Today is the first day of summer. On the last day of summer, the day before the autumn equinox, I'm getting married. Just one season to go. A lot needs to happen - food, flowers, pretty clothes, cake, ice cream, sweet notes to friends and family. But all of that is sheer fun - I can hardly wait. Here's the cake I am totally inspired by, also homemade. Photo by Lisa Lefkowitz - see the full post here.

Sometimes I remember recipes that I've loved and forgotten - long buried in the archives and recipe files. Tonight I was thinking about this one, Smoky Scallops with Fennel and Tomato. It's a robust dish of strong flavors, and while this might seem a counterintuitive way to deal with the delicate and fragile scallop, I like the way its sweetness soaks up the smoked paprika and juices of fennel and ripe tomato.

Mmm - summer, come quick.

When I started to write about my cooking I made a little promise to myself to always be honest. It would be really easy to gloss over the fallen cakes and oversalted meals, the small domestic disasters that arise from too much faith in gut instinct and too little experience. And while I certainly don't choose to tell you about every misstep, there are some weeks that just filled with these misjudgments, and missteps and mistakes. Here's one of those weeks.

Still true though. Even if it did all happen in 2006.

First, there were the overdesigned fruit kabobs I made them for a friend's baby shower. I was really looking forward to taking pictures of these. I soaked pineapple in ginger syrup, then cut the slices into little stars with cookie cutters, and sandwiched them between different sizes of mint sugar-dusted melon balls and petite blueberries. They turned out very pretty, but I overstretched myself and barely had time to put them together let alone take pictures!

Then there were the cream puffs. Ah - cream puffs. These were an unmitigated disaster. I had planned on making 4 dozen for church, little creamy bites that would delight the kiddies. But the dough was sticky as wet glue - I have no idea how it was supposed to be piped like the directions said. I ended up scraping it out of the pastry bag and globbing spoonfuls onto the cookie sheet. They were very tasty and golden when baked, but only made a third of the promised four dozen.

And the cream puff fillings - oh don't even get me started. I accidentally beat the cream into butter, leaving me with a wet mess of flavored milk with lumps of greasy butter sticking up like lonesome icebergs. Somehow I miscalculated the chocolate ganache and ended up with runny chocolate goo that wouldn't set, so I made a frantic addition of gelatin and eggs and managed a Bavarian cream, sweating, at the last minute. It was OK, if a little lumpy, but not worthy of the blog.

For the same meal I made a huge batch of Greek meatballs with fresh ground lamb and parsley. These were not exactly a disaster or a misstep, but they did fall into the area of miscalculation. I made so many and knew that there was a lot of other food coming, so I assumed I would have plenty to bring home for weekday lunches and a leisurely photography session. Well, no. They were the first thing to go - which of course made me glad that people liked them but again I was left with nothing to take pretty pictures of. Never underestimate my church's ability to pack away a few pounds of meat. There was that lesson, again.

Then there was the pita bread. I used Nicole's recipe for homemade pita bread - for the same meal as the cream puffs and meatballs! Too much, too much - which turned out a lovely dough and a delicious bread, but again, I overstretched and was frantically rolling gooey balls of dough and slapping them into the oven as I was supposed to be leaving my house. Many of them burned, a little, and had dark crackled tops. Otherwise, they were delicious. But definitely not photogenic.

So there you have it - just one week of mis-steps. Wonder what a new week will bring!

I don't do much with poor mekuno anymore, since I blog 8-10 times daily over at Apartment Therapy's The Kitchn. But I'm planning to give it new life by posting photos here that I can't slot in there, or recipes that don't quite fit.

I'm not making any promises, but mekuno will have a little more life from here on out (I think).

Whoa. I mean, whoa. It's been a long time, hasn't it? People, I have been meaning to post this recipe since Christmas.

Well, since I hardly expect anyone actually saw the calendar listing and was that disappointed, let's move on, shall we? It's time for the excuses! I had a really busy winter - new job, new relationship, new set of life circumstances, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. But where I've been really busy is over at Apartment Therapy's The Kitchen, where posting has been keeping me really busy. I love it though; the community there is fantastic and it's so fun to explore cooking, eating, and sustainable living with them.

But a handful of people who are indeed very important to me have urged me, not so gently as the case may be, to get back with the program, and I am going to try my very, very best to still post here somewhat regularly with this and that. And now that I've managed to remember where I put my Movable Type login info - here I am again!

