pb + chocolate = new love

I'm making cookies for Sam & Nancy as a thank you for watching Lucy this past weekend while Kev and I were in San Francisco. I decided to try a new recipe, the Barefoot Contessa Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies from her "parties" cookbook. Wahoo, they are delicious. I have finally found a cookie that cooks like my favorite cookies...Kate's chocolate chip cookies. They don't flatten out when you bake them (I really dislike flat cookies), but aren't too floury. The peanut butter flavor totally wins the battle with the other ingredients. The recipe is below with my tweaks to it as well. Enjoy!!

1/2 lb unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed
3/4 c. granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temp (I highly recommend this for all baking recipes.)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. good smooth peanut butter (I used salted chunky - trader Joes brand)
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (Could, but didn't substitute 1/2 ww flour and 1/2 white flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt (so much better than iodized salt)
1 lb semisweet chocolate chunks (I used 12oz. milk choc. chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of and electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla and peanut butter, and mix. (I mixed these in with a wooden spoon to prevent the batter from being over worked.) Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt (I didn't because I was feeling lazy) and add to the batter, mixing only until combined (with a wooden spoon). Fold in the chocolate chunks.

drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using either a 1 3/4" ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands, flatten the dough lightly, then press the tines of a wet fork in both directions (I didn't flatten the cookies). Bake for exactly 17 minutes. Do not over bake. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Enjoy!

10 weeks and pleased as punch

I guess now that I've sent press releases to all the US newspapers, I can probably announce on my blog that I'm pregnant. I'm 10 weeks along and feeling, umm, well, I think the word "eh" would sum it up. Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased as punch (non-alcoholic now thank you) to be pregnant. I'm overjoyed, elated, head over heels in love with the fact that I'm pregnant. However, I've been dealing with nausea for about 4 weeks now. It's not bad, I haven't hugged the porcelain god, but I just constantly feel "eh." It's hard to be excited when you don't feel great. Think about when you have a cold, you don't feel like doing anything --- exercising, going outside, doing laundry, cooking. That's basically how I've been feeling and although that's a good sign and means the hormones are doing their thing, I'm just getting a little tired of waking up feeling "eh" and going to bed feeling "eh." I'm pretty confident all this will pass soon as I've already started to notice some days are better than others, but I'm ready, already. I'm starting to fill out too, which I never thought I'd be excited about. I still definitely get the looks (maybe it's in my head) from passersby, the "does she have a beer belly or is she pregnant?" look. This is going to sound silly, but when I'm feeling really self-conscious about it, I rub my belly like a pregnant person would. Because who rubs their beer belly besides Homer Simpson? I know it's totally ridiculous, but it makes me feel a little better about being in that in between stage. I'm also quickly getting over my "should I be showing already?" issues. I've realized almost every pregnant person I've seen lately is at least 5'8" and/or was rail thin prior to getting pregnant, so OF COURSE I'm not going to look like them. Screw it!

So even though I said I was pleased as punch, I know all the above yapping would lead you to think otherwise, but believe me when I say that this is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I have no trepidation about being a mother. Delivery is scaring me, but being a mother is going to be amazing. I think I'll ease into it like the best fitting pair of Jimmy Choos. It's a natural fit for me. Kevin is excited too. I think he is nervous about being a dad, but that makes complete sense. I think most men are, but I know he'll be a wonderful father. I see him with our friends kids and he just falls right into place (not saying he acts like a 3 year old) with them. I think we're both looking the most forward to all the inevitable laughing we're going to do. Kids are hilarious and I know ours will be no exception!

My family is also over the moon about the arrival coming on October. My dad already has a Grandpa shirt. It's the cutest thing how overjoyed he is. I'm going home in a couple weeks and can't wait to see all of them. Mom's already stocking up on diapers and Kate's getting her craft on with all kinds of fun baby things including the baby's crib blanket. It will be so special.

good boy

I've been working like a dog these past several weeks and this week was no exception. I had three events this week, all three in the evening, and all three requiring me to be there. My last event was last night and luckily I finished up early, around 6:00pm. I was starved. My plan was to pick something up or call it a cereal night, but I called Kevin and he was already in the process of making dinner. I initially cringed because Kevin's talents don't lie in the kitchen. They lie every where else in the house from the plumbing, to the heating, to crown molding and base boards, but the kitchen is a little scary.

While on my way home, I was plotting my second meal...the meal after Kevin's meal because that meal would have left me wanting something palatable. I'd settled on cereal. Upon walking into my front door, I was greeted by wonderful smells (and Lucy). Much to my surprise and pleasure, Kevin had whipped up a delightful dinner. Everything tasted perfect. Nice work, Kev, nice work. Feel free to invade my kitchen more often! Here's what we dined on:

Kev's Menu

Caprese style salad with fresh mozzarella, assorted heirloom tomatoes, and avocado. Drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Perfectly roasted and seasoned Brussels Sprouts

Encrusted Tilapia

...and for dessert
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (I made those)

pardon my absence and church

My deepest apologies for my two break from blogging. I can come up with a couple excuses, but I'll blame it on a very busy two weeks at work. Oh, I'll blame it on the economy too...for no reason, but these days everyone is blaming their issues on the economy. Bad hair day? Blame it on the economy! Expired yogurt in the fridge? Well that's got to be Matoff's fault. So yeah, stupid economy, how dare you prevent me from blogging.

I went to church today. That's a big deal for me. I haven't been to church, aside for attending one baptism and five weddings, in over a year. It's always easier for me to find something much better to do with my Sunday morning. Sometimes I don't feel so bad about my alternative choices, like when I take the morning to exercise. Being outside and exercising is easily, if not more healing and introspective to me than church. I've always challenged the church's (referring to ALL religions here, not just mine) beliefs on what God is and is not. I don't know if there's a higher being. I really don't. Let me rephrase that, I don't know if my higher being is what my religion says he is. I don't know if Jesus ever existed. I don't know if this earth ever had a man living on it that did the amazing and great things the Bible says he did. Sadly, I don't have that sort of faith in the human race to think that there is someone out there that could selflessly do all they say he did. Hmm, I think I might start upsetting people here, so I'll bring this little thought to a conclusion. To sum it up, I challenge all religions and I'm skeptical of any institution that claims to bring people together, but yet so many people, the world over, have died for. A quick lesson in sociology for you: if you look at most "religious wars" in this world's history, they aren't about religion at all. Rather they are wars over resources -- water, land, food, shelter. It's a true fact. Do your homework and you'll agree. Religion just gets messed up in it and people easily use it as an excuse to hate each other. It's disgusting.

Anyway, back to me going to church today. Despite all that I've said above, it felt great being there. I went to St. Luke's in Los Gatos. I've been wanting to go for a long time now and today seemed as good a day as any. The service was nice, a typical 8:00am Episcopal service. Short, sweet, and to the point. Because I grew up going to the Episcopal church I know a lot of what is said throughout the service by heart. Going to church makes me feel like I'm back home. It brings back so many memories of time spent with mom and Kate. (Dad always got a hall pass) Nothing will beat the services of my childhood, but it's fun for me to say the things like the Lord's Prayer that I said all those years of my life as a child. I usually tune out during the gospel, lessons, and sermon because they're a little too churchy for me. Instead I take those moments to enjoy the peacefulness of my location. My world stops when I'm at church and it excites me to no end. I feel the same way when I'm practicing yoga or running. Nothing else matters except that moment. It's calm, quite, and no one can burst my happy bubble. That's what I love about church and that's why I choose to go when I do. It's a free therapy session even if I don't listen to the therapist.

I'll try to go more often as I know I need that free therapy session in my life. That's all for now.