Holly is back in Bethany, teaching this semester, and for all intents and purposes, has fully recovered. I ambushed her this morning at 9 am when I heard she was back, and I just went over a couple minutes ago with some lemon squares my dad made (I woke up craving them and bought the mix for him to make- I am a horrible baker) and gave her one and made her let me take a picture for you all. That, btw, is her leery “WTF?” look, which is totally justified when random people show up at your house with cookies and cameras and force feed you and then demand a picture (“Hold still- this is official website business!” Oddly enough, she complied, so I guess people who know me are used to me being nuts.).
At any rate, she wanted to say that she read all the posts after she came out of her month long coma and that your concern meant so much to her. We’re all super excited to have her back in town, and she looks great and is her same awesome super self.
Howard Beale IV
Yay!
Mustang Bobby
Wow, great!
BGinCHI
That is so great. I think we were all pretty worried about her when (and after) it happened.
Stay well, girl.
Schlemizel
So glad to hear. I was thinking you had not updated us much recently & was afraid she was on the ‘hard slog’ part of recovery & all the misery that entails. Hope that episode will just be a vague hint of a bad dream once sort of remembered.
Iowa Old Lady
I’m glad she found our concern touching rather than creepy. Go, Holly!
Richard Shindledecker
Tres cool! Thanks!
Betty Cracker
Terrific! So glad she’s gonna be okay.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Excellent news! Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
SiubhanDuinne
That is just the best possible news! You were a good friend, John, to keep your sprawling BJ family up to date on her condition throughout the ordeal. I’m thrilled she’s back, and I hope she enjoyed your dad’s lemon bars*
*I’m not much of a cook myself, but how hard can it be to make lemon bars from a fucking mix? I think you were just looking for a plausible excuse to visit your dad.
BubbaDave
Yeah, that’s totally the “where did I put my pepper spray” smile there. But… lemon squares make even creepy stalker visits ok!
Anoniminous
Glad SOMETHING went right this week! Yay Holly!
Hold still – this is official website business! would make a great tag-line … and tee-shirt.
trollhattan
Dang, the rare bit of unabashedly good news. Welcome home, girl!
SiubhanDuinne
@Anoniminous:
Word. I would buy one.
Pogonip
Nakedcapitalism.com is in desperate need of someone in the NYC area to take a big black dog whose time at the shelter is running out.
Anne Laurie
Thank you for the update, John. Great news!
From her expression, I’m guessing that Holly is scouring her memory for single women among her acquaintances who might be interested in a “fixer-upper” guy. But, hey, lemon squares are never a bad idea…
different-church-lady
Oh, is that what you kids are calling it now…
LT
This stranger is pleased that that stranger came through that difficult thing okay.
P.S. That actress from The Killing (US version) called: she wants her smile back.
lol chikinburd
Outstanding. Great to hear.
srv
Awesome. This is good news for someone other than John McCain.
Dee Loralei
YAY for Holly!
John Cole +0
@SiubhanDuinne: I can make pizza, sometimes a loaf of bread, meatloaf, and a turkey- everything else that requires baking I ruin. Reliably.
rikyrah
So happy to see this picture of her. Glad to hear that she is doing well.
rikyrah
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE JACKIE ROBINSON WEST TEAM!
They will meet the South Korea team in the championship game.
SiubhanDuinne
@John Cole +0:
Not sure how that’s possible, but I choose to believe you.
Ash Can
Great news! Holly looks terrific. Thanks for the update.
danielx
Totally awesome recovery!
schrodinger's cat
Thanks for the update, I am so glad that your friend is doing well.
HinTN
Chiming in to say, “Welcome home Holly.” & Well done Cole!”
hildebrand
Outstanding news!
Alison
Such wonderful news!! :)
JPL
That is good news and she looks terrific. Holly, take care of yourself and someday this will just be a distant memory.
Skerry
We needed some good news. Congrats on your recovery, Holly!
trollhattan
@srv:
John McCain just Twittered to say he’s so happy about this he’d like to bomb somebody for the sheer joy of it.
PurpleGirl
Yay! So glad to hear she’s recovered and picking up her life. May this be the only major medical problem she ever has.
