I Like You: Chocolate Chip "Somethings".

Well, Amy calls this recipe, "Chocolate Chip Cookies". And they should have become that... if I hadn't have skipped out on a very important step. See, I had all the ingredients.

Even organic sugar, organic vanilla, Maine-made butter, and eggs that came straight from our backyard hens.

(See the rich orange yolk? That is one fresh egg!)

Isaac and I even measured everything perfectly.

And we mixed all the ingredients in the exact same order that Amy instructed. We even used a kick-a$$ KitchenAid mixer. (A wedding gift from 1995 - that is still in top form).

We thought we followed all the instructions necessary to make some 'killer' cookies. We waited anxiously by the oven ... eating leftover chocolate chips ... and licking spoons (when the eggs come from my hens, we lick the batter with wild abandon - salmonella be damned).

But ... when we finally opened the oven door to retrieve the fruits of our labor ... well ... this is sort of what Isaac's face looked like ...

... because this is what we were faced with ...

... not quite the cookies that were pictured in Amy's book.

However, it turns out that this chocolate-chip-cookie-turned-pancake predicament was not Amy's fault what-so-ever. Rather, it seems that I missed a very crucial step in cookie batter making. One must CHILL the batter before baking. Did you know this? Apparently I didn't. And my Mom is a baker. For real. It's her job and has been for like 20+ years. Hmmm.

We scraped these 'cookies' off the pan anyway --- and ate them as though we meant to create a bread pudding style chocolate chip concoction. They were just as tasty - I swear. But picture worthy they are not.

I am thinking that if this ever happened to Amy - she would mold the moist cookie crumbles in to some fantastic sculpture --- likely that of a squirrel or rabbit (read the book). But I felt so defeated by my lack of acing the most basic of baking recipes ... that I could not conjure up any humor in it. Amy would have though. I know it.

I know now that I will need to return to this recipe again soon. I feel the need to master it before heading on to such lofty goals as Mr. Mace's Mushroom Casserole.

So, if you are following this "Amy Sedaris: I Like You. Blog Series" in order to gain some serious Martha Stewart type cooking & entertaining tips ... I have nothing for you. Apparently, at the age of 36, I can't even get cookies right. But if you would like to follow me on this journey of self-discovery through baking/cooking/entertaining ... then by all means come along for the ride. It seems as though it is going to be an interesting one.

Love,

Jodi

I Like You. 2010.

Ok, so I don't do New Year's Resolutions ... but this year, I was totally open to doing a New Year's Project. At first I thought I would do some sort of a photography project ... then I realized that that is basically what I do for a living now (see this) ... so I wanted something that stretched my brain a bit more.

One night, I picked up my copy of "I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence" by Amy Sedaris ... and a lightbulb went off in my brain. YES! (I said to self..) YES! I WILL COOK, AND ENTERTAIN MY WAY THROUGH THIS ENTIRE BOOK OVER 2010. AND I WILL BLOG ABOUT IT. GENIUS!

So, I made the Chocolate Cake recipe on page 58. Then I called my friend Missy to tell her about it. I was so excited. Her response was that she figured my energy for this idea would last about a month. (Aren't friends great?). And then she told me about Julia & Julia. I was deflated. Apparently my idea has all been done before. Of course I know that there is rarely anything new under the sun ... so I was fine with this all being done before ... however, I was deflated by hearing that a major motion picture had been made about the true story of a woman who blogged her way through a Julia Child cookbook ... and that nearly everyone in America has heard about it. This would mean, that if I went ahead with my idea, I would seem to be riding on the coat tails of someone else's idea ... and not my own. I hate that. I am ORIGINAL, DAMN IT! I can't help it if my genius was stolen even before I got to it! (breathe, Jodi, breathe).

Anywhoo --- To heck with it --- I am doing it anyway. I think Amy Sedaris would approve. In fact, I think she would be proud that someone took on this pop culture "cook & blog" idea with a bit of sass and a bottle of whiskey (she highly recommends drinking while cooking. I agree. Cooking sucks without it).

And if anyone else out there has decided to blog their way through Amy's book --- I SO thought of it first. And my Dad is bigger than your Dad. So there.

Love,
Jodi