Year 2, Day 27: 10/8/12 - "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"

"I have climbed highest mountain
I have run through the fields...
...I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls...

...But I still haven't found what I'm looking for..."

-"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2

Lemondoodles: That's what I'm calling the lemon flavored snickerdoodles that I made on Sunday.  Some friends requested the recipe, so here it is:

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 1/2 cups sugar + 1/2 cup
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 small or 2 medium lemons

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.  In a small bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt, set aside.  Zest the lemons and then squeeze them to collect the juice (you'll need about 1/2 a cup of lemon juice).  In a small bowl, combine the 1/2 cup of sugar, about a tsp of lemon zest and about 1 tsp of lemon juice.  Add the lemon juice in slowly - you want to create a wet crystal mix, not dissolve the sugar (you can also choose to just use the lemon zest and rub it together with the sugar). In a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer) combine the butter and the sugar.  beat until combined.  Add in the vanilla, then add the eggs one at a time.  Once well combined, add about 1/4 cup of the lemon juice.  Beat into the mixture (your mixture may start to look like it is coming apart.  Don't worry, the flour will bring it back together).

Add about 1/2 of the flour mixture into the batter and mix well, then add the remaining flour.  You should have a fairly thick dough (you will need to roll it).  If the dough is too thin, add in additional flour, 1/8th of a cup at a time.  You shouldn't need more than a 1/4 cup to thicken it up.  Use a cookie scooper or a spoon to dip out rounded spoonfuls of dough.  Roll into a ball and then roll into the sugar mixture (you may need to knock some of the sugar off as you go).  Place on a cookie sheet.  Repeat.  Once the cookie sheet is full, use a flat bottomed glass to press the cookies down slightly.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes (no longer than 12)

Press Play, Repeat:  I got the news today that I was hoping not to hear while at work.  Suffice it to say that I was hoping to not be asked to split my time between two campuses but it looks like that is what will happen after the head at the other campus retires at the end of the month.  I'm a little disappointed in this because I feel as if I'm not being given the time to get my department in order.  By splitting my time, I'll also be splitting my attentions and my ability to get things done in a timely manner.  I'm also not sure about the culture at the other location (I'm still getting used to it at my home location).  Either way, I nearly broke down crying today when I was told to prepare for this (which essentially means, done deal).  Luckily my FB friends were there to help me get through the rest of the day (along with my newly acquired amounts of work).  I'm reminding myself of what I can do...which is a whole lot...