Culinary exercise

My kitchen was quite busy this past week. I made this lovely linguine with shrimp scampi recipe from Barefoot Contessa. I've never had shrimp scampi and always assumed that it'd taste like butter and garlic (not necessarily bad). This recipe was more well balanced because there was lemon juice in the sauce; the acidity cut through the butter like a... well, a knife!

Then I had to bake cookies for a bridal shower at work. I wound up doubling the recipe, creating eight dozen cookies. In the end, I didn't need to make that many because one whole box of cookies was left over (there were two of the box seen above). The cookies didn't even last until the next day though, because one of the managers wanted to take the whole thing for a party she was throwing. All my coworkers keep saying that I should open a bakery, but I keep saying that I wouldn't want to get up at 4 a.m. every day.

Josh and I also made ribs this week from Alton Brown's recipe. Sure, they take a long time (you have to start the night before), but it's worth every second. For these ribs, you don't need a grill. They're cooked via a braising method in the oven at low temperature for a long time. Then the braising liquid is reduced to create a lip smackin' sauce. Josh thought that the ribs weren't enough for a meal, so I suggested some mashed potatoes. He was so occupied with his video game that he didn't notice when I made them. I even upgraded them with chives!

On Monday, I'm making my blueberry coffee cake for a welcome back breakfast for a coworker. I also have to fight this desire I have to make a key lime pie because there's no need for one of those!