We Need to Talk

So, I've got this problem. It's a good problem.

It's this: I have myriads of ideas for blog posts floating around in my head, many of which shouuuld actually get written at some point or another. But since I'm already kinda behind, I'm not sure where to start. And what you, the reader, want to, well...read. So, I'm taking a poll.

There's another point to this also...I am curious about my readers. I thiiink I have more readers than my 13 "followers," because sometimes other people comment. Or sometimes someone tells me in person that they enjoy my blog and I had no idea that they ever read it. Which makes me ridiculously happy. Really. Over the moon! I told you it was ridiculous...

I know how I am when it comes to reading people's blogs...sometimes I don't comment because I don't have anything to add; sometimes I don't comment because I don't know how on their particular blog. Or I don't want to take the time to figure it out. But I've gotta tell ya, once you start your own blog, it's different. You wonder, a la The Pioneer Woman, "Is this thing on??" Yeah, Ree, it's ON. Why do you even ask?? We're here...thousands of us. We're here and we're listening. ;) And laughing, because you're stinkin' funny. But you can't really hear us...maybe that's why you're asking. Still, because she has so many readers, she has zillions of comments on every post. I've gotta admit, I don't usually comment unless I've tried - and loved - one of her recipes...or there's a giveaway. And when there's a giveaway, do I even have half a chance of winning a brand new RED Kitchen Aid mixer? Um, no. I would have a bigger chance of getting one by going to Kohl's and finding $299.99 stuffed in one of the mixing bowls in the beautiful, beautiful Kitchen Aid display.

Obviously, I can't give away Kitchen Aid mixers, even though I appreciate them dearly and think EVERY cook should have one. (I have my mother's older blue one, by the way, lest you were feeling sorry for me earlier. It does the job, so I can't justify spending money on another just yet.) AnyWAY, I am off subject. Kinda.

Here's the deal. I'm going to give you, the readers, a couple of how-to's about posting a comment or becoming a follower - and a list of possible post ideas. And you, the readers, can give me some feedback. And I will randomly choose someone to receive something awesome. I say "something awesome" because no, I don't know what it is yet. Hey, it's going to depend on who wins. It could be a baked good...or some future homemade plum jelly or homemade pear preserves. Or...if you don't live in Henderson or thereabouts, it might (will) be something smaller and lighter that I can mail to you. It could be cookies. What think you? Is this a good plan?

What if I don't know you? Well, you can still read my blog. I don't have a problem with that. And you can still win something. =)

Alright, here's the how-to's on posting a comment or becoming a "follower." You can set up a Google account and sign in that way. It takes a very, very short minute. Seriously. You don't have to make a complete profile. You don't have to load a picture.

Or you can be "anonymous." But...if you do decide to be anonymous, please sign off with your name or something distinguishing. =) If you found the link to my blog through Facebook, you can also comment on there. No problem. And one more thing...if you don't want to sign up with a Google account or wait to catch the next posting with a Facebook link, you can message me with your email address and I can add you to my email list. Then it will automatically get sent to you, no matter if you do gmail or something entirely different.

That business is taken care of...let's talk about creative writing, which is why I enjoy blogging.

Go ahead and give me your top three choices. Or you can say something along the lines, "All of it! Tell me about ALL of it!" By the way, flattery will get you everywhere with me. ;)

A. Three (now Four!) Nests of Baby Birds
B. Chocolate Chip Cookies (The traditional, the NEW, and the healthy-but-still-awesome versions)
C. The Tea Party Report - Part 5: The Tea Boutique
D. Recipes: Strawberry Pie, Polynesian Chicken, Crash Hot Potatoes, Sweet Potato Fries, etc.
E. A Tale of Two Butterfly Cakes
F. What's Really Important: i.e., Self-indulgence vs. Self-control, Riches in Heaven, Finding God in Everything, Out in a Crowd
G. Gardening (and Living) in my Grandparents' House
H. Why You Should be Involved in Mission Work
I. Container Garden and Cardigarden Update
J. More Conversations with the Husband
K. LOST: Why I Miss it Already
L. Family Secrets (not really - that's just to see if my mom's found my blog yet)

And there's more...I'm positive. Also, the titles are working titles. They may become slightly undorkier upon further inspection. I do hope. But I promise that all of them will be thought-provoking or funny or...something.

