Sunday, November 19, 2006

I wimped out ¾ of the way through.

I thought I could make it the whole way. I was prepared. I had everything I needed; the time, the materials, the inspiration; even I thought – the energy.

The plan was this: my husband away for the night I was going to make Linzer cookies, Mini-Black and White Cookies, Grasshopper Squares, Ants Climbing a Tree (a deliciously spicy Chinese dish), and polish off the remaining 2/3 of a bottle of wine. I was going to spend a wonderful evening chatting online with friends and go to bed quiet, satiated, and with a clean kitchen.

HAH! Fooled me! I think it was the black and white cookies that really did me in. They were WAY too much work for what they are worth. (And they are MUCH prettier in the Gourmet magazine picture).


This is me, moments before I wadded up the linzer dough and threw it in the fridge in a huff. I was cookie crabby by this point. What a fool I was to think a girl who isn’t particularly fond of sweets could make it through a cookie making marathon like this. But my….. I did do some serious sampling of the best chocolate ganache I’ve ever tasted!


Which brings me to my next point…. My dinner. I was rather painfully in need of something NOT SWEET, and so made enough counter room, poured myself a glass of wine and started chopping chili peppers. The food was FABULOUS. (Not very appetizing pictured here, but I was in no mood for presentation). However, I became a glutton for both the food and the wine. I ate and drank myself silly, felt a little ill (could it be the wine after a full day of sampling cookie dough and icing?!) and put myself to bed.


Now I sit in the far corner of my kitchen looking over the disaster. I want to pack up my black and white cookies, cut the grasshopper squares, make myself some soup and possibly finish the linzers, but I fear wading into the mess of flour, measuring spoons, whisks, dishtowels and angled spatulas perfect for spreading icing.

I might just take a walk and hope the mess is less daunting when I return.

3 comments:

Bone-a-fide said...

Well, you might be disappointed with yourself, but I have to say, I'm IMPRESSED! That's a LOT of cooking and baking. As a person who is impressed when I make a single thing from scratch, I'm wowed by the boldness of your cookinerary (that's cooking OR cookie + itinerary). But may I ask, why so many cookies if you don't like sweets?

Aubrey said...

Haha. Good question! Hmmmmm. Well, I suppose other people like sweets a lot, and I enjoy turning things like flour and eggs into beautiful little treats that people get so excited over.

Anonymous said...

I think that the cookies look pretty good. Those are by far the hardest cookies to master.
Good job..
I think the chinese food looked good too...I think I am hungry...