kyiv was delivered. That was a joy; however, I understand the difference between delivering to Kyiv and Mykolaiv. I sent both parcels in defiance of the cruelties of war, hoping they would make it in against all odds. It was a completely childish idea, like, “I can’t stop the war, but it’s still in my power to do something good, and nobody can stop me.”

My dear S., as you know, I am keeping close to my heart your words – “it will happen, just not as soon as both you and me would want it to happen.”

… I hope it will!

Christmas Cookies Day 3

Today, I started the day by making a big pot of borshch because I knew that people would be coming to help me with the cookies, I would need to feed them, and the oven will be in use. For that reason, I made baked salmon and roasted potatoes last night before going to the theater. I thought that salmon might not be enough, and I was right! Another thing I did last night – I made three kinds of dough: the gluten-free dough for sugar cookies, the regular sugar cookies dough, and one more portion of kolacki – all of them had to stay in the fridge for several hours, so it all worked great.

After I was done with borshch in the morning, I baked the gluten-free cookies to be done with them first and won’t contaminate them with regular flour. and then finally people showed up for cookies decoration:)

One more day of baking, and then packing, and all non-international shipping. And giving:)

634 cookies!

I am so thankful to Lena for coming and helping me this weekend! I don’t know what I would do without her! Also, four people were helping us to decorate today, and I do not know what I would do without them!

Lena’s gingerbread cookies
My Outrageous Double Chocolate Cookies in making
And ready to go into the oven
Continue reading “634 cookies!” →

And More Cookies!

Usually, I take a lot of pictures when Lena and I are baking and decorating cookies, but this time, we were way too busy. Last year, before the vaccine, I baked all the cookies by myself, and it was great that this year was different!

If not for Lena. I won’t have gingerbread cookies

We baked 910 cookies total! As of now, I shipped 14 boxes and gifted six, and I still have plenty of cookies 🙂

New Job And Holiday Season

Today is one week since I started with EDB. People are still reacting to my LinkedIn posts and a job update, and the number of views of the job post is already over 4,000. I am shadowing another consultant working with a client. I see that my skills are needed, and at the same time, I am learning new tools and techniques.

And at the same time, I am still downloading and installing missing software, attending training, and learning how things are done.

The help desk is indeed helpful, but in many cases, it isn’t easy to find out what I should install, who can give me access, whether there is any documentation, etc. Most customer engagements are very short, and we need to work really intensely to deliver results in five business days.

Boris is teaching at night again:). I am putting the final touches on the house Christmas decorations – some decorations have found their places, and some will be donated or discarded. And I told Boris I wouldn’t have time to cook as I did last time, but I actually do :).
And also, it is bitterly cold outside but cozy at home.

Continue reading “New Job And Holiday Season” →

A Slightly Dramatic Cookies Decoration

On Monday, we were decorating Christmas cookies in the ODS. It was a very dramatic story. First, since I was coming from home rather than the office, I was somewhat late (I can never calculate the time correctly). What was worse – when I transferred to the Blue line, I saw that I had to wait for 14 minutes until the next train. Unfortunately, the train got delayed even more and then more, and I ended up coming 50 minutes later than I planned.
The next thing I learned was that the oven was broken. It turned out that it was not broken entirely, it’s just that the door was not staying closed, so I had to watch it all the time. I had some baked cookies with me, which I baked at home, so we could start decorating them right away.
The cookies in the oven didn’t turn out very well either. That oven does not bake evenly even on its best days, so even when you use a small baking sheet, the further side is burned, and the from is undercooked, but with the broken door, it was even worse. I destroyed almost the entire first batch!
Then, one of the girls who really wanted to decorate was not there (I knew she had a class, so the fact that I came later left no chances. Many people were not interested and/or wanted to eat undecorated cookies right away 🙂

We ended up making some really nice ones, but I was so frustrated that I didn’t even take pictures! Oh well, next time!