Homework

What’ve I been up to recently?

Well, I’m still writing a book.  And a second book.  And trying to find time to work, now and then, on a third book.

But I’ve also been making a lot of these little bundles of joy:

Chewy and crunchy, homemade potstickers stuffed with pork, salted cabbage, and water chestnut.

Including for a little event we called Dumplings Take Over The World, where a full sampler plate of the goodies I cooked up looked like this (taken by one of our diners, Rachel Whang):

Make way for dumplings! Photo Rachel Whang.

You can read more about the event in Heather Hulsey’s enthusiastic review in Gutter Magazine, if you like.

And I’ll be cooking up a storm at Mill Valley General Store here in Baltimore (Sisson and 28th St.) this Saturday, February 20, from 10-2, as I demo a bunch of delicious dishes showcasing items available through Mill Valley’s Winter Produce Co-Op.  It’s free, open to the public, and there’ll be samples of things like Moroccan Orange Salad, Mushroom-Celeriac Pecan Pate, and Roasted Beets and Golden Turnips with Mint-Garlic Yogurt if you want to come on over.

But most recently, I’ve been working on these:

Mexican Chocolate "faux-reos" -- pink for Valentine's Day.

I’m sure it had something to do with our having gotten four feet of snow in the space of a week –no small thing for a town where we usually get about 18 inches over the course of a whole winter.  (We’ve been referring to it as “snOMG.”)  I was doing epic amounts of snow shoveling, and what I wanted was a sandwich cookie that was basically an Oreo on steroids.  After a bit of thought I figured out that what that meant was 1) a cookie that was really worth eating, and 2) a complex, rich Mexican chocolate flavor with almonds, cinnamon, and a little bit of chili heat.  This was not a cookie that existed, as far as I could find, so first I looked at a whole mess of recipes for various cookie components and options, then started developing my own.  Following a tasting panel of friends in my kitchen yesterday, I think I’ve got it right… it’ll take one more batch to be sure.

Now, of course, I want a vanilla-based counterpart to the Mexican Chocolate “faux-reo,” something as springlike and refined as the M.C.F.s are hearty and in-your-face.  I’m thinking about flaky palmier-type cookies flavored with vanilla and maybe rose or lavender, with a citrus buttercream.  We’ll see what the winds of spring blow into my kitchen.