The recipe for today? A very non-seasonal seasonal dessert - non-seasonal because of its warm holiday flavors, and oh-so-seasonal because it's ice cream. It's hot out there and I expect it's hot where you are too, so if you feel like tart, plump cranberries and streaks of barely sweet dark chocolate in a rich, creamy custard, then this is for you.

This is also a homecoming homage, of sorts. I recently decided (hey presto life change!) to move from Florida, where I currently live, back home to Ohio. Central Ohio is, rather surprisingly, a veritable Mecca for ice cream lovers. There's Ye Olde Mill and Velvet Ice Cream out in Utica - location of many happy summer trips. There's the fantabulous Jeni's Ice Creams - may I have a job, please? (Hello, Salty Caramel Ice Cream! Hi there, Coriander with Raspberry, and Butterscotch with Cocoa Nibs! How about some Thai Chili or Strawberry Rose Petal?)

But then, of course, there's Graeter's. Founded in Cincinnati in 1870, Graeter's has a long history in the Ohio community. Their extraordinarily rich French Pot ice cream is known for classic perfection of texture and density, and for its chocolate chips - some flavors are studded with enormous, unevenly chopped flakes of dark chocolate that slowly melt on your tongue long after the ice cream is gone.

This recipe was inspired by those enormous shiny chunks; I wanted the dramatic chocolate effect. The best way to get it is to slowly trickle in partially-melted chocolate, but most home ice cream makers aren't cold enough or powerful enough to harden the chocolate before it melts the ice cream. So I chopped really good chocolate into uneven shards - some big and chunky, others tiny and flaky - and slowly shook them in at the end of freezing. It's not as good as Graeter's - that would be too much to ask - but I was happy with the balance of flavors and textures. Try using big sweet cherries or prunes, steeped in booze, to make it more summery.

Cranberry and Dark Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream
makes about 1 1/2 quarts ice cream

2 cups whole milk
2 cups cream
1 cup sugar
5 egg yolks
1-2 tablespoons rum
6-10 ounces premium dark chocolate, like Scharffen-Berger
1/2 recipe Cranberry Sauce, made with plenty of orange zest and brandy

Whisk the first four ingredients together and slowly heat over low heat to 170ºF. Stir in the rum. Chill overnight - or for at least four hours.

Chop the chocolate into rough chunks and flakes. Warm the cranberry sauce just slightly, so it can be easily spooned out. Freeze the custard in the ice cream maker. Near the middle of freezing, gradually dribble in the cranberry sauce, then put in the chocolate.

Freeze the ice cream in a covered bowl, with plastic wrap touching the surface of the ice cream.

Well, I've been off in colder climes, doing various things. So here's a cheaterly sort of post - I'm going to just put up a list of some of the recipes I've posted lately over at The Kitchen, just to prove my industry.

Shoo.

Spiced Pomegranate Meringues - Festive, beautiful and unusual.
Chicken Thighs in Balsamic Vinegar - This is my friend and former roommate Patty's signature dish. Tender chicken thighs rich in a sauce of balsamic vinegar and wine.
Lemon Rice Pudding - This is a Laurie Colwin recipe. Rich, thick, and melting with lemon. If you like rice pudding, run don't walk.
Slow-Cooked Pork Roast, Two Ways - A CrockPot? It cooks without any help at all. It might do the dishes if you ask nicely.
Scallops with Lime and Cilantro - Way too easy.
Dark Chocolate Cake - It's a Hershey's recipe, but this one-bowl cake is still the best cakey chocolate cake I know. Not fudgy or flourless, works great for German chocolate.
Stir-Fried Green Beans - My new favorite thing is Chinese five-spice powder.
Malaysian Beef Curry - There are some really helpful comments on this post from readers who are more knowledgeable about Malaysian curry than I am.
Smashed Lentils with Egg - Baked egg in spicy lentils. Good for breakfast, lunch and supper.
Honey Pumpkin Creme Brulee - If you still have some pumpkin sitting around, try this.
Peanut Butter Popcorn - Peanut butter, honey, popcorn. Easy and too good.

When I began this blog I swore that I wouldn't ever start a post by saying something like, wow! It's been a LONG TIME since I blogged here! Have you MISSED me? I bet you have. GEE. Here's a new post then. Chomp away.

No, I don't like that approach - it presumes that thousands of people have been waiting with bated breath for my next meandering post, and we all know that there are actually only about 8 of you. Well, maybe less, if you include the multiple times my mother checks for something new.