Hal
I think I’m a decent enough savory cook, but I suuuccckkk at baking. I’ve tried making cakes from scratch. I end up with a great tasting batter only to end up with a dry, tasteless cake. Also, I don’t have any talent for decorating and making desserts look decent. Mine always come out a mess, and the kitchen ends up a disaster. That’s what I hate about baking. It’s so damn precise. With savory cooking it much harder to mess up.
@rikyrah: Awww, good for them, but I really wanted to see Mo’ne Davis in the finals. I have no love of sport but it’s great seeing these kids play out of pure excitement.
danielx
@John Cole +0:
Cole, it ain’t that hard…try the recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies inside the top of one of those cylindrical Quaker Oats boxes. Regular, not quick cooking, of course. Just remember to blend the dry ingredients first, don’t do anything stupid like trying to substitute margarine for the two sticks of butter involved and use reasonably fresh baking soda, not the stuff you’ve had sitting in your refrigerator for six months. Try to find a package of Nestles cinnamon chips to throw in. These are to die for, possibly literally. (Eat a dozen by yourself and you get a 10% off coupon for a coronary stent.)
Even you couldn’t fuck it up.
opiejeanne
That is wonderful news!
And YAY! for dads who will cook for you, on demand.
And YAY! for you, taking her a lemon bar and taking her picture. She looks swell.
opiejeanne
@rikyrah: I had not heard, but that’s wonderful news.
AdamK
All my best to her (although I’m wrathful with envy. Nobody brought me any damn lemon squares.)
NotMax
@danielx
9 out of 10 Las Vegas bookies disagree.
Kristine
Yea Holly! Great news.
WaterGirl
We all remember this girl! Happy day. Holly, so happy for you and for everyone who loves you, which I am thinking is a lot of people. :-)
Count me in for the “Hold still- this is official website business!” paraphernalia.
Oh, and all you guys who are giving Cole shit for not making his own lemon bars? Have you forgotten that Cole currently has two seriously bum shoulders? I’ll bet real money Dad Cole was thrilled to be able to do something to help his son, too.
opiejeanne
@Hal: Either Jackie Robinson West, Traney, or Cumberland, RI; I was happy for any of those three to get this far. They all have great coaches and the kids played their hearts out.
And South Korea is a surprise to me. I expected it to be Japan, the way I saw them playing last week but I haven’t kept track. Is the Japan vs. Las Vegas game tomorrow a consolation game?
trollhattan
@NotMax: He did burn the shit out of himself with a weedwhacker last weekend. Not the typical weedwhacker injury.
I don’t lump cooking and baking together. Baking is more a combination of alchemy and science.
Violet
Wow, that’s amazing! Excellent news!
Just Some Fuckhead
She seems different now.
geg6
Such good news. She looks wonderful. Had a friend with a burst aneurism and, after a horrible fright for everyone and lots of hard work on her part, she’s just fine now. Here’s to Holly having the exact same outcome.
Today was supposed to be John’s daughter’s wedding day. I can’t fix the fact that her ex-fiancé cancelled last week, but I took her out to a hen/pool party yesterday afternoon with two of my sisters and another three of our good friends and I think she felt better afterward. She got lots of non-judgmental sympathy and ate her first meal since it all fell apart. I hope she is okay today.
opiejeanne
@Hal: Why do it from scratch when the Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines mixes produce really nice cakes with little effort?
Yes, I’m a baker and have made some really great cakes from scratch, but most basic cakes from scratch are not worth the effort. The ones I make from scratch are all special recipes, like Flourless Chocolate Cake and a very deceptive little lemon cake that looks like nothing at all and disappears at parties once one person takes a taste.
NotMax
@trollhattan
Almost always get more than satisfactory results from baking.
However when it comes to making icing, that is an incantation which have never been able to invoke successfully.
Violet
I really love lemon bars. They are delicious. Always use real butter.
opiejeanne
@NotMax: I find that if I hold my mouth just right… I have a couple of old recipes for basic frostings that turn out good every time. One of the best is the one accompanying the brownie recipe in the Growing Up on the Chocolate Diet cookbook, and the brownies are really good but with this frosting they are divine (and I never frost any other brownies).
kc
That’s great! Nice to read some good news for a change.
SiubhanDuinne
@geg6:
I hope so too. What a nightmare and heartbreak. Glad you were able to provide some XX therapy.
Chromosomes, not MPAA ratings.
