Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies: It's All Right with Me

Let me just say thank you to my sister, Amy, for finding this Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies recipe on Mel's Kitchen Cafe and sharing with me.  She made the cookies pictured above.  They are scrumptious because they combine chocolate and peanut butter and oatmeal--three of my favorite ingredients!

I'm still getting into the swing of law school, but hope to be back in the kitchen soon.  Until then, thanks Amy for sharing!

And since things are all right even though they are very different for me right now, I'd like to share "It's All Right with Me" sung by Ella Fitzgerald.

Oh, If Only Big Band Music Was Still "Popular"

I love to sing jazz.  Hence my majoring in Jazz Studies and recording jazz songs.  My full jazz standards album will be released this summer.

I've loved jazz for as long as I can remember.  My older sister, Amy, is a saxophonist and I heard her playing jazz.  My first real accompanist was Dave Christensen, an incredible jazz pianist who revered Thelonious Monk.  Dave plays like Monk, and I thought, as a ten-year-old, that all pianists played that way.  Not so, but thanks to Dave, Monk is my favorite pianist!

And yes, I know Monk was not a big band pianist.  He had a big band in his hands.  But, I do love big band music and I absolutely love to sing with big bands.  There's just something incredible about all those "voices" coming together, almost like listening to an orchestra.  Except, I'd much rather listen to a big band than an orchestra, though I'm not against orchestral music.  I am also a harpist and know very well how satisfying orchestral music can be.  But when it comes to the "fun factor," big bands win hands down.

Today, I performed to advertise for a yearly event at BYU called Big Band Night.

Each year, an armed forces veteran is chosen to be honored for the evening.  Singers perform a skit circa 1940s and the ballroom is turned into a stage door canteen from 1945.  A live big band, Synthesis, performs instrumental dance music which is interspersed with number that include singers.  I'm one of the singers!

This year I'm singing "Alright, Okay, You Win" and "Cry Me a River."  Admittedly, those are two of my absolute favorite songs to sing with a big band!

What "Sing, Sing, Sing" is to the instrumental big band genre, "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" is to the vocal big band genre.  I know I've highlighted this song before, but this one is a live performance of Ella Fitzgerald!

Another Review, Free Song, and Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve brings us to a new review from Stubby's House of Christmas of "I Wonder as I Wander," the free song (click song name for the download link) from my album Jazzy Christmas to You II.  Here's a taste of the review (thank you, Stubby!):

"Well, as good as ["Jazzy Christmas to You!"] was, "Jazzy Christmas To You II" is unbelievably better.  It's simply amazing!  A true jazz tour-de-force.  You should buy it.  Seriously.  Go now (I'll wait)!"

Read the full review!

And, of course, since it's Christmas Eve there is lots of fun stuff happening at the Chaston household!

Today my sister came into the Y105 radio studio with me to be on air on the Morning Wake Up with Chris Farber.  It was awesome and lots of fun!

Loved having Amy in studio!

I couldn't contain my Christmas cheer and had to wear my "White Christmas" dress--even though no one would see it since I was on the radio!  But Chris had a brilliant idea: Amy took a picture of me while Chris held a poinsettia in the picture to make the picture completely festive.  (I think the floating poinsettia is my favorite part of the picture!)

Those are Chris' hands!

The Chaston's Christmas Eve traditions have continued to be just that!  We've already reenacted the Nativity, opened Ornaments, opened our Christmas Pajamas, opened our Children's Christmas Books, Caroled (yesterday), and are currently watching our favorite Christmas movies and shows!

Here is a funny aside:  Today my mom made her almost famous buns (dinner rolls) plus she made a new recipe of dinner rolls today because my sister wanted something besides the traditional Chaston buns.  BUT my mom's buns were not to everyone's liking so my brother, Keith, offered to make them again.  He botched the first batch so he made a second batch and they were VERY light and tasty!  So in preparation for Christmas dinner, we have made four batches of buns!  It is another Chaston tradition to keep finding ways to create joy for each other--even if it means making four batches of buns in one day!

Have Yourself a Merry [Little] Christmas!