Oh! You Cook!

A few weeks ago, I traveled to the left coast to help my daughter help her bridesmaids select their dresses for The Wedding of the Century.  A dress was eventually selected that made all the 'maids look positively fabulous (sorry, faithful readers, you will have to wait until after The Big Event to see photos).  Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles, I was able to find one as well, one that didn't make my butt look big (can't show you this one, either,  but if our paths ever converge, ask me about The Shoes). 

Afterward, we all went to the pizzeria next store to celebrate.  And that's when I found out that two of the girls had various food restrictions.  One is gluten-intolerant, and the other has dairy issues.   Luckily this is California, where no matter what your dietary restriction, you'll never starve.  In addition to my normal plain cheese pizza, the pizzeria had gluten-free pizza on the menu.  And upon questioning, we discovered that they make their meatba…

So there I was, in the kosher aisle of the Try-n-Save last week.  And what should appear before me amongst the chicken and beef but ... RACK OF LAMB!   I couldn't believe it!  Racks upon racks of lamb racks!  In all my years on this earth I had NEVER seen a kosher rack of lamb up close and in person before!   Somehow I thought that individual baby lamb chops were kinda born that way.

Whoa ... just remembering this very special day makes me have to catch my breath a minute ...

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Okay, I'm fine now.

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RACKS OF LAMB!   WOO-HOO!

Sorry ... got excited again ...

Okay ... I'm calm now.  A little shot of Marsala does wonders. ;-)

Anyway, the price per pound for each rack was substantially less than for a package of individual chops, from obscene to merely exorbitant.  I picked up one baby rack and, clutching the package tightly, headed home, with visions of  chops dancing in my head.   Okay, I stopped  long enough to pay for it along with the contents of my cart.  My walle…

Not sure why, but I was in the mood for chicken marsala.  Maybe it was the coincidence of boneless breasts and mushrooms in my fridge, both quickly nearing their expiration dates.  Yeah, just a coincidence.

According to that prestigious wine expert, Wikipedia, marsala wine is fortified (wine-speak for "gets you drunk faster").  No, seriously, the marsala I picked up is 18% alcohol.   Just to compare, the chardonnay languishing in my basement is 13% and the Manischewitz leftover from last year's seder is only 11%.

Marsala is a sweet wine, with a hint of nuttiness.   The flavor is rather distinctive, even to me, so if you were to substitute another wine, the chicken dish would still taste good, but it would be a completely different recipe.

Speaking of different, I tried an alterative way of cooking the mushrooms, sauteing them semi-dry until the mushrooms gave up their moisture, then continued to saute until the moisture evaporated and concentrated the flavor before addi…

This week's Project Pastry Queen challenge is Triple Threat Chocolate Chip Cookies (thank you for this week's selection, Rebecca!).  They contain chocolate and chocolate, and in case there wasn't enough, more chocolate.  With just enough sugar to hold them together.













Look how crackly and crinkly these bites of almost heaven look!   Crunchy outside, mousse-like inside.  Who could ask for anything more?  Besides a glass of milk?

As usual, I made the challenge recipe my way.  Actually, youngerSon's way -- without the pecans and walnuts.  Normally I like nut-studded cookies.  But these have so much going for them that I didn't miss 'em a bit.

The recipe is supposed to make 48 cookies.  Since I don't own a 1 3/4 inch scoop to measure out the dough, I guestimated a couple generous tablespoons per cookie and managed to eek out 39 2-inch  ones.  Your mileage may vary.

The cookies are supposed to keep for up to 3 days.  That's so silly.  They will barely last a …