Val (cough) en (sneeze) tines

Hello and a happy belated Valentine's Day to you all!

(Speak the title just like Ian Sveonius in Mockingbird, Yeah!)

I bought this charming card from SweetPerversion. Because I'm all heart, baby.

My significant other brought home roses, French chocolate truffles and the plague.

I HATE being sick (And so many of you love it, right?) and am fighting back. Violently.

I'm currently living on chewable Vitamin C, Throat Coat tea and fat free, low sodium chicken broth with various ingredients added. Sleeping horribly- well, worse than usual, which is bad for an insomniac with a moderate coffee addiction. Even my trusty signature cocktail, Mrs. Robinson, didn't taste right last night. Quel horreur!

Assuming I'm physically able to get out of bed tomorrow, there will be updates. Or a photo. Or both.

Cookies!

I can cook. Rather well. Without recipes. A little of this, a little of that, some spices, some butter, some wine. Veg and sauces, breakfast and soups, one hell of a garlic brisket. Mashed potatoes? Lumpy and garlicy with skins left on and dairy quantites you only dream about. My palate veers towards unami. And spice. And stinky cheeses.

Cookbooks are read for enjoyment or to check a cooking time.

Baking is a different story. There is little room for creativity in the kitchen when baking. Which is why I normally don't bake. And since it has been hotter than the hinges in the DC Metro area (really not liking the new DMV name being used), I have shelved my desire for cookies until just the other night.

"Why not buy cookies?" Because I have found and slightly modified an easy recipe that makes the best cookies. Ever. Friends and family agree. And have suggested the recipe get entered in a cookie baking contest.

You'll need:

1/4 lb butter

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

3/4 tsp vanilla

1- 1/8 cups of flour

3/4 tsp of amazing salt (I'm partial to Frech gray sea salt but others do work well)

1/2 tsp of baking soda

6 oz (approx. 1 cup) bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks or bars- if you chop by hand, you get a wonderful texture

The grunt work:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease cookie sheets. (Or cheat and use silicone mats on air-bake sheets. This is highly recommended.) Using the whisk attachment on a stand (or hand) mixer, cream the butter and slowly add the two sugars, blend until light and smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla, mix well. Mix remaining dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda) together and add to batter. Add chocolate. Spoon teaspoonfuls onto the baking sheets at least 1 inch apart. Bake 9 minutes.

You are so close to chocolatey, gooey, crsipy, chewy, salty amazingness! Let them cool for 5 minutes or so, then transfer to a cooling rack or wax paper spread out on stone counters.

Place on a 1920s creamware oval platter with lots of crazing and chipped edges.

Select a few choice victims. Cold milk optional.

I'll leave you alone for a few minutes.

Because it is Treasury Tuesday and I actually baked, today's curation showcases kitsch in the kitchen. Not a cookie but still worth a peek.

Putting the Kitsch in Kitchen by retrotrend