Target Practice - and the promised biscotti recipe

"...now that Jamie(sic)'s got a gun, she ain't never gonna be the same....Jamie'(sic)s got a gun"

-Aerosmith

Holy mother.

Today I crossed another "to-do" off my list of things to do before I die.

I fired a handgun.

A 9 mm Heckler & Koch to be exact. I don't know exactly what I was expecting but the moment I walked onto the range and stepped up to hold the gun, my heart jumped into my throat and I started to shake. I mean, my gosh, this is a gun. Guns kill people! I fired off the first clip of 10 bullets by taking slow deep breaths between each pull of the trigger. All in all I shot 30 bullets at that poor unfortunate target:

(There should be closer to 50 bullet holes on this one as John shot the remaining 20...but I think I missed a few. Though to be fair I wasn't aiming to kill, I was repeatedly telling myself not to kill someone)

So there you have it. I have successfully fired a gun. And I may even do it again. John fired the 9 mm, a Sig Sauer P-229 0.40 calibre handgun and a Smith & Wesson 0.223 calibre. His were both much louder than mine and they kind of frightened me. I caught myself jumping a few times.

If I learned any lesson today it would be this:

Guns are intense. It's a crazy empowering feeling to fire one but THEY ARE VERY REAL WEAPONS. So respect their power, be cautiousand responsible, and enjoy the experience.

Now from guns to biscotti.

Would Martha be proud? I like to think so. She's a multi-faceted woman, I'm sure she's used a gun before.

Mini Egg Biscotti

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or grease with butter)
2. In a bowl, beat 1/2 cup butter with 2/3 cup packed brown sugar. Beat in 1/2 cup liquid honey and 2 tbsp canola oil. Beat in 2 eggs, one at a time, and add 1 egg yolk (save the white for later). Beat in 1 tbsp vanilla extract.
3. In a seperate bowl, mix together 3 1/4 cup flour, 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp salt. Add this mixture to the wet ingredients in 2 additions to form a slightly sticky dough. Add in mini eggs (as much or as little as you want).
4. Divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, shape each half into a log. Place each log onto the baking sheet, leaving some room between them (anything more than 10 cm is plenty). Press each to slightly flatten the top.
5. Add 2 tsp of water to the reserved egg white and beat; brush this on the tops and sides of the logs.
6. Bake for 30 minutes at 325, then remove and let cool. Cut the logs into slices about 2 cm thick (or as thick or as thin as you'd like). Stand the slices up, spaced apart, and bake again for another 20 minutes or so until dry.
***Biscotti are very hard and crunchy so if you don't like the typical biscotti texture don't put them back in the oven for that second round. They'll be softer.

Well pardners, that's it for now.

I have ONE exam left (!!!!!) and then I'm officially on summer vacation.

I'm also headed to Montreal this weekend for a girl's trip It's going to be a lot of fun.