Alright, your turn. You can even answer, "I don't care what you write...just say something and let me go on and live my life." But I can see into your future and that's not gonna bode well for you, prize-wise.

Maybe I shouldn't have asked you to comment. Maybe I should have been more discreet, as in saying, "I don't hate comments." Maybe I should have used reverse psychology on you. Like our three-year-old friend Tessa often must be dealt with. ("Don't you give Larry a hug! Don't do it! Don't you dare!")

So...don't you comment on my blog! Don't do it.

Don't you dare. =)

Quiet as a Button

A phone conversation...

Jeremy: He hardly talks. He's quiet as a button.
Me, laughing: Quiet as a button?
Jeremy: Yes. Have you ever heard a button??
Me: No, but is that really a saying? Did you make that up?
Jeremy: I don't think so.
Me: Wait, do you mean "cute as a button"? It's "quiet as a mouse."
Jeremy: (Pause) Maybe it's a funny saying.
Me: (No words - can't stop laughing)
Jeremy: Mimic the button.
Me: (New laughter)
Jeremy: You're not doing a good job. You're fired.

And that's how it often goes in our house. Except sometimes I make the mistake (gasp!) and Jeremy makes fun. But it's always amusing...

The Tea Party Report - Part 3: The Floods - or - A Change in Plans

On the eighth year of this annual tea party we encountered our first BIG issue. (Well, the biggest issue we'd had so far anyway - the previous year, there was a pretty big problem with receiving the wrong tea...Vanilla Green instead of Vanilla Chai. And by the time we'd realized it, there was not enough time to have the company send the right one. So, there was lots of scurrying around to purchase loose black tea to mix with the green - and finding candied ginger and other spices from Ada's in Bethel Springs - and several of us reenacted the scene from "Macbeth" as we stirred a humongous bowl full of tea and spices. "Double, double, toil and trouble..." We all knew it was a memory in the making. And the custom-blended tea was a hit. We sold out!)

Yes, every year there's something or another that throws a kink in the plans...but this year's problem was even bigger. It involved something we had no control over...The Weather.

Now, I absolutely love living in Tennessee. Except for during tornado season. Bleah. Thumbs down!

We knew there were storms on the horizon for Tea Party Weekend and, as a committee, we were telling everyone we knew to pray for sunshine. And I prayed for sunshine continuously myself. Every once in awhile, though, I'd remember that scripture in Romans (8:28 to be exact): "For we know that all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." So, several times I prayed with that specifically in mind, asking for a good result - even if it still did storm.

Here's what we were afraid of: instead of holding the Victorian Tea Party at the lovely Hardeman House, as is the perfect place for it...if it stormed too badly, we would have to move the whole event across to the street to the Henderson church of Christ building. The Activity Center, to be more precise, which has plenty of room but which = GYM. And which wouldn't have the same ambience. AND there's the whole fact that we'd have to MOVE everything. At the last minute. It wasn't a pleasant thought. Plus, if it were stormy, would our guests still come?? Would it be a whole lot of headache (and backaches - and heartaches for that matter) for nothing? We were anxious and worried, but tried not to be. All of us had spent hours upon HOURS readying every last detail for the day. I liken it to planning a huge wedding and reception. Seriously. It's literally that many details.

On Saturday morning, everything was ready to be set up, but we didn't know where to set it up. Debbie and I were back and forth on the phone, watching the weather and looking outside at the stormy skies. I was at the home ec. building on FHU's campus with several other ladies who were helping make the last-minute frostings for two of our food items...Jeremy had already been calling from work to tell us to be careful and get in a safe place because the sirens kept going off (he, perhaps, should have been a meteorologist - he checks all the real radar stuff, not just weather.com). Debbie and some volunteers were already at the Hardeman House, where we'd gone ahead and rented the big white tents and tables and chairs in hopes that the storm would pass up by, as it sometimes does. But finally we realized that it wasn't going to pass us by. So, even though we'd had the presence of mind to rent the sides to the tents, too (Debbie's good idea) in case of regular (not crazy) rain, we had to finally say, "Let's move it." It stung a little to know we were going to have to eat the costs of the tent this year, but it was also a relief. We knew what we had to do and we had to get started fast. And immediately.

Now, pay attention. Here's where things started falling into place. We got over to the church building and we had plenty of extra helpers because, get this, lots of able-bodied people were waiting in the church basement...because of said storms. Bonus! So we had volunteers that hadn't even signed up. And we didn't have to move the tables and chairs over...because there were plenty already there. Double bonus.

