run, cook, run, and repeat.

Since I moved back to New York, I have been running a lot. And not just running as in "I think I'll take a leisurely jog today!" No. Somehow I fell in with a group of CRAZY LADIES whose idea of "fun" is doing an 18 mile run on ice at 6:30 on a saturday morning. Don't ask me how I ended up in this position.

In any case, I find my eating and cooking habits increasing in direct proportion to the miles that I am running. I find myself craving heartier food, wanting to make rich stews and breads and have cold beer on hand at all times (Yes, I said beer. Who AM I??). Let's face it, a salad is not going to cut it for lunch these days. I have been more indulgent in my cooking lately, and find it hard to stop eating whatever tasty thing that is in front of me (case in point: remember those red velvet cupcakes? I bet you are wondering where all that left over frosting went.).

In the spirit of throwing moderation to the wind, I am thinking of making doughnuts this weekend. I know, I know, I may regret this when I am having a heart attack. But how often do we get to do this? It seems like it calls for a special occasion. And I'm fairly sure that if I succeed in making doughnuts, a special occasion will present itself.

In other news, the next office iron chef competition is coming up in a little over a week. This time its a cookie-off, which could be very bad or very good. One one hand, I am a fairly bad ass cookie baker.  I might even say it is my specialty. On the other hand, everyone thinks they are a bad ass baker, which means there will be a lot of competition. Also, im sure that a good 50% of these entries will be of the chocolate chip variety, which means that I can't go that route at all. I have to be different enough from all the other cookies, but not make something that would seem unfair. (On a related note, my savory bread pudding won first place, but I have gotten an enormous amount of shit from sore losers who claim it was against the rules because it was not sweet. I am toying with the idea of making a savory cookie, just to irritate them.)

So with that in mind, what do i make? Cornmeal lime? Peanut butter/chocolate sandwich cookies? Gingersnaps? Iced Oatmeal raisins? I may have to consult Nigella herself on this. Something made with bacon fat, she will say.