So, this is not an apology for not posting in two weeks; I will presume no such vast readership as to make that necessary. I have been pretty busy posting over at The Kitchen anyway. One of the things I posted there this week was a recipe for plain yellow cake. I take a strong stand against boxed cake mixes, as I think they tend to taste musty. They also are way too sweet and have no depth of flavor. So say I.

This cake, on the other hand, is a snap to whip up. I timed myself, and it only took me 12 minutes. And that was only because I dropped an egg, a whole egg with shell still attached, into the mixer bowl with the beaters running, and I had to stop and painstakingly pick OUT EVERY BIT. With my fingers. Hopefully no one who ate the cake will read that. I think I got it all out. Anyway, that's why it took so long. Otherwise, 8 minutes tops from bowl to oven.

This cake proves Betty Crocker's classic status once again. It's incredibly tender and moist, even two days later. It is SO moist. I can't believe such a quick one-bowl cake tastes like this. I have a thing for yellow cakes with chocolate frosting - the simple things are the best, I think. Once you've tried this cake I don't think you will want to go back to a mix.

I covered it with a simple dark chocolate ganache and took it to the office for a birthday, where it was officially dubbed a Very Good Thing. Which is good, because otherwise I would have eaten it all myself.

Go to Apartment Therapy for the cake recipe.

Quick Ganache

7 oz. good quality chocolate
1 cup cream
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1 tablespoon liquor, like brandy or rum (optional)

Chop the chocolate fine and have it ready in a heatproof bowl or measuring glass. Heat the cream over medium heat until it comes to a simmer, then pour it over the chocolate. Add the corn syrup and whisk briskly until everything is smooth. Whisk in the liquor.

Pour this immediately over the top of the cake layers, then put the rest in the fridge and let the ganache firm up until it's a spreadable consistency. Then use a spatula to spread it on the sides of the cake.

One of my favorite things to do this time of year is to dream up new ways to use the obligatory foods of the holiday season. There's something gratifying and even transgressive in departing from the traditional recipes and finding new ways to prepare pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes, bread stuffing and cranberries.

I neglect to mention turkey, as I am one of those people who think turkey's only redeeming service is to offer up giblets and a warm gaping cavity to the creation of excellent stuffing.

Pumpkin is easier. I like pumpkin. It's orange and rich and good for you. Last year I discovered that the trick to really good pumpkin pie is to use a thick graham cracker crust. The pumpkin filling soaks in halfway and you end up with a three-layer pie that is suffused with the taste of sugar, butter, graham crackers and pumpkin. It's the best.

But that's stilll pumpkin pie. Very traditional. Here's another way to use up all the innards of your Halloween pumpkins - roasted, pureed and stored in your freezer in neat little 1-cup baggies. (Right? Of course right.)

This ice cream is a rich, sweet way to get your pumpkin without making a pie. The egg yolks make it velvety smooth and the cream of coconut balances the earthy pumpkin with a tropical sweetness. To keep things fairly traditional, taste-wise, serve with spicy gingersnaps at the end of a Thanksgiving meal. Or twist it up even more and serve in small scoops side by side with a sage and gin sorbet, garnished with a twist of lime!

Pumpkin-Coconut Ice Cream

4 egg yolks
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 can coconut cream (not coconut milk - Coco Lopez, found with the drink mixers)
1 cup cream
1 cup half and half (or whole milk)

Whisk the egg yolks in a medium saucepan with sugar, salt and spices. Whip them until yellow and lightened in texture and volume. Whisk in the pumpkin.

Stir in the can of Coco Lopez. Add to the yolks. Whisk thoroughly then whisk in cream and half/half.

Put over medium low heat and cook, stirring constantly, for 10-15 minutes. Do not let it boil. Stir until temperature is 175-180ºF. Remove from heat and strain into a bowl.

Refrigerate for four hours or overnight, then freeze in your ice cream maker. Store for up to two weeks, tightly covered with a double layer of plastic wrap or foil underneath the lid of the container.

The components of these petits fours are as follows: banana cake, spiced caramel custard, dark chocolate glaze, flaked almonds, and burnt caramel drizzle. What's not to like?

This cake is one of my trusty friends. I found the recipe over at AllRecipes several years ago and it is my very favorite banana recipe. The cake is baked at a low temperature for about an hour, then put into the freezer to cool. The abuse of your freezer is justified in this case because it helps turn out an extremely moist, rather dense cake. It's not too sweet and it freezes beautifully.

The custard was my first try at pastry cream and boy, is it a snap! Way easier than I ever thought it would be; I don't know why I've been scared of cornstarch. I added a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and it set off the caramel very nicely.