Also, we were dreading the whole lack of ambience because who wants to have a tea party in a gym? Not this girl. But my mother, who always has good ideas regarding ambience, suggested setting up the tea tables in the handsome Commons area, which is where many baby and bridal showers are now held. Because that's where we'd had our rehearsal dinner for our wedding. It was perfect - check!

We set up the little girls' dress-up venue in a large classroom right off of the Commons.

And we set up the rest of the venues in the Fellowship Hall on the other side of the Commons. The kitchen was right there and everything...and several long-time tea party kitchen workers noted that they had more room to spread out this year. Good to know.

As our first guests (yea, guests!) arrived, the electricity went out. Seriously. It was like clockwork. But since the tea tables were in the Commons area, each end of the room was flanked in ceiling-to-floor windows, so it let in any available light. Which admittedly wasn't an incredible amount because it was pretty dark outside, but it was something. If we'd only known, we'd have had some candles ready, but now we know if we ever have a "next time." =) The ladies who ate first "ate by Exit light" instead.

Enough hot tea had just been brewed to last for quite awhile, so we celebrated each time more ladies arrived and laughed about this year's tea party conditions, one of which later told us that it helped transport us back to Victorian times. =) Thanks for the smile, Susan. We still served about 125 guests, which was truly amazing to me. It was about half of the guests we'd had last year at 250, which was our largest group yet, but it was perfect. Yes, we would have been happy with even more, but we were so relieved that half of the people still came. Sweet Mrs. Jean Marilyn said, "Only us silly ladies would be out in this!" There were some people who still would have come if they only could have, but areas of Tennessee had some serious flooding that weekend and there were sinkholes and closed roads and all that. It's not been pretty.

Almost halfway through the tea party, I caught wind of an impending problem...we'd almost run out of hot tea. And unless the electricity came back on, we had no way to heat more water. Someone notified Dr. Shull, an FHU teacher who also leads a Boy Scout troup, and he came up, in his yellow rain jacket and toting his camp stove, to save the day. Of course, about the time he got it started up...the electricity came back on. Of course. But we appreciated the gesture so much, nevertheless!

So we did get to finish up the tea party being able to see exactly what we were eating, and the little girls were able to see much better to color their butterfly wands and design their paperdolls. We got so very many nice compliments about the event and I was grateful for each one who helped and who attended. It really did all "work together for good." We might not often see such immediate results of things working together like that. Often we find out months (or even years) down the road that things really did work out the way they should have.

I continue to be thankful for the opportunity to watch the good things unfold that very day. Perhaps the best thing about it is that now we know how to do it and when and where things should be set up...you know, the answers to all of those important questions. And that takes away our fear of the unknown. Which gives me peace of mind. And that's such a relief to me, because I'm supposed to be the chair of next year's tea party because Debbie will be...in Europe for the semester! Yikes! (I'm not sure I can allow that to happen, but she tells me it's a done deal.)

Here's to hoping that next year's tea party is as wonderful as this year's turned out to be, if the Good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise. ;)

LOST Eyeliner Secrets Revealed!

Don't freak out...this post contains NO spoilers. No real ones anyway...

If you've watched the TV show LOST for any length of time, you've most likely met Richard Alpert.

Photo from imdb.com - originally submitted by WireImage.com

And while Nestor Carbonell is a wonderful actor and Richard is an intriguing character, just as many (or more) comments are made about this guy's eyes. Or eyeliner, to be more particular. As in, "Is that GUY wearing... EYELINER?" So it's become a running joke among fellow Losties (guyliner, anyone?) and even with the creators of the show, though there's been big discussions about him just having super dark eyelashes. I mean, check this out. It's a pretty popular search item.

Google search: "Nestor Carbonell eyeliner"

As the finale approaches (and can I tell you how sad I am about that?? Oh, sigh. Heavy sigh.) I want to share with you a recent discovery of mine. I've been happily wearing this Rimmel eyeliner for some time and just bought a new package of it. It had been sitting around on the bathroom counter while I waited...and waited...and waited...to finish up the little stub of the one I had already been using. Suddenly I looked at it anew and realized that this - THIS - must be what Richard uses to outline his eyes. It all made perfect sense. Only he probably uses Jet Black instead of Sable Brown.

