Tag Archives: Twitter

National Cookie Week: Vermont Maple Cookies

I made these in March and shared them with friends. I was overwhelmed with the feedback I received. Everyone loved them, so I thought it appropriate to repost this recipe today for the final day of National Cookie Week. I really enjoyed researching recipes and preparing them this week. If not for Twitter and meeting The Gay Gourmet, I would never have pushed myself the way I did. Thank you! And thank you to everyone who sampled my cookies. Let’s do this again soon.

Maple Cookies

  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set to the side. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla, once again mixing until smooth and light. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Add it in 2-3 increments, alternating by adding the maple syrup (begin and end with the flour mixture), stirring after each addition. Between additions, pause to scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto your prepared baking sheets, leaving 1 1/2 inches around each cookie to allow for spreading. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until golden around the edges and with a dull finish on top. If desired sandwich two cookies with frosting of your choice in the middle to serve.

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners’ sugar.

*Note- I cut this recipe in half. It produces more frosting than you will need for these cookies.

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Should You/Can You/Will You Be Yourself?

As my Twitter addiction intensifies, I am starting to grapple with the question: what is my online persona or what should it be? Really, that’s probably two different questions, but everything is running together for me right now. As so many have pointed out, Tweeting is about the quality of the interactions and being transparent and genuine. That is what I have tried to be, even more so recently.

In the early days of my Tweeting career, I posted about anything and everything, rarely giving thought to who was listening. Now, I put a lot more thought into my tweets, but every once in awhile, I get fired up about something and hit send before I’ve reflected on how my followers may receive the message. Case in point, last night, I re-tweeted a message from TIME about the Hawaiian governor’s decision to allow same sex civil unions. I believe that everyone, regardless of their sexual preference, should be allowed the same rights as everyone else, so this news was a big “hurrah” for me. And off into the Twittersphere it went.

Fast forward two hours. I am reading up on some of my new Twitter friends to get to know them better and discover that one of them had unfollowed me. Oh no! My stomach dropped. Then I read his profile. Oh no again! Right there for the world to see was his declaration of support in favor of traditional conservative values. EEK. It had to have been my TIME RT. I must have offended him. Before I had time to let the emotions settle, I fired off a tweet to him to find out if I had in fact offended him. Turns out it was a big misunderstanding and he didn’t intentionally unfollow me, nor had I offended him. Phew! But it does lead me to this question: Should we/can we/will we be ourselves in the Twittersphere?

If my new follower had unfollowed me because of that RT, would it have  been the end of the world? I guess not, no, because it’s not about the number of followers. But, even though he was a new friend, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed our interactions, and if I had offended him, I would feel awful. On the other hand, the Tweet in question was me- the unabridged, undiluted me. If he doesn’t like that, that is his choice and I am okay with that… or am I?

Oy vey!

 

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Social Media is Taking Over My Life

Over the course of the past few months, I’ve jumped fully on board the Twitter bandwagon. I’ve had my personal Twitter account (arecker1704) for a couple of years and posted there sporadically, but it wasn’t until recently that I started to enjoy the interaction possibilities…. (There was a time when I had no idea what anyone was talking about. For example, RT? #? what does it all mean? I shied away from the conversation). Recently, I’ve made dozens of new friends and connected to people all over the country, and the world in some cases. And now, unfortunately, I am completely obsessed. I can’t even enjoy TV without following the applicable hashtag for my favorite shows (#survivor #idol). Twitter has ruined me.

To make matters worse (or better I suppose), a few months ago a friend (hschoegler) recommended Hoot Suite, which allows me to manage all of my social media accounts from one dashboard: (Twitter accounts arecker1704, fwderbygirls, cancersvcsni, fiveonfivemag; my personal Facebook page, along with fan pages for Fort Wayne Derby Girls, Bust A Move hosted by the Fort Wayne Derby Girls, Cancer Services of Northeast Indiana, Mean Jean and Anthony Wayne Rotary; and two Linked In accounts, one for myself and one for Cancer Services). Phew! That’s nuts, but Hoot Suite makes it a heck of a lot easier, which only fuels the obsession. And did I mention Hoot Suite has analytics that allow you to track your “click throughs.” Yeah, I know. Totally awesome.

This morning I attended the Social Media Breakfast Fort Wayne (#smbfw). And, just when I thought I knew pretty much all I needed to know about Twitter and Social Media, I was proven wrong. There’s so much out there. It seems impossible to keep up. So now I am checking out What the Hash Tag and Addictomatic, and adding more blogs to Google Reader. I am definitely looking forward to the next event so I can be overwhelmed, I mean learn, more useful information to help me manage my online social media presence. (Huge thanks to @kmullett, @scloho, @hschoegler, @leepings, and @randyclarktko for serving on the panel at today’s event).

I actually started writing this post because when I returned to my office, I discovered Twittarian, which connects Rotarians on Twitter. I wanted to use it as an example of the endless ways in which we can connect via social media. I can now find and talk to Rotarians all over the world. Wow, Twitter is a powerful tool.

Are you using it? If so, how?

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