Overall, I liked how these little squares suit fall flavors and colors; the caramel drizzles even look a little like Halloween spiders, although I'm sure someone more handy than myself could draw much more convincing spidery legs. I was just trying not to burn myself on the caramel or let it cool too much before I got it all squeezed out of the baggie, which eventually sprung a leak and just dumped caramel willy-nilly all over the place. Oh well, more for us.

The main reason I made these into little squares (other than the fact that you get much more chocolate in each bite when they're small like this) is that this is my entry for for Sugar High Friday, my very favorite blogging event. This is SHF24, and it's hosted by Jeanne at Cook Sister! The theme, obviously, is little bites (of delight) - meaning petits fours, mignardises, and other wee sweet things. Food bloggers just love wee sweet things, so I expect there to be many, many, many adorable entries. Go look.

As for me, I love wee things too, but this recipe would be just as good as a layer cake, with pastry cream stuffed inside and chocolate and caramel dashed over the top. Less portion control, that's all.

Technorati Tags: Sugar High FridaySHF, SHF

Chocolate Banana Bites with Spiced Caramel Cream

Banana Cake
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 3 large very ripe bananas)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg (fresh grated if possible)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
2 1/8 cups white sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

In a small bowl, mix mashed bananas with lemon juice, set aside. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place directly into freezer for 45 minutes. Let cool completely.

Spiced Caramel Cream
1 large egg
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/3 cups milk or cream, divided
2/3 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons water
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 cup heavy cream

In a small bowl, whisk together egg and 2 tablespoons cornstarch. Whisk in 1/3 cup of milk until smooth; set aside. Place remaining 1 cup milk in a glass measuring cup and microwave until scalding, about 2 to 3 minutes.

In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine 2/3 cup sugar with 4 tablespoons water and place over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and cook without stirring until syrup caramelizes and turns a golden amber color. Stir to distribute the color and make sure it cooks evenly.

Remove the pan from the heat and gradually add the hot milk. The mixture will bubble up aggressively, so go slow and be careful. Return the pan to low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until any hardened caramel has dissolved and mixture is smooth.

Whisk about 1/4 cup of hot caramel mixture into egg and cornstarch mixture. Return entire mixture to saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until custard comes to a boil. Add the spices. Continue to boil, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Whisk in butter until melted and whisk out any lumps.

Transfer the custard to a bowl. Whisk in vanilla extract and salt. Set the custard in the fridge to hurry cooling.

In bowl of an electric mixer, beat 1 cup heavy cream at high speed until it forms medium-stiff peaks. Lighten the custard by whipping it with a spatula. Gently fold whipped cream into caramel custard. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.

Chocolate Glaze
8 oz. dark chocolate
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1/2 cup cream

Chop the chocolate finely. Bring corn syrup and cream to a light boil. Pour over the chopped chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Work quickly to dip the the squares before the chocolate cools. (This may not be enough to really coat all the squares - it only did about half of mine. But it's plenty if you just want to coat a cake.)

Burnt Caramel Drizzle
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup water
1/2 cup cream

Heat sugar and water in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves then leave it alone until the sugar starts turning a deep brown. Stir so it browns evenly and take it off the stove when it's turned a deep amber.

While the sugar is heating, scald the milk in the microwave. Gradually pour it into the caramel - it will bubble up furiously so be careful! Whisk it all together as you pour in the cream, then return to the heat and boil for another minute.

Remove from the heat and let cool a bit. Pour into a plastic baggie and snip a tiny bit out of the corner. Now you can squeeze the caramel right out of the bag in a drizzle.

Assembly
1. When the cake is finished - cooled and slightly frozen - take it out of the freezer and slice off the edges. Then slice it longwise into long strips. Carefully lift these strips out of the pan and split in half, evenly.
2. Spread the cooled caramel cream on the bottom halves and put the cake tops back on.
3. Put in the freezer for a couple hours, or overnight, well covered with plastic wrap.
4. When the cake strips are firm, take them out and cut into 1-inch squares. Melt the chocolate
5. Dip the squares into the chocolate, or drizzle the chocolate over them, or spread it on. Whatever works for you.
6. Drizzle the caramel over top and press some flaked almonds on.
7. Keep in the fridge, but take out about half an hour before serving to let them soften up a bit.

Living in Florida messes with my sense of the seasons. When I lived in Ohio, if I saw strawberries in January I knew without a doubt that they were from somewhere far away, trucked in with great expenditure of fossil fuels. Our fields were bound with ice and snow for at least 300 miles in every direction. But in Florida, strawberries are actually in season in January, and a trip to the Plant City U-Pick fields is the thing to do.

