For the past few years I've lived away from my home in South Carolina, going home for the holidays has usually involved a considerable amount of time spent in airports. I get ridiculous travel anxiety: with all the steps it takes for me to get from my house in Brooklyn to the airline gate (subway, airtrain, security), and the fact that I travel so infrequently that I can never remember the exact amount of time it takes for me to travel from Point A to Point B, I'm one who's prone to grossly overcompensate on the time it takes for me to get there, and then I end up with lots of extra time to kill in airport newsstands. I guess it's better than being unprepared, but I always end up buying magazines to help me pass the time.
This year, while browsing the racks, my recent fixation with baking drove me to buy Martha Stewart's Everyday Food (December 2009 issue). Personal sentiments about Martha aside, it was my first time reading this magazine and I fell in love with it-- the photography is delicious and the entire magazine is only seasonal recipes, which really got me into the holiday mood. I studied the "Sweet Treats" article all the way home, plotting my Black Friday Shut-In Cookie Fest. I chose two rolled-and-cut-out cookie recipes: Jam-Filled Cream Cheese Cookies and Citrus Sugar Cookies.
