How much does a batch of cookies cost...some plasticann stats

Adam asked that question on our way home from the store tonight. I had stocked up on six pounds of butter since Cabot's was on sale for $2.50 a pound. Six pounds may sound like alot, but I go through butter like nobody's business which motivated Adam to ask, how much does a batch of cookies cost? I estimated around $4.50 a batch for the chocolate chip and around $7 for Adam's favorite. (Adam's favorite is a premium cookie.)

Assuming I bake around twice a week, I probably spend $50 a month on baking which translates to $600 a year which is really quite an expense when I look at it annually. Two batches is pound of butter each week which translates into a mind boggling 52 pounds a year. Frankly, the six pounds I bought tonight will really only last me until mid October. The batches I make are big, they bake up around 75 small cookies or 40 medium cookies or 20 large cookies. So each time I hand out a large cookie to a coworker, it costs around 22.5 cents in ingredients. Granted I would probably have to pay $1.50 for that same cookie at a bakery which is over six times more expensive so therefore it still makes sense financially to bake my own cookies.

One Million Rows

I'm a geek, I work with geeks, I find them all hilarious and endearing.

Joe: I'm getting a new laptop from IT.
plasticann: That's great. If you need Office 2007, you can join the beta test group. You can get Excel 2007 installed.
Bob: What's different about Excel 2007?
Joe: More rows, a million rows.
Bob: [shouts] GET OUT!!!
plasticann: [laughing] Yeah, that's a lot more than the 63000 we currently have.
Joe: Well, it's 65536 rows to be exact!

A Sign

I was walking by my neighbors lovely flower garden when I noticed a lovely sign in calligraphy that read, "STOP, don't take my flowers...DAMIT!" I had to laugh, the sign was simultaneously genteel and aggressive all at the same time.

Flora

Adam and I checked out Flora in Arlington last night for dinner since we had a gift certificate we wanted to use. They had a Restaurant Week menu which was fun so we each ordered an appetizer, entree and dessert. Here's the wrapup on the various dish "battles"

Menu:

Calamari: fried calamari, watercress, pickled onions and peppers, basil
Chowder: sweet corn leek and bacon chowder

Chicken: pan-roasted Giannone chicken with whipped potatoes, roasted garlic, rosemary gravy
Scallops: George's Bank jumbo sea scallops with ratatouille, basil oil and lemon

Cobbler: blueberry cobbler with toasted almond ice cream
Bread Pudding: ginger peach bread pudding

Preliminary Round:

Chowder vs. Calamari....Chowder WINS!
Chicken vs. Scallops...Chicken WINS!
Bread Pudding vs. Cobbler...TIED!

Final Round:
Chowder vs. Chicken...TIED!

I voted for the Chowder, Adam voted for the Chicken. All in all a good meal and plus we got to spend down our gift certificate which always makes me happy.

Charlie Card Discounts

I was on the mbta website last weekend when I discovered a wonderful treasure, the Charlie Card discount. The Charlie Card is the plastic subway pass we use here in Boston. Not only will the card allow you to travel effortlessly on the subway and bus system, you can also flash it for discounts around town. I think my discount loving husband was a little proud of me for finding this. My favorite picks are places I actually do go to:

*2 free Samosa or Mango Lassi with an entree purchase at Diva in Davis
*Free cup of chowder with entree purchase at Legal Seafood
*Free appetizer at California Pizza Kitchen with Minimum $10 purchase
*10% off all Upper Crusts
*A whopping 20% off at Whittard of Chelsea tea shop on Newbury
*10% off at Ben & Jerry's

The discount book is available online so check out all the other great discounts.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Adam and I visited Zara, Zryce and the kids up at Chautauqua last weekend where they were vacationing with Zryce's parents. We had lots of fun times with the kids and we even made western themed ice cream sandwiches from brownies as a special treat one night. The kids were told they had to finish their dinner if they wanted special dessert. The black bean salad was the main hurdle between both kids and their dessert, but both persisted. The following is a reconstructed conversation featuring Zames and his "cowboy hat" ice cream sandwich.

plasticann: Zames, do you like your ice cream sandwich?
Zames: [intently eating ice cream with no visible sense of excitement]
plasticann: Is it yummy?
Zames: [continues to eat while ignoring plasticann, starts to dance up and down]
plasticann: Zames, do you need to go to the bathroom?
Zames: [more frantically eating, but nodding]
Zara: Zames, let's go to the bathroom.
Zames: [still eating, nodding and starts walking to the bathroom]
Zara: Zames, don't take the ice cream to the potty. We don't eat while we pee. It'll be here when you come back.

Who knows what goes through a 2.5 year old boy's mind, but we hypothesized that Zames was concerned that he would lose his ice cream sandwich if he went to the potty so he was trying to finish it quickly. Anecdotal evidence, but he did appear to enjoy his ice cream much more post potty than pre potty. Most importantly, we all learned that we don't eat while we pee...a worthy and sanitary refrain indeed.

Steak and S'mores

We bought a big steak from McKinnon's in Davis and grilled it up for dinner last night with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Adam did a great job grilling and the steak was delicious. I just ate some leftovers in yummy sandwich form. We also invented a delicious new S'more concept, the chocolate covered pretzel S'more. A dark chocolate covered pretzel from Trader Joe's with a toasted marshmallow. You get the chocolate, the salty pretzel as your graham cracker substitute and a deliciously gooey marshmallow. It's a bit tricky to make unfortunately since putting the pretzel over the fire causes the chocolate coating to melt. Adam's first attempt worked pretty well. He made a slit in the marshmallow, not quite all the way through, stuffed a pretzel in the slit and threaded a skewer through the marshmallow, the pretzel through the hole and through the other end of the marshmallow. This way, the pretzel stayed put partially wrapped in the marshmallow and the pretzel didn't swing around wildly as we tried to toast the concoction. YUMMY!

Formaggio Kitchen Saturday BBQ

Adam and I rode our bikes down to Huron Village yesterday to check out the Saturday summer BBQ at Formaggio Kitchen. Huron Village always seems psychologically far, but it really only took us about 10-15 minutes to bike there. Adam got the pulled chicken sandwich and some baked beans. I had to get the "Pearl in a Hole." For the Pearl in a Hole, they give you a hollowed out half baguette, you fill the "hole" with all your condiments, hand the bread back to the grillmaster who puts the bread on the grill to toast it and fills the "hole" with a giant 1/2 pound Pearl hot dot cooked to perfection with a nice snap. With quality ingredients like Pearl dogs and a fresh baguette, it couldn't help but be super yummy.

PA Adventures cont.

Our stint in the Lehigh Valley continued with trips to the Crayola Factory in Easton, I got to to check out a Wegmans, Longwood Gardens and the Asa Parker house in Jim Thorpe, PA. We continued on to the Poconos for a conference for Adam's work for a few days. Finally, it was on to Philly for our last stop. We'd gathered lots of culinary recommendations from friends and we ended checking out a few of them. Our big fancy meal was Alma de Cuba, a Cuban restauarant my friends Corinna and Ian raved about. It was very yummy. We also visited the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall where we discovered that the founding fathers all sat in Windsor Chairs, the very same chairs that Adam's dad handcrafts. We ate cheesesteaks twice and explored the Reading Terminal Market. On our final day in Philly, we went to a pirate exhibit at the Franklin Institute which was very piratey and awesome. All in all, our grand adventures through the Eastern portion of PA was super fun and relaxing. However, it's been good to be home.