SiubhanDuinne
@Violet:
Rules to Live By.
joel hanes
Many of the people I’ve known whose baked goods were consistently disappointing were relying on the oven temperature dial to be accurate.
Often it is not. My oven, for example, runs 25 degrees F hotter than the dial.
If burnt outsides / undercooked interiors is your pattern, I bet your oven also runs hot.
A good oven thermometer doesn’t cost much.
aimai
@danielx: That Quaker oats cookie recipe is very, very, good.
Also, to the point–congratulations to your friend for coming through such a trying ordeal.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: I think of baking as chemistry.
Suzanne
WOOT WOOT!! Go, Holly!
Violet
@geg6: Good for you. That’s a really tough thing for her, especially since he’s the one who called it off. Hopefully with everyone’s support she’ll emerge tougher and stronger.
WaterGirl
@Violet: @SiubhanDuinne:
I nominate that as a rotating tag line.
aimai
@geg6: Congratulations to John’s daughter about the busted wedding. I really mean that. I think often of how then Lady Diana wanted to end the engagement right before her wedding with Prince Charles. She knew it was going to be a disaster because she had just found out about his mistress and she had cold feet. But her sisters persuaded her to go through with the marriage saying to her (memorably) “Your face is on the tea towels.” Imagine how much happier she would have been if she’d never married into that family?
Everyone gets the jitters but if one of the two parties really feels its not right they have to back out, for everyone’s sake. I’m sure he was a total jerk about it but in the long run she is so very well out of it.
jl
@WaterGirl: Probably right way to think about it. I was horrible in chemistry and mostly a horrible baker too, except for yeast bread. Anyone want to hear a litany of pastry baking disasters, just let me know and I can oblige.
Edit: How bad? This bad: ‘pastry’ includes cookies. Damn cookies from scratch are beyond me.
Glad Holly is better. She looks great. Obviously a very nice and obliging person, given Cole’s story about the pic.
Violet
@WaterGirl: Ooh! I’d be so proud! It’s the truth though.
The Fat Kate Middleton
That is such good, good news … and she’s teaching already! Also just want to say: I love lemon bars more than any other baked treat in the world. And @joel hanes: is absolutely right about oven temp and thermometers.
jl
@WaterGirl:
‘ Always use real butter.
I nominate that as a rotating tag line. ‘
If this were not a wholesome family blog, that tag line would be too vague.
The Fat Kate Middleton
@aimai: I’ve found that adding two tablespoons of honey to the oatmeal cookie batter makes them unbelievably moist, chewy and tasty.
danielx
@joel hanes:
True dat, and it will screw up the results most reliably if the temp’s not right. There’s usually something in the manual about how to calibrate oven temperature.
dmsilev
@Violet: It’s definitely a rule to live by. The only exception I’ve ever made was when baking a kosher cake; depending on what else is served at the meal, dairy may not be allowed. Fortunately, that’s not often an issue for me.
In that vein, Passover cookbooks are a good source for flourless cake recipes. I have a couple of nice recipes for chocolate cakes made on a base of cooked squash or sweet potato for instance.
CaseyL
Yay for Holly! And thanks for sharing some really good news!
I rarely cook anything with more than 3 ingredients, and hardly ever something that needs to be baked. (I love to cook, but am single, and cooking elaborately for myself just isn’t on.) On the rare occasions I do, it usually comes out just fine, because I follow the recipe directions closely.
trollhattan
@jl:
For whatever reason that has me thinking, “I’ll take Brando films for five-hundred, Alex.”
Suzanne
Speaking of health, has anyone heard from Jacy?
Shana
@John Cole +0: I dunno John, you regale us, if that’s the right word, with menus often enough that I think you’re selling yourself short on the cooking front. Baking, maybe, but not cooking.
Dog On Porch
“That, btw, is her leery “WTF?” look..”.
I know that look. It’s a “don’t go to this well too often” look. Know it or not, you’ve been warned, Cole.
JCT
So awesome – this is what we call a great save!
My daughter is a great cook – but swears she can’t bake, I think trying to master pastry crusts damaged her. I’m hosting a huge BBQ tomorrow – tons of kids, I’m defaulting to a Texas sheet came for this one…
StringOnAStick
@aimai: One more supporter of the idea that if a fiancé calls off a wedding, be glad it didn’t go any further! Last year a friend married someone he’d been living with for 2 years, and she ditched him 4 months later for some guy she met at a climbing gym. When I talked about it with one of her friends, they told me “she just wanted the big wedding party and a chance to look hot in the dress”. Ouch. He was devastated of course, but now he’s much better off and a much, much happier guy.