So now, when I see asparagus, that sweet spring treat, at the produce market in October, I hesitate briefly, then take advantage of my ignorance of sub-sub-tropical growing cycles to shrug off my guilt about eating something that is so likely out of season. My ignorance makes seasonal produce shopping rather difficult, on the whole; we're on an inverted timetable down here.

All that to say, I don't want to ask you to violate your conscience with this recipe for asparagus with egg. I realize that asparagus is probably even more blatantly out of season wherever you are. It's such an easy dinner, though, that you might be tempted to buy some very, very out-of-state produce. The twist, fortunately, is that this is equally good with other, more seasonable vegetables. Stir-fried chard with soy sauce? Excellent. Shaved, sautéed zucchini? Definitely. You see? You don't have to violate your principles!

Oh, and the tomatoes truly are in season here. I sliced them up, dribbled some yogurt over the top and sprinkled salt, pepper, and a little rough sugar over them. This soaked in and was quite delicious next to the salty, tangy asparagus.

Parmesan Asparagus with a Spanish-Fried Egg

Roasted Asparagus
1 bundle of asparagus (about 1 pound)
Olive oil
1/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
About 1/4 cup fresh Parmesan, grated
1 teaspoon fresh or dried rosemary, chopped
1/2 teaspoon fresh or dried thyme, chopped
Salt and pepper

Heat oven to 375ºF. Wash the asparagus and dry thoroughly. Snap off the tough ends. Toss with some olive oil in a glass baking dish and arrange in single layer.

In a medium bowl mix the breadcrumbs, Parmesan, herbs, and salt and pepper. Sprinkle over the asparagus. Put in the oven for about 10 minutes. Check for your desired crispness, though, depending on how thick the asparagus are this time could vary wildly.

Spanish-Fried Egg
Olive oil
1 egg
Salt and fresh cracked pepper

Put a small, heavy skillet over high heat and pour in olive oil to about half an inch. Heat until it is very, very hot. Crack the egg into a cup and slip it into the hot oil. It will immediately bubble around the edges. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the top. Leave in the oil for about a minute, then carefully remove from the heat, remove the egg with a slotted spoon and place on top of the asparagus.

A couple people asked me for the recipe for the Earl Grey tea cookies I included in my IMBB parcel for Dianna. I posted the recipe yesterday to the Kitchen at Apartment Therapy, so check it out there!

No, it's not Friday. But here's a light, sweet dessert anyway for Sugar High Friday, a lovely way to end a meal, easy and quick for just one or two. Looks simple, doesn't it? A sweet piece of fruit with a drizzle of creamy, caramel dulce de leche.

Look again. There's a surprise inside!

This month's Sugar High Friday is hosted by Alanna at A Veggie Venture, and I love the theme she came up with - Surprise Inside! The assignment was to tuck a surprise into something sweet, and here's my rather tardy entry!

Nearly as easy as slicing up some fruit, this juicy and creamy dessert hides a coconut panna cotta inside nectarines lightly steamed with rum and lemon juice. There's a hint of nutmeg in the light pudding and the dulce de leche lends a luxurious finish. It's a snap to put it together ahead of time to be pulled out as a cool, delicious surprise at the end of a meal.

Click below for the recipe! The dulce de leche recipe is at Apartment Therapy: Kitchen - my first post this week as coeditor over there.

Nectarines Filled with Coconut Panna Cotta
Serves two

2 nectarines, firm and not too ripe
3 lemons
3 tablespoons of rum (optional)

2/3 cup cream
1/4 cup coconut milk
3/4 tsp gelatin
2 tbsp sugar
A pinch of fresh grated nutmeg

Dulce de leche, to serve
Mint, to garnish

Nectarines
1. Cut the nectarines in half and using a small, sharp knife, cut around the pit and remove. Hollow out more of the fruit with a spoon or melon baller.
2. Juice the lemons and put the juice and rum In a large heavy saucepan, along with enough water to come to the bottom of a steamer insert. Put the nectarine halves in the steamer and cover the pot. Steam over medium heat for five minutes. Remove the nectarine halves and cool.

