The Peace Cookie (a.k.a. The Salty Cookie Test)

As I spend my Friday night alone, watching Bridget Jones and folding laundry...I'm starting to wonder how I got to be in this situation. The alone part, that is. The folding laundry and Bridget Jones parts are obviously my own doing. The alone part might be as well...due to my pickiness. Although, it's hard to be picky when there is nothing to pick from...which is totally beside the point.

Back in college, I lived with a group of amazing girls! I still call these girls my roommates, although we haven't shared living quarters for nearly 3 and a half years (has it really been that long?). We have shared so many things: clothes, memories, inside jokes and food. Jennie was notorious for having us try her food if she thought it tasted weird. She would often say things like 'This milk tastes bad...try it' or 'does this cookie taste salty to you?' Once during our Junior year, we were having dinner in the caf, and joining us was this guy 'Tom' that one of the girls was kinda, sorta seeing. As we passed the cookie around, tasting it for saltiness, the cookie (or peace cookie) got to 'Tom'. He refused to take a bite. There was a place on the edge that hadn't been bitten yet, but he wouldn't taste the cookie. I think this was the beginning of the end of 'Tom'. For some reason on that night, eating that cookie was a big deal to us.

This all seems so silly, but whenever I start to kind of like a guy...there is a little voice in the back of my head asking 'Would he eat the cookie?'

If that makes me too picky...so be it!

Recipe for Disaster

Along with being less of a stay-at-home loser, for 2011 I am also going to attempt to enjoy cooking. I can cook; I mean I can read and follow a recipe and all. I'm a pretty decent baker, and I really enjoy doing that...but cooking just never really clicked with me, but I am vowing to give it a chance.
So far this year I have tried 2 new recipes, I made a really tasty mac & cheese in my slow cooker which lasted me two dinners and two lunches. Tonight I tried to make these chicken tenders. They were supposed to a health, grown up alternative to chicken fingers. I covered chicken breast cutlets with PanKo bread crumbs, onion soup mix and crushed Ritz crackers and then baked them in the oven. They were gross.
I hate when I cook something gross for many reasons. 1) I put the work into it; 2) I don't get dinner; 3) I hate wasting food; and 4) I hate wasting my money. I was really disappointed, and I think this is one of the reasons I'm so soured on cooking. The results are so unpredictable. If you are trying a new recipe, it's hard to know what to expect. It's so hit and miss.
With baking a cookie is a cookie. Also, I can make peanut butter cookies or brownies or cupcakes as many times and I don't get sick of them, but I can only stand enchiladas so many days in a row without going crazy.
I'm still going to try to enjoy cooking more often, and maybe try a different cookbook as well...
Here's hoping!

My grown-up Christmas list

Obviously, as I've gotten older, the things I'm asking Santa for are becoming less frivolous and more useful. Gone are the days of asking for Barbie's Dream House, games for my gameboy, and Garth Brooks cassette tapes. Grown-up Lauren asks for more grown-up things, like Beauty and the Beast on DVD, or fun kitchen stuff. One thing on my list that I'm really hoping for is what I used to refer to as 'a whir-er' but is actually called an electric hand mixer (which would make mixing electric hands so much easier)
Okay, as much I want it for Christmas, I kinda want it now. Do you know how hard mixing 4 3/4 cups of flour in 1/2 increments is when you do it by hand? The first few are no problem, but once you're three cups in, it takes some serious muscle to incorporate that junk! It wouldn't be such a big deal, except I'm afraid that by the end of this holiday baking season I'm going to have one arm bigger than the other from all the stirring I'm doing.
Tonight I made the dough for ginger bread cookies (it has to refrigerate overnight, so I'll roll out the cookies and bake them tomorrow). Also, tomorrow I'm making gingerbread cupcakes and frosting for both sets of baked goods. FROM. SCRATCH.

I love to bake. I'm not sure why, cause I hate to cook, but baking is so much fun for me. I can't wait until the smell of gingerbread is wafting through my apartment. It's such a more joyful scent then, say, soup.

"I jumble outta bed and I stumble to the kitchen...

...pour myself a cup of ambition"
Yup-workin' 9 to 5, that's me!! Except for today, when I work from 9-4 and then from 7-8 because I have council tonight (bleh).
Anyway today's mug is truly a coffee mug. By that I mean it has 'coffee' written on it. It's one of those mugs that you just kind of end up with. Someone goes 'oh, you collect coffee mugs? Here's one filled with reeses mini peanut butter cups, happy birthday'...I'm pretty sure that's how acquired this one.


To accompany the coffee I drank out of this cup this morning, I had one of the yummy cookies I baked last night for breakfast. If I do say so myself, they are pretty delish. I am very impressed. I was in a baking mood last night, so I followed the recipe on the back of the flour to make chocolate chip cookies, but (and this is one of my MANY quirks) I like chocolate chip cookies, but not chocolate chips. So I made them with peanut butter chips instead. And then I glued two cookies together with cream-cheese frosting mixed with Nutella and a few sprinkles of cinnamon. They are kinda amazing.