Adventures in the Kitchen #1

Food blogs: they are where it's at.

Before you roll your eyes and count me off as a hopeless, just check a few out for yourself. The best ones always contain beautiful photographs, funny but insightful comments, and delicious, often original, recipes.

I have been obsessing over these new-found treasures over the past week or so. While I have been a self-declared beginner foodie for the past few months, reading some of these blogs inspired me to actually clear my schedule and get into the kitchen.

I kicked off my culinary endeavors earlier this week with a squirmy six-year-old and a recipe for Hot Cocoa cookies (found on one of favorite food blogs: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2010/11/hot-cocoa-cookies/)

After mixing up the dough (which was quite addicting to eat), we refrigerated it for about 40 minutes. I was very anxious to get the dough popped into the oven and baked into delicious morsels of goodness. Sadly, though, when I checked on the cookies ten minutes after they started baking, I saw they had lost all cookie-form and had spread out into a glop all over the cookie sheet. I was more than devastated.

I chilled the remaining dough for a few more hours in vain hopes that that would solve the shapeless problem. Wrong.

Here's how ugly they were:





But as a side note, they are incredibly delicious and I have not been able to stop eating them all week! And even though they are very crumbly (which is partially due to breaking the cookies into pieces), the crumbles make great vanilla ice cream toppings!

My cooking endeavors for that night did not end there though. I was in charge of dinner (which rarely ever happens, thanks to my hectic schedule), and instead of making the boxed macaroni and cheese that the previously-mentioned six-year-old was demanding, I decided to make a pasta creation of my own. So I roasted garlic in the oven for forty-five minutes, then roughly followed a garlic peppercorn sauce recipe I found on allrecipes.com.

I was surprised at how easy it was to follow the directions, and after boiling the penne, and preparing the sauce, viola- I had a delicious meal ready. By the time I served it, the sauce wasn't as hot as I would have liked, but that's just something to keep in mind for the next time I make it (believe me- there will be a next time!) After all, how can something that has a whole head of garlic in not make you longing for it again? With some grated Parmesan cheese topping off the pasta and sauce, my interesting day in the kitchen was complete!








Also, as a side note for the day, I really want these shoes:
http://www.toms.com/womens/new-styles/bottle-green-linen-women-s-classics