Panna Cotta
1. Over medium heat in a small saucepan, bring the cream and coconut milk to a simmer.
2. Take out 1/4 cup of the mixture and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let it sit and soften for 10 minutes.
3. Add the gelatin, sugar, and nutmeg to the cream mixture and warm, stirring over medium heat until the gelatin and sugar are dissolved. Give it at least five minutes.
4. Pour into the nectarines and refrigerate until firm - about 2 hours.
5. Serve with a drizzle of dulce de leche and mint sprigs.

This week I began blogging at Apartment Therapy: Kitchen, where three other people and I were hired as new site editors. I'll be editor-at-large, complementing the city-specific articles with coverage of online stores and other perspectives on cooking, food, and the art of hospitality. If you've never been to AT:Kitchen before, check it out! It's a great site with a very, very nice community. I'm thrilled to get to write for them, and I look forward to learning a lot from my fabulous co-editors Grant, Vanessa, and Chris, as well as, of course, founder and senior editor Sara Kate.

In other news, I received my BBM package yesterday and it gave a new meaning to the acronym, making me think BBM should now stand for Bottomless Box of Morsels. OK, maybe that's stretching it a bit, but still... Erika at Tummy Treasure sent me a wonderfully deep and generous box of delicious things. I kept pulling one thing out after another and seeing yet another layer of bubble wrap and colorful paper below! It went on and on and on....

I really enjoyed the variety of all the things that Erika included. It's impossible to choose a favorite, but I have to say that her homemade goodies, cinnamon-scented rice krispie treats and mocha truffle bites, are superb. I need to proactively wrap up and freeze the rest of the truffles or all my workouts will have been for naught.

I am a fiend for lip balm so the pomegranate lip gloss is already well-used. The lemon honey has been opened and enjoyed and I am looking forward to the homemade strawberry jam with black pepper. She even included a local Wisconsin product: cranberry mustard! I'm looking forward to cooking with that.

And so much more - bottomless, I say! There's rooibois tea, and a book all about tea. There's tiny mango-scented candles in glass thimbles. There's darling little ice cube trays and pink salt from the Himalayas, too. All in all, a wonderful package.

I enjoyed this event so much. Like Erika said in an email, I expected receiving the package to be the best part, but I had almost as much fun putting together the box I sent out. And it was such as lovely lift to my day to get this big bottomless box from Erika. Thanks again to Stephanie for hosting the event!

One very cool thing about food blogging with so many very pleasant people - really, are there nicer people out there in the otherwise often misanthropic and self-absorbed internet world? Humanity at its finest. - is the chance to be a part of an event where we actually get to send each other things. Real things - parcels and packages filled with food and other goodies from our own corner of the world.

Blogging By Mail is such an event, and a very popular one too. I was so girlishly excited to see this round announced that I was actually the first person to sign up. What can I say? I like mail. I like surprise parcels even more.

As I flipped through my secret recipient's weblog I mused over what he/she might like to receive and balanced that against what was feasible to send through the mail.

One of the things I put in, then, was a big batch of monster cookies. Monster cookies are a spectacularly lowbrow treat - filled with huge crackly M&Ms and big flakes of oatmeal, made chewy and greasy by heaps of completely non-natural peanut butter. They're heavenly.

The recipe has been floating around for a long time, mostly in a PTA-bake-sale form that calls for three pounds of peanut butter and gives you somewhere around 12 dozen cookies. I was introduced to them, though, by my lovely friend Lauren who brought a plate of them to the office. I demanded the recipe and here we are.

These cookies freeze well, store well, and the dough itself can be frozen and baked up in smaller batches. They are nearly the perfect cookie, in my opinion, because they're chewy and crispy and peanut butter and chocolate and oatmeal all in one. Nearly irresistible, these are. Give them a try.

I put quite a lot of other things in the package as well; here's a couple peeks. The rest will be a surprise! I can hardly wait to see what my own contains...

Monster Cookies
About 3 dozen cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, slightly softened
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp corn syrup
2 tsp baking soda
4 1/2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
About 1 cup M&M's - I used 10 oz. big M&Ms

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and prepare a couple large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Cream butter, peanut butter, and sugars.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
4. Beat in corn syrup and baking soda, then oatmeal and M&M's.
5. Drop onto cookie sheets with an ice cream scoop and flatten slightly. Bake at 350° F until done. Do not overbake!
6. Remove from oven when slightly golden. Let cool on the sheets for a few minutes until they have firmed up enough to remove to wire racks.

Alternate technique: Roll dough into balls and freeze on a cookie sheet. When completely frozen, remove dough balls to freezer bags. These will stay good for several months, depending on how sturdy your bags are. Bake straight from the freezer; they will only need an extra few minutes in the oven.