she says i'm much too thin, she asks me if i'm sick

IMG_7778, originally uploaded by pirateygoodness.

Remember that healthy eating kick? I’m still totally on it, but I am not made of stone.

These cookies are – according to Smells Like Dessert – the absolute Holy Grail of chocolate chip cookies. I’m not entirely sure I agree – they’re good, but they’re not so good that I’m going to quit on my trusty family recipe. (They are also HUGE. Like, ENORMOUS. I can see why the recipe calls for making them so large, because they are a lot softer having been baked like that, but. This definitely makes giant, Starbucks-sized cookies, and one is more than enough.)

I also did something a bit weird with this recipe, which may be why I didn’t love them quite as passionately as the original blogger. When I went to start baking, I discovered that my brown sugar was hopelessly hard and unusable, so I tried a substitution gleaned from the internet: one cup of white sugar and a quarter cup of molasses to replace one cup of brown sugar. It worked out – the texture of the cookies is perfect, and they’re not too sweet – but there is a bit of a molasses-y aftertaste. I don’t mind it, really? But it definitely changed the character of the cookies.

Song of the Entry: Jack’s Mannequin – Holiday From Real

i picked you up and you were three-fourths gone

IMG_7722, originally uploaded by pirateygoodness.

Bags of fresh thyme, headed for the freezer. I never make a recipe that calls for an entire bundle of a herb, but it seems like such a shame to throw them out after only using a recipe’s worth and watching them go off in the fridge, so I’ve started doing this. It’s not quite the same – reconstituted frozen herbs are always a bit soggy once they thaw, so they’re really only good for recipes where they’re going to get cooked in something anyway (as opposed to, say, salads or garnishes) but. It works out alright.

Song of the Entry: Every Avenue – Where Were You?

'cause we're the nicest kids in town

IMG_7679ps, originally uploaded by pirateygoodness.

Dinner – this is Spicy Arabian Chicken with Couscous from What’s For Lunch Honey?, which is fast becoming one of my favourite places to look online for Indian and Middle Eastern recipes. Everything I try is consistently delicious, even when I end up substituting half the ingredients based on what I can find at the grocery store closest to my house. Nom nom nom.

Song of the Entry: Hairspray – Nicest Kids In Town