Apart from what is going around in Lebanon, we try to stay calm and away from stress. I know I can’t do anything, but knowing of people fighting over silly issues is just absurd. Can’t we fight over what dressing goes with which salad or what frosting is best with a certain cupcake? I don’t recall any wars started over wanting to add ketchup to Italian pasta (Seriously though, don’t add ketchup.)

I try to take my mind off the tragic news because it would only make me upset. And when I’m upset, I tend to eat. Who am I kidding? Emotions for me are a reason to eat.

On another note, my summer vacation is almost over. I won’t be staying at Mike’s place, cooking and baking, except over the weekends. I’ll be going back to work. We watched lots of movies during this vacation. We still have the last two Harry Potter movies to watch and I can say that I barely made it through the whole series. Don’t judge but yes, I have never watched Harry Potter. I barely made it through because whenever we were watching the movie late at night, I would fall asleep before the movie ends. It is not my kind of thing. I would stay up and alert though in movies that have delicious food and breathtaking landscapes, Italy is a plus. Just like yesterday’s movie: Under The Tuscan Sun. I loved in particular Katherine. She’s positive, she still got that childish innocence and she’s life loving above and despite all. Inspiring, right?

Following Katherine’s advice, I took a chance and ate raw cookie dough disregarding the fact that it has raw eggs. I’ve made cookies a couple of times ago but it’s only until now that I appreciated the awesomeness of the cookie dough. It’s a good thing that I licked the spoon. Thankfully it was last scoop otherwise I wouldn’t have had any to bake. I licked the bowl as the last batch was in the oven. It didn’t stop at that. One thing led to another, and I found 3 cookies missing from the batch.

I’m still wondering where they went. I was home alone.

Where could they go?

The Cookie Monster isn’t real, you know.

Recipe is adapted from the best one I’ve found:
ORIGINAL NESTLE TOLL HOUSE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
220g butter, softened
3/4 cup granular sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups NESTLE TOLL HOUSE Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels (I used half Hershey’s + half chopped dark chocolate)
1 cup chopped nuts

PREHEAT oven to 190C.
COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheets.
BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies