“‘The place are you from?’ is a tough query for me,” begins Michelle Hannon, govt director of the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hole in Eureka Springs. “I used to be born within the Bay Space in California however spent most of my childhood within the Aramco compound of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. I went to varsity in northern New York, which led to an profession as an automotive electronics gross sales engineer in Detroit.
“In 2002,” she goes on, “my husband and I modified gears for a slower tempo of life. We moved to Saranac Lake, N.Y., within the Adirondack mountains for 14 years, the place I labored as customer support director at a nonprofit environmental journal, program director at a Lady Scout camp, concierge at a luxurious resort, private assistant for an impartial businessman, and director of a nonprofit neighborhood arts middle. Saranac Lake is an artsy, quirky little city, and we beloved it there, however I’ve Raynaud’s and it acquired means too chilly for me. We determined to discover a hotter place to name house, and one night time at a bar in Brevard, N.C., the locals informed us in regards to the halfbacks — northerners who transfer to Florida till it will get too sizzling for them they usually transfer midway again. We determined to be intentional halfbacks and moved to Florida, figuring out we had been solely going to remain for a short while. After two years we might had sufficient. We packed our possessions right into a storage unit and headed west. Eureka Springs was the second city on our record.”
Hannon says when she and her husband arrived on Nov. 30, 2018, each Eurekan she met mentioned, “‘Welcome house!’ prefer it was a foregone conclusion that we might find yourself right here. The toughest half about discovering a spot to dwell is discovering a spot to dwell, however on our approach to the car parking zone from the lodge, we walked by a ‘For Lease’ signal. We referred to as the quantity on the signal, and the landlords informed us they’d simply put it up and had been nonetheless on the town. Two days after we arrived in Eureka Springs for the primary time, we signed a 12 months’s lease. Six months after that, I began my dream job.”
Hannon says she is a voracious reader and loves the truth that now she will learn books by authors she is aware of. However she additionally enjoys spending time in her kitchen.
“My mother hates to prepare dinner, however my grandma was superb, particularly at baking,” she says. “It was her love language, and it is mine, too. As a school scholar, my joke was that my cooking expertise prolonged to boiling water and making toast. After I graduated and was dwelling alone, I principally taught myself to prepare dinner with help — and a present subscription to ‘Style of Residence’ — from Grandma.
“This has been my go-to cookie recipe for over a decade, and I’ve tailor-made it to my tastes through the years. I like a hearty, more healthy cookie with numerous great things in it. I’ve all the time acquired a bag within the freezer that I raid day by day for desserts, mountaineering or paddling vitality snacks, sharing with pals, or bringing to gatherings. They’re all the time successful they usually maintain nice.”
Entire-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Components:
½ cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature
½ cup unsweetened applesauce OR one ripe banana, mashed
¾ cup white sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract OR different flavoring (I like zested orange peel)
2 eggs
2 cups entire wheat flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 T. cinnamon (optionally available)
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup raisins (or different dried fruit)
1 cup chopped walnuts (or different nuts, I like a combo of nuts)
Preheat oven to 375 levels. Grease cookie sheets. Mix dry elements. Cream collectively applesauce, butter and sugars. Combine in vanilla and eggs. Step by step add the dry elements to the moist elements. Fold in chocolate chips, dried fruit and nuts. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ready cookie sheets. Bake for 12 minutes till golden. Makes 31/2 dozen.
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“This has been my go-to cookie recipe for over a decade, and I’ve tailor-made it to my tastes through the years. I like a hearty, more healthy cookie with numerous great things in it,” says Michelle Hannon of her Entire-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies. (Courtesy photograph)
“This has been my go-to cookie recipe for over a decade, and I’ve tailor-made it to my tastes through the years. I like a hearty, more healthy cookie with numerous great things in it,” says Michelle Hannon of her Entire-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies. (Courtesy photograph)
The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hole, the place Michelle Hannon is govt director, is housed in two adjoining historic buildings on Spring Avenue close to Grotto Spring in Eureka Springs. This 12 months, WCDH will host greater than 200 writers from throughout the nation and overseas who come to Eureka Springs for 3 days to 3 months of uninterrupted writing time due to an array of fellowships. WCDH additionally hosts writing workshops, literary occasions and fundraisers; publishes a web-based literary journal referred to as eMerge; and simply revealed an anthology of its first 5 years referred to as “The Dairy Hole Echo.” (Courtesy photograph)