I know I've been feeling more dramatic lately.

Another Musical Interlude

I loved Ingrid Michaelson before the Old Navy commercials featured The Way I Am. And while I don't blindly adore every single song she ever writes/performs (I don't really love Be O.K. - I admit it), there are many, many good...no, great...ones that I keep coming back to. Like this one: Giving Up. I like that there's a twist to it. Like you thiiink it's gonna mean she's giving up on the relationship. But no. She's giving up on "greener grasses" and other such things - because she's going to do whatever it takes to make the relationship work. There's one line in it that just gets me every time. Can anyone guess what it is? Step right up and make your guesses now!

Now, Ingrid didn't write this one, but I am very, very fond of her version of Can't Help Falling in Love With You. Nothing against Elvis...I am fond of him, too. I just wanted something different for our wedding. And this was it. This was the song that the bridesmaids walked down to. And it was perfect. =)

Another one that has always struck a chord with me is Breakable. I really enjoy exploring Ingrid's lyrics...there's lots of layers in music and the words are such a distinguishing factor for me. I can reeeally like the sound of a song and listen to it over and over...until I finally realize what the song is really about or that the lyrics are ridiculously unoriginal...and then never want to hear it again. I hate when that happens. Or I can finally realize what a song is really about and become even more enamored with it. I love when that happens! Breakable is one of those that I liked alot...and then grew to love because of what it meant. Even though it's sad. Be warned.

Moving on from Ingrid...I discovered Mindy Smith a few years back because of her spectacular Christmas album (seriously, download it now so you'll have it ready in December...or September if you're one of those people). And I found that I really liked some (not all) of her other stuff, too. Especially Tennessee. What a beautiful song! I don't think she was the one who wrote it, but that's quite alright. To me, it belongs to her.

You might have heard of Sara Bareilles. She's pretty great. I don't think I've ever heard this song on the radio, though...not that I listen to the radio neeeearly as much as I used to, though, so I mighta missed it. Anyway, Gravity is a beautifully sad song and totally relatable for an extremely high number of people, I would think. I remember feeling that way myself, way back when...whew! Glad that's over!

Alright, you've probably heard of Colbie Caillat. Love lots and lots of her stuff...and just her sound in general. Very mellow. This song - Stay With Me -  is super nice and it keeps me on my toes because I can't quite figure it out. I don't know if she's talking about a romantic relationship or just a strong friendship. I'm leaning toward the friendship angle. What think you?

One more: This one doesn't particularly fit with the rest of them, but I just think this song is so stinkin' cute. I want to pinch its little cheeks, it's so cute. You almost want to shake the guy for being so oblivious, but again, it's cute, so you end up forgiving him. The guy singing is Chris Rice and I have not explored many of his musical offerings because the little iTunes song samples didn't grab me like this one song. Oh, well. Maybe I'm missing out? I'll look into it further. Meanwhile, check out this little gem: When Did You Fall?

P.S. If you don't know Grooveshark, here is a quick lesson. You can click on any of my links of the song titles and it'll take you to a cool little website that plays whole (not just snippets) of songs. They pay the artists for how many times their songs are played. So, you're welcome, Ingrid and Mindy and Sara and Colbie and Chris. =) Live long and prosper!

The Tea Party Report - Part 2: The Fun

All Photos by Jud Davis

We've covered the food. Now we should talk about the fun that was had during the tea party. I cannot lie...I was witness to much giddiness in the little girls' dress-up room! There were princess dresses galore...and fairy wands and sweet little shoes that were still too big for some of the tiniest girls. I sooo wish I had video to prove this, but my 2-year-old friend Ava aptly demonstrated the term "frolicking" in her baby blue Cinderella dress. She was singing and flinging her arms wide...and just enjoying being a girl. It was incredibly cute and sweet and adorable. Seriously, you've got to trust me on this. =)

This is Ava...she has become such a funny little, sweet little girl. Imagine the frolicking. Smiling yet? ;)

This is her sister, Ella - and their mama, Ashley.

All three of these girls make me laugh very hard. I love being around them...and their daddy/husband, Ethan. He's pretty amusing, too. Ashley and Ethan have been trying to train Ella and Ava to call us "Miss Kristen" and "Mr. Jeremy." Sometimes it comes out right and sometimes it comes out "Mr. Kristen" and "Miss Jermy." (Yes, the extra "e" is often missing in Jeremy's name.) We're around them so often that Ella couldn't understand why they had to use these extra titles for us...

