Desperately Seeking Cookies

I know, I know. Today is Mother’s Day. It’s a hard day for me for many reasons. So to distract myself, I’ve made a big batch of chocolate chip cookies.

I’ve made the same Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies for longer than I want to admit. In all that time, I can tell you they taste delicious but don’t usually look the way they do in cookbooks or on recipe pages. They’re flat, soft (I like that part), and in all versions of imperfect ovals.

I’m looking for as close to a foolproof recipe as is possible. Nothing that requires rolling—I’m not a fan. But definitely the recipe that you find produces the BEST cookies in terms of taste, texture, and appearance.

I hope someone rises to the challenge.

Cookies. Yes, I said it. Cookies.

Being home more than usual has been a challenge in many ways. By nature, I’m what my partner calls a slugabed. Meaning, given the option, I might just slug around and stay in bed. I wouldn’t go that far, but it is true that I don’t get nearly the exercise I did when I had to go into the office.

MMMM. Cookies.

So, I’ve been sitting around more, working at my job and writing, and trying to make sure I do stretches and get up, away from the computer, and walk throughout each day.

I’m also coming down off of a baking binge. You name it, I baked it. Banana bread, cranberry orange bread, cookies, actual bread.

See where I’m going here? None of that is good for me. NONE. But what’s a writer to do? Cranking out words is hungry work.

Fortunately, I found a recipe for cookies that is gluten-free and therefore not that bad for me. They’re made with coconut flour, almond flour, eggs, chocolate chips (YAY!), sugar, and butter. They are very rich. You can only eat one at a sitting. And they are really satisfying.

Drop me a line if you want the recipe.

Pineapple Fried Rice

Sometimes you just have to go for it.

I’ve been craving Asian food since just before the lockdown, I mean, quarantine. So tonight I took the plunge to make some.

Mind you, any other time I’ve tried to make Asian food it came out HORRIBLY. I just could never replicate the taste of my favorites. Egg Foo Young. Lo Mein. Korean Barbecue. Tempura anything. So today I was looking up recipes (#foodporn) and I didn’t have the ingredients for any of them.

But I was determined. So I combined a couple of different recipes and made a leap of faith in my improv cooking skills. Mom was, after all, a caterer.

Here is the result—Pineapple Fried Rice and Tempura Shrimp. OMG, it was delicious. I used these ingredients:

• jasmine rice

• onion

• whole salted cashews

• raisins

• frozen pineapple

• soy sauce

• curry powder

• eggs

I am so excited. My mom would be proud of me.

Tho I did cheat with the shrimp. I had some frozen, already tempura’d shrimp in the freezer.😊

Next on the agenda: Homemade Eggrolls