The rain has continued all day. It is gray, dark, and chilly outside. I stomped off to the local “everything under the sun in one” pharmacy, only to discover they were out of parchment paper! Horrors. Back home in my wellies, I climbed into my car and headed to the nearest grocery. Success.
This baking jag reveals my addictive personality, and I can’t stop now that I’ve started. It’s like making ice cream in the summer, and I need more visitors to ply with my baked goods. The house has a new aroma — the nutty aroma of beer batter with the pungency of seriously sharp cheddar cheese. The cheesy puffs came out airy and crunchy, light and flavorful, especially given my novice status when it comes to cooking French food.
My friend and colleague, and fellow blogger, JY, joked with me about writing a cookbook together right before we left for Winter Break. Her idea was hot and cold — ice cream and soups (I had produced a particularly satisfying pot of pumpkin black bean soup for our faculty potluck). Not to overdo it, I have a suggestion for our book: The Antidote — A Guide to Baking, Simmering, and Churning Your Way to Serenity. Okay, so that’s not a simple title, certainly not as simple as Hot and Cold, but it does allow room for recipes along with the stories that make sense of our food desires, or even show us how to use food and its creation as more than sustenance for our physical bodies.
Are you in, JY?
Necessity is the Mother of Invention 
Funny, when I saw the title of this post (and before I read it), I was thinking that you should write a cooking blog, but a cookbook is an even better idea! Happy New Year to all of you!
Those. Look. Delicious.
I’m in!