What's in a Name....Schlemiel, Schlemozl, Hazenpfeffer Incorporated..

There is a recipe here....but, I have been asked this question a lot about my name Valli...so I finally just decided to blog about it to explain. My real name is Valerie which is a French name meaning victory. If you want to find out about your own name and its' popularity or maybe you're having a baby and looking for names check out this site . I am a Canadian of British descent. My mom and dad liked the name and it was relatively popular in the 60's....although I have only ever met a handful of other Valerie's in my personal life over the years. My brother refused to call me Valerie for a while when I was born. He had wanted me to be called Janis after one of his favourite playmates so when asked he called me "Baby".

Years ago when I first started up on the internet I opened up a hotmail account as many do. I live in a valley so my name became valleygurl. Not the "like... whatever" valley girl of Frank Zappa fame but..... valley as in "I live in the Okanagan Valley". I have a girlfriend named Lillian who is "Lilly of the Valley". Aren't we clever? "Like...whatever!!!"

Now keep up with me here. Valleygirl was taken and so was valleygurl so I ended up with an even longer hotmail address.

When I moved and opened a cable internet account I wanted to keep the name Valley for significance sake...but it was taken... so, I opted for Valli instead. The name Valli has stuck with me for years. I sign all my correspondence using Valli.

To throw another loop into the story once I started blogging it came to my attention that Valli was an East Indian name. Many of my friends from that part of the world ask me about it. Valli means "creeping plant" in the Hindu culture. In Dravidian mythology the goddess Valli was the wife of Murunga. If anyone knows more about this Hindu myth I would love to know more!!!!Valli is also a legend in a story from Sri Lanka who married the God of the Mountain Kataragama . You can find out my story here .

Now where does the name Bellini Valli come from? Well a Bellini is my favourite frozen drink from Joey's Gobal Grill, Milestones..... Sometimes I am also Margerita Valli depending on my mood.

Simple as that........

The concensus is....just call me Val...... :)

So where's the recipe?????????? I leave you with my all time favourite cookie recipe. A little bit healthy.... Sometimes I add chocolate chips...sometimes raisins or dried cranberries.

**Val's Coconut Oatmeal Crisps**

1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1-/14 cups regular rolled oats
¾ cup dessicated coconut
1-/1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt

granulated sugar
*********************

Grease 2 baking sheets and set aside. Cream together butter and both kinds of sugar; beat in the eggs, vanilla, oats and coconut. Stir together flour, baking powder, soda and and salt. Blend into batter.

Place teaspoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Flatten each cookie with a fork dipped in granulated sugar to keep it from sticking. Bake at 350 degree F for 8 to 10 minutes or until firm but still light coloured. Let cool on racks and store in airtight containers.

Makes about 72 crisps