We are on vacation in Vermont – our annual trip to see extended family.
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It’s been an unusual trip in that we have overlapped with family we rarely see, and are not going to see other family we usually are here with. Folks have been in and out, some because of work, some because of unexpected events…so, an odd summer, but all in all still quite good.
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Before we left, the girls and I went to the local library, and I found this great cookbook – “kids’ baking – 60 delicious recipes for children to make” by Sara Lewis.
It has a lot of recipes involving dried fruit which was my first tip that maybe it was not from the U.S. (I’m not all that observant while racing through the library trying to corral two toddlers), and sure enough it’s by a british author. You can find a copy of the book to buy (for just $12) at this direct link to BARNES AND NOBLE.
The recipes are wonderful, and they are set up in a way that enables the kids to do virtually everything. The girls and I made apricot white chocolate rockies – we had an absolute blast, and they are completely delicious!
Check out the process – they cut the dried apricots with kids’ scissors, mixed flour and butter by rubbing it between their fingers, and could have spooned the finished batter onto the cookie sheets except they were too busy eating the dough off of wooden spoons.
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We did the whole thing on the front porch of my dad’s house, then popped them in the oven. They are fabulous – taste like sweet baking powder buscuits with super sweet bits of white chocolate and the tart and tangy chunks of apricots.
If, like us, you and your kids love to cook, this is a great book – fun yummy recipes (note – I edited the recipe a bit, adding cinnamon and a little brown sugar, and using baking powder and flour in place of “self-rising flour”). I’d HIGHLY recommend it!
Although it’s not entirely clear how or why it began, the exchange of love letters on the feast of St. Valentine seems to be a tradition that is traced back to 14th century England – and possibly has links to pagan traditions of Ancient Rome. My cursory googling yielded, among other things, a convoluted discussion of the history of the day on wikipedia. 
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