On Top Of Spa-GHET-Ti......

Last night I attended Scout Roundtable meeting. It was my first time. I was scared. I had previously heard that at Roundtable there was singing. And clapping. And handholding. (The rumors were all true, and I was right to be scared.) I dropped Jos off at 6:30 for gymnastics and then headed to the stake center for the meeting. Upon arriving I immediately met up with Karen, the scout committee chair from our previous ward. We settled in to the back row and did our best to look like we were listening while in actuality we were having a number of terribly interesting conversations, complete with stifled laughter. BTW, are you aware that BYU offers a degree in Scouting? Because last night we were introduced to a professional scouter...one internship away from a scouting career. (Karen and I were gobsmacked!)

*NOTE*
I am happy to serve in scouts. I am happy there are men (and some women, apparently) who are devoted to the scouting program and freely give of their time to show up to meetings like this dressed in all their scout finery to say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing campfire songs and hoot and such. But even though I think the scouting program is wonderful for young boys, I have to admit my true feelings about grown men wearing scouting uniforms bedazzled with any number of patches and other adornments: It's kinda nerdy.
I know, I know, if we didn't have men devoted to the cause, the young boys would never accomplish all they could or should.
But still.
Ner-dy.
(Shhh!)

The meeting was opened by a scout woman. Do you remember the camp leader in the original Parent Trap, the one that took the girls to their cabins? I think this was the same lady, minus the horse whip. She was very scouty. She had obviously done a lot of scouty deeds, because her shirt was absolutely littered with patches. I don't have a scout shirt yet. Mine is going to look very unadorned, though, when I do get one. After a few announcements, we all stood up and sang "On Top Of Spaghetti". The words were printed for us on our agenda. Next to "On Top of Spaghetti" it said "Sung to the tune of On Top Of Old Smokey". I guess that is the original song that the tune was stolen from. I don't know On Top Of Old Smokey, but I'm guessing that song is pretty lame, because it's been beat out by On Top Of Spaghetti, one of your more ridiculous campfire songs. Anyway, we sang the whole thing. It's a pretty long song.

After a few more announcements I decided it was time leave. (I had to go pick up Mary Lou Retton, you know.) I later heard from my friend John Jezek that there was another song at the end, and that everybody held hands. Well, everybody except John (I'm sure he would want you to know that.) All in all, it was a very enlightening meeting. And now I feel more prepared for the next one. Lucky for me, Josie has gymnastics at the same time, so if I ever get into a singing/handholding pinch, I've got my excuse.

In other news, here is a recipe for Winter Energy Cookies:

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter (obviously we omitted this, and they were still delish)
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup toasted wheat germ
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup raisins
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (obviously we omitted this, not because of Jos but because walnuts are bleck)

Cream butter, sugar, molasses and peanut butter in a large bowl. Blend in the eggs and vanilla. Mix flour, wheat germ, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture until evenly blended.

Stir in the oats, raisins, chocolate chips and nuts. Cover and refrigerate one hour.

Preheat oven to 350. Shape dough into balls about 1 1/2 inches across. Place on greased cookie sheets. Flatten slightly with a fork. Bake until set, about 12-15 minutes. When done, the tops will still be soft to the touch. Cool on sheets for 35 seconds and then eat them, scalding the roof of your mouth.

These are the best combination of "healthy" and "cookie" that I have found. They are really good, and with all the flavors going on, you certainly can't taste the wheat germ or the whole wheat. When I made these a week ago, I cooked up just some of the dough, the rest of which I pre made into balls and then froze, putting the frozen balls into a gallon Ziploc out in the freezer in the garage. Over the course of the week, I found myself visiting that freezer at odd moments of the day, popping a frozen ball of dough into my mouth as I passed. THIS DOUGH IS FANTASTIC FROZEN. On Saturday, I was taking Jon with me to do some errands and again found myself out in the garage (it's where I keep my car) and thought I might steal a ball or two of dough covertly from the freezer. No sense in Jon ruining his appetite, you know. Apparently my sleight of hand isn't all I brag it to be, because Jon says to me:

"Oh. Your eating a frozen meatball. Huh. I guess that's a pretty good snack."
To which I said "Mrowmren" ("Protein")
To which he said "Ah."

The cookie balls were dead ringers for meatballs, don't you know. And that is how Scout Roundtable and Winter Energy Cookies and Meatballs As Snacks all made it into the same post. The End.