"But why, Mommy?"
"Because they're not actually in our family."
"But why? Why aren't they in our family?"

Some things are hard to understand, Ella. This is the beginning of many things that don't make sense. ;)

This is another of mine and Jeremy's favorite little friends, Tessa.

She's the niece of my cousin Adam's fiancee' Tosha, on the right. My aunt Becky is on the left. These three had a big time at the tea party. =) Tessa loved dressing up, too, and seeing what all else she could get into...like making the butterfly wands, which were precious, and making paperdolls, which are always popular. At some point I was handed Tessa's paperdoll, which I promptly held against me while I was talking to someone or another...not even realizing that it was a newly glued design...and then belatedly realizing that I had glue and silver sequins now attached to the top of my dress. It was just beautiful. Really impressively bedazzled.

Here are some little ladies designing their paperdolls and butterfly wands...

And here are some more pictures that fall into the "Fun" category...pink canopies definitely fall into the "Fun" category, don't you think?

Notice the pretty butterfly wands...

Learning to candlewick, a form of white-on-white embroidery...

If it weren't the teacup for a nose, I'd say that this is definitely our preacher, Daniel, and his wife Heather's little girl, Haven. But with the strategically placed teacup, one can never tell for sure...

I can tell you with great certainty that it is delightfully fun to simply sit and relax a tea table...

And mingle with other ladies...friends old and new. That reminds me of a little song we used to sing in Scouts..."Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other, gold." 

Hmmm...hokey but true. Is it the hokier it is, the truer it is? If so, that song is very, very true...

Love these pictures! By the way, any of these pictures (candids or portraits) can be purchased by guests at this website: http://photos.fhu.edu/Associates/2009-10. You can buy different sizes and everything!

Thanks to Jud Davis, for capturing the essence of our tea party! By the way, that's Jud's little girl Cecily on the left in that last picture. She's a sweetie, as is her friend, Anna, on the right. =)

More to come - Part III: The Floods, or - A Change in Plans; 

Part IV: The Tea Boutique;

and Part V: The Pictures

Lyrics I Love

Two posts in one day?? This one'll be a super short one, I promise. Just wanted to share some new music (or new to me) with you. And I'm playing with Grooveshark - saw it on another blog...we'll see if it'll work for me.

I have downloaded some Missy Higgins songs lately and am really enjoying her sound and her songwriting. This song I love...and the words are perfect. It's happy! Steer - Missy Higgins

Also, I'm loving this one from Ben Rector - Hank. It's a collection of some great and clever thoughts directed from an uncle to his young nephew.

I'm not sure how I happened upon this one, but I waffle between loving the sound of it and thinking she needs to snag a copy of "He's Just Not Into You." What think you? Angel Taylor - Chai Tea Latte'

Never heard of Steve Moakler until a few weeks back, but I like his stuff...especially this song. It's so...so descriptive of how many people feel about wanting/not wanting to tell someone that they...gasp!...love them, L-U-V. Yikes! Check it out: Hesitate

Along the same lines, what about this one? The Fear You Won't Fall - Joshua Radin. Fantastic.

I'll leave you with a song I discovered a few years back - and have felt adoringly toward it ever since. Nickel Creek has some beautiful songs in general, but this song touches me EVERY single time I hear it. How many times can we compare ourselves to that guy Thomas - the one who is known for doubting? I feel sorry for him sometimes, but really, I'm secretly glad that he showed his humanity. He touched Jesus' side...and he believed. And that is the important part. Now...listen: Doubting Thomas

I love music. =)

The Tea Party Report - Part I: The Food

Yes, yes, it's been over a week and I am JUST NOW blogging about the tea party. You just don't realize how much wrapping up there is to do after the tea party's over, I'll tell you that. But it's still been fun stuff and yes, indeedy, the wrapping-up part is still going on, and now I'm back in town after a nice weekend away in Chattanooga with Jeremy's fam. And NOW, I've got pictures! =) And I must blog. I've already realized just how long one blog post could be, so it will be broken up into several sections. This is Part One and it will deal with...

The FOOD.

Photo by Jud Davis

It was delightful. And delectable. And any other "d" words that mean the same thing - oh, like delicious. Yes, delicious. How did I forget that one??