John’s daughter will recover from this horrible event, but having someone back out is much better than going through with it and then the necessary misery to get out or a marriage when one half just isn’t there for you.
SiubhanDuinne
@opiejeanne:
You are, of course, going to share the recipe, yes?
Shana
@dmsilev: You may not be the right person to ask but I’ve tried kosher non-dairy versions of tandoori chicken with various substitutions for yogurt in the marinade with limited success. I’ve tried rice and soy yogurts with extra lemon juice to compensate for the lack of tanginess in those yogurts. It’s not quite right. Any suggestions?
TaMara (BHF)
That’s the best news of the week. Yay!
jl
@SiubhanDuinne: Thanks for noting that. I only glanced through the comments. Yes, recipes. Too bad from scratch, since I will ruin it probably. But a deceptive lemon cake? I will not give up hope, for that.
raven
@StringOnAStick: We determined a few days ago that logic has no weight right now.
JCT
@SiubhanDuinne: Yup, don’t even need much to imbue the food with the perfect mouth feel.
Had my horrid in-laws visiting a few weeks ago and they were ooooing and ahhhing over my husband’s ribs, especially the glaze I make for them. So my better half asks what version I made (with or without butter ) – again, for that mouth feel a tablespoon or two (in 2-3 cups of glaze) of butter does the trick.
Should have seen the looks on their faces when I admit I put some butter in that glaze. Would have thought I put battery acid in their food. And then I got a 10 minute lecture on the evils of butter. Their plates were covered with pork rib bones. Worst guests ever.
Abo gato
Such good news! Plus, love her purple door and frame!
geg6
@SiubhanDuinne:
Or both! ;-)
geg6
@aimai:
Oh, I completely agree. But she’s not ready to hear that yet and I just want to get her through this first stage of grief. She’s a hot mess. And, I must say, I was quite taken aback myself. Never saw this coming and I’m a pretty good judge of people.
dmsilev
@Shana: Can’t be of much help I’m afraid. You’ve already tried what would have been my first suggestion (soy-based yoghurt). I don’t really have much call to cook non-dairy kosher; my mom’s attitude is that kosher is all well and good, but margarine in cake is an abomination. “Flour-free” was good enough for her.
raven
@geg6:
And maybe you were thinkin’
That you thought you knew me well
But no one ever knows the heart of anyone else
I feel like Garbo in this late night Grande hotel
Shana
@dmsilev: Thanks anyway.
SiubhanDuinne
@JCT:
Oh please. Why else would the good FSM in his infinite wisdom have invented Lipitor? Sheesh.
JCT
@SiubhanDuinne: As my son said later the best part was that I’m a practicing cardiologist, hah!
Steeplejack (tablet)
I’m wi-fi-in’ from the friendly skies, my people!
But I’m moving up here to be sociable.
And great news about Holly!
chopper
@danielx:
“I fell and broke my neck making your fucking oatmeal cookies.”
SiubhanDuinne
@JCT:
Okay, that’s too perfect.
max
@John Cole +0: I can make pizza, sometimes a loaf of bread, meatloaf, and a turkey- everything else that requires baking I ruin. Reliably.
Bread is baking, pizza is baking and cooking and meatloaf and turkey are cooking. From that list I gather you’re afraid of the oven. That’s… interesting. Was mopping in the nude involved?
Forget all that: Yay, Holly!
max
[‘Cole, the oven doesn’t bite, you know.’]
MomSense
Woooo hooooo Holly! So happy to see her smiling, happy, healthy!!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Hooray for Holly. Keep feeling good. It’s official blog business for us to follow up on your health.
J R in WV
Glad to hear she’s back to work. For a youngster that’s back to normal, hurray!
Karen in GA
Go Holly!
Juju
Holy cow, she looks great!!
YellowJournalism
Yay! And cookies to boot…you’re such a sweetie, John.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
Great news! Thanks for sharing, John!
wvng
I suspect Holly will get a kick out of this thread turning from “Yay for Holly!!!!!!” to baking tips for John.
Welcome back, girl.
gogol's wife
Very late to this thread, but yay Holly!
catbirdman
Great news is awesome!