jmc_bks | Huh?

I don't know what got into me on Saturday. I seldom feel the urge to cook or bake...except when I am either a) starving, or b) required to make something for a party of some sort. And that's just regular cooking. The baking urge is more rare than hens teeth. Other than Nana's Chocolate Cake and the occasional batch of chocolate chip cookies, I couldn't tell you the last time I baked something from scratch. Maybe back when I had roommates, post-college (10 years ago)? Until Saturday, that is, when I felt the urge to make cookies. But I had no brown sugar or chocolate chips on hand. What kind of cookies can you make without brown sugar? So I made sugar cookies. From scratch.

Except I don't own a rolling pin. I may have once. Or not. But definitely there is no rolling pin among my mismatched collection of kitchen implements currently. In fact, the only people I know who own rolling pins are a) my grandmother, whose rolling pin dates back to the 50s, and b) The Chemist, who could have a second career as a pastry chef. A drinking glass or soda bottle may be used in its stead. Or you could be like me, and just press the dough flat using your hands and a piece of wax paper. Why do I have wax paper if my kitchen is so ill-equipped? Well, because it was necessary for a craft/gift attempt last Christmas -- chocolate dipped pretzels and potato chips.

So now I have six dozen sugar cookies in the shape of hearts, pumpkins and leaves, all waiting to be eaten, just sitting in a Tupperware (tm) container on the kitchen counter. And my next holiday party (which I'm actually supposed to supply a veggie tray for) isn't until Friday.

Probably now I'm safe from any domestic urges until 2010.

Also food-related but not cooking-related, I watched the chefs at Matsuri prepare sushi the other day; one of them (maybe the chief chef?) had the job of slicing and arranging the rolls -- he did it perfectly, without ever hesitating or measuring, with a huge, pointy knife. If roe was involved, he very carefully placed it on the rolls. It was fascinating to watch his precision and care, especially with the larger roe. And there was one type of roll upon which he carefully deposited a raw quail egg. It looked gorgeous. [But still not gorgeous enough for me to try because I have texture issues with raw eggs.]