Cookie, Cookie, Cookie, Starts With ME!

You folks realize that I'm a straight male, right? I mean, you didn't have any doubts, did you? You've read the previous posts and understood that I'm all about the ladies?

Good, then I guess it's O.K. to tell you that last weekend I baked cookies. Not just any cookies, however. Nope, sticking with the Fall/Halloween theme I baked Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies. Call it a spur of the moment thing. I was sitting at home, bored out of my skull, and surfing the Internet, when I happened upon Boston.com's list of "Most E-Mailed stories" and saw that the top one was the above linked recipe. With little else to do at the time I said to myself, "Screw it! I need to learn how to cook. Baking seems like a good place to start! After all, I have the Whole Foods frozen pizza down pat!"

I was a tad wrong. Baking is much more difficult then I would ever have guessed, BUT, I'm proud to report that the cookies were decidedly mediocre. Don't laugh - this was quite an achievement for me. Granted, there were some trip-ups along the way. You should have heard my roommate (a tremendous cook in his own right - although he readily admits that he "doesn't do baking") chuckle with delight when I exclaimed, "Oh, f*ck! I bought pumpkin pie mix instead of pumpkin puree!" I also made an absolute mess of the kitchen, with flour everywhere and dough splatter covering both me and the walls (courtesy of the hand mixer I'd purchased special for the occasion.) All that aside, however, I made a decent, if bland, first attempt and I'm pleased enough with the results to continue down the path towards culinary perfection.

What's up next? Well, it IS still Halloween time, and I DID promise a few Halloween themed posts. So, I guess the logical next step would be to attempt some Halloween type foods. How do these grab you?



Heh Heh. Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' bout. Gives new meaning to the terms brain food and finger food, wouldn't you say? (Sorry, horrible pun.) These juicy little morsels come via the eGullet website (which was subsequently linked from on Boing Boing, where I of course found them. I find everything on Boing Boing) and user 'Tejon' who was kind enough to post the recipes for each here (just make sure to scroll down a little bit.) These are just delightful. I don't know if I'll even be able to make either one of these, but I might have to attempt it. I especially like her suggestion regarding the brain mold - to either place it on a platter or to shove a carving knife through the center of it.

Aaaaaaand seeing that it's still spooky season, Friday, and all that here are a few more links for your lazy pleasure:

• Some safety tips for those of you bringing children around for trick-or-treating. I especially like #1. And yes, I feel tremendously guilty saying that.
  
• I'm not quite sure what The Tramping Ground is but it looks like a bunch of Halloween themed shorts and links. In any event, it's got a spooky feel about it so it seemed worth linking.
• Some cat who apparently has the same idea as me - posting lots of Halloween themed links - however this blog revolves around paper folding and arts and crafts. Some cool stuff you can make if you don't feel like baking.
  
• Spelling with Zombies. Now insertable into your website!
• Because I'm a nice guy, here's a bonus music download for you - Vince Guaraldi Trio performing Great Pumpkin Waltz - taken straight from "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" This tune takes me back, yo - for various reasons. The first is simply the holiday special itself. I loved it. Still do, actually. Another less enjoyable reason is that I was often called Linus when I was younger. Some of my classmates thought I bore a striking resemblance to the character so they dubbed me with his moniker and implored me to utter phrases like, "The Great Pumpkin Patch" and "And this will be a sign unto you! (from the Christmas special.)" Apparently, before hitting adolescence I sounded like him too. All I needed was a blankee. The whole thing was somewhat humiliating, but for whatever reason I liked the nickname. It didn't stick, however, and for that I think I'm pretty grateful.
• You know? One track from the Halloween Special just won't cut it, huh? Didn't think so. Well, if you want to actually WATCH the show, it's on tonight on ABC. Huzzah! But, just in case you miss it, here's the thing in it's entirety.
  

Enjoy your rocks, folks. Have fun baking, and Happy Halloween!