books and cookies - enough said

It was snowing this morning, and this afternoon I saw yellow daffodils in Central Park. Seriously, what is up with this crazy weather? I have always been a dedicated four season-er, but I am about ready to throw away my winter coat and move to Hawaii. Luckily, last night was just fine, so I made it to my first ever book signing weather delay-free and even 20 minutes early. Which was good, because Idlewild Books, an independent and travel bookstore near Union Square, is not a big place, and Molly Wizenberg, author of the blog Orangette and the new book "A Homemade Life," is a very popular person. By the time the reading started, it was standing room only.

Orangette was one of the first food blogs I ever read, and it remains among my favorites. At the time I discovered it I was working many hours a day on a cavernous, fluorescent trading floor, sitting slumped in a swivel chair and staring at a screen. Reading Orangette, with its stories of real food handmade with love and care, was like entering a wish-fulfillment fantasy, the perfect antidote to three meals a day eaten at my desk. It also helped get me back in the kitchen - so many of Molly's recipes sounded too good to not make, and they all seemed reasonable for a novice cook to attempt on her free weekends. Some of these recipes I've since adopted as staples in my own repertoire: her oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies and banana bread with cinnamon sugar gained a loyal following among my coworkers, while the warm chickpea salad is my favorite easy supper.

So when I read that Molly would be coming to New York on her book tour, I knew that I would go. And I'm really glad I did. Not only do I now have my first-ever autographed book, which is sitting proudly on my bookshelf, I also enjoyed hearing Molly speak and read from her book. (Which is wonderful, by the way. Just carry Kleenex, especially if you're reading it in public. I inadvertently read a very sad chapter on the subway on the way to school, which led to me sniffing loudly and wiping tears from my eyes as I stumbled through the Broadway-Lafayette station. Not the best way to start a school day.)

Good writers have the ability to take a feeling or an idea and wrap it up in an accessible package, to put a name on the ineffable. And occasionally when you read or hear their take on something, you think "yes! that is what I meant to say, but I didn't know how." Molly did this beautifully last night when she said that food is a tangible way of getting at intangible things. I think she's absolutely right, and I think that's why cooking for ourselves and others can be so satisfying. Food isn't just about what tastes good. It's also about memory and family and emotion, about who we are and who we have been and who we want to be.

One of the questions Molly fielded last night was to name her top five recipes from the blog. She cited broccoli soup and cabbage with hot sauce, celeri remoulade and David Leite's chocolate chip cookies from the New York Times.

These are all good, but for my money, the best recipe on there is the one I've made the most - the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. It was the first recipe I made when I got a KitchenAid stand mixer last spring, and I've been known to make a triple batch for special occasions. The dough can be refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for longer, and the cookies can even be frozen after baking - they're surprisingly chewy and delicious straight from the freezer, especially in hot weather. The link to her recipe is above, I'll add only that I usually make it with 1/2 whole wheat flour, chopped-up dark chocolate bars can be a great substitute for semisweet chips, and letting the dough rest in the refrigerator for a day or two, a la David Leite, can yield some pretty delicious results. Hope you enjoy!

p.s. If you're ever in the vicinity of Union Square, definitely stop by Idlewild - it's a great store, with an interesting selection of books and a unique cataloguing method- travel books and literature are all arranged by destination, i.e. France. So you can find Colette sharing shelf space with the Michelin guide to Paris, or The Quiet American near Lonely Planet Vietnam. As an added bonus, there's a great wine store across the street called Bottlerocket Wines. Bottlerocket is worth a visit for two reasons: 1) it's organized into user-friendly thematic displays, and all the wines and spirits have helpful blurbs and a store rating. 2) It's owned by a Williams alum, who hosted an alumni tasting at the store earlier this year. So you can find the perfect wine with ease and support another Eph - a win-win situation!

field trip: baked

My name is Liz, and I have a cookbook problem. This "problem" began about a year ago and grew rapidly, eventually demanding its own bookshelf in my kitchen, where real estate is at a premium. While many cookbooks have a few standout recipes, occasionally a cookbook seems to be entirely composed of winning recipes. The cookbook from the folks behind Red Hook bakery Baked is one of the latter.

The brownies are solid gold fudgy deliciousness, the hazelnut cinnamon chip biscotti are just a notch below crack and Diet Coke on the addictiveness scale, and the chocolate flourless cake could satisfy even the most diehard chocoholic. I bought the cookbook this fall, shortly before I had the opportunity to hear founder/owners Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito speak at a PastryScoop conference about building their bakery. After hearing them speak, I was even more curious to check out the business (and the baked goods!) in person, but didn't get out to Red Hook until this week.

A classmate and I made the trek out to Brooklyn after school on a rainy afternoon. The 20 minute walk from the subway was a great excuse to choose a variety of treats when we got there, an arduous process given the number of delicious-looking options. We finally agreed on a slice of the "Coffee" Cake, a monster cookie with peanut butter and M&Ms, and an oatmeal cookie with nuts, cherries and white chocolate. I also got one of the hazelnut biscotti to go, curious to see how my interpretation measured up to the original. We settled into one of the hardwood booths to enjoy (and evaluate) our selections.

The "Coffee" Cake had layers of moist chocolate sponge sandwiched with a pale coffee buttercream and decorated with a chocolate glaze. While the chocolate sponge was very nice, the coffee buttercream just wasn't very coffee-flavored, and the cake overall lacked punch. The oatmeal cookie, on the other hand, was fantastic. Crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, it was everything an oatmeal cookie should be.

And the biscotti? I have to say, I prefer my less-traditional version - smaller, with more color outside and tender within - to the large, uniformly pale, thoroughly crisp version made by Baked. Although with hazelnuts, cinnamon, and chocolate, the Baked biscotti was still delicious! Overall, it was a great place to while away a rainy afternoon, and I can't wait to go back and try something new the next time. For anyone in the New York area, it's definitely worth the trip - and if you're in need of any cheap Scandinavian home furnishings or Swedish meatballs, NYC's closest IKEA is practically around the corner.