We'll start with the Savory Cucumber sandwiches, for a tea party is not a tea party without them. We've tried various recipes for cucumber sandwiches, (all being quite delicious, delectable, and delightful to my palate) but I do think that this recipe was one of the most positive experiences, comment-wise, that we've  ever, um...experienced.

Photo by Jud Davis

You can see the cucumber sandwiches in the bottom right corner of the picture. (This was taken in the staging area before the plates were taken to their homes on our pretty three-tiered plate stands.) Also on those sandwich plates are the next item...

The Spicy Cheddar Pimento sandwiches, which we also got many nice compliments about. A little cayenne pepper makes all the difference. And they were very cute, what with the filling dolloped on triangles of party rye bread.

The Scones, with a capital "S." Sadly, there may not be a picture of them! Oh, no! =( Sad. This year we served White Chocolate Cherry Scones with Chocolate Cream and Cherry Butter for the spreads. Sigh! The tartness of the dried cherries perfectly contrasted with the creamy sweetness of the white chocolate chips. Big, BIG hit.

Chocolate Raspberry Tassies. Rich, brownie-esque cups filled with chocolately, raspberry goodness. And decorated with a fancy topping of chocolate buttercream. What??! I know. I know.

Photo by Jud Davis

Playing off the chocolate flavors were the Mini Spongecakes with Jasmine Tea Buttercream. This was a combination of two different recipes. I had found the Jasmine Tea Buttercream recipe in a recent Tea Time magazine (note: if you love tea or tea time, the arrival of this magazine in your mailbox every other month is so, SO happy) but it topped a vanilla cupcake. Now...please don't get me wrong, that sounds quite marvelous. But it made, like, 10 cupcakes. Oh, my. And the crazy thing is, the icing made sooo much more than for that amount of cupcakes. I know they really piled it on, but anyway...

Photo by Jud Davis

The mini spongecakes were adapted from a Pioneer Woman recipe. Her actual recipe I took it from was for a Strawberry Shortcake Cake, which I have made and it was completely wonderful. I had also been making just the spongecake part into cupcakes for Valentine's Day and what have you and just loved the taste and texture. So...the little cakes found their way onto the menu for our tea party - and they were mighty perfect with the jasmine tea buttercream, which was dyed pink, by the way. =)

One of the items that I loved with the fiery passion of a thousand suns were the Rosemary Parmesan Hearts. Oh. The crunchiness, the light rosemary flavor...I will be making these myself someday soon. That's a promise. See, it's so deliciously distracting that you forget that someone is trying to photograph you...

Photo by Jud Davis

Our lemon turnovers were very popular, too. A tad time intensive to prepare, as turnovers usually are - but quite, quite fabulous-tasting, as turnovers usually are.

Photo by Jud Davis

And I already told you all about the chosen teas in the last post. All of this goodness was punctuated with offerings of fresh fruit...yummy strawberries and grapes. I am not going to lie. It was FABULOUS. We had many, many compliments on the food. And guests, as always, got to take home their souvenir programs which held the secrets of the tea party fare...in other words, the recipes. =)

If you are interested in snagging a program, let me know. I can probably make it happen. ;)

I will leave you with two recipes. Let me know if you desire more!

Savory Cucumber Sandwiches
Makes about 32 bite-sized sandwiches

1 large cucumber, cleaned and deseeded, but not peeled
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 small (or 2 large) green onions, chopped, including most of the green part
1/4 c. mayonnaise
1 tsp. celery salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
white sandwich bread

Shred the cucumber and allow to drain until most of the liquid is gone. Mix the cream cheese and mayonnaise until smooth and spreadable. Stir in the chopped onions and add the celery salt and garlic powder. Add drained cucumber and stir. Spread between slices of white sandwich bread and trim crusts off. Cut each sandwich into quarters.

aaand....


Rosemary Parmesan Hearts
Makes approximately 11 dozen small hearts

2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter
3/4 c. Parmesan cheese, finely grated (not powdered)
2 egg yolks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the flour and baking powder together and cut in the butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the Parmesan, rosemary, and egg yolks. Continue working the dough until it forms a ball. This can all be done in the food processor.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness and cut out with a small heart cookie cutter. Reroll remaining dough and continue cutting out hearts until the dough has all been used. Place the hearts onto baking stones, if possible, or baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake approximately 10 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks and store in airtight container.