Cherokee Park and Cookies

In case you can't tell by the title, this past week was pretty laidback and uneventful. That can be nice sometimes.

If you look at a map of Louisville, which the cartophile in me loves to do, it is speckled with green. Shortly after moving here, I read somewhere that the same park planner who made NYC's Central Park also created the park system of Louisville. Although we haven't visited many of them yet, just the quantity is admirable, and the quality we have seen are top notch.

And so a cool morning prompted us to visit one of these, the nearby Cherokee Park. It's a pretty large park, a little over 400 acres, surrounded by huge houses with rolling lawns that look more like country clubs. We've driven through it before, along the appropriately titled "Scenic Loop" which zig-zags through the park. But we had yet to get out on foot and enjoy its non-paved parts.

Here's a shot out the window as we drove along the Scenic Loop. It's a hilly chunk of land, parts cleared with juicy grassy slopes, others still forested.

The Scenic Loop is like the main artery, a wide one-way paved path curving through the hills, with an equally wide pedestrian lane too. Cyclists and families with baby carriages love this route.

Below is the dog fountain. I don't know if it has any special meaning, but whenever we visit, at least half the time we pass by it, there are dogs laying in it, wading around or drinking its water.

Ah, this is more like it. Trails that at times, feel like they are barely there. The one-note chirping chorus of crickets. No cicadas though, it seems like South Korea's cicadas are way tougher than the ones around here.

Its forested hills and gentle creeks made for a nice relaxing walk. And the trails twist and intersect so often that you don't have to commit to much of a trek.

One thing I've been itching to do but just haven't done is make cookies. Inspired by a free sample we tried at a grocery store, I wanted to make oatmeal coconut cookies. Instead of just finding a recipe for oatmeal coconut cookies, I fell into my typical habit of half-following, half-improvising a recipe.

But I knew if I wanted to make yummy oatmeal cookies, a good starting point would be the recipe which to me is the true form of an oatmeal cookie - Mimi's recipe. Nothing like a mother's or grandmother's recipe.

So I started with Mimi's recipe, mixing the butter, eggs and sugar together first just like she always did. Boy do those three ingredients smell like heaven. But I also did what some might consider sacrilege - cutting down the sugar, using only brown sugar, wheat flour, old fashioned oats and adding unsweetened coconut flakes. My attempt to make a *slightly* healthier, more chewy oatmeal cookie.

They turned out pretty darn tasty, although I guess I was too excited to bother taking anymore pictures. I still want to tweak the recipe some more, find a way to make them thicker and more crunchy. If I ever manage to make them and be happy with them, I'll be sure to share the recipe. Next time I might cross Mimi's recipe with an Anzac biscuit - an Australian cookie with oats, syrup and coconut.

So that was our laidback week in review. The weather is quickly changing, bringing winds and pressure-changing headaches along with it. The next few weeks are shaping up to be a bit busy for us, which hopefully means more fun things to share here!