We received a lovely gift from friends the other day; a trio of Italian cheeses, some flatbread crackers and a Mustard Pear Jam. This is a great gift idea for new parents and I intend to copy them. But the point of this blog is the eating of it, not the receiving. 

Last night I was hungry, not interested in Natty's mac'n'cheese and Murray was working late so I didn't have to think about a real meal. Great time to break out the Pear Jam and Grana Padano cheese. Open goes the little jar, the jam spread on a flatbread and a thin slice of the Grana placed on top. 

Well.

It was disturbingly delicious. I ate and ate. Finished off the flatbread and resisted opening other crackers so I would stop (in my defense, the flatbread had already been opened, so I didn't eat an entire carton of it.... just about half). What a nice dinner. 

This afternoon I came home from a long morning, again hungry, and thought I'd reprise my dinner - was it really that good? 

Yes, and again Yes. 

As disturbing as how delicious the combination tastes is how much of it I can eat. But cheese, fruit and bread have been diet staples for thousands of years. Sustaining stuff. 

My other food focus is the perfect chocolate chip cookie, according to the NY Times. There is that spot in me, as in many of us, that only a chocolate chip cookie can fill. And, honestly, the perfect one is probably any one that I'm actually eating. When I was younger, my friend Janet made the best chocolate chip cookies ever. I was constantly trying and failing to achieve her perfection - mostly because I was much too creative. Janet's response to my wonder at her cookies was a laughing, "I just follow the recipe on the back of the bag." And the Toll House recipe is really, very good (when it's actually followed). But after reading about these cookies in the food blogs I follow (Orangette and Chez Pim)and then the article, I thought I'd give it a try. 

Yup, perfect cookies. 

I even cooked them in the toaster oven when our propane was out and they were great. So as to refrain from gorging myself, I shape them into cookies (but not the gargantuan size the recipe calls for - huge cookies repel rather than attract me. Don't get me started on a "portion size" rant) and freeze them. Then I can cook 3 for dessert and we won't make ourselves ill. That system was going great until Murray discovered my stash and polished them off. So there's another batch in the refrigerator as I type. I'll hide them better this time.

I won't subject you to pictures of the cookies - save that for the real food blogs. But they are good and I'm looking forward to eating one... tomorrow.