Blogging about cooking

This morning I awoke with an unexplainable urge to visit Williams Sonoma. I haven’t the faintest idea what brought this on, but I really wanted to browse the store, admire the various utensils, and craft a long list of items I want but wouldn’t have bought. However, my day was already looking to be rather full, and besides, who wants to go by yourself anyway? So, I didn’t go. I did, however, see Julie and Julia again with my parents and that left me with an urge to do some serious cooking. Unfortunately, there was a problem here too. It was already 7:00, and the thought of finding a recipe (from Julia’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, of course!), shopping for ingredients, and then actually preparing the dish was a little exhausting to think about. It is Sunday night after all, aka the day before Monday and going back to work. Not to mention, I don’t like to eat late at night and guaranteed this would have been a very, very pre-midnight “snack.” What to do? Within a few minutes I hit upon a fabulous idea…why not bake chocolate chip cookies. I know, I know. They aren’t exactly what you call French cuisine, but this evening actually felt like fall and somehow baking cookies with a brisk breeze coming in the windows seemed rather appropriate. So, I baked 15 deliciously perfect (if I do say so myself) cookies using a recipe from the Joy of Cooking. I felt a little guilty using this particular cookbook since, as the movie pointed out, the author didn’t even test all her recipes for heaven’s sake! My one consolation was it originated from their wartime edition, and since I’m a sucker for all things WWII it seemed appropriate. Even though I may not have felt brave enough to tackle Julia’s Beef Bourguignon or Raspberry Soufflé, I decided that one day I will…I just have to buy the cookbook first…